NEW BRITAIN, Conn. – Because the All-Star break is a time for fun and relaxation from the season’s day-to-day grind, it seems only proper to keep the subject matter relatively light. With that in mind, I spoke with Thunder outfielder Tyler Austin on Wednesday on a variety of subjects, almost none of which were related to baseball.

JN: What’s your favorite thing to do away from the ballfield?

TA: Just relax, honestly. Sit back and not think about baseball, try to keep my mind off it as much as possible. Just enjoy it and hang out with the guys and go from there.

JN: What about the offseason? Do you go fishing or hunting, or other things ballplayers typically do?

TA: I love to fish. Fish a lot, actually. My brothers and I and my pop, we all like to fish. That’s something we enjoy doing together. We fish as much as we can.

JN: How many brothers do you have?

TA: Two younger brothers – Dylan and Kyle. My dad’s name is Chris.

JN: So where do you like to fish?

TA: This past year my parents lived in Florida, so when we were down there we would all go fishing in the ocean down in Hudson, Florida. So we’d all go out and throw some poles out, and whatever we caught, we caught. And if we didn’t catch anything it was still a good time.

JN: What’s the best thing you’ve caught?

TA: Geez, I don’t know. I’ve caught some pretty big bass in my day, so I’m happy with those. I like bass fishing. I really enjoy bass fishing – it’s a really big stress reliever.

JN: What about your family? Have they bested you, maybe caught some sharks?

TA: We’ve caught a few sharks here and there. When we were younger especially we used to take family vacations to Florida. We’d go fishing out on the pier all the time and bring in little baby sharks. It was always a fun time being out there and bringing in the fish.

JN: What do you do with those sharks? Can you keep them?

TA: No, we throw them back. What are you going to do with a shark? (laughs) We throw them back. We don’t keep much. Here and there if we catch a good redfish we’ll keep that and my dad will cook it up. I don’t eat it, but he does. So he enjoys that.

JN: Where were your childhood vacations centered around?

TA: The beach. Every time we could we were going to the beach. Panama City; Destin, Florida; Fort Walton – that’s pretty much where our vacations were growing up.

JN: How often was that? Every summer?

TA: Yeah, pretty much every summer. Growing up we’d travel to Florida for baseball, so we’d try to make that one into a vacation as well.

JN: Can you think of a favorite memory from those trips?

TA: The first time I ever went down there to Fort Walton Beach, Florida, with my grandmother and my mom and dad and brothers, that was the first time we actually caught sharks on the pier and stuff like that. It was just a great time spent with the family.

My grandmother didn’t get to go back anymore after that trip, I don’t believe, she passed away. That was a really good memory for me – just being there with all them. My brothers and I were still really young, so it was a really fun time and just a great experience being down there.

JN: Did you go to DisneyWorld or anything like that?

TA: I’ve never been to DisneyWorld, if you can believe it. I’ve never been. Looking forward to going sometime though, I’ve heard great things about it. I guess we’ve got to see what happens, but I’m really looking forward to going.

JN: What about superstitions? Do you have any?

TA: I don’t step on the line when I run out on the field. I don’t do that. I always, when I stand in the box, I draw a line in the back of the box before I step in there. That’s pretty much all I’ve got. If I’m not hitting well, sometimes I’ll change the colored (wrist) tape that I wear on the field. Little things like that. Nothing major.

JN: Favorite TV show growing up?

TA: Scooby-Doo, gotta be.

JN: How about now?

TA: Duck Dynasty.