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AL DIVISION SERIES: RED SOX VS ASTROS

October 6, 2017

Alex Bregman

Houston, Texas - pregame 2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I know you're looking toward Game 2, but when you look back yesterday, how special was it for you, as Altuve said yesterday, your home run set the tone for the game.
ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, it was a fun moment. You grow up as a little kid wanting to play in the postseason and we were facing a great pitcher, and just able to put a good swing on the ball and just try and set the tone and get us started.

Q. We talked before about what you learned from guys like Brian McCann and Carlos Beltran and about how they conduct themselves, how they prepare. Is there a specific story you might be able to tell about something you noticed about what Carlos did and you said, oh, that's something I want to do, that's something I want to pick up?
ALEX BREGMAN: Well, before the playoffs started, we had two practices here and I asked him, I said, How do you have so much success in the postseason, what do you think made you so successful throughout your career in the postseason, and he said that he just stuck to his approach, he didn't try and do too much. He kind of enforced that the last two days to all of us. He kind of just said you need to stick to your approach, what you've been doing the whole year long. That's all I was trying to do yesterday. I was trying to stay within myself and try and square a ball up. He has done that all year for everybody. He's given everybody the best advice, and along with McCann and Reddick, those three veteran acquisitions that we made during the offseason were huge for this team.

Q. Your second half production coincided with key guys leaving the lineup at some point. When you have those sort of moments, how much does it help you to prepare?
ALEX BREGMAN: Can you say that again.

Q. Your second half production, it really coincided with Springer and Correa missing time. When you have that sort of production, that sort of success, how much does that kind of help you prepare for a moment like you had yesterday?
ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, one of the best things about this team is that different people step up on any given night, and we have been trying to do that all year long, whether if a pitcher has a bad start, the offense picks him up, or if two guys in the offense don't have a good day, the rest of the offense picks them up. It's huge, man, we just need to step up and have each other's back.

Q. A.J. was just saying that he called you a baseball rat. People gravitate towards you in the clubhouse. What does it mean to you to be such a young guy with the type of clubhouse that you guys have to be contributing every day, this whole season? What does that mean to you as a player?
ALEX BREGMAN: Well, it means the world. Since I was very little I loved this game. I put my heart and soul into it every single day, to go out there and try and win games for the Astros. I think that's one of the best things about this team is that everybody is so unselfish and they just want to go out and win and compete. It makes it fun. Everybody in there loves the game of baseball, everybody loves playing the game hard and competing and works extremely hard at it. Whether it's in the video room or actually on the field, everybody is putting in the hours so we get success on the field.

Q. When the Astros drafted you, it was clear that the bad years were over and that the division here was working. What were your first impressions of the organization and what was your reaction when you got drafted by them? How did you see that this all was starting to come together when you got here?
ALEX BREGMAN: Well, my first reaction was that they already had had a really good shortstop, so I didn't know where I was going to play. And then they told me to play short in the minor leagues and then move to third base. But I thought it was a fun organization, so much youth. It was just kind of ahead of the curve in the analytical department and an organization that works really hard, takes pride in what they do and an organization that wanted to win. You saw that all year long. We went and got Verlander, we want to win. We waived those three veteran acquisitions during the offseason. We want to win. Everyday since spring training we have been working extremely hard and that's the kind of organization you want to be in.

Q. The home run that you hit was also on two strikes. Yesterday the whole lineup seemed to have big hits with two strikes. What are the kinds of things that when you reach the major league level of last season and this season that you worked on specifically with two strikes, whether it's something that you picked up from the staff or they focused on, something in video, how do you get better at hitting with two strikes?
ALEX BREGMAN: I think it just goes back to your approach. One of the big things that Hudge always preaches to us is that we need to stay in the zone and we need to get a good pitch to hit. Sometimes we're going to take marginal pitches on the edges and get called out on strike, but we want to get a pitch that we can drive and a pitch we can do damage on. I think when you do that, you don't necessarily chase as much out of the zone. I think we did a good job yesterday of staying in the zone. Against a guy like Sale you have to do that. He's got three-plus pitches. His changeup was diving, his fastball, it feels like it rides a little bit and it also runs away from you. And then, of course, the slider that he punches everybody out on. So you got to stay in the zone and you got to get a good pitch to hit.

Q. You said something about the zone, there's a verb?
ALEX BREGMAN: Stay in the zone.

Q. A.J. said among other things that guys like to have some fun with you behind closed doors. How much fun do you have when they're having fun with you? Can you share some of that with us.
ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, they give me a hard time. I'm a rookie, but it's fun. We have a great clubhouse. We're always loose and having a good time, playing music, dancing, laughing, making fun of each other, and it's fun. You have fun in the clubhouse, you go out and compete, and then you come back in and do it again.

THE MODERATOR: All right, thanks for coming in.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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