10 questions for Alex Cobb: Disney movies, baseball rumors, and growing up as a Dodgers bat boy in Florida

Q: You grew up in Florida and were a Dodgers bat boy in HS. What do you remember about being around top players back then?

Alternating current: I remember guys like James Maloney, who was a Vero Beach Dodger and I was a batboy for him and then I got to play with him in the big leagues. And since I was only with boys, I always played the away team, so Dave Ortiz was one of my favorite players. Then I became a batboy for him, talked to him and then played against him for quite a while in my career. Since I'm a big baseball fan, I got to see the guys in person that I saw on TV and I always say that the two to three years of experience really helped me get comfortable and comfortable with the ball to feel. As soon as I remember the moment I walked into the first branch I went to in Princeton, West Virginia, I felt like I had been there for a few years.

Q: Were you already used to a clubhouse environment?

Alternating current: Yes, I felt pretty comfortable in the clubhouse, just the smells there, the Ben Gay, the baby powder and everything that's in there. It just smells like baseball.

Q: You mentioned David Ortiz. You grew up a big Red Sox fan. Have you often been to Fenway Park with your family?

Alternating current: Now I just go there as a player, but when I was growing up we would go to a few games in the summer. I lived in Florida. So when we went on a family vacation to Boston to see our other family, we usually watched a game. I remember Manny Ramirez hitting a grand slam over the Coke bottle. I just thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I actually got to play with him in spring training, but after that he retired.

Q: Tell us about your dog, Oscar?

Alternating current: Back in spring training 2015. I was driving around and talking on the phone to my brother when this dog jumped across the road, so I pulled over, stopped and looked to see what he was doing. He kept running around the street, so I followed him down a few other streets and just wanted to see if he was wearing a collar or something. I finally caught him, put him in the truck and he was a great dog. I just sat there and then took him to the Humane Society and found out he had a chip in him and they found the original owners and said that was no longer our dog. We got rid of this dog so he no longer had a home. So we took him in and he has been a great family dog ​​ever since.

Q: He won some polls MLB.com as the best baseball dog in the MLB?

Alternating current: Yes, it was funny. I don't know if this award still exists. We never got a trophy for it either.

Q: You mentioned that Princeton was your first minor league participant. What do you remember about minor leaguers Stephen Vogt and Craig Albernaz?

Alternating current: All I have to say is that you didn't know it at the time, but looking back you can see that these guys were destined to be what they are. Obviously Vogter had a fantastic big league career, but now you see there was more. It was someone who just understood the game a little better. Someone who both had that innate ability as catchers. Catchers have a really good ability to work with pitchers and position players because they go to battle with both pitchers, so to speak. It's really hard to build a relationship with an everyday player, and it's really hard for an everyday player to build a relationship with a pitcher. Catcher is a unique position to be able to do both, and both of them just always had the presence to put everyone at ease, have good conversations and give good insight into certain situations and certain things. You didn't realize it at the time, but now, looking back, you think they were meant to be.

Q: Football season continues. You were a pretty good football player yourself in high school. Why did you choose baseball over football?

Alternating current: The “pretty good” is in quotation marks. And I think I was really good at baseball, so I had maybe a DI offer and then mostly DII and DIII schools. I was determined to go to Clemson as a baseball player and knew that was my path. I knew I wasn't that good at football.

Q: What do you do to relax after a game or after a particularly long day at the park?

Alternating current: If I had to say that at this point in my life I've probably gone through different phases, but at this point in my life it's all about going home to be a father for a while. I really enjoy sitting on the couch and watching a Disney movie or something similar with the kids.

Q: Is there a cartoon character or a particular children's show character that you either really like or really can't stand?

Alternating current: I don't wear anything I can't stand, so I check the TV a little. But you know, favorite movies, they last a day or two now. My kids loved “Wish” for a while and we listened to the soundtrack in the car all the time, which I thought was pretty good. Now I'm happy because they like all the movies I watched as a kid, like The Lion King.

Q: Do you show them the classics?

Alternating current: Yes, classic. But they also have the remake. We have two girls, Chloe and Everly, ages 4 and 5.