Covering the Bases: Q&A with Astros pitcher Mike Foltynewicz
By arykoff
Hi there and welcome back to Mission Control. As promised, we’re going to be bringing you some fun, quick Q&As with some of our newer players so you can get to know them a little better off the field. Our next subject is Mike Foltynewicz (aka Folty). The 23-year old (as of today — happy birthday, Folty!) who grew up in Illinois joined the team on August 1 after being promoted from Triple-A OKC. He hits 100 MPH on his fastball regularly and came out of the bullpen during the final two months of the 2014 season.
In his best performance in his young MLB career, Folty struck out four Cleveland Indians in 1.1 innings of work. That’s pretty good.
Let’s get to the interview. Enjoy!
Mission Control: What posters did you have on your wall growing up?
Mike Foltynewicz: I had quite a few, actually. Vince Carter was one of them back when he won the dunk contest in a Raptors uniform. He was one of my favorite players back then. Mark McGwire was always up there. My family is St. Louis fans and my mom’s brother was a Cubs fan so he liked Sammy Sosa and we liked Mark McGwire so we had a couple of those competitions going around. And I had WCW wrestling guys like Sting and Goldberg. Me and my dad always used to watch them when it was on, so those were most of the sports posters up on my wall.
MC: What is your hidden talent — something that you can do that maybe not everyone knows that you can do?
MF: It might not be hidden. I’ve told quite a few people I drum as a hobby. I was in a band back in the day. I was drumming since I was about 12 years old; just took a couple lessons and other than that just trying to run off music and just try to do it all myself.
MC: What is one of your favorite songs to air drum to?
MF: I’m into kind of heavy metal music, so, not many people know that. That music gets me pumped up and I like to air drum to that.
MC: What is your pump-up music to get yourself ready?
MF: Heavy metal music is the top on the list when I’m going to get ready to pitch. A couple bands to toss out there is A Day to Remember, Five Finger Death Punch; I’m going to try to get my walk-up music to Limp Bizkit Rollin’. A lot of people might know that around here– that’s a good song to get pumped up to, especially if you’re coming out of the bullpen in a close-game situation. That’s kind of my music in that area.
MC: What is your guilty pleasure song on your iPod?
MF: Michael Bublé Haven’t Met You Yet. You know, that’s a good jam that a lot of people kind of like, and other people are like what is this stuff? But that was a good song that was a little on the girly side, but that was a good song five-six years ago that I still like.
MC: It’s no secret that your last name is a bit complicated. What are some of the most hilarious mispronunciations you’ve had of your last name? [Pronounced Folta-NEHVICH — switch the “y” with an “a” and the “w” with a “v”]
Folty: Full-tuh-nay-which is what they always do. And there’s a lot of people that, when they call the house they just start, they just go with Folty, and then after that they just say full-tuh…full-tuh…something kind of like that. They can’t even get it out loud. I’ve heard a lot of different names but, they still can’t pronounce it. After they get past Folty I have no idea what’s going to happen after that.
MC: What are some of the craziest spellings you’ve seen?
MF: Qualls actually had a pretty good one the other day for my name tag [above his locker — spelled FULTYNEVICHZ]. It’s actually, he spelled it how you actually pronounce it. People don’t know how to pronounce it; that’s how you would spell it and pronounce it. They kind of — they don’t even get Folty right. They just go like F-a-l-t-y, you know, n-e-h-z-i-c. I’ve seen a lot of c’s at the end and h’s at the end, so, you might as well just put a bunch of letters up there and get something close. A lot of people do.
MC: How many points is your last name worth in Scrabble?
MF: It would be pretty far up there, I think. You might take the lead in a close game if you get up there with my name. [For the record it’s 31 points with no double or triple letter or word score bonuses]
MC: So, obviously your nickname is just Folty. Is there another nickname that you have that is not necessarily related to your name?
MF: I mean there’s been Folty my whole life. You know, the guys kind of joking around in the minor leagues they always called me Big Dog for some reason. I don’t know how that started, but [Jake] Buchanan got that kind of going, you know, last two years and it’s just guys, not up here, don’t know it yet because Buch and a couple other guys down below know. Just Folty is what they stick with.
MC: And what’s the 25 in your twitter handle (@Folty25) for?
MF: That’s been my favorite number. Like I said, it would go back to the Mark McGuire poster. He was 25, and, you know, I really liked Barry Bonds when he was playing too, so 25 really stuck with me. I’ve had that number ever since, even in playing basketball, and baseball; all the leagues I’ve played in: Pony ball and all that’s been 25 until Double-A and Martinez got it. So he’s kind of been taking it away from me the last couple years. I even had it when I got drafted when I came out here and [Jose] Cruz was actually up there when I got to go up in the press box Cruz was giving me a little…he’s like “hey, you’ve got my number, huh?” I had no idea, so, I was kind of making a little joke about that, so that was fun.
- Amanda
@amandarykoff
