Should Home Run Derby Hitters Stop Using Their Dads As Pitchers? | Pat McAfee Show

Rutschman, you talk about that story with his dad thrown through him. I know, as soon as I watch the highlights, I'm like, this ************ should've hit right-handed the whole time. Seems like righty only knows how to hit home runs. A lot of pressure on the pitcher. This is, I think, my big takeaway every single year is the amount of pressure that is on these ******* pitchers. And I respect and appreciate whenever nice, like Bryce Harper and his dad, I remember that amazing moment. Rutschman last night and his dad, that's an amazing moment. And, oh, this is my coach from college or high school that's coming to throw to me or whatever. And it's like, bro, I don't know if that's who I want floating them in there for me. If I'm actually trying to win this, it'd be hard not. I know Mookie did not like whoever's throwing the ball to him, I can tell you that, because his pitcher was stink. He was a bum. That's Pac-Man Jones, obviously 14-year NFL vet, a man who's a pro-ball, all-pro, and a guy that is electrifying on a microphone. And then the man in the cowboy hat over there is one half of the hammer. Dad! Cowboys, Tone Diggs. Tone, if you were gonna be in, you grew up playing baseball, and for those that don't remember, and Nick, you're gonna have to help me out here with some of the facts and stats. Tone Diggs was the catcher of a high school baseball team that was number one in the country. Wow. They were number one. Number one in the state. And country. What were you guys, what were you guys in the country, though? Like 21st, something like that. Jeez. Okay. Oh, top 21 in the country, top 20, that's pretty good. Yeah, a lot of people play baseball in the country, so top 21 in the country is obviously insane, and Tone was a massive part of that, not only on the field, on the diamond, in the batter's box, but also as a human. You know, the vibes and the background. First round of the playoffs, that particular team that was the caulk of the walk of our high school for a few months, they got 25 runs or something. No! Yeah, yeah. I get the exact, but Tone, I know if your baseball life would've gone on to become a professional, and you would've done a home run derby, are you picking coach to throw you balls? Because I honestly believe the pitcher is an actual tag team partner in this ******* home run derby, and it never really gets talked about until it gets talked about. Like, it gets talked about when Mookie's pissed off. It gets talked about when it's like, hey, we need these pitches a little bit more high and inside. It's like, these motherfuckers haven't thrown 20 consecutive baseballs in maybe 30 years. Like, what are we even, we're expecting them just to be good. I almost feel like you should take it out of the players' hands if they can't pick their tag. Like, hey, we have a new rule. You can't have your high school baseball coach that hasn't picked up a mitt in four years. You actually have to have the guy that throws to you every single day, because there, did you know what he just said about Mookie Betts' pitcher? Like, that guy doesn't do that. No, no, no. Brutal. He's not the only one, though, by the way. These people are being judges. These people are being judges, ******* professional athletes, and I'm like, what a cool moment, but also a nightmare, potentially, there, if you just, you gotta accidentally just get tight in your shoulder a little bit, and that ball, we've seen really good athletes throw opening pitches at games. Sure, it's tough. Really good athletes. It is not ******* easy just to groove in baseballs. 41 in one round, that means he had to throw like 45 perfect pitches, 47 perfect pitches. Like, that's a tough task. Who would you have picked, Cone, if you had to do it, and what do you think they should think about, and should the MLB tell them, no more feel-good ----. We need actual BP coaches. Pack talked about Mookie, ******* Alonzo's guy, and it's weird there because he's been in it so many times. He's won twice or whatever. He was throwing ******* sinkers, low and outside, so Alonzo was having a hard time, and he wasn't hitting him 41, so that doesn't matter anyways, and I love and I respect Coach, my father. Whoa. His father's father. I respect him, too, but Coach was always the third base coach because he didn't have the best pitching motion, the best pitching arm, so he was never gonna be my guy there. I would just take the guy that would throw me BP every single day because why the **** wouldn't you, to be honest with you? But I like the story, though. Joining us now is a man who's currently the president of the state of Ohio, a little bit early on this particular Tuesday. If I'm in that batter's box, because punting and kicking, kind of like a home run derby, you know what I mean? I'm trying to hit a ******* rocket every single time, so my snapper matters. My snapper matters for rhythm. It matters for off and running, and if my snapper's not good, that ******'s cut. You know what I mean? He is, hey, see you later. In the home run derby, which is the most eyes that a lot of these guys are gonna get, they're signing up Evan Fox to throw for them because he's a brand. I'm like, this ****** can't put the ball, you know what I mean, AJ? It's a weird thing that is cool because it's sentimental, but also it's like, eh, they're about to get cooked. You know what I mean? I guess you never know until you get out there when the bright lights are on you. It is not an easy thing to do to groove pitches over and over and over again in that stage, but that dude, Adley Rutschman, however you say his last name, the Orioles catcher, that dude was bombing the ball, and his dad was pitching to him, but his dad was like his coach growing up, all of this stuff. His dad was grooving it, and unfortunately, we only got to see him in the first round because old buddy came out and knocked 28 right after he got 27. I love it. I love his dad doing it. I hope his dad gets on some TRT and everything and is doing his next one. I mean, that's basically what Harper's dad was doing pretty much. Well, and like you said, Pat, he was grooving them, but his pace was all fucked up. Like, he was kind of like admiring- Rhythm, rhythm. Yeah, he was admiring his son's homers, and you could see the catcher kept saying like, hey, let's go. You gotta ******* keep throwing him balls because he's in a groove right now, and if he would've, you know, he probably saw 12 less pitches than the guy he was going against did, so like, he performed as well as he could've, but he had no chance to actually move on to the next round. Yeah, and I bet on Rushman. I love the guy. I really do. I wanted him to do well. There's this cool clip. Well, this sounds like you don't. Hold on, hold on. There's this cool clip of him in his first game. He takes his catcher mask off. He looks around the stadium. You can really tell it's sinking in. His dad just needed to shut the **** up and stop talking while he was pitching him the ball. I don't know if anyone else heard this, but he kept saying like, good hit, good, stay locked in, stay locked in, but he kind of screwed his kid over. Like, I assume, Adley, once he got- See, this is what I'm talking about. This cannot be the conversation. The MLB needs to do something for this not to be the conversation. Like, just have an all-time pitcher out there. Sure, yeah. One pitcher for all of them would make, you know, sense. That's a lot of balls, though. I mean, that's a lot of balls. Juice up his arm, yeah. So then one American League, one National League, maybe. One guy for one side of the bracket. But some of the guys that were on, didn't you see, Pat? Some of the guys that were, you know, having an off-night pitching, some of them were their normal BP pitchers, weren't they? I think some of them actually were. Yeah, anybody can have a bad night. That's why, like, adding in, like, oh, the guy's 55 years old and hasn't thrown balls in ******* six years, like, I assume, I'm not 100% sure, humans are humans, always have been, there's a chance that the homo sapien body of the arm gives out, you know what I mean? And if there's, how much money's on the line in this entire thing? I think it's a million bucks, yeah. I think they get a truck, too. Yeah, and a truck. I've seen robots hit holes in one, okay, on golf courses. Yep. And they do it over and over and over. Why do we not have a robot? Oh, town wants AI to take over your job. I don't want the robot to have a brain. I don't want the robot to have a brain, okay? I just want the robot to do one thing, and that's one thing only, and that's groove high and inside fastballs, okay? But if you got the pitching machine, you better don't get the rotation of the ball coming out of the pitcher hand. That's a whole lot different than a guy throwing the ball. Now, that's part of it. I think it's part of it. You're pitching, this is all part of it, I think. You gotta, yeah, I think it's a variable that they need to have. I think they should continue the way they're doing, and hey, you gotta step up to the plate if you're the pitcher. You gotta figure it out. I agree. I agree it's a tag team, but I just hope the players actually test their dad or their high school before we get out there in front of the *******. Pat, do you know they did that? Rutschman, they said he and his dad were in Yankee Stadium a couple weeks before working on home run derby stuff and how they were gonna do it, I guess. I love it. I love that they're doing that. He had a great performance, obviously. Yeah, one round. Pat, you're telling me you wouldn't want Tim McAfee out there on the mound, homing balls right over the plate, meatballs for you to just take deep center field. I love Tim McAfee, okay? But Tim McAfee ain't won that job either. You know what I mean? Tim would be there. He'd be very supportive, and if I asked him to do that, he'd be like, all right, ****, I'll figure out how to do this. He'd probably create something that would make his arm be able to be, this makes an arm most repeatable like he would do. That is what Tim would do, but I would not want to put my dad in that situation where he's potentially gonna get it on the shins. Real hard, you know what I mean? Let alone me being super competitive. I'm taking, instead of a night off, which a lot of these guys do, I'm getting winded. Those motherfuckers are tired, we're talking. So I'm, hey dad, I'm trying to win a million bucks, and I'm working my ass off here. Let's ****, Tim doesn't want to deal with that either. He doesn't want to deal with me going like, arrest, Thanksgiving next year, you know what I mean? Christmas, New Year's, birthday. Somebody, not me, not me, but somebody's gonna be like, so what happened there late, Tim? You little. Kind of fucked it up. Well, my machine, my machine, I had it. And then I'm gonna have to answer, it's like, I love the sentimentalness of it all, and I appreciate it, but also like, let's make sure we're not putting somebody out to the pasture here too, you know what I mean? Cause when it, it doesn't show up until it shows up. That's kind of the old saying, you know what I mean? It doesn't show up till it shows up.