San Diego Union-Tribune (Sunday)
TWINS TRADED A TWIN AWAY
Hours before the Padres opened the season two weeks ago in Arizona, they made a trade with Minnesota, acquiring left-handed reliever Taylor Rogers and corner outfielder Brent Rooker in exchange for starting pitcher Chris Paddack and reliever Emilio Pagan. Rogers has established himself as the Padres’ closer, earning five saves in his first five attempts — including one in San Francisco, where he made history with his twin brother, Tyler, who pitches for the Giants. They became the fifth set of twins to play in the same major league game and the first to pitch for opposing teams.
First of all, how do you like San Diego and your new team? Can’t beat San Diego. I caught myself checking the weather the first couple days and realized you don’t have to do that. And the teammates ... they’re great guys to start. And then as the season goes along, you start to gather more camaraderie. But so far, so good.
What kind of mentality do you need to have to be a closer?
I like carrying that mentality on the way to the ballpark. Like, knowing that if the opportunity presents itself, it’s mine, and I want to shut it down. I always just carry the mindset of, the guys who are playing worked hard for 21⁄2 hours to get the game where it’s at. It’s my job to not mess it up. So really, I just try to — for lack of a better term — save what they’ve done throughout the day and save their hard work.
You’re so effective at getting out righties and lefties. How would you describe yourself and what you do best? Obviously it’s not a secret; it’s fastball, slider.
Early in my career I had a little bit of an issue with righties. I came up as the LOOGY (left-handed oneout guy). When the threebatter minimum came in, I was like, “Man, I better figure something out or I’m going out with the LOOGY.” So I just tried to learn the slider and take a little bit more of an informational approach against righties. And I seem to do OK against lefties. But honestly, it’s just day-to-day dictated. What pitches do you have working that day? And sometimes, with a new catcher, maybe they see some things different, too.
You really don’t seem like you’ve had many nerves running out. It doesn’t seem like you’ve had much to get used to here. Oh, I’m just faking it (laughs). I’m faking it. You know, I’m close to L.A. So I figure I gotta act a little bit.
Ahh, you gotta be all Hollywood. Fake it till you make it, that’s what they say.
Yeah, and then keep on faking it. It’s been electric. Especially the one in San Francisco — that was an emotional one, trying to corral all the emotions there. And this first one at home (Sunday) was incredible. I think I just drew on experience a little bit with those. You know, slow down and catch your breath, relax your shoulders. And at the same time knowing that your adrenaline is up so you don’t need to necessarily throw harder because you’re going to throw hard anyway.
You saved 30 games for the Twins in 2019 and nine each year since. Do you like the closer role the best?
Oh, I love it. I love it. It’s a lot of pressure. But I try to relish it and like I said, I just like carrying that mentality throughout the day. I kind of feel like a protector of the team and hopefully that’s what I can do.
The song you run out to is “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac. Why is that your song?
When I was in Minnesota — this was like, 2018, 2019 — we were a little bit behind the times. We didn’t have walkups for relievers, and a couple times I’m out there, they were doing a promotion on the board, or one time they played “Single Ladies” (by Beyonce). So we’re like, we need to do something here. Long story short, my teammates sent up a message and said play “The Chain” when Rogers comes in, and I’ve just rolled with that. … They just thought it fit me. I just trusted my teammates and it worked out, so we’re gonna ride the wave.
People here are so used to “Hells Bells” and the songs that followed, so I think it might just take some getting used to. Hey, if I can channel like 1 percent of Trevor Hoffman, we’ll be in a good spot.
Who was your favorite closer growing up? I never really had a favorite closer. I was a starter my whole career until I got to the big leagues. I always liked Mike Hampton. I followed him a lot. And Jeff Francis, those were my guys. And then as I got older, and as I got into professional baseball, Andrew Miller’s been my guy. I tried to emulate everything that he was doing, from his stretch routine to the way he threw. I just tried to be Andrew Miller.
Do you ever miss starting? Was that a hard adjustment to make? No. I mean at the time, it was like, “Hey, you can start in Triple-a or you can be in the big leagues.” And it’s like, well, that’s a pretty easy decision. But I really love having an impact daily. I like that, where you can show up to the ballpark and there’s a chance you can play every day.
You have an identical twin brother, Tyler, who plays for the Giants. You guys made history in April as the fifth set of twins to play in a big-league game together. When you look back on that moment, how special was it and how significant?
It was really cool. The whole thing. Obviously we always had a dream of getting in the major leagues, but we never dreamed about actually playing each other and actually pitching in the same game. Like that’s so far beyond the realm of thinking that it took some time to kind of gather the emotions and put some words to it. But just looking at his path to the major leagues, he had a little bit of a harder road. So for me, it was just more being proud than anything.
He made it to the big leagues a few years after you. Did he lean on you a lot during that process? He did, and it was hard for him. Obviously when you’re twins, everybody wonders why the other one isn’t doing the same thing. It’s been nice; we can create our own identities and now we’ve kind of come together in a weird way, and everybody knows us as Taylor and Tyler separately now, instead of just “the twins.” And I think for us, that’s huge.
When you grow up as twins, you’re kind of always lumped together. Did you like that?
You know, I wouldn’t trade it. But it was always “the twins” or “Tay and Ty” or “Which one are you?” We shared a vehicle in high school and we always went to baseball together and all that stuff. So it was always a package deal. And then when we went to college, it was super weird because my best friend was no longer with me and I just started doing things on my own. But in a roundabout way that was good for both of us. We could become our own person. Develop your own traits. And then how cool is it now that we’re kind of bringing it back. So it’s been awesome. him.
fun?
Who’s older and by how much?
I’m older. I came out like 30 seconds before
Do you give him a hard time? Yeah, I always give the speech: I’m older, wiser and better looking.
How about the bullpen? Do you have any insights there, like who’s the funny one?
I’m still getting the lay of the land a little bit. Tim Hill is a jokester. He’s been good. I’m sure that’s been said. (Nabil) Crismatt is a jokester, too, and Pierce (Johnson) and Craig (Stammen) are a little more serious and paying attention. I think that’s probably what everybody else has to say.
I would say you have a dry sense of humor, a dry wit. Would you agree with that?
I would. I wonder if everybody else is getting used to it. I think they’ll take to it here later.
People might think you’re serious, but really you’re having some fun.
I mean, look at this. How could it not be
OK, if you weren’t a Major League Baseball player, you would be a … I’d be a firefighter. My brother and I would be fifth-generation firefighters. That was my dream before baseball and we kind of took it like, let’s just play baseball as long as we can. And we’ll always go back and go to fire science or the Fire Academy. It just hasn’t happened yet.
So your dad is a firefighter?
My dad, uncle, grandpa, great grandpa. There’s been a Rogers as a fireman in the city of Denver for over 100 years. And I always joke that I can’t believe the city hasn’t burned down yet. … I think we got to keep up the generations. Tyler just had a baby boy, so maybe he can be the sixth.
annie.heilbrunn@sduniontribune.com