Rowdy Tellez discusses his Mexican roots and Pirates' postseason aspirations l Baseball Adjustments

Intro how would you describe in one word this team trying to make a push into the postseason one word one word two words uh I'd say resilient I think you can see in a couple of the games that we've played recently and and kind of throughout the season you know we we we take it down to the last [Music] out with Rowdy to live first baseman First career strikeout as a pitcher designated hitter and occasionally relief pitcher I would say too right yeah every now and then I'll get in an appearance in there you think you can start a game no no I can't do all that prep to get ready to pitch I can barely do enough prep to get ready to play the game so um but no that that appearance was fun that was a good one do you have the ball with the strikeout appearance yes I do I have my first and only strikeout as a pitcher do you have the date specifically like even labeled on the case I guess you can say on the case um the Brewers didn't do that they they kept the ball from me and they put it in the case um so I do have that at my house have the whole team signed like one of them little league games no no that was too cool oh but let's talk about your Journey to the big leagues journey to this to to the big Lings man let's start from the basics I mean how did you start playing baseball and you know who kind of influenc you to start playing this game um I mean I started playing on as young uh you know like like every kid kind of like t-ball and then the whole Little League circuit and then I started playing travel ball um but you know my dad was always a big baseball fan uh you know played played baseball in high school and then um you know it was just kind of it you know I grew up a Giants fan so um you know JT snow was always kind of like my guy that I always love to watch him play and then uh you know as I got older I started to realize I could probably make of this a a profession make a career out of it and um you know I worked really hard and I was fortunate enough to get an opportunity and um you know hopefully I've done enough to show that I I can play this game dude you were a stud in high school looking at your at your statistics man first team All American Baseball America Rawlings as well uh first team All Region U for the State of California I mean did you have any offers from high school going into college because you you got drafted out of high school by the Blue Jays did you have any offers to play college baseball or did you want to try to go into that experience um yeah I had a I had offers but um I know I wanted to play pro ball instead I was committed to USC um you know UCLA Stanford Cal Oregon Oregon State um kind of some stuff all over the place Miami was a a cool one that I really liked um but you know I for me it was just I wanted to play pro ball so when I got the opportunity to sign um you know I took that chance and kind of bet on myself and then tell us about your Latino background Bor in Sacramento Grandfather's baseball roots California um I also had even seen that your grandfather played the in the Mexican baseball league you know can you tell us a little bit more about that yeah um you know that really proud to be Mexican um you know I've always wanted to represent my family in that in that sense um you know I got the opportunity to do in the classic and play for Team Mexico and had a blast uh time of my life you know to be able to put the colors on and and play for the same country that you know my family's from and you know my grandfather playing in Mexico and um you know it was just a it was prettyy emotional pretty special you know especially for my dad my uncles and my family to to watch somebody be able to do that what team did he play for by the way with the Mexican leag that's I couldn't even tell you I don't even think it's a team anymore oh it's not a team anymore this was in like the 192s okay like my dad's the youngest and a whoops baby so um it like yeah it might have been like 20s 30s okay um but it wasn't like it was like it was professional but it wasn't like anything crazy and then when they moved to Colorado he played for the grey Grays which they wrote a book on them my whole family um that played there and kind of they it was like the sugar beat league is what they called it I think M um just a lot of the migrant workers and and um farmers and all that that would go and play in those but um you know I so I had baseball in the background and then like you R saying Representing Team Mexico at the WBC you played for Team Mexico in the World Baseball Classic one of the most cool experiences I would say in a baseball players's career you know the atmosphere being over there in Miami even in Phoenix you know what was that that like for you um it was really special to be a part of that to be um able to see my name um on the back of the Jersey be able to wear just Mexico across the front um everything is really special you know I know that um we as a Mexican team went further than any other mexic Mexican team in any other sport has ever gone in in an event so um you know it was huge and I I was just proud and honored to you know hopefully influence more young kids in Mexico to kind of chase their dream and you know be proud of where they come from and even players that are from the United States um being proud to be Mexican so I think for me it was it was just an honor and when um I got the opportunity and they called me I said right away I was yeah I'm in I want to play do you want to play like the next World Baseball Classic whenever it comes to 14 Mexico as well I'll play again in the next one um if they want me to if they give me the call but I would love to play for them again awesome and then you know you're one of the most coolest Having fun when your on the field guys funniest guys in the clubhouse your teammates love you you know you always have a smile on your face man what's the biggest thing when you're playing this game to have fun you know what does that mean to you to continue showing that type of emotion just showing that little kid in you um you know every day I wake up I'm just grateful I I get to see the next day I've been through a lot in life um you know I wouldn't say my journey was easy I wouldn't say my life is easy um and I think for me it's just knowing that um when I wake up it it could always be worse um there's always somebody out there that wants to be in your shoes and um you know I think that we take it for granted sometimes that we're here so for me it's just you know I wake up it could always be worse it could always be something that's happening it could always not be playing so um just humbled and honored to to be able to put on a uniform every day no matter where it's at and then got two more questions to left nobody had seen One word to describe the Pirates this season the Pittsburgh Pirates in the beginning of the Season try to become a postseason team two games out of the last wild card spot you know how would you describe in one word this team trying to make a push into the postseason um one word one word two words uh I'd say resilient I think you can see in a couple of the games that we've played recently and and kind of throughout the season you know we we'll we take it down to the last out I mean we came back uh the first night we put up you know some runs l you know I think for us it's just about showing up and no matter what knowing that it could change whether it's two outs in the ninth or you put up nine runs on the first you know you never know what's going to happen so I think um you know a lot of these guys are younger we have a couple of guys that played in the World Series a couple of guys um myself included that have played in the postseason for years um you know I think we really look at that and say like hey let's let's do it you know I think they lean on us and understand that they want to see what that's like too and then lastly there's game is a game of adjustments baseball Biggest adjustment you know what has been your biggest adjustment and your baseball Journey so far man um probably say just being able to listen being able to learn um not being afraid to be wrong not being afraid to ask questions um you know I I'm coming through I was really fortunate to play with a lot of Allstars MVPs and I think the thing I learned the most from them is whenever you don't know something something ask them they've been through it older players whether they've been successful or not they they know um what it takes or they've been through the same situation you've been in so me it was just asking the questions like even if I got made fun of or stupid like you just you ask those questions you you just kind of deal with what happens appreciate it Ry appreciate it good luck for the rest of the way man thank you R to Li