Mike Minor addresses the media at the Texas Rangers Foundation awards ceremony
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00:00 I think I had a lot to work on, but a lot to build on.
00:05 I feel like it was a step in the right direction.
00:06 I felt like Lance could have easily won that too, because if you take away a couple of
00:11 his starts early in the year where it wasn't necessarily getting hit hard, but a lot of
00:16 singles and stuff like that, I think he deserves it as well.
00:20 I feel like we're both going into it, and a lot of the new guys, what they showed last
00:25 year and what they've done in their careers, I think we have a good shot this year making
00:29 the playoffs and have a better team.
00:32 How do you feel about the additions to the rotation and how that changes the dynamic?
00:38 Yeah, I like it a lot, just because, like I said before, they've got some experience,
00:44 they've had some good years, and they know how to pitch, so there's not a whole lot of
00:48 pressure on, say last year there was a lot of pressure on me and Lance to win the games
00:51 that we pitched, and then there's some young guys in there just getting some time up there
00:56 just to see how it was.
00:59 I feel like those young guys will still contribute a lot this year, but we have those guys to
01:04 fill in and to pitch competitive innings.
01:08 You mentioned things to work on, is there something particular or specific that you
01:11 want to try to do this whole season going into the season?
01:14 Every year just being more consistent, so the first half was a lot better than the second
01:17 half, and then I had some spots there where three, four, five bad games in a row, and
01:21 then I'd have three, four, five good games in a row, so I felt like there in the middle
01:25 I lost some of my pitches, some of the feel, so I need to figure it out to have a better
01:32 routine or something, just to have a better feel for those pitches every single outing.
01:36 What goes through your mind when you have a chance of a top three of Lynn, Miner, and
01:42 Kluber?
01:43 What goes through your mind about that possibility?
01:47 If me and Lance can repeat from last year, then, and Corey can bounce back from all the
01:54 injuries they had the year before, I feel like you've got three potential aces up there.
02:02 I feel like it's just competitive games, where every night we can have a guy up there competing
02:09 and giving us competitive innings and going deep in ball games and maybe taking some of
02:13 the relief off the bullpen.
02:16 I don't know if we're going to add any more pieces, but the bullpen I feel like is fairly
02:19 young.
02:20 There's a lot of talent out there, but if we can go six, seven, eight innings every
02:24 night, then you'll have a chance to win.
02:26 I feel like with the veteran arms there and with the history of you and Lance both going
02:33 200, Kluber's traditionally been a 200 inning guy, those other guys have all pitched over
02:38 150 innings, there's going to be a lot of pride in we're going to be an innings eating
02:44 staff.
02:45 Do you feel that way?
02:46 Yeah, I just feel like everybody's mindset is to get to 200 innings, especially the veteran
02:52 guys, because that's how it used to be.
02:55 So last year with Woody letting us pitch and giving us the ball and saying, "Hey, go for
02:59 it," I felt like that was, I mean we talked about it before, it was unbelievable the way
03:04 he handled everybody, especially me and Lance, where we could just go.
03:08 I don't expect it to be any different this year.
03:10 Mike, do you finally feel like you're back into the starter mentality?
03:15 We talked about the transition the first year, I know you guys talked about it a bit last
03:18 year, but you finally felt like this all seemed like you were kind of back to being in a starter
03:23 only mode and kind of what to do.
03:25 Yeah, it goes back to the other question with Woody, but the first year I was kind of held
03:31 back and I was I guess learning that again, the workload and the routine and all that,
03:36 and then last year was kind of just, "Hey, let's go."
03:38 You've had that pre-stage of starting again and we weren't very competitive either before
03:43 and so I feel like now being the third year, it's back to normal.
03:48 I have that routine, I have that off-season routine, the pitch feel, all that stuff.
03:53 This one kind of felt the off-season in particular, especially you felt, you kind of know what
03:58 to expect now, back to normal.
03:59 Yes.
04:00 Would it be an advantage to you now pitching in a climate-controlled stadium?
04:04 I think it's just an advantage to before the games, maybe before when they're doing batting
04:08 practice or we're trying to throw bullpens or we're out there throwing long toss and
04:12 not everybody's going to be drained and we're not going to be trying to conserve energy
04:15 for every game.
04:17 I think that's the biggest thing.
04:18 And if it's a nice day, then you open the roof, but you can control everything.
04:23 Looking back on it, there was a pretty big distraction in July, but still at the end
04:34 of the day, you wanted to resign here.
04:36 If that comes up, is that still of interest in extending your stay here?
04:43 Yeah, for sure.
04:44 I feel like I endured the worst part of it, so I can kind of see the light at the end
04:49 of the tunnel.
04:50 I can see the direction JD's trying to go right now, and I want to be a part of it.
04:53 I don't want to jump ship now.
04:55 I feel like it's going to be good.