Welcome to this series that I consider as special in my heart. This is where I interview the 2020 undrafted free agent signees, get to know them better, in turn, you get to know them too. Past the scouting reports, past other people's opinions, straight from the source themselves. However, I am going to cover those prospects who did not have the media fanfare, the attention, the spotlight. I am going to focus on the prospects beyond the 7 selections of the 2020 MLB Draft.
This interview is very verbatim. I don't want to edit what the prospects said about the topics so that you can feel what type of personality they had. In turn, you see mine as well. I am using initials (mine's W, the draftees depend on the first letter of their first name).
In this post, I interviewed Ty Weber, a right-handed pitcher from the University of Illinois. I find Ty as a really calm and collected person and I really enjoyed the interview as a means of reaching out to the Giants fans wherever platform it may be. I look forward to see him don the Orange and Black!
W: How are you doing today? Does it feel good to be a Giant?
T: It feels great to be a Giant. This whole process from coming home from school and not knowing what path I was going to take was hard. But it’s nice to know I have a place in a great organization.
W: That's great to hear. This process has been unique, right? How many teams have tried to contact you and what made you choose the Giants offer?
T: This process has been very unique. There were 3 total teams that contacted me: the White Sox, the Royals and the Reds.
W: Did the Giants contact you very early and what sold you towards signing to the organization?
T: The Giants contacted me about 3 weeks before signing and I was sold because they offered right away and I could tell they were very interested in having me in the organization. I felt a sense of being welcomed.
W: That's great. Could you describe what is your repertoire on the mound and what is your mentality? It looks like you have a pretty nasty breaking ball!
T: Thank you! My mentality on the mound is to try and fill up the zone. I’ve gained the ability to throw 4 different pitches for strikes and I think that is a strength of my game. If there was something I needed to work on it would be my velocity.
W: Looks like the Giants do highly value guys who can pitch and not care much about high velocity. Did the Giants coaches already prepped you up on how to work on possibly gaining more velocity after you signed?
T: Not that much. I haven’t been in continuous contact with coaches seeing as we aren’t sure if we will have a season. But they vaguely mentioned putting me on a weighted ball program.
W: I see. How does it feel to become a senior, looking forward to finish the season and the college life but are halted by the pandemic? I would also like to ask how will the graduation proceed.
T: It was hectic. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. Going back to school was definitely an option, but I’m very thankful the Giants reached out. I will graduate this August with a degree in Sport Management. I’m taking a class this summer to finish it.
W: I see that's good to know Ty. Going back to the decision to sign, who are those with you when you sign that contract? Who's your greatest motivation to play baseball?
T: I was home alone when I received the call. Both of my parents were out exercising and as soon as they came home I told them and it was very emotional. It was awesome. I would say my dad is my greatest motivation. He was a Division 3 quarterback and was drafted by the Raiders in the NFL draft. He pushes me everyday and without him I wouldn’t be where I am today.
W: Pretty good roots, I should say! Is it disappointing that your college career has ended because of the pandemic? It probably is. What will you miss about college baseball?
T: Absolutely it was disappointing. I was looking forward to what the season was going to be like for us. I’ll miss all of the close friendships at school, and all the time we would’ve spent together. But I’m looking forward to the future with the Giants and developing those relationships that are needed to win.
W: It's nice that you keep being positive. Do you have any pitcher that you look up to in terms of their mentality and their repertoire?
T: No, not as of now. I really like the way Adam Wainwright pitches during his career with the Cardinals though.
W: I like Waino as well before! I'm a Giants fan but still respect those great players. It's been a good talk Ty. Had a lot of fun talking to you and you are great. To wrap it all up, do you have any message to all Giants fans?
T: Thank you for this opportunity to talk! I really appreciate it. I’m just very excited to get my future started. Really looking forward to working with one of the best organizations in baseball.
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