Speaker 1:
From the library of the New York Stock Exchange at the corner of Wall and Broad streets in New York City, you're inside the ICE House, our podcast from Intercontinental Exchange on markets, leadership and vision in global business, the dream drivers that have made the NYSE an indispensable institution for global growth for more than 225 years. Each week we feature stories of those who hatch plans, create jobs, and harness the engine of capitalism right here, right now at the NYSE and at ICE's 12 exchanges and seven clearing houses around the world. Now here's your host, Josh King, head of communications at Intercontinental Exchange.
Josh King:
It's been almost a decade since Sports Illustrated published its watershed article, How and Why Athletes Go Broke, which brought to light an overwhelming percentage of pro-athletes that struggled to manage their money. That shouldn't be an issue for our guest today, who's been a licensed broker since February 2016, and currently has a 1.76 earned run average with a win-loss record of six and two with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Diversification and a deep bench are important to investment strategies, whether you're constructing a stock portfolio for a player's future or a major league roster for today. The 2018 Dodgers currently sit in second place in the National League West, which is a credit to GM Farhan Zaidi's skills at building a deep bench of talent, as four of the five pitchers in the opening day starting rotation have spent time on the disabled list. Our guest today, Ross Stripling, has stepped up as the blue chip of the group. He joins the podcast right after this.
Speaker 3:
Inside the ICE House was brought to you this week by Norwegian Cruise Line, NYSE listed NCLH. Norwegian Cruise Line's 16th ship, Norwegian Bliss, will begin cruising Alaska and the Caribbean seasonally in June 2018. For more information visit www.ncl.com.
Josh King:
Our guest today, Major League Baseball pitcher Ross Stripling, was drafted in the fifth round by the Dodgers in 2012 out of Texas A&M. He made his Major League debut on April 8, 2016, when he took a no-hitter into the eighth inning before being taken out of the game. In his post-game interview, Ross said, "I was tired. It was the right call. You could tell I was trending downwards." That explanation sounds suspiciously like a stop-loss order. Welcome to the podcast, Ross.
Ross Stripling:
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Josh King:
You've just been on the Exchange. Did you see sort of some of those stop-loss orders coming to life?
Ross Stripling:
Man, yeah. I got to sit down with a Market Maker and talk with him over his day and just tour the floor, which is pretty cool. I mean, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know if there'd be a million people walking around or five people walking around, so it was cool to see everyone doing their job. And they seemed excited to see me; there was a montage of me pitching above some of the floor, which is just crazy. So, this is obviously a dream come true for me. I've been able to walk through Wall Street a little bit, but never get to go into any of the buildings. So this has been awesome.
Josh King:
I think you were with a Designated Market Maker for Disney, that's NYSE ticker symbol DIS. I know you don't play for the Anaheim Angels, but it's still a hometown team, Disney stock. Is that part of your portfolio?
Ross Stripling:
I owned Disney for a while. I sold it maybe about a year ago now. And it's, what? A little bit over a hundred? So, it stayed really about the same place as where I sold it.
Josh King:
Yeah. And it took a little dip recently, but they're now in this fight for the assets of Fox. So we'll see what happens with the DIS as we move forward.
Ross Stripling:
Yeah. You know, I've been to Disneyland, certainly love it. I love all the Marvel movies and all that stuff. So they're certainly doing good things.
Josh King:
Were you always interested in finance or it something you fell into while at A&M?
Ross Stripling:
Well, I would say always. I come from a family that is very active in the market; my dad's dad was able to retire early and he became a day trader later in his life and was very aggressive with his investments. And then my mom's dad, the same; was a successful man and got very involved in the market, but he was very conservative. So I got both ends of the spectrum with them too. And then my dad is obviously a big... Involved in the market as well. And then I went to A&M and actually started as an engineer major and I figured out that I hated it. I mean, that was never for me. I got into the Mays Business School and did finance and loved it, and even turned down a ninth round draft pick by the Rockies my junior year to go back and finish my finance degree, because it was that important to me.
Josh King:
Well, let's go back before Texas A&M. You're at, I think, Carroll High school. Is that right? Yes. And you're a three sport player, football, basketball, baseball. I think it's a, pre-game warmup. You go up for a dunk, you come down, you break your knee. You almost never made it to a baseball diamond after that.
Ross Stripling:
Yeah. That's an everything happens for a reason story. I was going to play baseball, but I was going to probably be more of a position player. And then, like you said, I broke my leg and it was a gnarly injury and I couldn't really run. And they were like, "Well, what are you going to do?" And I was like, "I don't know," I want to play baseball. I want to do something. I want to just sit around for the rest of the school year. And they're like, "Well, you think you could pitch?" And I was like, "Well, I don't know. I guess we can give it a try."
Ross Stripling:
I end up pitching with this big brace that goes from the middle of my thigh to my shin. I look like a complete goober, but I'm out there pitching and I end up doing well, but not really good enough to get any looks from big Division I schools. And I come from an Aggie family; my grandfather was a Yell Leader, for anybody that knows anything about A&M that's a huge deal, and then my dad went there, my uncle, my brother was there already. So, I wanted to be an Aggie. And I end up being able to walk on to Texas A&M's baseball program and just figured it out as I went and ended up making my way into being drafted. And now here I am.
Josh King:
But your walk-on with coach Rob Childress was no simple walk-on. I mean, you were reluctant to even walk in that door. You said to your dad, "He doesn't want to see any Joe Schmoe walking into his office," but your dad really encourages you. Didn't he?
Ross Stripling:
Of course, yeah. I mean, another one of those everything happens for a reason. I mean, literally I was the there signing up for my classes and my dad was like, "Hey, let's just go see if the baseball coach is there." And I'm just like, "No. No way does he want," like you said, Joe Schmoe to walk into his office and say, "Hey, man. I want to play baseball for you." There's no way it's that easy.
Ross Stripling:
But for whatever reason it was, man. We pulled up and there was one person there, it happened to him and we sit... Sitting down in the office with him and just... Basically he Googles me right in front of me and says, "Oh, you went to Southlake? That's a good program. We don't have any roster spot right now. You're going to have to walk-on," and just put my name on the mat for him. And I mean, it was crazy. Like I said, everything happens for a reason. That's a story that I never get tired of telling.
Josh King:
So we're going to get to your amazing beginning of the 2018 season in a minute. But to the immediate past, you arrived in New York late last night after the Chicago series?
Ross Stripling:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Josh King:
You dropped your second game. As I said in the introduction, three runs, eight hits, seven Ks over six innings. Pitched 84 pitches, 56 of them for strikes. But it was your first loss since April 30th. Are you smarting from it?
Ross Stripling:
Man. Yeah, that one was tough. But-
Josh King:
No run production for you. Four-oh.
Ross Stripling:
Right. I'm never going to blame it on my offense. John Lester on the mound in Wrigley Field, that's a tough one no matter what. Our guys, I think we hit 15 balls, 95 miles an hour or harder. So we were hitting the ball hard, just right at guys. But it was a battle for me all day, man. I felt like I had base runners every inning, but to only give up three over six, gives us a chance to win. But like I said, Lester is just too good.
Josh King:
You've talked often about all the pre-game rituals you go through before you pitch. Now you're at Citi Field for a three game set with the Mets. You probably won't see any playing time. I'm sure you won't. But do you go through all the same ritual about putting on your uniform and everything you do before the opening pitch?
Ross Stripling:
Yeah, definitely. I think baseball is a game of routine, man. If you don't have a routine, it's just too long of a season, too daunting of a schedule, to not have a routine to fall back on. And for me, like you said, I won't pitch against the Mets, but normally... Today's an off day, but normally it would be my day one, which is a big, long run to flush out some of the soreness, a lower body lift, and then you watch film with the coach, that kind of stuff. I'll do that tomorrow. And then day two has its own plan. Day three, day four, and then day five is technically pitch day. So every day has a very set schedule routine that I follow. And like you said, the anthem is usually at the same time, so you shower up, get your jersey on, go out there for the anthem, make sure and be out there for that, and then for me it's just cheering on my teammates for those four days I'm not pitching.
Josh King:
So you spent this morning on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange probably advancing your professional career post-baseball, whenever it may come, what are your teammates doing this morning in New York City?
Ross Stripling:
That's a good question. I think some of them are doing a boat tour, which I imagine is pretty fun. I bet a bunch are just walking around, maybe getting some pizza. Some might just be relaxed and watching some TV. I mean, it's 162 games. You don't get many off days. So hopefully they're out enjoying the city, but some of them might just be relaxing.
Josh King:
Coming 3,000 miles from where you're living right now during the six months of the season in Los Angeles, you're on the East Coast time zone, you've come from Central Time from last night in Chicago. How does switching time zones coming west to east screw with your metabolism and your head for play?
Ross Stripling:
It certainly does mess with you, but once you... I feel like after a couple days you can get used to it, or some guys just stay on it. If they go to bed at midnight back in LA, they'll go to bed at 3:00 AM here in New York, and they just stay on it like that. So it just depends on how maybe regimented and serious that you take it, because it does mess with you.
Josh King:
You were saying on your interview that aired earlier on Cheddar that you're heavily into tech, the FANG stocks are very much in the top of your portfolio. We have some FANG+ options that ICE has, which you may want to look at. But you get your first signing bonus and you're getting your paycheck now from the Dodgers, when you first come into some serious investible money for yourself, what do you do?
Ross Stripling:
Well, like you mentioned, the signing bonus was the first big allotment of money that I got where I felt like I could do something in the market myself. And I remember talking to my dad and just being like, "Hey, I should probably give this to someone. This is, maybe, future money that I'm going to have to rely on." He was like, "I think it's a good chance for you to get in the market and see what you like and start investing." And that's what I did. I got my signing bonus from the Dodgers and just started tinkering around in the market, did some stuff in mutual funds, did some ETFs, definitely diversified amongst a bunch of stocks. I think I really only own maybe a couple that I bought at that time, that was in 2012, and most of those are the FANG stocks that I have since added to those positions. For sure.
Ross Stripling:
The other thing, like you said, now that I'm making big league minimum in the big leagues, obviously getting some money that I can invest and obviously trying to put some away as a nest egg for later for me and my wife to live on, because baseball's... You make money in your thirties and you got to live off of it the rest of your life, if you're that lucky. Obviously some guys got to go get jobs and all that kind of stuff. And why I got licensed, the Series 6, C-6, and the Series 7 is if baseball ended today, I'd have something to fall back on.
Josh King:
So you're in the locker room in Chavez Ravine, it's a day game, maybe on a weekday and the markets are open; do any of the veteran players say, "Stripling, get over here," they take out their cell phones and they've got E-Trade or TD Ameritrade open and say, "What the heck do I do?" Are you dispensing advice in the locker room?
Ross Stripling:
A little bit. I try and keep it separate. A lot of those guys make a bunch of money, I don't want to feel like I'm another one hounding them to give me your money so I can invest it. I don't want to be that guy. But it's a complicated thing to learn, and most of these guys are so focused on baseball that they may not necessarily know where their money is or why their guy invested in X, Y, Z. And that's kind of a big reason why I also got licensed and why I'm so passionate about it is I can help guys like Clayton Kershaw, who has a whole bunch of money and he doesn't necessarily know where it is and why it's there, and if he has a question I want to be able to answer it.
Ross Stripling:
But at the same time, a lot of those guys that have made money are smart and they know what to do with it. And they're passionate about things off the field. It's important for me to be able to help out guys if they have a question, but no, I'm not necessarily going up to guys and being like, "Hey man, you should buy Amazon today. It's killing it." So it's finding the balance between not being that annoying teammate that feels like I'm pestering them.
Josh King:
I mean, talk about passion for things off the field. Ross Stripling, let's go back to 2015: you've got a serious arm injury, you're back on the field after missing the entire 2014 season recovering from Tommy John surgery. What may you decide to go into the office at 6:30 every morning to keep studying for that Series 7?
Ross Stripling:
At the time, I was in the minor leagues and you're making about $800 bucks a month. For one, I had so much free time that I wanted to do something. And then two, coming off the surgery, yeah, Tommy John has a good success rate but you never know. And I didn't know if baseball was my future. It's something like one percent of minor league baseball players make it to the big leagues. So it's just tough odds. And I wanted to have something to fall back on. I knew I was passionate about finance, but I also was passionate about baseball. So what I was doing was I was going, like you said, bright and early to Wunderlich, now B. Riley, and studying for that Series 7 for about half the day, probably from 7:00 to 10:30 or so. And then from, maybe, 10:30 to noon I was shadowing my boss, his name's Matthew Houston, and just learning; sitting in on some meetings with him and just learning about his day-to-day stuff. And then I'd go do baseball stuff from 1:00 to 4:00. And it was a full day.
Ross Stripling:
My wife taught the first grade, so it kind of kept me on her schedule. She was up bright and early, getting home middle of the afternoon. So, we were kind of on the same plan. And it was something that I enjoyed. It never felt like I was getting up and having to go to work, it felt like I was getting up and doing something that I enjoyed, and then being able to do the baseball thing in the afternoons, which I also enjoyed. So, certainly something that I've really had a lot of fun, so far, learning and just hoping that I can keep it up in the off seasons; baseball for eight months and then finance for four.
Josh King:
Some Major League organizations get pretty nervous, understandably, when their up and coming players are either focused on learning how to be an airline pilot or a motorcycle rider. How did they react to you when you said, "I'm sitting behind a desk pushing stocks?"
Ross Stripling:
Yeah. It's been pretty funny. Guys don't really know how to react because you don't see it very often. I remember we even looked it up to see if there are other guys that do things in the stock market or the finance world. There's one football player that does it, I would-
Josh King:
John Hannah, New England Patriots.
Ross Stripling:
Yeah.
Josh King:
One of the guys who I followed growing up, always was focused on being a financial planner and he's been incredibly successful in his post career.
Ross Stripling:
Yeah. Right. So, someone that I can look to as an example and someone that, like you said, has had a lot of success doing it. But guys just ask, "Why do you do it?" You got a chance to make it to the big leagues," or, "You spend eight months grinding on the baseball field, why do you go to work in the off season?" And it's just something that I enjoy.
Josh King:
Our producer, Pete Asch, pulled up your FINRA record; I think it's there on a piece of paper that he's got. And for our listeners, that is the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. You wrote that your job required that you devote two hours to the Dodgers during trading hours. Are you still able to get six or so hours in trading during the regular season?
Ross Stripling:
If I'm in LA, I usually leave for the field around one o'clock. So that gives... And the market opens, what? 6:30 in the morning over there? So not that I'm waking up at 6:30 and grinding on the day trades, but it's really the first thing I do every morning. I'll get my boss back in Houston on speakerphone and we'll go over stuff that we're looking at. Certainly, probably, the first and last thing I do every day, because it is my biggest hobby away from the baseball field. But I don't think I could say that I'm getting six hours of trading in everyday.
Josh King:
One of your bosses is a guy named Earvin "Magic" Johnson. He's the owner of the Los Angeles Dodgers, or a part owner of the Dodgers. One of the all-time examples of both being a star athlete and a great businessman. Have the two of you had a chance to talk much?
Ross Stripling:
No. I wish. He's a busy man and very involved with both us, the Dodgers, and the Lakers. We've definitely shook hands and talked a little bit, but we've not been able to have the time to sit down and talk about the investment business side of things.
Josh King:
Let's go back, before we take our break, to 2016: your rookie year, you're against the Giants, you've pitched 99 pitches, you've just walked Angel Pagan with the 100th pitch, your coach, Dave Roberts, comes and takes you out, and if you look up at the scoreboard, I'm reminded of this great scene from, For Love of the Game when Kevin Costner's Billy Chapel is out on the mound and his catcher, John C. Reilly, comes out to greet him. Let's hear that.
Kevin Costner as Billy Chapel:
Anybody been on base?
John C. Reilly as Gus Sinski:
Nobody.
Kevin Costner as Billy Chapel:
Nobody?
John C. Reilly as Gus Sinski:
This I ain't seen much of.
Kevin Costner as Billy Chapel:
Huh. Me neither.
John C. Reilly as Gus Sinski:
Chappy, I never have. What's the matter?
Kevin Costner as Billy Chapel:
I don't know if I have anything left.
John C. Reilly as Gus Sinski:
Chappy, you just throw whatever you got. Whatever's left. The boys are all here for you. We'll back you up, we'll be there. Because Billy, we don't stink right now. We're the best team in baseball right now, right this minute, because of you. You're the reason.
Josh King:
So, Ross Stripling, I don't know if you had a perfect game going on those 100 pitches against the Giants, but it was a no-hitter.
Ross Stripling:
Man, that scene gave me chills, right there. I wish... A.J. Ellis caught that game. If he could have come out and give me a big emotional speech like that, I might have been able to find a little bit more energy. But, man, at pitch 100 I was dead, I was totally out of energy. I certainly understood taking me out there. Obviously I wish we could have come out earlier and maybe been like, "Hey man, you have 15 pitches left. Throw them right down the middle, maybe they'll hit it right at someone," kind of thing. Just because looking back, the worst part of it is just not knowing if I would've finished it or not. You know? And like I said, I understand it, I was coming off of Tommy John surgery, I might be healthy today because of that decision that Dave Roberts made to take me out. So, certainly no hard feelings there, but definitely... Those opportunities don't come every day. So, we'll never know if I would've been able to finish. You know? So that's what hurts the most.
Josh King:
You've always got another outing.
Ross Stripling:
Yeah, that's true. Maybe that one will be a perfect game. Who knows? But the no-hitter, man. That'll haunt me. We'll just never know.
Josh King:
Your dad actually came up to Roberts the next day and thanked him for taking you out.
Ross Stripling:
He did. And that is my dad in a nutshell, man. It doesn't surprise me at all that he did that. And my dad is a West Texas southern, just as friendly as it gets. The article says that he got teary-eyed, which maybe surprises me a little bit. For him to go up to Dave Roberts and just say, "Man, thank you for taking care of my son. And we totally support you taking him out right there," I just... Not many dads would do that. And I'm very thankful to have a father like that and to have a manager that reacted the way Dave did. And that was a pretty cool story.
Josh King:
After the break, we look at Ross Stripling's amazing 2018 season and what the future holds for this pitcher.
Speaker 3:
Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Bliss will feature the largest racetrack at sea, incredible entertainment, including the Tony Award-winning musical Jersey Boys, as well as two 180-degree observation lounges perfect for whale watching in Alaska or taking in sunsets in the Caribbean. To learn more visit www.ncl.com.
Josh King:
Welcome back. Our guest today is Ross Stripling of the Los Angeles Dodgers, and before the break we were talking about how he became a registered broker and his interest in finance. Ross, you started the season in the bullpen, but let's listen to MLB analyst Dave Samson sum up your season after one of your recent outings, a six and a third inning, six strikeout start to lead the team to a 3-2 victory over the Giants.
Speaker 7:
Big statement, too, for Ross Stripling. Another win, eight starts since May, hasn't allowed more than two runs. His teammates want him in the All-Star Game. What say you?
Dave Samson:
He should make the All-Star Game. And you just said two words very quietly, but let's tell the audience, since May. This is a bullpen arm. Start in the bullpen, made it to the rotation because of all the injuries. This is what a team needs to get if they're going to make it far into October. You have to get performance from players that you weren't necessarily expecting. You have to be eight, nine or 10 starters deep in Major League Baseball because of all the injuries. What Stripling's done better than doing his job, he's holding down the fort.
Josh King:
Bullpen arm. You buy that?
Ross Stripling:
Oh man, I don't buy it. I always thought myself a starter. I'm glad I'm getting another opportunity to start. But I think that guy jinxed me saying I hadn't given up more than two runs, I gave up three yesterday. So I finally can point the finger at why that was, I guess it was that guy.
Josh King:
Are you looking forward to a ticket to Washington for the All-Star Game, if you can get one?
Ross Stripling:
Well, certainly, man. If I can get one that's a dream come true. It's tough to be an All-Star, that's for sure. I think that if... What, I got another three or four starts and those have to go well for that to really transpire. But, man. If I get the opportunity, that'll be awesome. I'll fly my family, friends, everyone out there because like I said, that opportunity doesn't come up every year and certainly we'll take advantage of it.
Josh King:
You were talking on Cheddar earlier about the amazing technology the teams have to analyze their own performance. You mentioned the TrackMan. Could you explain for our listeners the type of data that the coaches get and are you also a rabid consumer of it? Or are you just focused on sort of the get on the mound and throw?
Ross Stripling:
I'm a little bit in between. Baseball is changing, man. Even with the scouting side of things; it used to just be a guy that knows baseball would go sit in the stands and he would watch and he would tell you like, "Hey, this kid's a grinder. He can just play the game." Now a computer tells you if you can play the game. The TrackMan... If anyone's ever watched golf and Tiger Woods hits a shot and then behind his shot is like a red line that shows you where that shot's going, that's a TrackMan. And it can basically tell you anything you want know about a baseball. It'll tell you how hard exit velocity that it came off the bat, at what trajectory, it'll tell you what axis my baseball is spinning on, it'll tell you how efficient it is spinning, it'll tell you the spin rate per second that it is spinning.
Ross Stripling:
And those are all things that in the last couple years have just now become measurable and actually tell you how good of a pitcher or a hitter you are. If a pitcher can make a fast ball spin X amount of RPMs per second versus another guy, he is a better pitcher, and that's just kind of the way it is. Yeah, there's still... You got to pass the eye test, you got to be able to throw strikes and all that stuff. But this TrackMan can weed out guys that don't test well and bring to light maybe guys that... If you've ever watched baseball and you hear someone say, "This guy throws an invisible fastball but it's 88 miles an hour." We have a guy named Rich Hill that kind of does that; he throws 88, 90 miles an hour, but his fastball is absolutely overpowering. It's because he has an unusually high spin rate, which is extremely rare, a diamond in the rough. If you can find those guys, you want to put them on the mound because they're extremely hard to hit. And this machine, the TrackMan, is what spits out the information to tell you who those guys are.
Josh King:
I read this piece on you from FanGraphs that we'll get into a little bit too, but it gives screenshots from two opening pitches. And the first one is a high heater up in the middle of the strike zone, and the second one is a curve that moves downward and inside on the batter. And I think it's probably 0-2 after these two pitches. But what's the psychology that you bring to that mound, 60 feet, six inches away? You've got a little elevation on the guy, you can manipulate your speeds, you can manipulate the vertical movement in the ball. Are you looking at this guy as a pawn that you can play with or is it an even fight, do you think?
Ross Stripling:
If you're looking at it as an even fight, I think you're behind because hitting is the hardest thing to do in sports. They're supposed to fail. The best hitters in the world fail 70% of the time. So you got to go out there thinking that you have the advantage, I think. And then the other side of it is scouting. My pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt, I think, is an absolute wizard as far as putting together a scouting report.
Ross Stripling:
And I'm a guy that can throw four pitches; I can throw a fastball, slider, curveball, change. And if you do your scouting, you see this guy hits curveball, this guy doesn't hit slider well, he struggles with fastballs up and in, and you can mix in the change up, and then you have a plan and you go out and execute it? You should feel like you're going to have success. So, I feel like as a pitcher, you should feel like you have the advantage. When you're young and a rookie, it's kind of hard to feel that way because these guys are getting paid millions of dollars to hit the ball 400 feet. You know? So it's natural to give them credit, when really, as you start logging innings, you realize that you do have the advantage and it's much harder to hit than pitch. And if you can pitch that way with that kind of confidence, then you should have success.
Josh King:
Your mental prep is as interesting as your data and analytical prep. I mean, you've talked about how in those hours before warmups and you're taking the field, some players have their Beats headsets on and listen to a lot of music. What are you doing?
Ross Stripling:
I'm reading. I used to watch movies and honestly I think it made me too tired, where I had a hard time kind of amping myself up. And I got to where I would start reading before starts. It just passes time, man. If you think about it, if I'm making a start at seven o'clock at night and I wake up at 9:00 in the morning, I mean, that's, what, 10 hours I got to find time to kill. You know? And all you do is kind of build up nerves and anxiousness. So, I found that reading is the best way to mellow me out without making me tired.
Ross Stripling:
And then the other side of it is every... It's not an exact science, but every, maybe, 20 or 30 minutes I'm reading I put my book down and I look over the scouting report, and I just go over each hitter in my head and then memorize it, and then I'll go back to reading, and then I'll do the scout reporting again. And then maybe an hour's passed and I've looked at the scouting report three times, I should have that thing memorized and know exactly what I'm doing on each hitter.
Josh King:
So the scouting report on you is something phenomenal, especially for the month of May and into June. And we talked about your outing in Chicago, but even that line was very impressive. And Jeff Sullivan of FanGraphs wrote this piece that our listeners can find, So Ross Stripling Is Great Now, and it's as if people are sort of finally tuning in to what you're doing. But he provides these stats from the month of May, and I think he, as he says, he's got 11,000 pitcher months to compare to what you did in the month of May with a minimum of 25 innings thrown. And you look at where you rack up, you're up there with the Clayton Kershaws, Johan Santanas, Pedro Martinezes, Noah Syndergaards, Chris Sales, Randy Johnsons. How does it feel to be in this company, with the performance you've had and what's happening?
Ross Stripling:
Yeah. Anytime you find yourself on a list with names like that, you're doing something right. I think it's just a confidence thing, man. I think, like I touched on earlier, when you get up and you're a rookie, you're just trying to keep your head above water and you're thinking, "Man, if I get behind 2-0 to Mike Trout I can't throw him a strike. He's going to hit it 500 feet." And then you start doing scouting and you get confidence and you realize there's holes, just realize that your stuff can play at this level and you can take off. And I think what really it comes down to is like we touched on earlier, I was in the bullpen and I always wanted to be a starter, I always wanted to get a chance to start again in the big leagues, I felt like I was in over my head in 2016 as a rookie, but I figured things out since then. I know how my stuff works and can play at the big league level.
Ross Stripling:
And I was just pumped to be another... Pumped to get another chance to start. And I think I wanted to take advantage of it so bad that I took my stuff to a new level and just wanted to do anything to keep being able to be a starter, keep being able to take the ball every fifth day, and not find myself back in that long man in the bullpen, which I enjoyed, it's a good role, but it's known as being the worst role in pitching. And I just wanted another chance to be in the rotation, and I was eager to take advantage of it.
Josh King:
So many things, Ross Stripling, you're changing in the game. I heard one of your earlier interviews about your thoughts about the reduction of mound visits by the catchers. Other efforts continued by Commissioner Rob Manfred to speed up the game itself. Some statistics that Manfred isn't too pleased about, 10% fewer seats filled in the stands so far the season. How does it feel to be, for you, on the mound trying to perform and there's big swatches of empty seats sometimes in these stadiums that you're traveling to?
Ross Stripling:
I wish I could say I didn't notice, but you do. Part of pitching in the big leagues is the thought that, "I'm going to go out there and I'm going to pitch in front of 35,000-plus people." Some of these stadiums are battling to fill seats, and I understand. When I pitch, especially at home in Los Angeles, I think we have the biggest stadium in baseball, and I look up behind home plate and there's four decks full of people, and I know that our stadium is an intimidating place to play for that reason. And I've heard friends-
Josh King:
It's also a great place to watch a game.
Ross Stripling:
Yeah. Right. And we consistently have an awesome crowd in LA. I've had friends come in, Michael Walker with the Cardinals, Daniel Mengden with the A's, they're Aggies, they come in and one of the first things they always say is, "Oh my gosh, that fourth deck behind home plate is something I've never seen before." I just wish that fans knew that. And I think fans in LA do know that, that if they pack the house it's an intimidating place to play, and that gives us an edge. I know that other teams are battling to get an edge like that. So I certainly feel lucky to play in a place like Los Angeles.
Josh King:
I feel lucky to be a fan of my hometown Boston Red Sox. I was watching Chris Sale on the mound the other night. That guy is all business there, there's really no delay from pitch to pitch. Are you an efficient pitcher? Do you think that pitchers have to play a role in keeping the pace of play fast?
Ross Stripling:
100%. I think you could say it all begins and ends with the pitcher. Kenta Maeda, Japanese pitcher, he does a big, long windup, as most Asian pitchers have, and he doesn't mean to work slow, it's just his windup is slow. But it feels like sometimes his games can be long just for that reason. He's not a slow pitcher, he's actually probably pretty efficient and gets outs in efficient ways, but when your windup takes 30 seconds itself, that naturally will make the game longer.
Ross Stripling:
So, it starts and ends with the pitcher, like I said, and some guys, they get the ball and they have a routine, they go touch the rosin bag, they think about the next pitch, and before you know it it's been 30 seconds between pitches and the game can drag on that way. I, myself... It's not really something that I think of. I think I've just been lucky that my between pitch routine is not one that's necessarily too long. So I've never had anyone come up to me and be like, "Hey, you got to speed it up." Which is good.
Josh King:
You ever look over at the on-deck circle and you think, "Uh-oh, here he comes. This guy. I might as well be able to trade a couple stocks between pitches for him. He gets out of the box all the time, adjusts all of his gloves and wrist bands and-"
Ross Stripling:
Yeah, 100%. There's a couple guys that are like that. And I won't name drop or throw them under the bus, but there are some that you know are coming and you just know, between pitches, like you said, I can go get another piece of gum, chew it, spit it out, maybe tie my shoes twice, and then they're still not in the box.
Josh King:
Ross Stripling, six wins, two losses, one of the most amazing starts for a Major League pitcher in recent memory, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers toward the All-Star break and the second half of the season. Best of luck as you make your way toward the playoffs in the World Series.
Ross Stripling:
Thank you. Thank you very much.
Josh King:
That's our conversation for this week. Our guest was Ross Stripling, the budding ace of the Los Angeles Dodgers. If you like what you heard, please rate us on iTunes so other folks know where to find us. And if you've got a comment or question you'd like one of our experts to tackle on a future show, email us at [email protected], or Tweet at us @NYSE.
Josh King:
Our show is produced by Pete Asch and Ian Wolff, with production assistance from Ken Abel and Steven Portner. I'm Josh King, your host, signing off from the library of the New York Stock Exchange. Thanks for listening. Play ball.
Speaker 1:
Information contained in this podcast was obtained in part from publicly available sources and not independently verified. Neither ICE nor its affiliates make any representations or warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy or completeness of this information and do not sponsor, approve, or endorse any of the content herein, all of which is presented solely for informational and educational purposes. Nothing herein constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security or recommendation of any security or trading practice.
