GRIFFIN CONINE JOINS LONG TOSSIN'

well Griffin we really do appreciate you joining us on this Friday are we Friday San Francisco holy buckets this season goes crazy uh finally got rid of the family right you're you're by yourself now in San Francisco yeah just me just me so man what is I guess we'll first start with the OBS what what has been uh this week been like has it settled in just give us everything yeah uh a whirlwind um I guess that's obvious uh feel like things move really fast you know obviously a lot of guys say the same thing that uh your first couple days are blur and just do your best to to be present and take it all in and um I feel like I did a good job of that in in Colorado uh not too much cuz like you don't want to be taking everything in could be overwhelming so uh just picking my spots to um just enjoy the park and and and realize where I'm at and and all the work it took to get there when we had your dad on I don't know if I've ever seen him as emotional he said it's the most nervous he's ever been he's played in World Series he's made great throws did you think pops would be as emotional as he was getting to see his son fulfill his lifelong dream I think um yeah it's tough with with him he's a very stoic guy I think anyone that has covered him or or seen him play or any of that knows uh he's very even Keel with everything and I think uh that's what made him such a consistent player um but obviously cool to cool to see him uh show some emotion and uh I think it was you know as a long time coming as it was there's such a buildup of of things like that so I think I knew uh it'd be a real special you know time for for both of us could you give us any insight of some conversations that you had with him did he break down a little bit did he see any point this week he give you anything that will always stick with you I think I think it actually came um weeks before uh in Jacksonville he came up and uh we kind of just it was after all the trades went down and you know there's so much craziness going on and um a lot of guys getting opportunities and he kind of just came up and that was like his time to tell me to just focus up basically and uh you know don't treat it as as if you're getting passed up in this opportunity there's still time you know you have a crucial you know few weeks left of the Season here and um just stay on top of your stay on top of your stuff man he's like I know you how hard you worked and and the opportunity is there it's just uh you know you're going to have to wait for it and you're going to have to just make that last little step to earn it and um I think during these conversations uh yeah could tell he was a little you know that was where the emotion started to come out a little bit just cuz he knows uh he just goes you're so close man you are and uh I think there's times where I didn't know if I felt that as much as he did and it was always you know awesome to hear from him and and just get that little you know boost well we had him on a couple of weeks ago it was just amazing how high and he's your dad and I get that and we'll go away from the dad topic after this but he was so complimentary of just your discipline and just he goes you know what the the kid works like I can't say anything about about it he works he's disciplined he's smart and I just thought that was so amazing to hear just from your pops just forget the baseball just the discipline of it that you were ready for this man yeah absolutely I think uh you know I I live with my at my parents house and they off season um so they have a front door seat to like what goes into it and how I go about my stuff every day and um I think that's you know that's a big Testament as far as uh where where he gets that from and just being able to see it day in and day out especially in in the season it's easy because you uh you want to work every day and obviously you have eyes on you every day and the coaching staff whatever they're all here for you and and wanting you to be your best uh but I think the offseason's where it really kind of separates guys from there's no one watching you there's no one checking in like hey you got to get your work in today it's kind of just like it's on you that's your time to you know how bad you want it basically and and what are you going to do to take the next step when uh it's really easy to just say like I'm going to chill you know this is a long season I want to rest up and and and that stuff good and that's important but at the same time um you just got to know what it is you need to do to get there and I think uh that that line can be hazy at times but um he it's just a grind every day and I think that's uh he get he got to see a lot of that you know the past couple off seasons and and I think it's it probably you know feels really good for him to just see the gratification of of reaching the goal I'll ask you this then Griffin because I I think a lot of us and I remember chatting with you I think after the trade actually a couple of years ago maybe it was during Co we were on Zoom together uh for for a team podcast too we've all known your story you weren't a big Prospect in high school you started to Blossom late you went to Duke struggled and then you teed off your was your junior year right that you went crazy or was it your sophomore year um it's sophomore year had a good year the cape had a very good summer was the cape everything the turn you mentioned you and your dad talking in Jacksonville a few weeks ago but did did you ever waver in your belief that this opportunity was never going to come I mean how hard is it there are so many guys man that they wait and they feel like they're that close and the call Never Comes Is that is that the hard part or was that the hard part yeah I think absolutely I think also my position as far as um this being the seventh year of my of my deal that I'm going to be a free agent after the next year yeah um obviously that's changed now uh that still could could be a possibility I'm not going to think about that but at the same time uh that went into it as well where I was like you know if they don't see that with me as this being the future then it'd be easy for them to kind of just you know I could look elsewhere in the off season and and that could be what happens so I think that was on my mind heavy and uh but as far as dayto day you know I don't think the motivation ever wavered you know I knew that um with how much guys cycle in and out and how crazy it's been lately that uh there's no no reason for me to stop doing what I do and obviously even if they had told me like Hey we're there's no chance you getting up this year like plain and simple I think you know I'm still playing the game every day I I still want to you know finish the year strong and and going to the offseason strong and feeling good about about how the year ended cuz um it really it had been and has been you know the best year of my professional career and and made a lot of important adjustments and uh it's cool to see those kind of come to fruition and and still a lot of work to go and and I know that but at the same time you know kind of step back and just sometimes got to be like you know we're we're here like we we've made the adjustments that they're starting to show up and that's that's really encouraging have you bonded with John Jay over your love of skateboarding don't I remember you were big into skateboarding right and drawing you used to draw you still draw I remember you tell me you drew drawing um has has sort of taking a bit of a back seat uh to being a big league ball player is that right no no no Picasso um I think I think I'm really into a a music now I make music on my computer and that's kind of like the outlet for me you know I think younger AG what do you do yeah uh production mostly um all kinds of stuff will you walk up to that music I don't I've been asked that a lot I don't I don't know if uh if that will ever happen I we'll see I think I think uh now I'm not going to say it would be cringe you know obviously if I if I you're saying you know what I mean like I felt like if it was truly if it was truly something I loved and and could pump me up then then I would do it but Jose glaus the OMG right that is cool is it rap what are you doing like what uh it's like hip hop um a little edmy um you know stuff that's hard- hdden I like like loud drums and and kick drums and stuff like that so it's a little therapeutic then in your spare time oh yeah every road trip you'll see me uh with a computer and headphones on I love doing it on the plane okay and the skateboarding skateboard I still uh you know there's a a skateboard in my trunk at all times and it's not uh different than uh how when I was younger I'm not launching myself off steps and uh good answer yeah not not no nothing uh that could possibly get me hurt but I do like to just cruise around and uh that's good therapy as well back to the music are you like a John Summit guy like what what are we talking as far as EDM how I think um I mean I love the chain smokers I think that's probably the biggest like influence i i l them a lot um they have a lot of really cool videos on YouTube showing how they break down stuff how they come about it um mamasa as well is a really cool um and talented producer so I think I just like I like a lot of different stuff but I think those those kind of what did you pick it up was that Duke was that really it was um my a kid that lived directly across the hall from me um is a really talented singer um he was in an AC capella group at Duke and uh he actually lives um in LA and he was one of the first texts I got when uh when I was called up and so excited um here I think he's going to try we'll see um I I hope he's able to make it out um that'd be really cool to see him and connect again but uh um yeah that was kind of we collaborated on some stuff and that's kind of what what propelled it and then I stuck with it after wow is he big time in LA now is he singing he you know he's doing a lot of cool stuff he uh he wrote a musical um he's he's more on a Broadway kind of sense he was acting yeah so he's into all of it I I got to catch up with him and and find out what his his next move is but he's he's kind of he does a lot that's amazing and now we might get to see you play here in San Francisco are you are you a day-to-day guy do you look down the road cuz it's hard not to think I I know you just mentioned a couple of minutes ago like what's going to happen after this year right now that you're here are you very just present every morning you wake up every day it's just day to day or is it hard not to think about what the future lies yeah I think like you hit the nail in the head just day to day and um taking nothing for granted you know um trying to get comfortable you know trying to learn my T it's a whole new team you know a lot these guys I hadn't met I had met briefly um so just uh yeah taking it day by day I think just uh I can't afford to think about the future um at all right now so I think just uh trying to stay present do you feel as comfortable as you look out there no really like when we we're like yo it looks like this this guy's like been ready like for a while you don't look overmatch and here com you're going to strike out 10 times in a row but uh you know does it do you feel as comfortable as you look I I'll say like I think um I think the first couple days I would say no and then like it it it was surprised me how quickly it did feel normal though is it the speed what is it what is it that is so that next jump from AAA to the big Le that is just so like holy buckets I think it's a lot of things it's the speed it's um the brightness of everything the fact that you know all eyes are on you right like in AAA like you're not getting covered like you make a a blooper you make something something that happens that's not good like it's it's not going to be all over the all over the web you know what I mean so I think just knowing that and knowing like the gravity of you know winning how important winning is at this level like it's everything you know we want to win games even even the season how it's gone for us obviously like we want to finish strong here and put together good ball games and and use that as momentum towards next year so I think just all that is uh that heightened sense of of how everything matters you know whereas tripa of course it matters and they do preach winning and that's important but at the same time it's a lot about development and um just working on your craft and here it's like all right they keep your receipts up here exactly yeah you worked on your craft now it's like all right Make It Count like let's go so I so put me in the shoes of a place I'll never be when you make your debut on Monday ninth inning I get that's a tough situation is it the weakest you've ever felt in your knees like do can you compose yourself at all or what what happened then and then I'd ask you to take me into Tuesday and you get your first hit obviously it's the triple did everything players say this that it does when it happens it finally starts to slow down a little bit is there any truth to that yeah absolutely I think I think the way had your hand out here I thought it was gone too the way you held your hand when you hammered that thing God I thought maybe I thought maybe you know the elevation and all but um I think yeah like when I think back to the first that bat um I couldn't feel anything really I couldn't feel it's a tough place to be yeah like usually obviously you don't want to be thinking about uh stuff in the Box as far as your hitting goes and you know you want to be clear-headed and I don't think I was like had a flirt of thoughts but at the same time it was almost like approach seemed to go out the window like I wasn't you know I I look at the scouting report on what did they say again I knew I knew what I was looking for uh but at the same time like I got up there and I was just like every pitch I was like this might be the one like we got to go and like it was very rushed and um I think that's you know that's normal and I think the fact that I knew I was going to be pinch the whole game kind of played into think about it for hours like I almost would have rather him just said like hey grab a bat you're going to go and said of like knowing that like okay when's going to come is going to be the seventh going be the eighth who I'm going be facing so I'm taking swings in between Innings trying to get ready starting in like the fifth and uh by the time it finally got there I was so geared up that like I was I was just in go mode and I think then you go to Tuesday and then it's like we can have a full pregame routine I know who I'm facing I faced quantro last year um so I know what I'm getting like there's that sense of comfort like okay I've seen this guy before like I know what he's coming with um it's nothing you know out of this world it's just you know control the strike zone same thing stuff I've been doing in triaa and I think I was telling someone um one of my friends that was here that uh my last week in Nashville I almost felt like I had put more like I was more geared up than I was for that game really just because I think of where where we're at and um where we're at in the year and like I've just been not pressing but like really wanting to have good at baths down the stretch not even necessarily like for the call up but just for myself like I want to I don't want to give anything away cuz um those are the ones that after the season ends you kind of look back on and and you don't feel great about so I think I was just like really geared up for those games in Nashville and and that I think the fact that they had a really good pitching staff a lot of those guys are big Leaguers in their pen a lot of VO so all that kind of played into it and then um that second game at the first start I think uh after the first at bat walk too I think that was big I saw like a lot of pitch is at the time I think right um so I think that was like a huge huge to set up the rest of the game you know and then you get the hit and you're standing on third did it feel like the weight of the world is Off Your Shoulder what are you thinking when you're standing on third a triple no Les Griffin yeah yeah absolutely that I was like that was a crazy roller coaster of you know I I make contact I'm running I see that you know the both the outfielders kind of turn their backs I'm like holy yeah blank this is a hit like this is it and then I'm like holy this might go out this might go out and then like there's all that I have no idea I got to run and then I have no idea how I touched first cuz I did not look at the bag hit at all I was just all eyes on the ball and I guess my foot found it luckily um that would have been tough I miss and then and then they come back and it's an out um but yeah exactly and then I I uh see the kick how far it kicks and I'm like all right I got to get third on this ball you know and then hopefully score on on you know the next ball so uh it was just a crazy crazy Flur of everything you could feel I think at once and then there was some franchise history too icho 3,000th hit came years ago here in Colorado your first major league hit in Colorado was a triple was a triple his 3,000 that's very cool did you see the uh do you follow the legends of dat on Instagram or no are you an in like a social media guy or I am I am like here and there they did your comp of your dad throwing out the runner in the playoffs and then like that's kind of it's pretty sick it's awesome it's awesome I think got a good hop there in the outf field that was a beautiful beautiful throw but someone put that on a t for that was a beautiful uh yeah the ball does kind of check up with that grass there and it once it bounced right to my chest I was like all right here we go like this is the one you dream of as an outfielder it's easy transfer and just let it eat go go ahead I'm just curious when you when you get to the big leagues and the and and the lights are brighter and there's the third deck that you haven't experienced did did even in the first of b or even in day two does the pitcher feel closer like does everything feel rush I'm sure there's ballparks you feel I feel great today but did it feel like the pitches on top of you like how does it feel standing there I think um that that sort of thing varies a lot I think park to park which is weird cuz you know the Mountain's always 60t 6 in and even in the miners some places you know it just feels right on top of you I think cuz the backdrop but in in Colorado it felt pretty pretty normal I thought yeah it didn't it didn't seem uh like anything crazy you know I felt a lot more comfortable than I thought it would nice how pumped are you to make your home debut I know we're here in San Francisco but like to to get that first time in your state you know what I'm saying 100% 100% um that that's something too that like we talk about being present dayto day like I've almost not even thought about like the fact that in 3 days we're going to be back in Miami and and playing there and that's going to be a whole another like I feel I'm be doing it all over again far is like oh my God like I'm here and that that's where I watched so many games you know I watched the first Marlins game ever there um and then went to so many games over the years so that's going to be a whole new but I do think like the fact that I've I've spent so much time there is going to make it seem more comfortable you know like I've never been to Denver I've never been to this Stadium um so those are all like new environments so I think like that part of it I think will help me or I will be able to use that a little bit to my advantage um but also you know thought about a lot about the walk up as well that's going to be important what was the story that uh chat told us yesterday can you I forget was was picture Cornelius have you heard this story so Brian chatton told us that Reed Cornelius and I'll try to understand this the best I could he used to be the bullpen coordinator you know Reed it all yeah I saw him in Denver and have to catch up a little bit the day that you were born Reed's daughter was born four doors down in the same exact Hospital okay I didn't know that and your dad was there and obviously Reed was there and chat was like this was crazy the way that Reed was telling the story I feel like I'm missing a big part the the the the picture that you face in your debut what was his Andrew what was his kid Tyler Kinley was part of this story I'm totally throwing on the spot I'm sorry for doing that but we heard maybe was kenley's sister or somebody what there was a crazy connection to your debut facing Tyler Kinley and it was a story that Reed Cornelius told Brian CH well Kinley was still was born at that point I think it was his sister his sister was born on the same day oh really four doors down from you which was just crazy just because his you know obviously I think Stephen you have it right and then you faced Tyler KY in your debut okay well that is crazy some un stuff right there hey let me ask you this and I know we got we'll let you go here in a couple got game in a couple hours do you think at all that growing up in a big league Clubhouse and just shagging balls has helped this for you like being in the major leagues or is that are you so far removed from being a little boy and kind of Paving your own path I think there there's uh levels to it where it does I think there's parts of it that do like that does help um just being able to see those guys at a young age all these great big Leaguers um and how they went about their business you know like obviously I was I was a young kid um so I didn't I wasn't like studying everyone and like making sure like oh when I'm a big leader I'm going to do this but now like when I think back to it um and just a lot of different small things that that professionals do and um that stuff's important I think and that you know routine how important routines are and how guys do the same thing every single day cuz that's what locks them in in and that stuff I think definitely helps once you get up here cuz like your routine is everything and and you try to obviously some things are going to change from AAA and the timing of things is different um but if you can find something that you can do every day whether it's from when you wake up to when you go to the park and then from when you go to the park to when you play the game if you can kind of find a way to streamline that and do that every day like that takes pressure off in itself so like it's hard on the road starting on the road cuz like your routine thrown off a little bit a different Road routine so I think um flights are a little easier aren't they yeah the flights AR aren't bad so I think all of that like kind of combin and just make things a little bit easier did you say this is your first time here did you ever come out here with your dad or anything I don't think I've been to San Francisco but I never had come to a game Cool par yeah awesome par not too many visiting players can put one in mcov Coast so that's challenge you went from like Colorado where you can right swing that thing and here it's a little bit you know a funny story about that is um I was looking you know Instagram DM is trying to answer all of them got one from a guy that is known as mcub Cove Dave oh yeah this is a big thing lately and this is a big and he he sent me a long message about uh how he goes after every home run in mcub Cove he's he's got a kayak I guess or some kind of boat oh he's got a kak he's got a kayak and he said he's already making deals with me about if I hit my Homer out there he's like I know there'll be your first one he said he's got a thing where he loves the number 56 it's special to him in some way and that this would be his 56th ball that he's got okay stop you here do you do you know what's happened in the last couple of weeks with Michael Harris the second thing no I do not okay he just came off the injured list and Michael Harris thei and his first at bat off the injured list hit his first major league Grand Slam here and he hit it into mcov Co yeah and mccovy kop Dave got it and he refused to give the ball back cuz he wanted a bunch of different things so Michael Harris II got a little bit of not upset but he was like well what am I going to do they I I don't know exactly what if you just Google his name the story going to pop up from a couple of weeks ago so it's hilarious and make sure we clip this that this guy's already trying to make deals with you in case you put one into movy Cove out there this guy you know what this guy proactive respect my antenna's up on mccovy Cove Dave yeah be careful I don't know how you're getting this thing back this guy wants a lot well that's the thing the deal the all he said and like obviously he could ask for more when the time comes but he just said he wants to give it to me in person and he wants a photo that's all he said he wanted that's it that's what he said and I'm like well sounds too good to be true cuz I I very low on bats right now so like I I really yeah I will I there was a dick down the road the other day if you need me to go grab you on tomorrow what are you swinging a 34 what I got special I got my own model there's a Rawlings down the road I can grab you I've ordered more already so hopefully those can can be sped up and get here but um yeah Will was asking like what would you be willing to trade like they're going to like if they ask for a bat I'm like ah like I don't know if I could do a bat right now okay so like anything else but uh but a bat would be tough can wrap this up Stephen now I've got to show Griffin this hold on so who is this guy I've never heard of Cove Dave he's had a big there he is there's mccovy Cove Dave meet home run Hunter mccovy Cove Dave and if you just Google his name and Michael Michael it's already coming up Michael Harris there's Giants fan mccovy Cove Dave at odds with Braves over Grand Slam ball this was two weeks ago no way I didn't hear about it all right well dude thank you so much for dropping in and doing this on a game day nonetheless so we um we're so happy for you we're so pumped to cover you and uh we really do appreciate you covering out time for us man yeah absolutely mccovy Cove this is going to become a big to GFF got to go to the opposite field at Oracle Park congrats Griffin thank you