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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS VS BRAVES

October 5, 2019

Brian Snitker

St. Louis, Missouri - Workout Day

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Brian Snitker.

Q. What makes Soroka different than other pitchers, especially for 22 years old?
BRIAN SNITKER: Maturity, I think, is the big thing, how the young guy handles himself. He's really good at staying pitch to pitch. It's like he's winning the battle, the small battles within a game, pitch to pitch, hitter to hitter, inning to inning.

I think he understands that when he gets in trouble that he has something -- he's a pitch away from getting out of trouble.

And how he handles the game, how he slows the game down, the maturity -- if you talk to him, how he carries himself; he's just a very advanced young man, probably not only in baseball but in life.

Q. Knowing Adam Wainwright as long as you have, did you watch from afar the 2006 playoffs and what your thoughts were of him as you saw this starter prospect become a closer?
BRIAN SNITKER: Very proud. It's just -- I told him many times, even when I was a third base coach -- because I remember seeing him in the weight room after games, and it's, like, God, I love watching you pitch.

Just how he competes, who he is, knowing him for as long as I have, the respect I have for him, I consider him a good friend. And it's been really gratifying to watch his development, his career, what he's become. I can go on and on about that guy.

Q. Could you?
BRIAN SNITKER: No, it is. (Laughter) when we had him he was a young guy. You saw great potential. You hated to lose him. I remember when we traded him and I called him.

But you saw -- and I realize -- you realized at the time you've got to give up something to get something. And it's just been really cool to see how he's developed, his career, following him. Always have been and always will be a big fan.

Q. Will you wait to see how tomorrow goes before you decide what you'll do for Game 4?
BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, that's something that we're going to talk about this afternoon, kind of just getting a plan in order and some different scenarios. And it's obviously, I think it's changed since we started this whole process. And we have options.

So we'll kind of discuss that this morning, this afternoon -- actually before we go out as we prepare for the advent of that.

Q. Speaking of starters pitching in relief and the playoffs as Wainwright did, Fried is kind of the hot story right now. And is there a scenario where you see him closing games this October?
BRIAN SNITKER: I don't think that you would rule that out. I think he's equipped for it. I think, again, you'll just have to see how this thing does day to day. And I don't know that there's not a scenario there, as well as we have him, Melancon. Shane Greene's done that also. We have some options there depending on where the lineup is at and how we get to individual phases of it.

Q. I assume if he works Game 3 at all in relief that would pretty much knock him out of Game 4 as a starter.
BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, and I don't know that he hasn't already been already, quite honestly, just with the back to back, and with the two days, and I think you'll be asking a lot of him to do that.

It's not out of the question. But he's going to become a very -- of what we went through and where we're at right now, he's become a very valuable part of that bullpen right now.

Q. I've heard it said from some people inside the organization that he might actually be better off being like your Andrew Miller or your Hader from last year, just your putting-out-fire kind of guy?
BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, and if that's how we see -- and I kind of do see him transforming into, for this postseason, just because of what happened to Martin. And he's shown a propensity to do that.

He's been very good. He was last year when we brought him out of the pen. So, it might be to our benefit that he fits that role.

Q. How much did Melancon, when he came in and moved to the ninth inning, stabilize your bullpen, not just from his performance but presence as well?
BRIAN SNITKER: He's one of those guys that had done it. He'd been there, done that. He'd been traded into a contender.

And I didn't realize until you experienced that more what -- that's a big thing for guys, to be moved across the country, and some of them dragging families and into a team that expectations are high, into a clubhouse where you want to fit in.

And it's a big load. He'd been through that and I think was equipped to handle it. And probably when we got him he probably has thrown his best baseball than he has in a year or so, I would think. His stuff has been really, really good. He's provided some really good stability at the back end of our bullpen.

Q. When you discussed your option for Game 4, obviously Julio and maybe Keuchel on short rest. Should we also say maybe Tomlin as an opener, would it extend that far?
BRIAN SNITKER: Again, I would think it would probably be determined by tomorrow. I've ran that through my mind, too, that it could be a bullpen day if we wanted to go that route.

And somebody's got to get the thing off the ground. And then after that it's kind of all hands on deck again, that mentality.

Q. Have you ruled Keuchel out for Game 4?
BRIAN SNITKER: No, hu-huh.

Q. Would you be more likely to do that if you were down 2-1?
BRIAN SNITKER: Maybe. Like I say, that's discussions we're going to have here probably within the next hour as we go outside and the guys do bullpens and prepare, some different scenarios.

Q. What has been your enjoyment level of playing here as a visiting manager, visiting team?
BRIAN SNITKER: In St. Louis?

Q. Yes.
BRIAN SNITKER: It's awesome. I love coming here. I grew up in this area, two hours from here. You know the fan base, the honest, hard-working, dedicated fans that appreciate baseball, how it's played on both sides.

They applaud the visiting team when they should be and they respect -- and it's just always been a fun place to come to see a red that's always around. Like I say, I grew up right in the middle of all this.

Everybody, all my aunts, uncles, cousins, everybody like that, the guys that I grew up with, they're all die-hard Cardinal fans.

Q. Were you?
BRIAN SNITKER: No, I was a Cub fan. My dad grew up in Chicago. So I kind of was -- like I said, earlier, when we went to the ball game with the family this is where we came. We came to Busch Stadium. My mom would make fried chicken and we'd tailgate in the parking deck and see batting practice.

Q. Who was playing for the Cardinals?
BRIAN SNITKER: Orlando Cepeda and Maxy (phonetic) and Joe Torre, that group, and Gibby. I say, we stand outside the player entry just to watch the guys come in a lot.

It was a big deal to come to St. Louis. We got to come once a summer. It wasn't like we were here a lot either. It was that one trip a summer when my dad and uncle and the cousins and me would come. It was fun. It's always been -- this is a great baseball city.

Q. One other Wainwright question. The game doesn't often allow guys to choose when they walk away; sometimes it tells them before they're ready. How did you watch this year as he somewhat reinvented themselves but also rejuvenated himself, took the game back on his terms?
BRIAN SNITKER: In talking to him last year at the end, I know he pitched a game against us; I was, like, how did you just do that. It was pretty evident he wasn't feeling real good.

And, like you say, the game doesn't allow that very often, and it's really a neat thing to see when somebody can do that. I think we all hope that it can happen. As we know you're never guaranteed tomorrow in this business, and so it's really a great thing, I think, when somebody can, especially that's had the career like that, that can do it on their terms, it's good.

Q. What are your thoughts on the way the postseason has evolved over the last five or so years, where the starter's role is apparently diminished in favor of the bullpen?
BRIAN SNITKER: It's different. I said yesterday I still think that, as we saw yesterday in that game, the starting pitching is really huge. But then you watch games and they've got guys facing one guy and then you go to the bullpen or one inning. And it's hard for somebody like me to wrap around.

I'm way deep into this thing, and I said last year this analytical world is really neat and there's a lot of great information and getting it. But I wasn't raised in that game. But it's kind of where you're at. There's a lot of -- the urgencies are greater, I think, once the game starts.

And that's why I thought yesterday's game was just so good on all accounts -- we played a baseball game yesterday. We had two really good, young starting pitchers going at it. And it was a normal baseball game.

Q. When you mentioned the two starting pitchers, Flaherty and Foltynewicz, does Soroka, though he doesn't throw as hard as Buehler and Flaherty, does he rank up with them as far as the 25-and-under group?
BRIAN SNITKER: I think so. He's got to be right there. You look at the year that kid has had and how he's made the starts and what he's accomplished. As I say, he's got a different arsenal than those guys, but he's right there neck and neck with all those young, good young starting pitchers that we're starting to see in our league.

Q. Dallas Keuchel talked the other day about being sort of motivated a little bit in the back of his head because of sitting out a little bit, waiting for the contract. Do you feel the same way a little bit with Josh Donaldson, just getting the one-year deal, obviously he's been driven a little bit in that way at all? Do you see that a little bit?
BRIAN SNITKER: You know what, after being around Josh, I can honestly say that I don't know that he'd be any different this year if he had a five-year deal or one-year deal. I say when he comes up that tunnel this guy is on fire and he loves that competition.

And I don't think -- I don't know that -- I think he's playing for that pure energy and passion for the game more than the fact that, obviously I'm sure I want to do -- but I think this guy's going to want to do well every time he takes that stage. And every time he goes out there when the umpire says play ball, he wants to compete and do the best that he can.

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