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NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 4, 2018

Freddie Freeman

Los Angeles, California - pregame 1

Q. What were the things that Brian Snitker has meant to this team, and I know when he took over, you guys kind of came together and wanted him to come back and the team to make a commitment to him. What are the things that he brings?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: Like I've said many times before, and everybody's heard this before, I feel like he cares more about the person than the player. He means so much to this organization, he's been in this organization for 40-plus years. He's the same guy every single day. He cares about us and he makes you want to play harder for him just the way he carries himself throughout the day.

Q. We were talking to Kemp yesterday and he said in his brief stint in Atlanta he grew closest to you. He said you guys would text two or three times still a week right now. Have you texted this week and what drew you to him throughout that brief time in Atlanta?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: It's actually turned to Facetimes. I saw his little comment about I'm the best trash-talker there is, and it's continued since he's been here. We just had one of those relationships once he got traded over, we kind of connected. When he came over, we didn't have that big right-handed bat and he was that guy in '16. We just kind of became close, and I was hoping -- I was trying to talk them into him staying one more year, but they made that trade, and we've stayed close.

I have picked up the texts to Facetimes, and the trash-talking has picked up since we found out we were going to be playing each other.

Q. I know you've been coming back to Southern California for a few years now. Does it still mean anything special to you? Do you get a lot of friends and family ticket requests?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: I am the only one that doesn't live in Southern California with my family. So everybody is still here. They're all coming up tonight. So I'm going to have a lot of Freemans up in the crowd. So hopefully I can put on a good show for them.

Q. You have been to the playoffs with the Braves before. It's been five years. So you've been through the whole process and going down and coming back up. Does it seem like that five years has gone fast or has it gone slow?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: Looking back at it, I would say it's gone pretty quick. During it, it was going slow, but the last time I was doing one of these interviews, it ended up with Juan Uribe hitting that home run. So hopefully we can turn it around this year. But I've always said the rise back up from the last few years is going to be a lot sweeter and it sure is.

Q. You signed your big contract in the spring right before -- in the last season before the rebuild started. And there were some rough times. I know you were asked a lot of times about whether you wanted to be traded and had that kind of thing and you always said, no, I never want to. Are you glad now that you didn't at some point feel like I just can't deal with this and ask them to trade you, or is it worth it now that you're back here?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: It's always been worth it even going through that. The previous front office always kept me in the loop, like I've told you guys before. They made me feel connected to everything that was going on. They had a plan in place, and I believed that plan. I've told many people before this, you know, they drafted me when I was 17. They called me up when I was 20 and gave me that contract when I was 24. So ultimately I owe everything to the Braves. I didn't feel like I had the right to ask for a trade. It was my job to try and get this team back to the playoffs as quick as we can. And I feel like three years of rebuilding is pretty quick. And I feel like we're going to be here for a lot of years.

Q. At 26, Foltynewicz has basically halved his ERA and pitched his way into a Game 1 start. What does that arc look like? A lot of us have looked at it as sort of a break-out year. But pitch to pitch, what does it look like to you?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: I've been talking about it the last couple of days. Foltynewicz is a very emotional pitcher. I feel like this year was the year where he kind of let those emotions not get the best of him. If he would throw a strike and it got called a ball, he could kind of get out of whack and next thing you know he'd hang a slider and we'd be down to nothing. I feel like this year he's honed it in. He's not letting that get the best of him. Every pitch he makes is a meaningful pitch now. There's not a lot of noncompetitive pitches, and all 100 pitches he seems to throw in a game means something, that ultimately it's been seven, eight innings instead of five innings of 100 pitches. He's been giving us deeper ball games and that's what's made him turn the corner I feel like.

Q. Is that an age thing or an innings thing?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: I feel like for baseball nowadays it's let it eat, see how hard you can throw. And I feel like -- and Folty can throw 100. So I feel like he's matured, growing up, and realizing that he can throw 94 to 96 and get to seven, eight innings, instead of throwing 98 to 99 and throwing five inning and then being a five-and-dive guy. And I felt like this year he really wanted to go deeper into ball games, and I feel he's really turned that corner of knowing when to go get extra and being able to tone it down and go longer and deeper into games.

Q. A lot has been written about the change in Matt's physique and the change in his motivation since he got traded. Just wondering what changes you've observed in the last year with Matt?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: Well, I mean, he had the injury, I think -- what was it, two years ago? He just came into our clubhouse one day in Turner Field and he was all swollen and he had to have that -- I think it was thoracic outlets -- and he had to have that removed. And once he came back from that, he's been a whole different pitcher. He feels confident in himself and he's confident in his abilities. And we all knew what he had, and I feel like he finally believed in that. And he's in great physical shape, and he can go out there and pitch and give 100 pitches every single time.

Q. What do you remember about that last post-season run, especially that Uribe home run?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: Yeah. That really rings in my head. I think we won 96 games that year. But I felt like it was a different team. I mean we had Jason Heyward leading off that year and he's not a lead-off hitter. So we just had some pieces that we were trying to mix and match, and that was the big one. Carpenter had a great year that year, and he was in the 8th inning. And that slider just hung a little bit too much, and next thing you know I felt like Dodger Stadium was coming down, it was so loud.

But I thought we had a pretty good year, and I thought we were able to -- Freddy Garcia had beat Kershaw that night pretty much and I thought we were going to be going back to Atlanta for Game 5. But Juan got us.

Q. Freddie, you're a more established ballplayer now than you were in 2013 the last time you were in the playoffs. Snit says, hey, we don't need Freddie to carry us, and I think we've seen from the team all that's true. How do you kind of view your role this year and what the team needs from you in this series?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: I feel like it's the same. I'm penciling in a three hole and I gotta go out there and play hard. I try and lead by examples. I speak very rarely, but when I do speak, hopefully it means something to the guys. I'm just going to try and put good quality at bats and get on and keep the line moving. That's the beauty of our team. We've had 30 to 35 guys get us to this point. It hasn't been one guy specifically and we're going to need that to continue.

Q. Freddie, all day yesterday the guys were talking about how you've been the underdog all year. How have you kind of approached that? Have you guys used that as extra motivation all year to say we are for real.
FREEDIE FREEMAN: We all hear it. We kind of just treat it as noise. Everybody keeps saying we're the underdogs now, even in this series. I feel like it's the same people that picked us to be fourth in the division as well. So obviously they weren't right about that. So we don't believe anything they really say. You gotta play the game of baseball. If you could pick what you want on paper, then we wouldn't have been here. And here we are giving press conferences getting ready for the NLDS.

Q. A lot has been made about Matt Kemp since he returned to the Dodgers. He seems more focused. He's in shape. What are your thoughts on just the changes that he's undergone?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: Oh, I'm happy for him. Obviously what I talked about before, we've been really close friends and continued that friendship. Seeing him make that All-Star Game this year and being starting in left field, it was fantastic. You know, I wish the best for him, just not for these next few games.

Q. Freddie, a lot of people that haven't followed Anibal Sanchez this year and might have just remembered him the last couple of years will probably look at tomorrow's matchup with him and Kershaw and go the Braves don't have a chance. But you've watched him all year. What can you say about what he's done and has he surprised you with how he's kind of reinvented himself?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: I wouldn't say surprised. I faced Anibal a lot in my career, and it's never been a comfortable at bat. He's never been the overpowering guy. When I got to him when he was with the Marlins, he was kind of coming down with velocity. He just knows how to pitch. It feels like a magician with the ball. Every time you think he's going to do something, he does the opposite. A lot of people in '13 didn't pick us when we had Freddy Garcia start against Kershaw and we were winning that game until the 8th.

So it doesn't matter who's on the mound, who Anibal is facing. I feel everybody in that clubhouse feels like we got a good chance to when Anibal is pitching.

Q. Any disappointment that you guys were unable to hang onto home field because I think you guys were that second seed going into the final weekend?
FREEDIE FREEMAN: I mean obviously we would love to play in front of our home fans and that's what we were fighting for that last week. We just didn't get it done. But like I said before, when we get to Thursday, which is today, no one's going to remember what happened that last week. And here we are, we gotta go out there and play no matter if we have a white or gray. We're going to be home at some point, so hopefully we have a two-nothing lead.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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