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AL DIVISION SERIES: RAYS VS ASTROSOctober 3, 2019AJ HinchHouston, Texas - Workout Day Q. Now that you know your opponent, do you have any updates on the roster at this point? A.J. HINCH: I don't have any updates to share because we're getting started a little early today. We haven't communicated enough to the players. We met yesterday for two and a half hours, kind of walking through two scenarios, one against Oakland, one against Tampa. We're continuing that conversation. These are sort of tough meetings to have, because we're talking about a number of guys that deserve to be on the team. But we can't take everybody. We can't play every scenario out over the course of a five-game series. So we're going to communicate some things to players today, some things are going to go down to the wire. But no update. Q. Without giving away the secret sauce, lots of players have come to these two teams and gotten better, lots better. Can you just talk about how that happens? A.J. HINCH: Well, I thinks it starts with the buy-in and kind of an all-in approach when it comes to trying to find the best version of that player. And both organizations seem to be really good at exhausting every opportunity to make somebody even a little bit better all the way to a lot better. Some of it is the player development backgrounds of both organizations. Some of it is having some good analytical departments that find hidden gems in certain areas. But most of it is just a pure commitment to producing the best version of the player at any opportunity. That means when we get some big boys like JV and Cole all the way to some guys that both organizations find relatively out of nowhere. Credit to both places, but it's a lot of work by a lot of people. Q. A.J., when you consider how much the Rays have changed in the last 10, 12 years, whether it's front office manager, roster, and then for them to still be this good and this competitive and this dangerous, how much respect do you have for that entire organization? A.J. HINCH: They've changed everything, but they're not dumber. They've gotten smarter. So I think they, again, they have to do so many different things, whether it's being on the leading edge of the opener concept to being willing to do -- I mean, Kevin Cash will do anything in a game. He's one of the most unpredictable managers that I manage against. They've been amazing at the success that they've had. They play in a big boy division over in the AL East and they don't back down from the bigger markets and the higher payrolls. They're bold in their decision making. They do make players better, and they win. Bottom line is they win. So I have a lot of respect for Kevin. I have a lot of respect for their organization. They exhaust every competitive advantage that they can find, and I have a great appreciation for that. Q. A.J., in this era where openers are so in vogue, what is the value, especially in the playoffs, of basically having three aces at the front of your rotation? A.J. HINCH: The value is really good when they're really good pitchers. I got asked a lot when the Rays started doing a lot of the opener stuff, Hey, do you believe in it? I'm like, Now with the rotation I have, I don't believe in it. Not to disparage their rotation last year when they were doing it a lot. If your personnel fits that, if your philosophy fits that, all the better. I didn't do this, but I wanted to do in August was text him and say, I don't know if you're going with an opener, but I'm going with Verlander, Greinke, and Cole. And the same goes for this series. As long as I've got the type of top-end rotation, then I certainly firmly believe in the starting pitcher setting the tone and doing all the things that a normal, traditional starting pitcher would do. If the game calls for an audible and you have to do something a little bit different, I think history the last few years has shown that you can win baseball games doing it a lot of different ways. We've done it, they've done it. Virtually everybody in baseball does it. I remember you're either an analytical team or you're not. The reality is 30 teams are. It's just a matter of how much you value it. Do you believe in the opener or not? If you do, you have to use it. But I love the three at the top of our rotation, and I'll take that model every day. Q. You mentioned last weekend that the day after Correa works out is going to be big for him. How did he report today and how is he -- A.J. HINCH: He feels great. He's ready to go. I think he was very antsy at the end of the Anaheim series to do a little bit more and to test himself a little bit. The danger in that is if you do too much too soon and you have a setback, then it's bad news. There's no margin for error. The work that he did on Monday, the off-day, the Tuesday volunteer workout day, the Wednesday mandatory workout day, into today gives me no concern that he's going to be able to post tomorrow. Q. There have been comparisons of Verlander and Cole to Randy Johnson, Curt Schilling, because just talking about some of the best duos in the last two decades. How do you feel about that comparison? A.J. HINCH: I like when they get mentioned in the all-time greats. That's also a team that won the World Series. So that's good if you like winning World Series. I think it's hard for us, while we're in it, to put ourselves in a historical context or kind of compare eras. Like, we're in the middle of something really special here in Houston that the players that we have, I think we're going to look back and have even a greater appreciation for how unique a group of guys this is. And certainly, the 300-plus punch-outs for both of them. The battle to the end for the AL Cy Young. There's just so much to talk about. When you're in the middle of it, it's hard for me to put it in proper context about other duos. They're our duo so they're the best. I don't care what duo you bring up. I'm going to say they're the best because they're ours. I have great affection for supporting the guys that you have now. When you talk about some of the records they're breaking and some of the duos they're talking about, that's pretty heady stuff for when you're going through it. Q. Your record, the regular season record, the unsurpassable talent that you guys have in the clubhouse makes you the favorite to win it all this year. However, in this game, there's been times that the absolute favorite doesn't win. How do you keep your team focused and not to go, like, Okay, we have the best record in baseball, I have the two Cy Young winners, to keep focus? A.J. HINCH: The Rays have a better record. They're 1-0. In the postseason they're beating us. We'll be the underdog and try to keep up with them. I don't think it's a big deal. I just want to win game 1 tomorrow. I don't want to talk about the World Series or favorites or odds or who has more talent, who doesn't. I want to win game 1. And that day-to-day mentality has served us really well. We talk about winning series and winning seasons and winning weeks and winning months. This is about just win today. And our guys are incredible at staying grounded in the moment. They're not going to get too caught up in all this mess. And honestly, Glasnow is going to throw the first pitch tomorrow at 99 miles an hour, and I think that will remind you that you better focus on today and not start talking about setting up parades and World Series favorites, and that nonsense, I'm not about that. Q. Of their three starters, Glasnow is the one you guys have the least experience with. What do you think back to the March 30 game? What stands out about him and what challenges does he present? A.J. HINCH: The velocity is real. His size and he can spin the ball and do a lot of different things. He's got a lot of energy on the mound. He's got a lot of moving parts. But it's the pure stuff that he can throw at every hitter that kind of gets your attention. When they lost him, there was a gap in time where he didn't pitch with them and we didn't see them. And he was hurt when we got back to seeing them. So the lack of familiarity is always bothersome. You wish you had more at-bats and more content and more context and just a better feel for how he's going to pitch. We know he's going to throw hard, we know he's going to spin the ball, we know he's going to come after guys, he'll elevate, try to get his punch-outs. He's going to pitch with a little edge. He's got a great way about competing. Other than that, we've got to get in the box and see for ourselves what we can do against him while he's in there. I know he's not stretched out a ton. But in some ways, we can't really plan for that. We've got to go up and look fastball and catch up to his 99, 100, 101, whatever he's going to throw. Q. You guys have a lot of experience, obviously, and you've gotten playoff experience the last few years. Have you learned something in this course of time of dealing with guys who don't have that experience, like an Alvarez, especially, and how do you anticipate he'll respond? A.J. HINCH: I think he'll respond fine because of the guys that he has around him. He's close with a lot of guys on our team, and he -- in the clubhouse, he lockers, you know, very close to a lot of guys that he deeply respects when you think of Jose and Yuli and Carlos, guys that have been there and done that, and there's -- we've got a ton of good leadership in there. Some guys, older leadership. Some of it's younger leadership. It's not going to be a problem. I think one of the most impressive parts of Alvarez is that his presence during this success has been really good. He hasn't taken himself too seriously. He hasn't put any more pressure on himself. I don't think that will change because of the playoffs. What I love about our team, one of the many things I love is you can find somebody in that clubhouse that relates to you. Maybe it's Carlos who was on his way to Rookie of the Year award in 2015 and he came up huge in the series in 2015. Maybe it's Alex Bregman, who burst out in the 2017, you know, World Series run. So just look to your left, look to your right, there will be plenty of support for you. More importantly, look fastball and don't miss it. Q. As far as the expectations are concerned, obviously, those are there for you guys now. To be able to maintain the level that you guys have over the last couple of years, consistency is the hardest thing to maintain in this game. What do you feel like has been the biggest thing, other than talent, to why -- A.J. HINCH: I think our mindset is second to none in the league. A lot of managers will sit up here and brag about their team. Our mindset has been really, really good over the last couple of years. I think our success has made us hungrier for more success. Our best players are our best examples of coming to the ballpark ready to play every day. And, you know, I could sit up here and rattle off the whole roster, Alex Bregman, Jose Altuve, George Springer. We add a Michael Brantley who fits in perfectly. Then on the pitching side, JV and Cole make sure that day is the most important day of the week. We've been able to maintain all the way to the final end. One of the things we did until this last week of the season is play our guys. I rested a guy or two every other day or so. We played our guys because we want to keep that mindset and that ready-to-play-today mentality. That's what the playoffs are about. It's not about where you are in the series, what venue you're playing in, what could happen or might happen. It's about today. We try to simulate that for three straight years of the 100-win season. It's worked well. The playoffs went well in '17, we fell a little short in '18. We want to get back to where we've been accustomed to being in the last couple of years, which is being the team that's being chased. It's tough to win, and you've got to stay grounded while you're doing it and worry about today. Q. I don't want to make this too simple. What makes Verlander Verlander? A.J. HINCH: It's not simple. How long have you got? I can go on and on about JV. To simplify for you, he's never afraid to evolve and he's always seeking a way to get better. Video, changing a pitch grip, changing the pitch type. Just while he's been an Astro for a short period of time, I've watched him learn a pitch in a bullpen session and take it into an ALCS game and use it with the bases loaded. I've watched him change mid-game a game plan that he had worked 48 hours on on how to pitch a certain opponent. He just evolves all the time. He's always trying to evolve. It's funny, yesterday we were walking out and you start talking, Hey, JV, while you're pitching over the next five years, he's like, Why not ten? He just always wants more and I love that about him. He's ultra prepared. He's never afraid. He believes in his convictions and he believes in his preparation, and he is aging quite well. Q. Aside from facing Kevin Cash on the field, what's the origin story of how you guys became friends? A.J. HINCH: We were just both poor-hitting backup catchers trying to survive in the game at the same time. I don't know if I was a better hitter than him. But we have a very similar story when it comes to how our careers went, how we bounced around a little bit. The journeyman part of it, being young managers. There's nothing like going into the Winter Meetings when you go into the manager meeting and you look around and you're like, Those guys don't look like us, because we were in our mid 30s. We've always been on the younger side of this. He's very relatable. I consider myself relatable. We've always become nice friends. We text back and forth every now and then. We had a chance to spend the most time together at the All-Star Game in 2018. That was a treat for me. And he's just an all-around good guy. I just think we have very similar beliefs and very similar backgrounds and we're trying to make this magic thing work. Q. Reddick had an eventful night and morning. What is his status going to be today and kind of going forward? A.J. HINCH: He called me last night on the way. He was going to the hospital and saying the babies were coming. We're proud that things are going well for his family. And his status today is to rest and take care of his family. He'll be in the lineup tomorrow and be ready to go. It was an incredibly emotional night for him. I've texted back and forth with him today. Saw the pictures. I know his wife is doing well, babies are doing well. So I'm happy for that. I'm happy it's done prior to the series. That would have been a stressful event for him in the middle of the series. Q. Good timing. A.J. HINCH: Great timing. Q. A.J., you got no shortage of guys who love being here and the possibilities and the stage and all that stuff. Alex might stand out a little bit in that group. How unique is that and how does that kind of help him in these situations? A.J. HINCH: These guys love the big stage. We have huge, big personalities and they put themselves out there. Then they go and back it up on the field. The thing that our guys do a great job of is monitoring it enough, I mean, we'll be on the edge of offending others. But we also go out and compete and play on the field. And these guys know their sort of fame and their outreach and their social media followers, all that stuff is great. It's even greater when you play well. Nothing is more important than winning to these guys. Nothing is more important than leaving it all out on the field and doing it with your brother to your left and to your right. Keeping that in proper context makes it okay. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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