Cory Wade'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

Cory Wade's NL Central comments

Post by mikechamp »

These comments came from a chat with former MLB pitcher Cory Wade that occurred on January 26. He played for the Dodgers and Yankees, as well as in the minors for the Rays, Cubs, Mets and Royals. He spent 9 years scouting for the Padres before joining a startup app focused on sports scouting (ScoutUsPro.com).

Not very many NL Central questions, so I threw in a few bonus Q&As. As always, click on the link to read the entire chat.

The link to the entire chat can be found here: https://live.jotcast.com/chat/live-chat ... 14866.html

-----------------------------------------------------------------
In MLB what was your favorite ballpark to go to on the road and do you go out & explore the city when on the road?

Cory Wade
My favorite ballpark to visit was PNC. That place is so underrated. The view you get at that place is next to none. But as far as the atmosphere goes it's hard to beat Fenway or Wrigley. Such nostalgic places to play and the fans were engaged from the word "Go". And as far as exploring the cities, most of the guys would go around and take tours of cool spots in each city when time allowed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Best player you've scouted in person?

Cory Wade
Easy one. Elly de la Cruz. Dude is an absolute beast.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Hi Cory. Thanks for sitting in today. When you - or any pitcher - develops a major arm injury, how does it affect your psyche? Does it raise your anxiety? How scared are you that that could be your career? What went through your head?

Cory Wade
I was unfortunately a person that had to deal with this in his career. When pitchers or players have major injuries it can affect your psyche. That is easily the biggest hurdle because it's in the back of your head that you will injure yourself again. But once your make your initial rehab outing and you come out ok you begin to feel much more relaxed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks for chatting with us, Cory. The first time you took the mound in the postseason did it feel different for you? Or as a player do you try to put that out of your mind out there?

Cory Wade
Taking the mound the first time in the postseason was vastly different then the regular season. The air was different and the atmosphere in the stadiums was much more tense. But once you started actually playing your instincts have a tendency to take over and it's just another day. Most of that anxiety we feel is all prior to the games. Once the games start going it levels off. But there is nothing like playing in the post season.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Who was your first big strike out? Like “dang, this guy is someone I watched or is a future HOF”.

Cory Wade
I always tried to stay pretty level headed playing the game, but my first time turning into a fan was facing Chipper Jones. Like I mentioned in another post I was an avid Braves fan growing up. So facing Chipper was a dream. I was able to strike him out, which had me on cloud 9, but then I never came down and promptly gave up back to back HRs on 2 pitches to Tex and McCann. That humbled me real quick. But oh well, I struck out my favorite player growing up.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
How do you feel about the potential of a standardized sticky substance for pitchers to use? With the scandal a couple seasons ago and the advent of young pitchers throwing more and more gas with less and less control it could be an interesting thing if made available to everyone to be fair across the board.

Cory Wade
I do think they should have a universal substance for pitchers that isn't rosin. Hitters have with with pine par. And I would venture a guess most hitters would agree. It's intimidating standing in a box with guys throwing 100 mph and little feel to where it might go. It would def level the playing field.
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Tags:

Post Reply