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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: NATIONALS VS CARDINALS

October 13, 2019

Mike Shildt

Washington D.C. - Workout Day

Q. Hi, Mr. Shildt. I'm calling all the way out from Puerto Rico, and I'm wondering, what does it signify to you, as a manager and to the team, to have Yadier Molina as the captain and also like a second manager on the field?
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I think you've already said it. Any time you put a guy in a position -- I call him "El Lídre," well deservedly. A leader on the field in the clubhouse, off the field in our community. Clearly a special talent, a brilliant baseball mind, and the heart of a champion.

Q. Yes, I figure we should ask, do you have any lineup changes you can share with us as we head into this big game?
MIKE SHILDT: We'll share the lineup tomorrow.

Q. Quick follow-up. Can you at least describe your impressions of José Martínez so far this postseason? And even really in September, too.
MIKE SHILDT: Well, he's been great, takes a quality at-bat. I do remember a time in September where I was getting questions about why he was getting big at-bats. It stayed with him, and it's paid off. He's taken good at-bats, like he's done historically, and he's been able to provide good at-bats for us this postseason, as well.

Q. Shildty, how unusual is it for somebody age 23 to be a staff ace on Andy's staff, even as many young pitchers coming through the big leagues? 23 is fairly young for an ace, is it not?
MIKE SHILDT: It's just a great point. You probably have more historical reference than I would. It's not the norm, but Jack's not a normal talent. He's got a lot of different skill sets that allow him to get to a point where he's earned -- and that's exactly what's happened -- he's earned the opportunity to head our staff, which is saying something with the staff we have.

Q. Understanding that you're not going to divulge too much about the lineup, when this team was going at its best, especially offensively, it had a varied attack, meaning it could find runs a lot of different ways. I wonder how you see this team trying to find itself? Maybe offensively, and maybe if a way back into more successful offense, maybe through the roots of, say, small ball, or just finding ways to create, generate, manufacture runs.
MIKE SHILDT: That's an understandable and well-deserved question. What you just described is effectively the same lineup that we have currently put in place, we've been able to do. We have the ability with the -- we've been very blessed with the fact that we've had the nucleus of our team together this year, and in most fashion, the guys that we've had in the lineup for the last several months have been in the lineup the last several days and have been able to do exactly that.

I feel like we've been able to demonstrate -- not as many opportunities to demonstrate it, but we've gotten not many guys on. We recognize that. We've faced some really good pitching. We want to always have a little bit of credit on that side, as well, but we've got three stolen bases in three attempts with the limited opportunities. We forced another throwing error into centerfield. We've had multiple guys look to bunt, Carp bunted the other day. Kolten brought a WHIP in in the ninth the other day on Doolittle. We've pretty much done as much as we can with what we've had.

As far as doing anything different, we just need to get back. We've had the skills -- the lineup is in place to provide that. We've demonstrated that with this lineup for 169 games. As it happened for a couple of games when we haven't been able to get as many guys on, we just haven't had as many opportunities, but the skill set and the understanding and the game playing are all in place.

Q. Quick follow-up to that. How much of that do you think traces back to the lack of walks? Even in the Division Series, the two starters don't walk too many. So far in this series, three walks total. How much of that is just the lack of maybe even being able to prime the pump comes from the lack of walks?
MIKE SHILDT: No, I think that's a part of it for sure. It's an opportunity that allows us to get on base. That's why OPS is such a valuable offensive metric because it's factoring in some of that, as well. It also factors in the slug. We need to get guys on. We take it any way we get it. Dexter worked a walk yesterday. We've gotten some deep counts. We had multiple full counts yesterday with Scherzer, and he threw multiple different pitches at a full count that he hit with. That's a tough recipe, man.

I was talking to Shannon a little bit on the plane, and the thing about the way Scherzer threw, we've got a good lineup. We could have had a Hall of Fame lineup out there yesterday in the conditions that were out there and the stuff that Scherzer had, and you might have got very, very little different result. That's just the fact of the matter.

But the walks are important. Every offense, including our own, is at their best. We're getting them, but I also feel like we keep some internal stuff about our chase rates and really haven't been expanding the zone. When guys are around the plate with three, four pitches and controlling counts, that's just not a recipe for a lot of walks. Same way we saw it. You look at it from our side, too, the pitching side. Earlier in the year, walks were an issue for us. What did we do? We controlled counts and look to get early contact, and our pitching numbers improved, and we won more games.

So there's no secrets to it. Some of it has to do with the fact guys aren't outside the zone a lot. That's completely to their credit.

Q. Mike, you spent a lot of time in the Cardinals farm system. I'm wondering if you could speak to the development of some of these players who maybe weren't top prospects but come to the majors and immediately find a place and become these polished hitters. Specifically, I'm talking about Tommy and how he's been able to do that exact thing and kind of break into your lineup over the season.
MIKE SHILDT: That's the one thing that dates back long before both of us, and that's our farm system. Branch Rickey helped create it when he was with the Cardinals, or did create it, and it's something that has been a big part of our organization, to be able to be successful. Obviously, Mr. Kissell, George Kissell, 66 years, seven decades of development of players. We don't claim to have all the answers by any stretch of the imagination. We have a way we do it, and we have an excellent farm director in Gary LaRocque, our retired field coordinator Mark DeJohn, after 33 years, just a lot of quality instructors and managers and coaches.

Scouting plays into that, too. They scout guys with character and ability, and we do the very best we can in the development of the player to let him understand how to play the game, how to conduct themselves, and how to expect to be a championship caliber player. But ultimately, the credit goes to the player to be receptive to that. It's their energy, effort and talent that ultimately wins the day.

Q. Mike, in looking at this series from sort of a broader historical perspective, Washington as a baseball town, is a place that has never hosted an NLCS game, hasn't hosted a World Series game in 86 years now. I'm wondering, with your connection, sort of, to Beltway baseball through the Orioles, as well, what you're expecting tomorrow night in terms of the atmosphere and if you can appreciate, sort of, a broader historical perspective of a city that really hasn't been this deep into the postseason at all functionally in its baseball history?
MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I can certainly appreciate it. I love the history of our game. It's storied. It's deep. It's on of the things that's romantic about our game that people love. It's the history and the knowledge about organizations and dates and things of that sort. I know it's going to be a wonderful atmosphere here. It's a great area of many in our country for baseball, and this is a very, very deep rooted, to your point, baseball area that I know is going to be passionate about and excited about the opportunity to see a National League Championship Series three games.

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