12:05
Seeing Smitty not there, I think we I in specific took for granted how much he uh carried for us, especing side and now seeing Rush kind of going through it and seeing like how hard it is for him and how he's stepping up and he is he's doing his best like he's from he needs experience, right? And this is his experience and I feel like he's learning on the fly. He is getting better. he's getting better and it takes a little time, right? But, um, you know, seeing not having Smitty and seeing what he did on the pit for the pitching staff on top of hitting makes me really appreciate, wow, Will Smith really does do a lot for us. And now having Rush try and step in and do that, that's really hard for him, especially being a rookie.
Yeah. Well, let's start by saying Rush is doing an amazing job. He's doing an amazing job. Um, but like you said, it does make you appreciate exactly what Will does and you know, Will was the same when he was at that stage. Will had to learn and you know Will had to learn with Kersh you know which is much tougher a little bit tougher you know I mean uh you know and I think but I also think that's one of the things that was good for Will and I think you know you look at what Rush is doing with Shi and with Yama like it's good for him to understand um and you know we talk about this in the infield all the time like why we called in certain pitches and these situations and you know not that we're second guessing anybody, but you just you start getting
this feel for the game that I think Rush is still learning. You know, sometimes it's okay to get away from what the sheet is telling you to call. You know, it and that was the thing that I think Will learned with Kersh a lot cuz I mean, what's Kersh throwing? He's throwing a fast ball slider and it's going to be in to a right-handed batter. Mhm. Well, there's a lot of times when Will would look at the sheet and be like, "Well, we can't throw a slider to this guy. He hits it and it's like that's what Kersh is going to throw. That's his best pitch. He needs to throw
it." And I think that help will learn sometimes it's okay to go off script and you know do things that maybe the data says is not what you should do. And I think, you know, that's one thing that I that we would agree Rush is learning, especially with Showi. Show wants to throw certain pitches in certain locations. And maybe the data says that's not the best thing to do. But, you know, when the pitcher is convicted in doing that, you have to go off what the pitcher wants, especially when it's a guy like Shi Yama, you know, I mean, really everybody in our staff at some point, you know, he'll be when Snell and all these guys get back, like he'll be catching all these those guys. And like, you know, there's times where,
hey, that's probably not the pitch you should throw, but that's what the pitcher really wants to throw. And so, you got to let him do it, and you got to make sure you're behind him. And, you know, I think that's that's one of the things that Rush is learning. And it's um yeah, it does make you appreciate Will because Will's grown so much in that aspect of it that, you know, there's no second guessing what he's calling back there. And the pitchers have given full trust to Will and, you know, I feel like Will's hardly ever shaken off like, yeah, not very, very few times. And um you know you we go to Will. One of the things I love when Yama's pitching and you know I know you've seen this
Yama goes to his pitchcom, right? And he'll call a pitch and he looks at Will and he's like and you know he wants to make sure Will thinks it's a good pitch to throw. But and then that's where Will's like, if that's what you want to throw, then yes. Like that's that's the best pitch you should throw. For sure. I knew and then I know I want to speak a little bit about that the situation in Minnesota with uh with Rush and Show. Obviously, we all, you know, everybody kind of saw it. Um that was really kind of a I feel like a huge moment for Rush there. Um when they go down and whatnot, you know, we got to go down and look at me and you down there. We just being nosy. being Wait, what y'all doing down there?
Yeah, that's that's what I was being nosy, man. Uh, you know, I was really just kind of seeing how this is going to play out, you know, like what was possibly going to be said. I think it was a good I think it was a good growing moment. Yeah, for sure. You know, obviously you don't want any of that to happen with your teammates, but um I think it's a good growing moment for both guys because you know, show's not always going to be able to throw to Will, right? And you know, for Rush, he's got to learn that there's, and this is one of those moments where it was like, hey, sometimes show wants to throw a pitch that maybe isn't the
best pitch to throw. And I think that's what Rush was kind of learning in that moment. And um, you know, sometimes things can speed up during the game. And, uh, I think that's a little bit what happened there. And again, like we've said before, that's experience that you just you learn how to deal with that the more you've been in those types of situations. And I what I really enjoyed was like how Rush later on took accountability. Um and he knows that he has a lot on his plate. He really knows it. You're being you're you're the catcher for a staff that's you know first in baseball for in a lot of categories. So you know yeah that's a lot on your plate
and he's done an amazing job handling it. He's done a great job handling and handling it and I think uh you know he'll he'll just keep learning. He'll just keep learning and then as Smitty comes back, I'm sure he'll learn even quicker, you know. Look, not one of us knew how to handle that situation at that stage. No, no, we all had to learn. Everybody does. I mean, how many times were you peeking around the corner and I was breaking a bat down in the tunnel or something, you know? It which I love, by the way. I love that. But, you know, like we've all been there. You have to learn. You have to grow. And you can't do that until you've experienced it. And you know that's just that's what he's going through right now.
Yeah. Exactly.
