Christian Bergman's NL Central comments

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mikechamp
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Christian Bergman's NL Central comments

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These comments came from a chat with former MLB pitcher Christian Bergman that occurred on February 23. He is a former Rockies and Mariners pitcher who is now retired and is a multifamily real estate investor. You can check out his Instagram page here.

If you're asking, "who is this guy?"... I'm not surprised. He pitched for the Rockies in 2014-2016, and then for the Mariners in 2017-2018.

He mentioned a current and a couple former NL Central participants, so those are in there. More importantly, he was about as open as you can get during this chat, and covered a lot of topics. I won't be able to share them all, but as I've said before, the insight into other issues is what I'm finding cool about these player chats. Read the bonus Q&As! And if you want, click on the link and read the entire chat.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://www.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat- ... 12469.html

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Hey Christian, thanks for joining us. Who was the best player you’ve seen in the field & the best hitter you’ve faced?

Christian Bergman
Nolan Arenado is the best player I've ever seen in person, probably on both sides of the ball. Best hitter I've faced was probably Trout, but for some reason I didn't have any issues with him.
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In 2015, you were in the bullpen with John Axford, who was the Rockies closer that year. I know he has a huge personality. Who were some of the best bullpen personalities you were with and are there any stories you can tell about them.

Christian Bergman
That was a great bullpen we had that year. Ax was an awesome teammate. We also had Chad Qualls, Jason Motte, and Boone Logan. Qualls was a constant source of entertainment. One of my favorite memories isn't really a bullpen story, but has to do with Axford. That year we opened up in Milwaukee and obviously Ax is a legend there. We had our bullpen dinner at one of his favorite steakhouses that he used to go to. We were sitting down in a private dining room, and a few minutes before our steaks came, the owner came down and presented Ax with his customized, engraved steak knife in a wood box that they keep at the restaurant for whenever he comes in.
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Griffey or Trout as your CF?

Christian Bergman
Oh man, I'd have to go with The Kid though
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How was pitching in Colorado, did the elevation mess with you? Did you ever find yourself saying, "That's a pop up" and it just goes out of the field?

Christian Bergman
In Colorado at least, the hard part wasn't as much popups turning into HRs, it was more getting your pitches to do what you wanted. When I was in Colorado Springs, I had to take about 5 mph off my curveball just to get it to do what I wanted it to do. If you overthrow a pitch it tends to just go straight so margin for error is small. Worst park I ever pitched in was probably Reno - a lot of routine flyballs did turn into homers there.
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In what way did analytics help improve your game? Did you notice one club as significantly better than another in this regard?

Christian Bergman
They weren't a huge help to me. I think it's very appropriate that the one new analytic stat that I was good at was spin efficiency - my fastball was consistenly 99-100%. It's probably one of the least sexy numbers and one that wasn't looked at that closely.
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As someone who wasn't a high draft pick, how do you feel about fans who generalize the current owners/players battle as millionaires versus billionaires when it's a whole lot more nuanced than that?

Christian Bergman
I'm glad there are people out there that understand this aspect of baseball. We could have a whole discussion about this very topic. But it's important to point out that I got a lot further in terms of service time than a lot of guys I played with, but I played 10 professional seasons and never reached arbitration. As far Super 2 goes, you only get one shot at it. None of the players are asking for anyone's sympathy, we all understand that we are fortunate to play a game for a living. That doesn't mean we just throw our hands up and give in to the teams every demand and unwind everything they've fought for. If we never unionized, the league minimum would be whatever it was 30 years ago - just look at MILB to see what happens. If you give an inch, they will take a mile. And I saw that first hand in the way they treat players sometimes
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Did you ever use the sticky to help with grip or movement?

Christian Bergman
I did use sticky to help with my grip. The problem is they rub the balls up with that mud 3 hours before the game, which subsequently dries out. So by the time you get it, it feels like it's covered in baby powder and you could easily have a cutter slip out and hit someone in the head. Now I can't deny that it does add spin rate and movement - that's pretty much a fact. But pitchers need something to be able to control the ball
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Hey Christian, we've all heard stories of what minor leaguers have to go through just to even be considered. I imagine the effort and energy off the field in day to day life is exhausting. Is the mental health of players a big issue in the minors? What resources does the MLB/MiLB provide for players' mental health?

Christian Bergman
A minor league season can definitely wear on you. Travel, food, etc. isn't the best to consistently perform at your best over the course of 5 months with about 7 off days, which tend to be travel days. Teams do provide players with resources if they need help. I think it affects performance more than people realize, and just because we're playing a game doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows.
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Interested in your thoughts on the financial challenges MiLB players face, possible solutions and why there is no MiLB players Union?

Christian Bergman
Milb players need to be paid a livable wage and provided with tools and resources to succeed, mainly food. I would have run out of money if I had to spend one more month in Colorado Springs. Trust me, I wasn't eating $100 steak dinners every night. I was bringing food home from the clubhouse. If you have a family to support, forget it. Unfortunately the solution so far has been to cut minor league teams, which is a loss to those communities. An Milb union would be incredibly hard to organize, I know that.
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Did you learn anything from baseball that has helped you in your real-estate endeavors?

Christian Bergman
So many lessons from baseball that I apply to my everyday life and business. One being you have to put the work in for long periods of time sometimes before you see any results. Too many people, in any endeavor, only go skin deep and quit at the first sign of adversity.
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Do you think we’ll ever see a female pitcher or position player in MLB? If so, what position would be “easiest” for them to break in as?

Christian Bergman
I don't see any reason why not. I don't think it has to be an easy position either. If someone hits bombs, has 80 grade speed, or throws 98 then who cares? I think chances were better when more strategic baseball had more value - command, defense, etc. In other words, I don't think I would get drafted today because I threw 88.
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If you get added to the 40 man roster but are still playing in the minors, is your minor league salary higher than those players who are not on the 40-man roster?

Christian Bergman
Highly dependent on the contract. When I was a minor league FA we would negotiate three numbers: MLB salary, 40 man minor league salary, minor league salary. It's possible one player's minor league salary (if they were a FA) could be higher than someone else's 40 man minor league salary.

And reminds me of one more myth - you do not get lifetime healthcare by playing one day in the big leagues. You get MLB healthcare for the calendar year if you play one day, but you have to accumulate 4+ years of MLB service time to even have access to pay for the MLB healthcare after retirement. I ended with 2 years 130ish days of service and I don't have access to that plan.
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