 Zach it seems like spring training just started but you already faced live hitters yesterday how did you feel on the mound? I felt good it's always good to face some hitters even though it's your own team so it's not that fun but I try to let them know what's coming I try to put myself in there she's this the first time they're facing a pitcher as well and I'm facing hitters so it was good to get the work in and get some guys swinging a little bit just to get the competitive juices back on. Does it give you an indication of where your stuff is at at this point so early? A little bit yeah definitely I think the biggest thing is the command with the hitter in there you can throw so many bullpans and you can look really pretty in the bullpans and then you get out in the game and a hitter gets in there and things kind of get away from you so I think that was the biggest thing I took out of yesterday my sinker I was commandant really well through some good breaking balls and the break balls gonna be kind of you know my focus not only the command of my sinker but obviously throwing my breaking ball a little bit more. I have to imagine this spring much different than a year ago you were still coming back from that Achilles issue do you feel a lot better? Yeah absolutely I mean I think the other day I was thinking about I was learning how to walk in the underwater treadmill about this time last year so big difference you know doing PFPs and just feeling like a normal healthy pitcher so it's good to be just another one of the guys. In what ways was it hard for you last year to get in the swing of things because I know I spoke with you towards the second half the season when you joined the team and you said your lower half still not a hundred percent? Yeah it was tough I didn't feel like my lower half ever kind of came around to sync up with my upper half my arm felt so good last year my legs and it was hit or miss one day I feel pretty good like I was really close to being myself and the next day I come there and I didn't feel very good and you know just the strength in my foot and my calf just wasn't there so I wasn't able to repeat my delivery and really be that consistent I found a way to to put some together some good outings at the end but this offseason I really focus on getting my strength back and it's a world of difference just from my bull pens and then the live BP the other day. What was it about your experience with the Yankees last year that led you to wanting to sign with them in free agency in this offseason? You know there was a couple things one of the bigger things for me was you know when I was in Baltimore I had a lot of success coming in New York and you know doing well in this division I felt like I wasn't able to show them what they had seen before I just based on the injury I just wasn't able to be myself and you know that little home run I gave up and it wasn't very little was actually the winning run that that was just I was like that's not me you know that's I didn't show them you know my best stuff like I did when I was a visiting player coming in and that was something that stuck in the back of my mind obviously having a chance to go the postseason again and win a World Series I feel like this team out of the options I had was the most likely to win a World Series and multiple you know that's why I was seeking a you know multi-year deal with the team I felt like it was gonna be competitive every year and I know with the ownership here that they're gonna not only get free agents but they're gonna make some trades at the deadline if they feel like they need to improve the team and that's big you know I want to be you know with a team that's all in and trying to win a World Series I know that's what they're gonna do here. Talk about going all in trying to win obviously you are back out of vino that bullpen again is setting up to be pretty nasty what are your views on what you guys have done with bullpen and how deadly you can be back there? Yeah it's it should be a lot of fun I always say as long as we can stay healthy and and guys pitch or you know not try to do too much I feel like there's a lot of guys have had a lot of success in the bullpen I feel like the biggest thing is not trying to like one up each other if that makes sense it's just trying to be yourselves you know for me I'm coming in a bullpen with guys to strike out a ton of guys and that's never been my thing I'll strike out you know my fair share but I'm not gonna strike out a hundred guys like Chapman and and you know out of vino and battances so I think trying to just continue to be myself and for everybody down there I think if we do that and we stay within ourselves we're gonna have a really really good bullpen. Was that any part of changing ZACH to ZACK and hopes you're gonna get a couple more strikeout? I hope it works out that way that would be nice. Is it even fun for you a guy that's been in the league for a long time to watch some of those guys throw with the stuff they have? Yeah it's interesting you know I you know I had a couple good guys in Baltimore that went in front of me but you know when you have seven guys that have the ability to to close on other teams and pitch in high-level situations it's fun you learn a lot you know guys are talking to me about my sneaker I'm talking to them about their breaking balls it's it's cool to be around a lot of guys with a lot of talent who have had a lot of success and you've just picked their brains I feel like and it's gonna make it's gonna make me better it's gonna make everybody I think in the pitching staff better because we're not just talking to relievers but I'm sitting there you know talking to Jay Hap talking to CeCe you know trying to get as much out of him for this last year as I can and then you know talking with Paxton who's had a lot of success so it's gonna be a fun year for the pitching staff. Zach thanks for the time. Hey Bet.