Collin Balester's NL Central comments

Discuss all things Cardinals Baseball
Post Reply
User avatar
mikechamp
Hall Of Famer
Posts: 10132
Joined: April 17 06, 5:05 pm
Location: Southwestern Illinois

Collin Balester's NL Central comments

Post by mikechamp »

These comments came from a chat with former MLB pitcher Collin Balester that occurred on January 30. He played "played 15 seasons professionally with the Expos/Nationals, Tigers, Rangers, Pirates, and the Reds, and also a small stint in Korea with the Samsung Lions". He now runs a juice shop with his wife and does logistics for a trucking company. If you remember who he was, then bonus points to you!!

A handful of NL Central questions, so I included 3 bonus Q&As. As always, click on the link below to read the entire chat.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat ... 14943.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Favorite Minor League and Major League city?

Collin Balester
Minor league would be Savannah, Charlotte, Columbus
MLB city would be New York, Seattle, Anaheim, Miami, Chicago and Milwaukee
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Which big league park has the best and worst mound and overall facilities?

Collin Balester
None. But if we are talking about bullpens I hated warming up on the on-field bullpens like Wrigley and Oakland and I swear that in St. Louis the rubber was off like half inch and caused you to throw across your body lol.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Toughest batter you ever faced?

Collin Balester
Pujols, Griffey, Hunter Pence and believe it or not, Madison Bumgarner and Dontrelle Willis lol.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What's more challenging: surfing a 30 foot wave or facing Albert Pujols?

Collin Balester
30 foot wave by far. Have you ever been held under the water for a minute after going over the falls on a 30 foot wave? lol
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Did you ever talk to Rick Ankiel about the yips? P.S. The most amazing thing I ever saw at an MLB game was an Ankiel throw from CF - the catcher didn't move his glove even a millimeter.

Collin Balester
We spoke a little bit about that bc I asked him if he would ever pitch again and he said never ever ever ever. He would throw flat grounds and he had a nasty curve.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Do you like the new rules? Pitch clock, limited throws to 1B?

Collin Balester
No! I liked Baseball the way its always been for hundreds of years but at the same time I get it!
-----------------------------------------------------------------
For a teenage pitcher, what is the best advice on how to gain velocity?

Collin Balester
Get a good program for running after pitching. Long toss Long toss Long toss and more long toss. Get a Jaeger Bands and do those before and after throwing and get your mind right, have the mind of a bulldog and know and trust in your stuff and have conviction in what stuff YOU have, not what others have.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
What was it like pitching with Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander? How is Max on game day?

Collin Balester
It was awesome those are unreal pitchers and getting to watch them warm up and dominate on the mound was awesome. Max was great on game days he was just chill and did his thing and once he got on the mound he was a bull dog, Verlander was locked in from the second he came into the clubhouse on game day and you had to stay out if his way, He had his same training table and trainer and shower and everything and you just wanted to stay out of his way so he could dominate on the mound.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tags:

Post Reply