I want to throw a few more Northwest bands at you and just get your general opinion. Do you like Sleater-Kinney?
Umm, not that familiar with the discography. I certainly have some of their stuff, and I like it, but I haven’t given it a full investigation.
Okay, what about Modest Mouse?
I like Modest Mouse! Not my favorite, but the singles and the hits are great. When I was getting into alternative or indie music or whatever when I was growing up, Modest Mouse was one of the bands that I encountered.
Where do you stand on Sub Pop titans Death Cab for Cutie?
I’m not a major Death Cab for Cutie guy. Again, they were one of those formidable bands when I was a teenager and started looking for more specific music. The hits are obviously—I’m familiar with them. It’s not quite my vibe, though. It’s a little too singer-songwriter for me.
I think Built to Spill is another Seattle group, aren’t they? [Note: Built to Spill was formed in Boise but signed to Sub Pop in 2021.] I like Built to Spill a lot. When I was here last year they had just put out their most recent album, so the Sub Pop store was full of Built to Spill stuff.
Is Jimi Hendrix important to you?
He’s pretty important. I do play guitar—not as much as I’d like to now—but when I was younger I was in what I guess you could call a band. When you’re learning guitar, he’s obviously someone you can’t ignore. When you talk about famous riffs, you can put Jimi Hendrix up there with anyone. I’m a big Jimi Hendrix supporter.
Something tells me that you’d really like Seattle, and something also tells me that that’s not the first time you’ve heard that.
Yes, I was told I would like it here, and immediately upon arrival I was thinking I should move here. I’ve been told there’s a lot of people who come here for other sports too that end up making it their permanent home. I can see why. It’s a really nice city.
But as a baseball player, you have the luxury of only being here when the weather is nice.
That’s what people say. Every time I’ve been here it’s been like 74 degrees and perfect. It is frustrating sometimes to visit all these cities and not have any time to do anything. I try to get out. It depends on the game times and where we stay. I like to find a record store, generally. We go to so many big cities that there’s usually an artist I like from there, and sometimes I’ll get lucky and find a limited edition [vinyl] press of a regional artist. I like to try to do that, but it kind of depends on where we are. Some downtown areas are not too great. They’re not good representations of the city.
I’ve been in quite a few big-league clubhouses and I know what the music is generally like in there, so what’s it like for you to be an indie rock boy in a sea of pop country?
[laughing] There’s a self-righteousness that comes from it, which I enjoy. I like albums, so my relationship with music I think is a little different from most people’s in the era of shuffle. I mean, I collect vinyl. I really like to listen to albums. So when it comes to putting music on in the clubhouse—which I only get to do on my start days—I hesitate to just shuffle an artist, but I have to do that! Most people don’t enjoy things in album form anymore.
Have you ever tried, though? You ever just run all of Is This It? in the clubhouse to see how people react?
Oh yeah, they’re pretty familiar with my Strokes affinity. Everybody likes the Strokes! They’re one of those bands that you know, even if you don’t know you know them. People are into it, but I’ve just surrendered to putting it in my headphones. I don’t really put it on the speakers anymore. But on my last few start days I’ve slowly started to acclimate the clubhouse to better music. Mac DeMarco, Beach Fossils, some sort of upbeat and inviting vibe that’s still a little quirky.
Who on your team would be most likely to accompany you to a Strokes concert?
There’s a few. I tried a little bit last year. I got to go to one of their shows in Chicago. They were doing a private show for [congressional candidate] Kina Collins. It was awesome. Colin McHugh has pretty good music taste. Sean Murphy has some decent music taste. Franco, our PR guy, has great music taste. He’s another vinyl fan. That’s kind of my music posse.
Of the typical stuff that does get played in the clubhouse, do you have a favorite? Is there anything you sort of tolerate?
No. I can’t. There’s really nothing that I like. I can only listen to Turnpike Troubadours and Jason Isbell so much before I start to bleed out of my eyes. But, I don’t really know what’s considered baseball music anymore. All of a sudden, we’ve become a bit of a Bob Seger clubhouse? I’m supportive of that. I could listen to “Against the Wind” over and over and over. It’s not going to get old. I don’t know if that’s really baseball music, but it feels like baseball music for us now.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Matthew Roberson
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