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#UNC coach Scott Forbes after Tar Heels lose series finale against Miami
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All
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right, everybody good? I'll start with
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that first. Um, beautiful Sunday, great
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crowd. Thankful for that. Um, honestly,
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I'm just thankful that we won the series
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cuz I'm not sure if we hit over 200. I
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know they probably didn't either. Uh,
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but at the end of the day, we won the
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series, had a chance to sweep, didn't
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get it done. Um, I
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still don't think we're playing close to
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what we're capable of playing top to
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bottom. Obviously, everybody's going to
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talk about the offense and uh they're
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not wrong from the standpoint we haven't
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sworn the bats very well, especially in
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ACC play, but we've still managed to win
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games, won two or four series, told the
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guys today we're 21 and seven, and we
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just haven't played that well. So, take
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that for what you want to, but we're
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going to start playing better. We got a
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great group. Uh I thought we pitched the
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heck out of it. Um and they they got it
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done today. They played a little bit
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better than we did, and so credit to
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them. What do you think is the biggest
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kind of hurdle for the guys at the plate
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offensively? I mean, if I if I had the
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answer to that, man, as a baseball
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coach, just to to get those hitters
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going that fast, it's contagious. Um,
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and this weekend, I mean, I don't know
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off top of my head, but I don't know if
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Luke and Keley at the top, I I I don't
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think they got on base much, and I don't
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think they had many hits. Um, you got to
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be careful chasing hits, but I would
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venture to say that they did kept even
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have a hit. Y'all know better than me. I
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wouldn't think so. and and and that's
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that's where I'm saying like, okay,
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well, some other guys did enough and we
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pitched it enough and we picked it up
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enough um to find a way. So, uh I don't
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think there's you just I'm one of those
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that I'm not going to over analyze it.
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We're just going to go back to work
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tomorrow and do what we've done, work
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with our guys, not overthink video, and
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just keep working. What does it say
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about these this pitching rotation,
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these starters, because they seem to be
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playing with such kind of a razor thin
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margin for error? Yeah, they're all
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right with it. Um, you know, and we've
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won games in different ways. I explained
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to the guys down there, you know, you go
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back and one of the better teams we beat
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early on was Kansas State. We won 12 to
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nine. Um, so we have found different
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ways to to win. We found different ways
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to lose. It just seems like when we have
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lost, we have not scored at all. Um, but
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we've also not made some plays, had some
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bad base running, uh, given them extra
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outs. Uh, but our pitchers are going to
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give us a chance. The pitching staff
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starting to come together. Um, I thought
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Fulier looked great. I thought looked
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great. I just like to match up better
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with Fulier um once he got
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ready. Um, so I think that's a good
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thing. We have a chance to win every
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game. We can defend. Uh, we just have to
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understand that we are where we are
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offensively and we're not going to hit
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340 with 100 home runs. So, what's our
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identity going to be? I mean, it needs
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to be just hard-nosed toughness. Just
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trying to have great at bats, not
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looking at your batting average and
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carrying yourself the right way and
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going from bat to bat. What did you see
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from Walker and did you decide you were
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going to leave him in when you visited
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him? Yeah, I thought he looked great.
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Um, you know, he had great stuff again.
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Uh, you know, Gavin was in between. We
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throw that ball the first. We might
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walk uh right there. there. I have to go
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back and look at that's a tough play
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because I think the the base runner was
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going to try to run as soon as he threw
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the ball. Um but no, I thought he looked
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great and I mean you know you're not
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he's human. I mean the kids I think our
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punisher hitting 140 off the guy and
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their best player got a big hit when
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they needed it most and I don't think he
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had a hit the whole weekend. Maybe one
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other one had some really rough at bats
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and that's what it takes in this league.
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I mean, you usually go out there with a
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hook, but Oh, I was I wasn't even
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talking to him about pitching. I was
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talking to him about our defense and
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trying to defend the safety. We thought
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that left-handed hitter was going to
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safety. Uh, so we put a play on to to
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defend that and um, you know, we got two
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strikes on. We hit that ground ball to
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Gavin. We didn't grab any type of out.
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Uh, and that that hurt us a little bit,
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but we'll learn from it and move on. But
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it was I was never thinking about taking
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them out. What do you kind of say to the
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offense when is it an encouraging thing
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that they only have four strikeouts yet
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they're not always getting the ball in
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those gaps? I would definitely say
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that's encouraging because if you're not
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getting hits and you're striking out all
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the time, that's a really bad
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combination. Um, so really hitting, you
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know, that's where playing uh coaching
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long
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enough, you know, people think I'm just
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going to rip them. I'm going to get
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hitting's
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hard and if
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anything guys just start pressing and
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they start looking at their batting
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average. So more just saying hey guys
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like your batting average starts today
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and the next day your batting average
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starts today instead of trying to climb
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out of a hole if you think you're going
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to if you're hitting 210 and you think
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you're going to hit 420 on the season
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it's not going to happen. So I believe
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hitting being a hitting coach you look
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at it in the major league it's the one
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is the hardest thing to do because you
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fail the most. So the feedback we get
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from major leaguers that have played
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here are ones we talked to the best
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hitting coaches and best coaches it's
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just not that big a deal and as long as
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there's effort as long as they're
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competing um you know cuz if you're
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yelling and you're negative it just
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doesn't work in this sport. Similarly
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like I mean you've talked in the past
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about you know coming back from a
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stellar freshman season to a sophomore
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year and just kind of replicating that
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success with Gavin in particular. Just
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kind of what are you seeing right now
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with the approach up there? He's
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struggling. Um, you know, he he's
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definitely he's been pressing and but
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you know, these guys find out quickly.
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You get pitched different, too, when
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you've been in the league longer. I
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mean, I was a pitching coach a long
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time. My my goal is to figure you out,
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to find your holes. Um, and there's a
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difference between hitting in the four
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hole and hitting in the seven hole. Uh,
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because you're going to be pitched at a
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higher level there, too, because of
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because of your performance. So really,
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I think if anything, just dealing with
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the failure side of it and understanding
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that, hey, it is what it is and you can
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either feel sorry for yourself or and
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pout about it or just get through it.
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With him, you know, he hasn't been
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getting the pull side nearly as much as
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last year. Kind of like what's kind of
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the key to unlocking that maybe a little
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bit more. Teams are just, you know, just
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throwing him down and away. Exactly what
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I would do. And until the young man
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makes the adjustment, that is what
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happens. Uh, so we have to make that
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adjustment because if I'm pitching to
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Gavin Gallagher, I'm not going in.
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That's where he wants the ball. So you
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as a hitter, you have to be able to
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adjust, be able to drive the ball up the
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middle more and then still believe in
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yourself that you can pull the ball and
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pull mistakes and that's what he hasn't
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done, but we'll get them there. How do
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you go about making an adjustment with a
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hitter such like that in practice when
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you're not maybe seeing live arms? You
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just work in the cages. Um, that's where
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you learn and get better as a hitter. It
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always takes the hitter that you're
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working with to be willing sometimes to
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make change. Um, and that can be hard
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when you've been so talented and and
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you've done it your whole life. But the
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best like you know, Michael Bush, um,
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you can name a ton of them. Kyle Seager
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doesn't they they if you told them
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here's what you need to do, they were
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sponges. They were open to it. Um, and
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that's that's the the best trait of
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great players. They're they're extremely
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coachable and they're open to change. Do
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you use those examples for younger guys
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that realistically think they know it
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all? Absolutely. And you can show them
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the best guy change. You can too. Yeah.
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And we're in a different phase now. You
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know, when you you've noticed things
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have changed some. There's there's out
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there's hitting coaches on the outside.
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There's, you know, a lot of
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distractions. And uh you know, I'm just
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thankful that I didn't grow up in those
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distractions and that Harvey Ford, bless
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his heart, said, "Hey, you know,
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whatever so and so tells you to do, I
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would try to do it." Um and and that's
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that's still though, those are examples
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you use. Like that's what makes him
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good. Michael Jordan, you read about
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him, unbelievably coachable. Um he
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didn't just wake up and be that good. So
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that's what you reiterate to guys. And
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unfortunately, a lot of times with
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certain kids, it takes failing to be
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like, "Hey, you know, like maybe I do
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need to make these changes." Uh, so
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that's what you're hoping will be the
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case cuz I think we have great kids and
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I think they're all coachable. We talked
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Friday and Saturday that you got to go
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to the best choice, the best option for
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your pitching. You only used two
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relievers in those days. Was today the
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best option? And did you know that you
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wanted Walker right out of the gate
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after Aiden? Yeah, honestly it Aiden
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wasn't as sharp as he had been. Um, and
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we wanted to go to Maddie in the middle
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and we felt like Walker had probably 30
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to 40 pitches in the tank. Um, so it
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worked out pretty good about like we
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wanted to except we'd like Aiden to go a
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little bit longer and then go to McDuffy
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in a perfect world 89 or just nine maybe
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loose fulier use Olan but Walker was our
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best reliever in a high leverage
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situation. Um, and he showed that I mean
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but he just had to stay out there
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because we had to bring him in a little
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bit early probably. Did the shorter week
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have any kind of bearing on bringing
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Aiden in early? I don't think so. Um,
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Aiden works. I mean, if anything, you
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might not have quite your fast ball, but
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he's still so good and gave us a chance
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to win. Um, you know, but we went into
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this game thinking, okay, here's it
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played out about like we wanted it to,
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except for the the win loss, and we
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didn't score enough runs. Um, because if
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we're if we have a little bit more of a
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lead, we may not go to to Walker early
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in that situation. Will we go to him in
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the seventh? and he gets out of it.
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Yeah. So, he gave us two clean innings
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without a run and the goal was two
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innings only, but he had to go back out
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there for that third, unfortunately.
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Thanks, coach. Thank y'all. Y'all good
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y'all see
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