Pt. II-Roundtable Interview w/Sean Gallagher & Chris Wal

NSBB is pleased to present Part II of the Roundtable Interview with Sean Gallagher and Chris Walker. The roundtable took place in Jackson, Tennessee this past June. The delay in getting it posted is partly due to a problem retrieving the sound file from the digital recorder and partly just due to scheduling and transcribing time.

NSBB would like to thank DJaxxFan for his outstanding efforts in setting up interviews like this one. I'd like to thank CaliforniaRaisin, DJaxxFan, NCCubbieFan and CuseCubsFan for their help in transcribing portions of the interview. Thanks to everyone here who posted questions for the interview!

Sean Gallagher completed his third professional season with the then-Cubs-affiliated West Tennessee DiamondJaxx. Gallagher was named the Cubs 2005 Minor League Pitcher of the Year and the 2006 NSBB Minor League Player of the Year.

Chris Walker completed his fifth professional season with the then-Cubs-affiliated West Tennessee DiamondJaxx. In 2006, Walker led the Southern League (AA) in both stolen bases (50) and triples (11). He's currently playing winter ball in Venezuala and you can track his progress there in the Minor Leagues Forum. Premium Link, Regular Link

Finally, NSBB would like to thank Sean Gallagher and Chris Walker for their time, participation and willingness to answer our questions. :cheers: Please stay tuned for Part III of the Roundtable, which will be posted here soon!

Serena: This quesion is from Vance. I read that criticisms of prospect ratings have helped motivate you. Can you discuss that?

Gallagher: Just hearing that some people feel that they don't like me or that they doubt me. They don't think I can be a big leaguer or be a successful one. I know I will be. I just love hearing that because it gives me more motivation to use it against them. They think they're going to get in to my head or something, saying this kid can't do this, or this kid can't do that. Well, I am going to do it and I'm going to do it better than anyone else could. I use it as motivation. Some publication says I can't do this and I'll prove them wrong and show them I can.

Walker: That's awesome.

Serena: It is. I saw you pitch a few times in Peoria and then I'd read the same stuff and I was like I don't know when the last time they saw him pitch.

Gallagher: They come out the wrong day. Caught me on one of my few bad starts.

DJaxxFan: How often do the Baseball America guys get in touch with y'all? I know Nathan Baliva had some comments on BA on the web site. He said he thought Baseball America sucks.

Serena: He gets really fired up about them.

Gallagher: The thing with them is that last year, I don't know who they had covering the Midwest League. But they'd have one guy come out to one of your starts, maybe he'd see two. But one start, they'll base everything on that one start. Maybe he's having a bad game, you aren't feeling good, your velocity is down maybe 2-3 mph, you don't have your location. You just have a bad game. Everyone has one. Got to get it out of the way sooner or later. If he happens to see that game, he's going to report and maybe that's imprinted in his mind.

DJaxxFan: I was just curious if they've ever contacted either of you guys and said we're going to run something. Just for clarification, we want to ask you what happened...

Walker: Nope. Noooo...

Gallagher: I've been contacted by them. They wanted to do a little story on it but I don't think any of it was about my performance on the field. It was all about the mental aspect of it and some of the pitches I've been working on.

DJaxxFan: Did they ask for verification on the 101 mph fastball you threw?

Gallagher: No, they didn't. I don't know what it is with them. You see all the stories on it where you'll see perfect ratings on one guy. They'll call scouts for him. They'll call and say "hey, what did you think about him?" Other guys, they won't do that. They'll just have their one look out and they think that's it.

DJaxxFan: Well, I'm just curious about that. I've never really interacted with Baseball America, but the more I interact with folks who do, the more they say you really can't trust what they're writing.

Walker: You also got to look at it. It's a baseball magazine but they don't have a team. They don't have prospects. So you're getting one guy who's going to base him seeing a player one time - "oh well, he's not all that great." You see him one time. And Sean said, he might have one bad start or a guy might have had one bad game. So how can you base all of that after seeing a guy one time?

If you're not there around him everyday, if you don't see him play on a daily basis, you shouldn't be able to accomplish that. I know for this much, they always said about me...my biggest knock was he's too old for the league. It's his age. Ok, well I can't go back and change my birth certificate. I know guys who are younger than me, who are older than me, who aren't performing. So what does age have to do with it? You go out there and you put up the numbers and do what you have to do. That's baseball.

Like for Sean, he's put up the numbers. It shouldn't be "oh well, his curveball is a little loopy, his fastball ain't that fast and his changeup, this and that.” The guy gets outs. What's the problem? So he might not sit 95 to 98. His ERA might not be 1-something anymore. But he gets out, he performs, he's a bulldog on the mound. That's all you need to know.

DJaxxFan: I know the Win-Loss argument – take Randy Wells. The numbers he put up were absurd in West Tennessee, but he's not getting wins. Like that really meant something.

Gallagher: You cannot judge a pitcher in the minor leagues on W-L. You can't. Because you also got to factor in the defense behind you is working on other things. There might be some routine plays they'll make but there might be other plays where they are working on something different...maybe making the turn at second base on a double play or working on their throws from the outfield that they're not used to yet. So they might make an errant throw and you know, you might end up with a loss or whatever happens. A lot of it depends on that.

ERA sometimes is the same way. The defense behind you does a lot, has a lot to do with that. You can make perfect pitches but the defense behind you has to make the play. Sometimes it happens and sometimes it doesn't. Errors are a part of the game, no one is perfect and no one ever will be perfect. But that's the thing, you gotta love these guys. They're out there everyday, striving their hardest trying just to try to be perfect. They're working to get those bad plays out of the way, trying to make the right plays and get their mechanics and everything, just as we're trying to do.

Serena: I don't think you won either of the no-hitters you threw in Peoria, so there you go.

Gallagher: Nope. I had quite a few starts like that. I come out after like 6 or 7 no-hit innings and we're tied 0-0. I'm like, ehh well. The good thing about that, though, is that our team always came out on top. I had to come out of the game and someone would come in right after me and continue it. They'd throw 2 or 3 no-hit innings and we'd be out of there in a 1-0, 2-0 game but we got the win.

Serena: We were laughing the other day because Mesa was no-hit and won the game 1-0.

Gallagher: Really?

Walker: What!?

Serena: What was it? The guy walked...or did he reach on an error?

DJAXXFAN: Leadoff walk, stole second, stole third. Sacrifice fly. They won 1-0 and got no-hit.

Walker: Nooo...that's funny.

Gallagher: We almost lost a game to Cedar Rapids that I threw a no-hitter in. It was me, Walt Nolen and Jon Hunton. I walked two guys and I had two errors behind me that allowed 2 runs to score. We're losing 2-0 going into the top of the 9th and we're no-hitting them. We had like 9 hits but no runs. And we were just all in the dugout going 'how does this happen? We're gonna lose 2-0 and we no-hit them!' But then finally, I don't can't remember who came up, but we got a double and another double and finally ended up tying it 2-2 and won it in 10 innings. It was funny. We were all sitting there like 'no way this is going to happen.'

Serena: Ok, your favorite players growing up.

Gallagher: Roger Clemens. No doubt. That's the one guy. You can ask her. Anytime he's on TV, or a game he's pitching or anything. I'll look at the TV and she'll look at me and go, 'oh, never mind.' Put her head down and won't even bother talking because she knows I'm not moving.

Serena: In what ways have you tried to emulate him?

Gallagher: Man, his mentality. Just his offseason and everything. All he does, everything revolves around baseball.

Serena: I hear about his insane workout routines..

Gallagher: I'm not THAT insane. I mean, it's a good one. But just his bulldog mentality. The way he goes about it. He doesn't give in to anyone. You saw, it was what, 3, 4 years ago with the whole thing with Barry Bonds wearing his armor on his elbow. And he didn't like that, he made it known. Barry said well, if you got a problem with it, hit it. And Roger did just that. He has no problem with it, you know. Mike Piazza had a few words to say to him. Had a broken bat right back at him and where did Clemens throw the bat? I mean, just stuff like that. I mean, just to watch him on the mound, he's as old school as you can get.

Serena: He gets locked in.

Gallagher: Yeah, he doesn't take any of that. You hit a homerun off him, you better sprint around those bases because that next pitch might be at the chin if it's not.

Serena: Well, he brushed back his kid.

Walker: True, exactly.

Serena: What advice do you give a group of 10 year olds about baseball?

Gallagher: Have fun. Go out there and have fun. You can't play the game without that. Never give up, don't let anyone ever tell you that you can't do something. That's a big thing these days. Parents, coaches say 'he can't do this or that,” give the kid a chance, let him prove you wrong. Believe in yourself. Don't get down on yourself and have 100% faith in yourself and your body. You're going to have some ups and downs and it happens to everyone. There are a lot of games in a baseball season. Just try to balance it out because it happens and is part of the game and you have to have the right mentality to work through it and you'll be successful.

Serena: What about life?

Gallagher: It's the same thing In baseball and life you have your ups and downs. You gotta have fun and enjoy it!

Walker: You're not here long on this earth, so you have to enjoy life.

Serena: I've read in different reports that your velocity went up significantly this season and what exercises have you done that helped you do that?

Gallagher: I don't think it was any exercises that I'm doing different. In high school I threw about the same as I am now. When I first signed with the Cubs, we drastically changed my motion, my windup – everything. When I went to Mesa I didn't make a start in 2 1/2 weeks because they wanted my mechanics to be at the spot where they wanted it. I think about about it now -- my mechanics were just screaming shoulder or elbow problems. Now I have a pretty smooth delivery that is less taxing on my arm and it's easier for me.

There was a lot of stuff to work on, and last year I was just trying to get used to it. My velocity was a down a little bit; I was just trying to hit my spots and pitch a game instead of trying to throw the ball as hard as I could. In Peoria, I used the big mirror in the weight room to work on my mechanics day in and day out. I did the same thing in the off-season and added some weight exercises this for my shoulders and my back. My mechanics are getting to the point where they need to be.

Serena: Do you recognize your own mechanics well enough to know when something is wrong?

Gallagher: There are a few things you can pick up on about yourself. If I'm not getting my arm to the back end of my motion, I know how to make that correction. If I'm not getting my front side up, I can make that adjustment, too. It's all I've been doing for so long you can pick up on it.

There's some stuff I'm still learning. In almost all my starts so far in AA, I was losing the balance in my windup, and I didn't realize that. I thought I was getting to my balance point but I still wasn't. In the Minor Leagues Lestor Strode came into town and he pointed out "Why don't you start working on this?" The day after my start, we began working on it. I got right into the form I was before I got here. There are little things like Tom Pratt down in Daytona with my arm action, I'd drop my arm to my back side and almost pull it behind my back. I wouldn't feel that but he'd tell me that. He had a little term for it and he liked to call it the "Waggle". He'd say “Watch your waggle!” and I was like ok.... There were some things I can pick up and some I can't.

Serena: Do you have video?

Gallagher: We have video after every home start, I believe. Sometimes you just go over the video if there's something drastic to work on.

Serena:What kind of workouts do you do to keep in shape?

Gallagher: Off-season, I work out pretty much every day. I start about a month after the season ends. I take a month off of lifting – I might run every other day or so, but nothing crazy. I like to give myself some time off to go fishing, to spend time with my girlfriend. When it's time to get down to it, you just have to hit the weight room. I work a lot on my cardio, it's important as a pitcher to have the stamina to last 7-8-9 innings and keep your team in the game.

After that, the first month and a half, probably up to mid-December, everything is heavy weights. You try to build back up all the muscle that maybe you lost during the season, so you can be at the point when you get to spring training and be in good enough shape that you won't lose anything off your motion when you start pitching. You want to add muscle because you'll probably lose some during the course of the season.

About mid-December, I start getting into a lot more baseball exercises – agility, running, footwork stuff. You still keep the weightlifting, but not as much. During the season, you run every day. The day after you pitch, you have 40 minutes of distance. Your side day, you have your sprints program. Day after your side day, you have your pole program – pole to pole in the outfield. Day before you pitch, you have another sprints program.

The weightlifting is really the preference of the pitcher. They like like for you to get a day in of upper body work and a day in lower body work in between starts. With me, if I have enough time after a start, I try to get the upper body work in that night. I don't like taking the time off – ice down, and get to running the next day. If I can't get it in, I'll do it the next day. On side days I like to get the legwork in right after I'm finished throwing. I think we do abs 3-4 times a week, 6 or so different ab exercises to work on your core.

DjaxxFan: Do you have trainers in the off-season? You don't want to rip a muscle with deadlifts ... “sorry, coach!”

Gallagher: It's up to the player. A lot of us understand and know because when we first signed, we had a strength coach and we had to lift in front of him. He would watch to make sure we were using proper techniques and tell us if something was wrong. There are also a lot of players who will work out together – Chris works out with Barrett in the off-season and they have a great facility to use there. I'm the same way; back home I work out with quite a few minor and major league guys. Some days there are 5-6 trainers helping us out. If we're doing something wrong, they'll harp on us and let us know.

It depends on the player, too. It's the offseason and it's up to you to stay in shape and get in better shape. They don't tell you to go out and get a trainer. They don't tell you to go out and do anything special. They just want to make sure that you come to spring training ready to go. If a player wants to hire a personal trainer or go work out at a special gymn, that's up to him.

Serena: I remember Oneri Fleita talking about you making the jump to start in Peoria, and he talked about how you had hired a trainer in the off-season and shown up in great shape. Then you went on and impressed them and made the cut.

Gallagher: It wasn't even that I got a trainer after I signed, I had that trainer since my junior year in high school. But in high school, it was just a lot harder then to go to him 3-4 times a week. I'd go see him in high school, Saturday mornings or Sunday afternoons were the only times you could get in with baseball and the school schedule. Now it's so much easier. What else am I going to do all day? My mom will wake me up in the morning before she goes to work, and there's nothing else to do but sit there and watch tv all day – boring. You want to get out there and do something. Why not just go to the gym? You're doing something and you're helping yourself out.

I spent a month going fishing with my family and spending time with friends, hanging out, getting caught up with buddies on stuff I've missed. After that, everyone else is either in school or at work. 9-10:00 in the morning, I'm at the gym. 2-3pm, you get home and your day starts. People start getting home from school, from work, you can go out and do whatever you want. Wake up every morning and you pretty much have your schedule all set. It works out great!