In Episode 7 of “talking with the stars” brought to you by sportswinmore’s journalist Mike Rodriguez. @mikerodrigueztv talks to all-star/ World series winner Edwin Jackson @ejack36  about his no-hitter in 2010 and his story to get to the Majors. Edwin talks about his hometown Columbus, Georgia & his free-agent process this year and how he is ready to play in the majors.

Episode 7. Edwin Jackson @EJACK36 

In Episode 7 of “talking with the stars” brought to you by sportswinmore’s journalist Mike Rodriguez. Mike talks to all-star/ World series winner Edwin Jackson @ejack36  about his no-hitter in 2010 and his story to get to the Majors. Edwin talks about his free-agent process this year and how he is ready to play this year. 

Where did you grow up?

 "I was born in Germany,  raised in Columbus, Georgia grew up in a military family. I have been on and off planes packing up, moving been all around the world from the bottom to the top. My father demanded respect and that we obeyed by the rules growing up. "

 Growing up did you work or strictly play baseball?

 "I was blessed to have both of my parents that worked in the house. I was not born with a silver spoon in my mouth, and I was never afraid to get something that I wanted. The cooking was great, you know man, I am from the south, We had a lot of southern food, Collard greens, black eye peas, catfish, the BBQ being from Georgia-southern folks we like to eat. "

 How did your baseball career start? 

 "My parents played, my father played baseball and basketball. I got to watch him play softball on the army base. The majority of the family played basketball and football and those were the first sports introduced to me when I came back from Germany. In tenth grade is when I started to take it seriously I wanted to get a scholarship, so I could go to college for free a free education. As I started getting into college my parents were working and had better jobs but I wanted to take that load off them and go to school for free."

 How was your Draft Process? 

 "I went to UAV and I had no clue I was getting drafted. I had two friends that were getting looked at as high prospects Nick Long and Steven Register and I ended up standing out and I signed the 6th round with the dodgers. I signed for 145K and that was including school so 40K went to school and I kept the rest. I did not get too excited it was a life-changing decision and I wanted to sit down and take it all in but I knew it was not going to last forever but it def was a jump start from high school."

 How many years were you in the minor league before MLB?

 "I did rookie ball when I first came in. The second-year I did extend A ball, and in the third year I was in AA, and in 2003 I was called up to the big leagues. One thing Marty read told me in double AA is you go out, do not show any emotions, and keep those emotions within your self. When something bad happens never let the other team know you go to keep your game face on and keep fighting."

 How was it when you got the call that you were finally going to pitch in the majors?

 "I was getting ready for a family vacation to go to Detroit and I got a call from our Coordinator Bill and Bill said if you got called tomorrow to pitch, can you pitch. And I responded, yea I was young and strong the season was over, so I was ready to get out there and pitch. I went to Oklahoma to throw with Mark Brewer with the pitching coach for the Rockies and a week and a half the organization asked me to pitch against Arizona. I had no time to be nervous, it all happened in the blink of an eye."

 How did it feel to walk in the clubhouse? 

 "Man, it was amazing to see your number and your name in the back of the jersey is a dream come true I had to soak it in stay relax this is something I have been wanting since a little kid. I pitched against Raul Mondesi and just seeing him play growing up I knew he was the man but I want to say he was second  I pitched against Craig Counsel first. "

Edwin, you lead the league in which most teams played, won a World Series and threw a no-hitter, how does it feel to throw a no-hitter what was going through your mind? 

 "Man, that was crazy because I came in and just wanted to see how I was going to get through the first inning. We had a day off, so I came in and didn't play a catch. I was kind of off a little bit with my arm consistency. I knew in the bullpen it was one of those days I had to man up. And it was a great ugly successful astonishing day you know. The good, the bad, the ugly 8 walks but I still threw a no-hitter. It was an unorthodox no-hitter 149 pitches we had dudes making plays Mark Reynolds Abreu up the middle we had Adam LaRoche picking them off at first."

Check out the interview down below

Sports Journalist for SPORTSWINMORE

Mike Rodriguez

Mikerodrigueztv@gmail.com