Pelotero Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Coach Ferber and Casey Smith, State of Hitting Instruction, Toxic Hitting Twitter Nov 30, 2021

Show notes

Awesome to have Coach Ferber from Real Ballers National and Casey Smith from Out Front Hitting on the show this week! The guys get into a spirited talk with Bobby and Chris about the state of coaching hitters, coaches being attacked on twitter, and talk about individual breakthroughs they have all had in understanding the swing.

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Coach Ferber on Instagram: @coachferber

Casey Smith on Instagram: @outfronthitting

Multi-Sport Debate, Cy Young Discussion, Best Items in Baseball Hall of Fame Nov 22, 2021

Show notes

1:00 - Do younger athletes have an awareness of previous generations?

8:32 - Multi-sport athlete discussion - Should baseball players seeking opportunities in higher levels be pursuing other sports as well?

18:50 - Importance of benchmarking athletes in their development - who should they be compared to?

29:35 - The guys discuss the controversial NL Cy Young selection and the importance of innings pitched

39:15 - Hot Stove - Rumors about Carlos Correa to the Tigers

45:13 - Mailbag

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Special Guest Kevin Graber, Coaching Systems, Developing Hitters, Prep Baseball Nov 15, 2021

Show notes

Kevin Graber is the Head Baseball Coach at Phillips Academy Andover in Massachusetts and is an outstanding guest! We appreciated hearing about his wild journey through baseball and him sharing about the rabbit holes he has gone down as a coach. Huge thanks to him for an awesome episode!

2:22 - Coach Graber talks us through his (pretty wild) personal baseball journey.

14:00 - KG shares with us the challenge and the appeal of coaching at the prep/high school level, explores ways he’s tried to create advantages, and talks about establishing a culture of both structure and freedom.

58:51 - The conversation gets more hitting specific. The guys talk about approach to coaching hitting, development of approach, and get granular about some details.

1:24:09 - KG asks Bobby some questions about the 2015 Home Run Derby.

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Playoff Lessons, State of the Game, Buster Posey, Mailbag Nov 08, 2021

Show notes

7:32 - Long conversation recapping the playoffs, analyzing the state of the game, and diving into some hot stove type stuff

1:07:07 - Buster Posey retirement! Is he a Hall of Famer?

1:13:40 - Mailbag

1:18:15 - Post Show: Pete Fatse promotion!

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Special Guest Jose Bautista, Foundations of his game, Big Moments Nov 02, 2021

Show notes

Huge thanks to Jose for coming on! This is an incredible interview and it was so enjoyable getting as detailed about hitting with such an incredible player!

2:38 - Jose’s role in the shifting dynamics of player development.

3:50 - What was Jose’s foundation pre swing change?

9:00 - Getting into specific evolutions in Jose’s swing

20:32 - Jose's plate awareness and competitive mindset

28:25 - Jose’s tendency to rise in big moments

34:01 - The Bat Flip Homer

38:20 - Jose’s thoughts on the recent evolution of the game

43:03 - World series talk

47:35 - Jose's favorite hitters to watch today

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Two Week Playoff Recap, World Series Preview Oct 25, 2021

Show notes

3:04 - Recapping the American League playoffs thus far

12:23 - Temperature check on robot umpires and should MLB hitters change their approach when umpires fail them?

18:11 - Recapping the National League playoffs

28:37 - Freddie Freeman’s early NLCS struggles

38:10 - Critiquing the Dodgers’ pitching usage

44:22 - Thoughts on the two remaining managers and World Series Preview

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Playoff Series Deep Dive, Chris and Bobby Argue About Rules Oct 11, 2021

Show notes

1:08 - Recapping the Wild Card Games

11:25 - Diving into the individual division series matchups

32:28 - The guys discuss the “automatic double” play from Red Sox vs. Rays Game 3

49:00 - Bobby dives into a tweet about scalability amongst hitting coaches.

1:04:39 - Giancarlo Stanton’s success and the concept of a perfect swing

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Special Guest Erik Kratz, Team Impact of Catchers, Chemistry, Playoff Talk Oct 04, 2021

Show notes

Awesome guest this week - veteran MLB catcher Erik Kratz! Easily the guest that has made fun of Chris the most...enjoy!

4:41 - Bobby asks Erik about the length of his absurd baseball reference page and Erik tells some minor league stories.

11:56 - Through all of Erik’s time in pro baseball what have been the constants?

16:21 - How does being a catcher allow you to engage with teammates and impact the game?

25:31 - Erik’s high emotional intelligence - can this be taught or identified?

37:42 - The best in-team jokes/rituals during Erik’s career

46:23 - We get Erik’s take on robot-umps.

59:46 - MLB Playoffs/Wildcard Talk

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Special Guest Kevin Goldstein - Former Astros Exec, Writer for Fangraphs - Evaluating Hitters, Rebuilding the Astros, Why Don't Teams Spend More Sep 27, 2021

Show notes

We have special guest Kevin Goldstein on the show this week! Kevin is a former front office executive for the Houston Astros and is currently a writer with Fangraphs.

4:12 - We dig into Kevin’s history with baseball and talk about how he ended up working for the Astros.

8:00 - Kevin describes his familiarity with Chris’s career and talks about the time the Astros tried to claim him. They get into what the Astros would look for most in evaluating players.

15:22 - Kevin tells the story of when the Astros released JD Martinez and gives a detailed look into the player evaluation process from his time there.

23:00 - Kevin describes the Astros attempts to objectify swing evaluation and talks about the differences between evaluating hitters and pitchers.

33:27 - Why are analytic predictions so often wrong?

39:00 - What is the process like going from a tanking team to a World Series contender?

47:10 - Kevin explains why there is no such thing as a small market MLB team.

54:12 - We get into some current topics including the race between the AL East teams and Kevin’s take on the MVP discussion.

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

Special Guest Kevin Pillar, Machado and Tatis Fight, DeGrom the GOAT, Blue Jays Memories Sep 22, 2021

Show notes

Big thanks to Kevin for coming on the show! He and Chris recorded from Kevin's hotel room while eating room service - authentic big league off day right there.

Chris and Kevin are a little quiet the first ten minutes. If you want to jump to when the audio improves its good at 10:24.

Send us your topics! Email pickle@pelotero.com

Or tag @PeloteroPickle on twitter

3:53 - We get into Kevin’s background as a D2 player and his path to being an everyday big leaguer.

10:24 - (Audio for Chris and Kevin Improves!) Kevin talks about his summer ball experiences and what it was like playing with guys from “better schools” than him.

20:20 - Kevin talks about facing tougher pitchers and the evolution of hitting development during his time in the MLB.

36:08 - Some talk about failure, the experience of being sent up and sent down, and maintaining positivity when things aren’t going well.

43:30 - The guys discuss the role of emotion in playing the game at the highest level. How does it change in the postseason?

1:00:10 - Kevin and Chris discuss the various injuries they’ve played through and the importance of wanting to be out there on the field.

1:04:06 - The guys discuss the confrontation between Machado and Tatis Jr. that was all over Twitter.

1:18:48 - Discussion on Bobby Dalbec’s turnaround this season including KP’s close friendship with “Heart Throb Bob”.

1:26:20 - Mailbag

1:39:50 - Bobby asks Kevin what it’s like to witness DeGrom.

1:51:26 - Who should win the MVP awards this year?

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