Dodgers RHP, Ben Casparius., Joins Dodgers Daily

Intro welcome to Dodgers daily Casey Porter here downtown Oklahoma City the Bricktown ballpark today we are joined by a very very very special guest third time youve joined Ben Ben casparus we're talking about it's always an honor to get to speak with you yeah thanks for having me Casey first of all I got to I got to say man that short sleeve hoodie right there that that thing's rocking man that's sweet isn't it it is I gave it a little cut um it's about 95 100 degrees here so it's it's time for a little short sleeve action instead of uh all the long sweatshirts and so just Girlfriend know every time I talk to you from here on out this is always going to be the first question yeah you're out to eat and say it's the off season and you're with your girlfriend hopefully fiance someday you said you got to make the major leagues before you buy a ring right yeah exactly yeah okay so you're at you're at the restaurant so who gets noticed first b aserious or Aaron Matson Aaron 99 maybe 100 out of 100 times so okay especially being in Carolina too she's um she's noticed everywhere um I think there's more people know her than not so it's cool for her light moment there with v casparus I know we know each other well enough so hey also coach penders at Yukon man they made it to the Regionals they went into U I know you wanted to go check them out at U when they were in Norman but wow what a season they had right yeah again like definitely exceeded expectations um and again like it's just a totally different landscape with the transfer portal the the trans transfer portal the talent that they're able to get um a year in and year out like they're developing guys guys want to go play for them and again like there's a reason they are you know the longest tener coaching staff together and they do a great job and they deserve all the credit they've been given absolutely I always love asking Strike Zones you this question because you always do such a great job of explaining it and you know hey you came into the system with all this crazy stuff and it's great to throw it on the track man but then you got to figure out your sequences you got to figure out what pitches actually land in the strike zone consistently so you've used the entire minor league process to figure out what Ben conspirac can actually execute consistently take us through that entire process the adjustments you have to make per level um I think the further you go up the less swing and Miss you're going to get the less Chase you're going to get um and just being able to refine your mix and figure out you know like especially being a starter what are your two in zone options um what pitches am I going to get away with outside of the Zone what am I going to get you know what takes am I going to get in the zone um and I just think at the end of the day it's just trusting what you do have that specific day cuz you're going to go out there plenty of times and not feel good or not have your a stuff um but I think I think just going through the scouting report and figuring out what's the best plan of attack per guy in the lineup especially second third time through what's going to give me the um the best chance to have success getting through the lineup two or three times um and I think this year it's definitely taken taken a huge step in the right direction it absolutely has so you've been at Jump to OKC every level you got really hot there at the end of your Rancho stint there I mean I think you're were like the thect of the week something like that right before you got promoted you've been to high Great Lake spent good time there went to Tulsa and now you're in Oklahoma City which jump to you has been the most difficult and take us through each jump I think the most the most difficult jump was high a to double a because I think I left High a with a very refined mix yeah and then it was figuring out how to use that in certain situations it's obviously a very like being in Texas League and the PCL it's two extremely hard places to pitch if not the hardest places to pitch in the country um but I think the jump from I think the jump from Rancho to Hay was difficult too just because I hadn't I hadn't had a refined mix yet like it was still kind of a two-pitch mix with a third fringy change up um so I think going into going into Tulsa last year I think it was figuring out like hey I do have a really good refined mix now as a starter three or four pitch mix how do I how do I use it correctly and that took probably a month and a half or so and I think that's when I started finding really having really good success towards the back half of that year the last month and a half or so so you spent all this time we talked about hey the mix was looking great the ball was coming out of your hand great then there was a period of time to where the results weren't necessarily following just all the Improvement you were making then the results did they came I kept telling people they're coming just wait and then they did and you get off to this great start this year for tripa Oklahoma City you know there's going to be a lot of opportunity with at the major league club and then you get hurt man that had to be crushing it was um and I think the maturity aspect of just kind of trying to stay grounded um for me it's like it's taking care of business every single day um and I just keep telling myself like I'm exactly where I want to be in terms of my career like what I am trying to get out of being professional baseball player um and where I am physically at the moment and with again like the refinement of everything that's taken over the course of three years um I think it's really just staying grounded and taking care of every day at hand and um you know it happens at unexpected times so that's really my goal is just to stay consistent um keep the highs not too high the lows not too lows and just kind of go out go throughout the week and um I think good things will happen take us to the injury and the rehab yeah um so the end of the third inning against Albuquerque I think it was want to say June 18th so the end of June just I had a tweaked oblique I think a grade one strain wasn't anything serious I think um the rehab process was really good um and I was able to really take care of some stuff in the weight room obviously like Chelsea did a great job taking care of me and everything too so um I think the rehab was great I think it was a also a period of time where I can kind of just like for the first time in a long time even with you know I went straight from the season to the fall league and then took about a I only really was able to take a week or two off from throwing um I was it was just a period of time where I got to kind of reflect on the season and see where I'm at um mechanically with um how I'm attacking guys pitch usage everything um and it was great we took it slow um I took about a week off from throwing and then I feel like I honestly haven't really skipped a beat since I came back and I'm happy about that so so the fast Fastball Ball's always been an okay pitch for you it's never been your crown jewel but boy I tell you what it's starting to turn out to be that way what unlock um I think just trusting it in the zone I think um again like it's it kind of it's give or take with the level that you're at I think in low a we don't there's not huge body of work so a lot of the damage that's done is random um same thing with ha I think here guys are smart enough to you know sit on a certain pitch or sell out for a certain pitch at times and I think just being able to go out there and try and generate as many swings as I possibly can before getting O2 or one two in account has really helped me use my fast more and like having conviction behind it where it's you know I'm throwing this fast to put it in the strike zone not not try to be not try to baby it or be cute with it um and the more fast balls you throw in the zone one the more swings you're going to get and then you're keeping them guessing with the slider and that's what I want to get to obviously um and the same thing with the slider too if I'm throwing it in the strike zone I'm going to get more Chase with it out of the zone and it's going to help my fast ball play up also when I do throw it so talk Pitch Mix about your mix and the sequencing that that you're kind of going through now yeah um right now I'm throwing a four seam a two seam supplemental a slider a curve ball a change up and I'm um working on mixing in a cutter at some point and I know that some of my pitches get tagged as Cutters I think they're just kind of Sliders I throw two strikes I always hesitate last yeah yeah I think they're just pitches that I'm just letting rip and it's going to be a little bit harder than the others but um yeah I think I think the the biggest pitch was probably the curveball like when I started throwing that at the back end Tulsa and started to get feel for it in the strike zone that's just something where it's going to protect my fast ball a little bit better having more of a vertical plane um and it again like it's something where it doesn't need to be perfect in the strike zone but if I keep it on the plate it's just another pitch where they have to be honest with it they have to you know they have to respect it they have to honestly sit on it and if they do if they are sitting on it and I get lucky enough like that's going to help my fastball play up in the zone a little bit more too fantastic Ben casparius I know you're super busy third time you've come into Dodgers daily it's an honor every time I get a chance to talk to you so thank you so much appreciate it Casey thank you