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NL DIVISION SERIES: CARDINALS VS BRAVES

October 6, 2019

Mark Melancon

St. Louis, Missouri - pregame 3

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Braves pitcher Mark Melancon.

Q. I'm wondering from your perspective as a closer what confidence a team draws from a closer when he's consistent and how that might be different in October?
MARK MELANCON: I think, yeah, for a team to know they have a lock-down bullpen is huge, and especially a closer. I don't know how to answer that in an exact way, but it always helps.

Q. You have a different role coming out of the bullpen than Mike Soroka does, and we know that he's probably different than any 21-year-old, 22-year-old we've probably ever come across in the baseball world, but if you had to give him one piece of advice before he approaches his first postseason start, with your postseason experience, what do you sit and tell him?
MARK MELANCON: Don't be scared of those nerves, they're good. Use them. He's polished, though. I think he already knows that.

Q. How impressed are you with how Fried has come out of the bullpen the first two games? And what sort of conversations do you have leading up to a possible appearance by him?
MARK MELANCON: Yeah, I've been so impressed. Him and I have talked quite a bit since I've gotten here. He's just fearless. It's fun to see it. And very unselfish, just whatever I can do to help the team, and he's doing it.

Q. You've been through the trade process before, you've taken on the closer role. What was it like for you going through both at the same time when you were sent over to Atlanta as far as adapting to a new team and a new role?
MARK MELANCON: It's really exciting. To be fair, I don't think I realized how good this team was until I got over here. And all three of us that came in the bullpen together, we all just kind of looked at each other and were laughing for the first two weeks, just, wow, this is impressive.

And I've really been impressed, and I've said it before, but the young talent -- and I've become just as impressed with the older guys, too, and how everybody's meshed together. It's just a really good team/group. There's no outcasts. There's no selfishness. We're all pulling together.

Q. What responsibility is that then put on a closer, sort of just as far as going through even maybe a regimen or being there when, like, a young reliever like Max might need you, not just what you do on the mound but what you have to do off the mound to kind of carry that confidence?
MARK MELANCON: Well, it's so much different than a starter's role from preparation and -- immediately after the game you have to start preparing for the next. And him and I talked about that yesterday a little bit, just, man, he asked me how do I feel today. We both threw two days in a row.

I said, I probably feel worse than you; I threw way more pitches than you did.

But I think that's just new to him and that's okay. But the preparation starts immediately and he knows that. He's learned that, but he's still learning too. And it's fun to see him kind of go through it because he's a guy that can and is up for it, up for that challenge.

He's very cerebral. So it's good to have him down there because I can bounce things off him as well that he brings from a starter's approach.

Q. Do you think that's part of his role as a closer to set the tone off the field as well?
MARK MELANCON: Yeah, definitely. And all our guys' experience in there is valuable. But I think he's realized that having me down there is good to be able to bounce stuff off of. But I'm just proud of him, how he's adapted so well.

Q. Following up what you said about your expectations of the team and how they were improved when you came in, was there one or two guys that were better, or was it just a general feeling -- offense, pitching -- that you had to see up and close, in person, that led you to believe they were better than what you thought?
MARK MELANCON: Multiple guys. When Soroka pitched in San Francisco, when I was there earlier in the year, even until I got traded here, that was the best performance that I had seen all year, when he pitched against us. And I didn't really know of him too much prior to that and had never really seen him pitch too much. But just watching that game in San Francisco was, wow, this guy -- every pitch he's locating it. It's just so cerebral.

And Ronald, I didn't know how good he was. Ozzie, same thing. And getting to know Ozzie, it's that much more impressive, how much of a leader he is at 22 years old and a clubhouse guy. And then Josh Donaldson, how much he's brought up this clubhouse and challenges guys in a positive way, not a negative way, but a positive way. And it's fun. That energy level has just picked up a couple notches when he's around. It's great.

Q. How have you enjoyed the many, many times you've faced Yadier Molina over the years, could you sense he might have been trying to hit a 3-run homer the other night when you struck him out?
MARK MELANCON: I always get that sense when I face Yadi. Yeah. It's been a lot of fun over the years facing Yadi. I have so much respect for him. I really enjoy seeing what he does in the smaller parts of the game when the camera's not even on him, what he's doing, how he's trying to get ahead of guys or do something when nobody else is looking and just kind of corral the guys, and I respect that a lot.

Q. You've got a mix of guys on this team, important cogs on this team, who are in their mid-30s and guys in their early 20s. What's been the key from the month you've been here, the two months you've been here, to watch and what's been the key to those guys melding together and doesn't seem like there's any factions in the clubhouse?
MARK MELANCON: Yeah, there's no egos, I think that's the biggest key. A lot of confident guys, but no egos, and all pulling together, like I said earlier. You can be a pretty strong group when you're all pulling together.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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