00:00Or a two-minute meeting with Sheltie.
00:02Luke Kieschel, first of all, I have to tell you that two girls who live on my block in Maple
00:07Grove,
00:07we ran into yesterday, and their stated goal was to get your autograph because they love your hair.
00:14And you came through. You came through.
00:16I did? Okay. I'm glad I got them already in day one.
00:20Whatever it takes to get a fan, right?
00:22Yeah, of course.
00:23Tell me what spring training is like for you. Is this fun? Is this hard work? What's the vibe for
00:29you?
00:29It's both. I mean, it's fun, but at the same time you're doing a job, you're getting in here,
00:33and you're getting ready for the season.
00:35I mean, it's filled with excitement.
00:37You get to meet a bunch of new people, a bunch of new coaches, a bunch of new teammates.
00:40So, I mean, yeah, I'd say it's more exciting than anything.
00:44You had a strong second half of the season last year.
00:48You had a strong offseason. What were you working on?
00:52First off, just getting healthy with the thumb.
00:55Got surgery on that. We're all cleaned up, and all that's behind us now.
00:58So, that was a priority, and then from there it was an arm-strengthening program and stuff like that,
01:04and a bat speed program, but nothing crazy.
01:06Just stuff to kind of refine my tools and kind of just make myself slightly better at baseball.
01:11You know, when you look at this season and this group, there are a lot of new faces, a lot
01:16of young players.
01:16How do you look at, like, taking the leadership lessons from some of the more veteran players?
01:21Yeah, I mean, you've still got guys like Buck in here that go about their business in an awesome way
01:27that you can learn from each and every day.
01:29So, there's tons of wisdom around here.
01:31There's new guys that are older that I can pick their brains to get to know them.
01:35And, I mean, there's just so much to learn out there still.
01:38There's a lot of guys in this clubhouse that have a lot of years of service and have been doing
01:42it for a really long time.
01:43Is there anything you look at from the way that, like, that Buck does his business?
01:47I think he's sort of the – everybody looks to him.
01:50Is there anything from him that you're like, all right, I want to do that or I need to be
01:54more like that?
01:55I just love the routine-orientedness, especially in season where it's like shows up at the same time, does everything
02:01exactly the same way every single day.
02:03So, I think it's not necessarily like, oh, he's going out there and he's going to go work harder.
02:09No, it's like he's just so in tune with his body and what he needs and what he needs to
02:13do to get ready every single day that it's awesome.
02:16Do you hear some of the hype for you?
02:18There was a little hype on Major League Baseball, MLB Network, about you this season.
02:23I don't put too much thought into that stuff.
02:25I just kind of girlfriend or fiance will show me it and stuff like that, but not too much.
02:30Does she show you the haters or only the good stuff?
02:33I'll find it all.
02:34I'll find it all.
02:35It is a different world out there, right?
02:37Yeah, I mean, it is what it is.
02:39Yeah, absolutely.
02:41What, you know, the owner came and talked to you guys in the meeting yesterday.
02:46What did that do for you?
02:49It's awesome.
02:49I mean, the energy that he brings, the spark, I mean, he seems like he's going to do whatever he
02:55can do to make us a winning baseball team again.
02:58And what else can you ask for?
02:59I mean, that's what we want to do.
03:00We want to play championship caliber baseball too, so let's make it happen.
03:04Is today your first one-on-one with Sheltie, or have you guys met before?
03:08Oh, we've spoke numerous times.
03:10Yeah.
03:10And what's your feeling about the direction of where things are going?
03:14Yeah, I mean, the right direction.
03:16He seems like just the guy we need.
03:17He seems awesome, super good at communicating, really good guy.
03:21Yeah, I mean, I'm just, like I said, I keep saying I'm excited, but I'm just excited for everything.
03:26All right, one thing you think fans should know about you, like, that you actually enjoy in your regular life
03:32doing?
03:35We just got a new dog that's now 10, 11 months old.
03:40What kind of dog?
03:41It's a cop-poo.
03:42It's like a tiny little thing.
03:43It's like 12 pounds.
03:44What's the dog's name?
03:46Penny.
03:46Penny.
03:47And you picked out the dog?
03:48No.
03:49No.
03:49Fianca.
03:50She's awesome.
03:51That's what we do for love.
03:52That's how it goes.
03:53Awesome.
03:54Luke, thank you.
03:54Appreciate it.
03:55Really good.
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