Rays’ Tyler Glasnow on skydiving, hair care and being attacked by monkeys

LAKE BUENA VISTA — Tyler Glasnow’s two-week vacation already sounded interesting as he described the food, scenery and culture he and his girlfriend experienced while touring Istanbul and several cities in Thailand this winter.

Then he got to the part about being attacked by wild monkeys.

Glasnow and Meghan Murphy took a boat to Thailand’s Phi Phi Island, where monkeys that live on the cliff come down to greet visitors to the thin strip of sand known as Monkey Beach.

“Apparently, you’re not supposed to feed them,” Glasnow said. “I had bought a fresh coconut, and I was just eating it (on the boat). I didn’t know I was not supposed to bring it out.

“I hopped off the boat, and there were like 10 of them. They ran up and jumped and grabbed me. I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’ So, that was a little gnarly.”

The pitcher and the primates made nice and played enough for a few memorable photos and videos.

Glasnow, the 29-year-old Rays right-hander, often has interesting adventures. Here are his answers (edited for brevity and clarity) to some questions we posed recently:

Can you run through the routine for your somewhat famous hair?

“I just do shampoo and conditioner or a hair mask (a repairing treatment). I just leave it in for a while, rinse it out and brush my hair and tie it up and then it’s just normal. I don’t really do a whole lot. … I’ll use whatever (brands of product are) in the clubhouse, so I don’t have one I always use. And if it’s dry, I’ll put any sort of oily something in it, even if it’s like hand lotion.”

Do you prefer “man bun” for the style?

“I just tie it up; that’s what I call it — ‘tied-up.’”

Wildest thing you’ve ever done, besides the previously reported cliff diving, bungee jumping and — at 6 feet 8 — backflipping?

“When I was with Pittsburgh in 2017, we were on a flight to Miami, getting in late. I was in this consistently rutted head space, I was so mentally domed up about baseball. I needed a shock, I needed some adrenaline. I went skydiving at 7 a.m. the next day. I took an Uber to the skydiving place, sky dove, then went to the field. It worked for a little bit, but I still sucked. And I’ve never done it again.”

What have you been listening to lately?

Mostly podcasts. I’ve been listening to a lot of Huberman Lab, which is about neuroscience. Sam Harris (a neuroscientist and philosopher). Joe Rogan, depending who the guests are. And I like Lex Fridman (an AI researcher at MIT) a lot.”

What about music?

“A lot of rap (Future, Gunna) and instrumental stuff (Menahan Street Band, The Budos Band), and some classic rock. I also like Otis Redding. Funky-type stuff. It really just depends on the mood. I really listen all over the place. I like Tame Impala (a self-described psychedelic music project) a lot, too.”

Watching anything good?

“The golf thing, “Full Swing” (a Netflix documentary about life on tour) has been cool. And “Break Point” (about pressures on tennis players) is, too.”

If your friends insisted, what would be your karaoke song?

“I’d probably just not do it. Or maybe I’d take a song and just read the lyrics and try to be funny. I’ve never done karaoke.” (Attn: Meghan)

What are you scared of?

“Failing? Being bad at baseball? I don’t know. This may be too deep, but maybe not living up to my full potential, as douchey as that sounds. Not doing enough stuff to be as good as I can be. That scares me.”

What about, like, snakes or rats?

“Squirmy things, and spiders. Or live shrimp, how quick they are and jolting, I don’t like that.”

Go-to takeout order?

“It depends, am I trying to be healthy or am I trying to be fat? If I need a lot of calories, I’ll get the honey ham pizza at Olivia in Tampa. That place is super good. Generally, I’ll do a boring bowl or a salad. Or sushi. Tuna, salmon — usually nigiri with a little rice and a lot of fish.”

If not baseball, what sport would you try to do professionally?

“Track and field. I did high jump at the Junior Olympics (silver medal, 2003), and I would probably try to do decathlon (as his brother, Ted, did in college).”

What’s your secret skill?

“Skateboarding and snowboarding, I’m pretty decent. I did it a lot growing up.”

Best dish you cook?

“I’ll go with diced onion, then a mushroom marinated in coconut aminos and sesame oil and honey, and marinate that for a while, and I’ll saute that. I’ll take some ground bison or veal, and I’ll take three baked sweet potatoes and chop them up real thin. Then I’ll season that with onion, garlic, all that stuff, and mix it all together. So it’s like a sweet potato hash with good protein. If I feel like I’m not getting enough calories, I’ll put two over medium eggs on it. And I’ll do a lot of steaks, too.”

Band you’d want to be on stage with?

“Tame Impala.”

Do you have any pets?

“Growing up, we always had dogs, Australian shepherds. I want a dog really bad, but I just travel too much.”

Weirdest situation you’ve been in?

“The first time I went to Thailand, several years ago, we had to get to this little village, and it was like 2½ hours through the mountains. They don’t have railings or anything. The road was probably just bigger than the car. There were huge cliffs, and it was muddy. That was the most scared I’ve ever been. We made it back, and I was like, ‘Oh thank God.’ And the guy driving the car was like, ‘Oh yeah, I don’t even have my license.’”

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