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NL DIVISION SERIES: ROCKIES VS BREWERS

October 4, 2018

Jhoulus Chacin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Workout Day

Q. What are the challenges do you think of going on short rest, and just how much do you expect to pitch tomorrow?
JHOULUS CHACIN: Well, I feel good, first of all. I feel good. My last, I don't know, five, six games, I haven't thrown that many pitches in games. I think that I'm just well to go.

It's always a challenge to pitch on three days' rest instead of four, but like I say, I feel well-rested, and I feel I'm up to the challenge.

Q. Right now you're the only member of the starting rotation who's been announced as a starter in this series. Are you surprised Game one became a bullpen day, and none of your other fellow starters have been named yet? Are you just surprised the way the pitching staff is being handled here at the start of the series?
JHOULUS CHACIN: Well, you know, I feel that we're here because the bullpen that we have. But I also feel that none of the guys on the starting rotation feel that they're out.

It's just a short series, and they know -- we all know that if we go to the National League Championship Series, they know they're going to be in.

I feel that every guy is part of what we're doing right now, and they're ready. You saw with Chase, Davies and all these guys, just everybody wants to win. There's no surprise or anything. They just want to win.

Q. Can you reflect on coming to Milwaukee, what it meant to your career? You're a rejuvenated pitcher now. Can you talk about what went right for you this year?
JHOULUS CHACIN: Well, I've said many times that I really -- one of my dreams is just to pitch in the postseason. I feel like Milwaukee was the right choice for me, and just I couldn't be more happy right now.

And also that I was going to pitch against Colorado, which is the team that I come up. I feel this is going to be more special for me, just happy that Milwaukee gave me the opportunity and now the opportunity to pitch in the postseason.

Q. Kind of along those lines, you spent a lot of time in the Rockies' organization. What kind of connections do you still have there, and what's it going to be like facing the organization you came up with in a playoff game?
JHOULUS CHACIN: Well, pretty much all the guys there are all my friends still, and pretty much all the coaches, too. They coached me when I was in the Minor Leagues and some when I was in the Big Leagues.

Like I say, it's special that I'm going to have the opportunity to pitch against them in the postseason. Just happy that I'm going to have a chance to pitch the Colorado Rockies.

Q. Can you tell us about Derek Johnson, what you remember about when you first met him, and how you went about gaining trust in each other to go through a full season together?
JHOULUS CHACIN: Well, you know, at the beginning, you don't know each other, so you don't know what you like or what he does like. But I feel like we got a good connection in Spring Training, just little by little.

And when the season started, I know that I wasn't pitching that well, but he was always trying to get better, trying to know me, and it just worked out really well. I feel that he's worked really hard for everybody, and I think that he's got a really good reward for all the guys in the starting rotation and the bullpen, that that's why we are here.

Q. What are the things that Counsell always talks about is that theme, stay connected, stay family. How much of that comes from him, and how much has his leadership and his encouragement for you guys to be connected been important to the success of this team?
JHOULUS CHACIN: I remember Spring Training the first meeting that we had as a team, all the position players and pitchers, Counsell said that he wants us to be connected. You don't get that from the first day or first month. I think that goes along with the whole season.

We played well the first five months. We were there in the playoff spot, but I feel like when all the 40 men and everybody got here, I feel that we got like really connected. We really trusted each other, and we never cared about whatever people said outside the clubhouse. We always believed in what we had, and I think that's why we started playing better, and you know, here we are.

Q. You get to pitch here, but from your years pitching in Colorado, what have you learned about having success pitching at altitude, and is that something you would talk about amongst your other pitchers?
JHOULUS CHACIN: Well, I got questioned a lot before, and I always said that you've got to treat it like any ballpark. If you start thinking about the ball is going to fly more, the ball isn't going to break that much, you're going to get in trouble. You're going to get in your head, and that's when you start making mistakes.

I always say that you have to make your pitches, try to see the loft and hit it. Yeah, sometimes you make good pitches, and they are going to hit out. But you've got to just reset and still try to make pitches. That's something that I've got in my mindset since the Minor Leagues. That's something that they taught when I was in Colorado when I was there. And that's something I try to do. I know the recovery, they always say that's a tough part there, but besides that, you've got to treat it like any ballpark. You've just got to try to make pitches, try to keep the ball down, and try to get the most ground balls that you can.

Q. Just to follow up on that, that's easy to say and a lot of pitchers have had a hard time doing it. Have you seen Kyle Freeland's numbers at Colorado? They are very, very good. How impressed are you with what you've seen from him?
JHOULUS CHACIN: Yeah, I'm really impressed with Freeland, and just watching him the way he was pitching in Colorado and away, because also, that's another thing, you pitch in Colorado, you've got all this stuff you do in Colorado to keep the ball down and make the ball move. Then you go somewhere like San Diego, San Francisco, where the ball moves more, it's going to break more, and you get kind of out of rhythm there a little bit.

But just the way I saw Freeland pitching, it's unbelievable. You could see how good he was during the whole season and the playoff game that he pitched Tuesday.

And also with Marquez, I saw Marquez pitch really well there. That's not easy to do. And just, like I say, just really impressed with those guys.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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