KOA Radio 850
June 23, 2016: Palm Springs, California – Aurora radio hosts Mark Gunter and George Crocker catch up with Aurora starter Francisco Chávez before his start tonight vs. the Codgers.
Crock: Whoohooo! Man, that Aurora ballclub is off and running now, folks. George Crocker here, boys and girls, and I gotta tell ya, I’m so totally stoked to be with my good bud Mark “007” Gunter.
Gunt: Thanks, George. We’re in our 6th season of broadcasting Borealis games, and if we’ve learned anything in that time, Georgie, it’s that the first couple of weeks is never an indication of where Aurora will be come summertime! But tell me, George… “007”?
Crock: Man, we’re going undercover today. We need to be prepared to create a little subversive counterintelligence today. (lowers voice) We’ve a commie spy in our midst…
Gunt: Really, George? Don’t you think that’s a little harsh?
Crock: I don’t know, Mark-O. Look at this guy. I bet he has knives coming out of his cleats.
Gunt: Sure… folks, let's welcome Aurora’s starting pitcher for this evening, Francisco Chávez. How’s it going, Franky?
Chávez: It’s going well, and I promise you, I’m neither a communist nor a spy.
Crock: (in a steely tone) Hmmmm… but dude, looks like you might be the first commie All-Star. Maybe you can steal some secrets from Benjamin. Even get your KGB buddies to nab him, drag him away from the Bears and back to Coo-ba?
Chávez: Well, I am proud to be considered for the All-Star team. That would be a great honor, joining some of the other great Aurora pitchers to have participated…
Gunt: Roach, Thompson, Tillman, Suárez, Kojima…
Chávez: Yeah, especially Kojima. He had such an influence on me early in my career. He taught me that once you step out on the mound, it must be focus through and through. He’d never say a word during his starts. I try to emulate that, but that’s kind of hard for me. I have a big mouth and a tendency to talk to everyone out there.
Gunt: You are having an All-Star year, that’s for sure, Frank. 8-2, 2.51 ERA, with batters hitting .234 against you. Quite the contrast to last year’s 4.42 ERA and .273 OAVG. Those were the worst numbers of your major league career, by far.
Crock: Look at the stats, Marka-Hari. He had 16 quality starts last year and he already has 10 in 14 outings! That’s some deep espionage on those hitters!
Gunt: Indeed. What was happening last year? You were coming off a terrific 2014.
Chávez: Last year was a difficult year for me. I just seemed unable to throw strikes. Thus far, I’ve got hitters swinging at my pitch, and I’m getting ahead in the count. Balls in play that were hits last year are being rolled into outs.
Crock: Yeah, I sat here last year thinking, “Batting practice,” as I watched those change-ups come in there. Dude, they were just shouting, “Hit me!” No subversive action in those pitches last year!
Chávez: I decided I needed to make a better effort to use that pitch, and it just wasn’t working. I can get a little stubborn at times, and I decided that was what I was going to do.
Gunt: Why is it that you find it so difficult to throw that pitch? After all, your fastball and curve are pretty good pitches. Why do you find it so difficult to master the change?
Chávez: You know, I think it’s my hands. I just can’t get the ball deep enough in my palm. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not the biggest guy on the team…
Crock: True dat! What are you, Tinker, Tailor, Midget, Spy? 5’4”?
Chávez: Ah… I don’t think I’m that bad, Crocker Spaniel. I’m 5’7”, but I’ve got to tell ya, my hands seem smaller. I’m certain that leads to my bouts of wildness. If I lose my focus, it’s all over. Thank you, Kojima!
Gunt: You certainly are one of the shorter guys in the league. How’d that work out for you growing up?
Chávez: Well, as you know, I grew up in Cuba, in Camagüey, and we have a Cuban professional team there, so the kids in town would play ball all day and hang out at the park watching the games. Man, when I was 11, 12 years old, we had great teams and everyone played ball.
Crock: Did you play club ball? Little League? Spy Ball?
Chávez: I started out playing Little League, sort of. They really don’t have Little League there, but… well, not to be tooting my own horn, but I was pretty dominant, so they moved me right away to the Camagüey youth club team. I played for a couple of years, pitching well, but I wasn’t growing.
Gunt: So how’d that work out? The competition had to be getting bigger, stronger?
Chávez: Well, you know those “club teams,” be it baseball or futbol, they’ve got top-notch medical teams and loads of money, even for their youth teams.
Crock: So what are you saying? They went all Dr. Frankenstein on you? I knew that story was a communist plot! Franken-stein, that just sounds commie!
Chávez: (shaking his head) Wow… I think he was maybe Transylvanian or something, George. What they did was start me on some medication to stimulate my body to start growing. I was still striking out those 15-year-olds and they wanted me to compete, so it was HGH all the way until I was 17.
Gunt: So they began you on…
Crock: Holy Barry Bonds hat size, Batman! They juiced you? Dude, don’t you know that’s, like, illegal? They’ll throw you out of the PEBA for that!
Chávez: George, that was, like, 10 years ago… in Cuba, no less. Hey, I’m clean now. That’s all the commissioner cares about.
Gunt: So how much did you grow?
Chávez: A total of 12.5 centimeters over four years. It bulked me up, too, which is why I’m so short and yet so… stocky.
Gunt: And then at the age of 19, Aurora signed you to a free agent contract.
Chávez: Yeah. Well, as fate would have it, our club was playing an international tournament in Florida. I was still really successful on the mound, but my coaches where not happy with my size – I had stopped responding to the hormones. I was still effective on the mound but, as my manager put it, I was “not the type of player we want representing Cuba.”
Crock: No way! Really? Well, Cuba’s loss is Aurora’s gain. I bet the old man was pretty pleased to pull one over that commie bastard’s eyes! No love lost there, you know.
Gunt: Yeah, that’s kind of rough to hear. So what happened?
Chávez: Well, it happened all kind of fast and spontaneously. I was out in the bullpen our next game, way out in centerfield. Our pitcher hit a player from some Texan team and… boom! All hell broke loose on the field. Everyone – coaches included – sprinted from the bullpen and out on the field. I looked around and I was suddenly alone.
Crock: Dude… uh, ah… don’t tell me you dug a tunnel out of the bullpen! I did that once. Pretty sexy stuff if I, George Crocker, says so!
Chávez: No, I simply hopped the fence in the back of the pen and into the parking lot. Ha! It’s a small world, you know. That’s how I ended up such good friends with “Sugar Bear”. I ran into the coach from Penn State and he helped me out, hiding me in his hotel and setting me up with Joe Horn. Later that year, Manchestertraded Miguel to Aurora and we ended up growing up together in the Borealis system.
Crock: “Sugar Bear”… now there was a righteously democratic dude! How was it the Penn State coach was there?
Chávez: Summer tourney, of course. He’d seen me pitch earlier in the tournament. When I popped over the fence, I guess it was pretty obvious.
Gunt: Well, I guess that’s a story for another day, as we are out of time. I want to thank Franky for his time. Good luck out there tonight.
Chávez: Thanks. We’re going to need it. Those Codgers just seem to have our number this year.
Crock: Nah… just sneak into their locker room and sabotage their bats like all good spies would do! That’ll do the trick!
