Raul Ibanez (3-9-24)

Raul talks about his new role as the Dodgers Vice President of Baseball Development & Special Projects. 

Episode Transcript

(00:02):
The Dodgers are hosting the Texas Rangerstoday at Camelback Ranch, and we're joined
right now by a man that hasreturned to the Dodger organization, a nineteen
year respected Major league veteran. Alwaysgave you a professional at bat, and
that's what he plans to teach asthe new vice president of Baseball Development.

(00:23):
That's the one and only Raoul ofBanyez. Raoul, thanks a lot for
the time, appreciate it. Thankyou're really excited to be here. Thanks
for the intro. David, greatto see you. What's it been like
to get your feet wet, toget to learn the organization again. It's
such a great environment. It's sospecial, all the way from the top
down from you know, from MarkWalter, Stan Andrew Gomer, the entire
organization. Doc they're also welcoming andit's a really special place, special environment.

(00:48):
We're gonna look at the roster andsay, you know, obviously there's
an incredible star power there, butthe culture is what's really jumped out to
me. It's really special. There'sa great vibe, a great feeling here.
There's calm, there's confidence, andthere's also a little sense of urgency.
Guys are working hard with intent asDoc is asking them to be right.
Well, I talked to Mookie Betsthis morning and he told me him

(01:08):
and Freddie are on a mission tosilence the critics. Do you get that
sense from a lot of guys here. Absolutely, you can feel it.
You watch these guys in their work. I get the great privilege of watching
these guys do their work in thedark, behind the scenes, in the
shadows, and you see guys likeMookie and Freddy and show Hey and Max
Munsey and James Outman, Will Smith, like all of these guys. The
way that they work, the diligence, attention to detail when no one's around

(01:32):
watching is what makes this group special. When you're around the batting cage,
I mean, you have such awealth and knowledge, I'm sure it's just
reassuring for a major leaguer just toknow that you're there. Well, thank
you. I just try to bethere support these guys. We have true
professionals. Sometimes a tidbit, littlenugget here and there can go a long
way, But these guys are reallyseasoned pros and vets, and they work

(01:56):
with a purpose, and it's reallyrefreshing. And inspiring to watch. I
don't like to say the game haschanged, because it's the same game,
but it's evolved in preparation. Howdifferent is hitting compared to the last time
you stepped in the batter's box.I would say the principles, I mean,
the stuff is substantially better. Uh, the you know, the the
the data, the defensive metrics andand the preparation, the game planning is

(02:20):
substantially better, which has made itreally put a burden on the hitters.
So I think it's more important todaythan ever to be a complete hitter.
A guy like Mookie or like FreddieFreeman, or like James Outman and Will
Smith, guys like that that canactually do everything. They can beat you.
They can beat you with a jab, or they can knock you out.
And I guess that's a different wayof saying it's good to have different
clubs in your bag. Yeah.Absolutely, And it's it's just like a

(02:43):
golf game. Edgar Martinez, thegreat Eggar Martinez taught me that early in
my career. It was you needa driver, but you need the sand
wedge. You need a hybrid,you got you need a you know,
a three or a three would youneed all of these things in your bag
and use them and as you needthem? Raoul Labanyez is our guest VP
of Baseball Development. Doesn't mean justwith the big leaguers. I'm excited because

(03:05):
you could put your hands on alot of these young Dodgers that we've heard
so much about. And how gratifyingis that for you to maybe change somebody's
career path. It's actually the mostgratifying and most rewarding thing that you can
do as a player. You alwaysare a former player. You always want
to pay it forward, impact lives, make other people better, and be
here to serve and to help guidethese young men on their journey, not

(03:27):
just as players a successful major leaguerslong term, which is going to benefit
the Dodger organization of course, butalso in their lives and their private lives,
and all of those things are intertwined. Will Rimes and the crew on
the PD side, I'm happy tohelp and be a part of it,
but they do such a tremendous job. I'm just really excited to be able
to support them. Do you feellike you could really impact just the direction

(03:49):
of the minor leaguers, the hittingand what the foundation is to be able
to be playing in the major leagues. I think it's a group effort.
Everything here is a group effort.I think, what are the strengths of
the Dodger organization that starts with Andrewand Gomer and Will Rhymes and all the
guys. Is it's a collaborative effort. Everybody's working together. We're all pulling
on the same side of the rope, and we're all just trying to be

(04:11):
impactful on the lives of these youngplayers so that they can impact our major
league club and be successful players.The one thing I always tell these young
guys like Cartire or Dalton Rushing,it's their time to grow and be seasoned.
But there's so much attention these dayson the minor leagues. Is that
a bigger challenge than maybe even whenyou were coming up? Absolutely. I
mean back in the when we werecoming up, you can go and grind

(04:34):
in obscurity and go have a badweek or two or a bad month and
nobody really noticed. And today it'sdaily, you know, with the rise
and the impact of social media,which is really a good thing for the
game of baseball. But at thesame time, certainly it presents a different
set of challenges and circumstances. Now, the one thing that I think has
not changed is you really have tofocus on controllables and define what's controllable,

(04:56):
and that's really your effort, yourattitude, your preparation, and your response
to what happens. I still thinkthose principles are true, but the complexity
of today's world digital world has certainlyadded a layer of adversity that we didn't
have coming up. Well, theDodgers are very lucky to have you back
in the organization. Great to seeyou out here. Ray Bounds look great
on the backfields. Rauh, thankyou very much. Great to see you there.