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MLB ALL-STAR GAME

July 13, 2015

Todd Frazier

CINCINNATI, OHIO

THE MODERATOR: The winner of the Gillette Home Run Derby, presented by Head & Shoulders, is the hometown guy, Todd Frazier. Parties in Toms River and Cincinnati, Ohio, tonight. Questions for Todd.

Q. Congratulations, Todd. This afternoon, you seemed apprehensive about your chances of getting past Prince Fielder in the opening round. To eliminate him, what did that do for your confidence level?
TODD FRAZIER: Two-time champion, that was huge. The format fit well. I honestly didn't know how many I was going to need. Once he had 13, I said, oh, man, when you see it in the derbies now, 13 pretty much gets you past. Started off slow and got into a little groove. And you see the time. It seems like it's going fast, but it really isn't. Four minutes is a lot of time. It proved vital today. It was pretty cool.

Q. Todd, how hard was it especially in the second round? You had the seconds remaining. You had to do a buzzer beater and you had one in the bonus round to win the whole thing. What was it like to be in the last moment at the last second to win it like that?
TODD FRAZIER: Dramatic. I had like a minute left to hit two or three. I thought that would have been perfect. It took basically to the last seconds. All you got to do is get through it. That's bracket style. That's the best part of it.

Q. Todd, how much impact did the crowd have? What did that feel like to hear that much roaring for you?
TODD FRAZIER: Big-time impact. Just hearing the crowd roar, call my name, adrenaline. And those last minutes of each round really picked me up and drive the ball out the park a lot more. It was a lot of fun. I appreciate that a lot.

Q. Given your choice of at-bat music choice, how perfect was "My Way" from Frank Sinatra to be played as soon as it hits the park?
TODD FRAZIER: I had no clue they were going to do that. That was pretty nice. I do enjoy that music. It's a beautiful thing once you win something, to hear that makes it even better.

Q. Todd, what did you like about the new format? It seemed like it really livened things up around here.
TODD FRAZIER: It made for a little more opportunity. It made for you're going to have to pick the pace up a little bit. You swing at everything, really, once you're down. And no matter how much time you got. When you get the opportunity, you just have to hit it out, no matter where the ball's pitched. Felt like a little kid out there sometimes in the back yard swinging at everything. It was pretty cool.

Q. Todd, congratulations. Charlie, how much adrenaline did you have going, having to get those pitches out there towards the end?
CHARLIE FRAZIER: I was pretty fired up. At the end, last minute, I really can't feel my arm. I was just talking to myself. You saw me saying a few things. I was just trying to watch Todd, try to see when he wanted it. He wanted to work quick and that's how we started it and that's how we end it. If we had 36 swings each round.

Q. Todd, where does this rank in career achievements for you?
TODD FRAZIER: It's up there. Definitely top five for sure. Bringing this hardware home is something I've always wanted to do and it's just unbelievable feeling. Right now, I'm pretty exhausted. So my energy level is not that high as it was earlier. But it is. Once I wake up in the morning, understand really what happened, it is going to be exciting to see this in my house.

Q. What was the thoughts of winning it, Todd, the game winner with the home run there?
TODD FRAZIER: It was great. I knew I had bonus time. You take a peek at the scoreboard, I think I hit five over the 425 limit. I got in a groove of three in a row. I was hoping with the last 15 seconds to get one more; I ended up getting two to tie it. I knew it was basically over after that. I get 30 seconds, I get at least five, six swings; I'm going to get at least one.

Q. Todd, good week for Rutgers sports alums, Carli Lloyd, World Cup. Now you here today. Does that add anything to the win, having that Rutgers pride?
TODD FRAZIER: I guess so. It does. My brother went to Rutgers, too, as well, and my older brother, who was supposed to go, but he got drafted. It's a great university, and we take a lot of pride in what we do for sure. Carli Lloyd stepped up in the gold medal, getting three goals, which is pretty cool. I did what I did tonight. Hopefully we can keep it going.

Q. Todd, how much do you think it meant to the City of Cincinnati to do it here, being the hometown guy? Would you consider this one of the best moments of your career?
TODD FRAZIER: I would. I definitely would. Getting drafted was one, and playing in the playoffs a couple times. Those are pretty exciting times, and winning the division one year, it's exciting. And like I said, I had some unfinished business last year. I put up a poor showing at the end. He hit 14, I was thinking honestly, this is true, I was thinking 14, that's Pete Rose, I can't let him down. That's all. I really was. I was really thinking about that. I had 14 in the first round. It's a coincidence, I think.

Q. Todd, one of the things people often say about baseball is part of the magic is that there is no clock. Today there is a clock. Did that seem disorienting to you? Did you find yourself looking at it?
TODD FRAZIER: No. I thought it went great. The main guy that was there was telling me, "You have a certain amount of time, choose wisely what you want to do." He came to me a lot during the period. We had a good pace going, basically. We'd wait about, you know, five, six minutes before I had to go, take a couple of lazy swings to get the body going. Then just rear back and ready to go.

Q. Todd, in an interview earlier today, your brother said if you won, you would give him a special gift. Is that true?
TODD FRAZIER: He's going to get a special gift for sure. Definitely. He deserves it, and the whole family will get one for sure. Maybe a block party. We'll see what happens.

Q. Todd, I asked you before, you said there was a kickstarter at the national anthem with Marlana VanHoose. Obviously, you've heard her before. I'd say it was a pretty good kickstarter for you tonight.
TODD FRAZIER: Most definitely. She can sing her heart out. Just a really, really good start. The crowd got going. That was it. Took off from there.

Q. Todd, two-part question: First of all, what were your thoughts after the rain forced the truncated format and you knew you were going to go to four-minute rounds instead of five-minute, not knowing even how that was going to go? And then secondly, right after you brought the crowd up, after your semifinal, there was a Stand Up to Cancer moment that was pretty emotional. Were you involved in that and your thoughts on that also?
TODD FRAZIER: When I went to five to four minutes, I was pretty happy. I knew five minutes was a long time. I think everybody was happy about that because eight guys only, and you go from one round to the next and it helped out. You knew you were getting 30 seconds once you hit it over 420, which was even better. I think this is a good standard of what we need to do. I did know -- my grandmother passed away of cancer, so I wrote her name on there. So that was pretty touching.

Q. Charlie, you talked about the end, but tell me how much pressure did you feel knowing each pitch, each second meant so much this year compared to last year?
TODD FRAZIER: It's a ton of pressure. You felt like the weight's on your shoulders and definitely at the end there, when you're down 14-3 or whatever it was, I'm like oh, here we go. So like I said, you got to put a couple good swings and even a couple bad swings to help get it out. It's basically adrenaline and the crowd. That's all. I thank them for sure, and him throwing a nice pitch.

Q. Does this set the tone for tomorrow night for the Nationals?
TODD FRAZIER: Definitely. We've got Greinke on the bump going right off the bat. I talked to Manager Bochy. He's fired up, wants to get me a couple swings. Hopefully, we can get on them early and often. All I need is really a good night's sleep, no BP. I think I'll be fine (Laughter).

Q. Todd, what kind of consolation is this for you and the team, given the rough first half that you've had, to come back and now be there with a trophy in front of the home crowd?
TODD FRAZIER: Like I said, it's with the fans, man. This is the way you play the game, you play for your family, your friends because you love the game. Your fans are right behind you in your court. We're having a tough year this year, let's be frank. Still got a lot of games to go. That Wild Card can come real quick. You saw what the Dodgers did one year. You never know what's going to happen. The trade deadline is coming up. There's a lot of talk. Can't really look into it. Got to look to a good second half coming up and I know the fans will be ready to go.

Q. You play here every day, of course. Some of the other players tonight don't. How did some of the long home runs you saw tonight compare to the ones you've seen here over the years?
TODD FRAZIER: I was unbelievably surprised by Joc Pederson the first round. He didn't break a sweat. I was confused how he was hitting the balls that far. There were some tanks being hit. It was a lot of fun to watch. Next year, hopefully, it comes quick. We'll get another one going. It will be cool.

Q. Charlie, how much harder was it for you than the last time? You said 36 swings per round. Was that a goal for you?
CHARLIE FRAZIER: We wanted to work fast. We didn't want to put any thinking involved. We just wanted to put as many pitches as we can. He was swinging at everything, you could see that, even if they were low or high. So we just got on the same pace. He was staring at me to go. We had to wait for the umpire to give us the mark. But it was fun. That's how we like to work. We like to work fast. We loved the format.

THE MODERATOR: Only the second hometown player to win the Home Run Derby, Todd Frazier.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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