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MLB WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS VS ASTROS

October 21, 2019

AJ Hinch

Houston, Texas - Workout Day

AJ HINCH: This is the first chance that we've had to sit here after the passing of Eric Cooper. And as a baseball family, players, coaches, managers, umpires, I'd like to offer our sincere condolences to his family.

Coop was an incredible man that everybody looked forward to seeing on the field. And unfortunately, when you go to Google a picture about Coop, it's like me and him yelling at each other, because that's the nature of the interaction that you guys get to see on the field. But the brotherhood that we have in our game is important and extends to the umpires and to his family.

So a tragic loss for baseball, and I wanted to make sure and offer some condolences.

Q. Have you guys finalized your roster yet?
AJ HINCH: You know, I just came out of a meeting, just like last time, and we've talked a little bit about if we're going to make any changes or how many changes. Quite honestly, the health of Ryan Pressly is going to be key in those decisions. He's going to do some things on the field today. Hopefully get off the mound. He's feeling better. We anticipate him being available and ready to go.

But until we clear him as active we're going to have to hold off on our roster. We won't announce anything until tomorrow, anyway. There could be a change or two either based on health or based on matchup.

Q. Yordan obviously struggled pretty mightily in the ALCS. How do you envision deploying him in the World Series? Do you expect him to play every game?
AJ HINCH: He's going to DH and bat 7th tomorrow. I believe in Yordan. I know I hit for him at the end of Game 6 in the ALCS with the bases loaded against Britton. That's not an indictment of my belief in him or the fact we don't think he could have done well, we had a terrific matchup with Díaz.

But we get to wipe the slate clean. He gets to start all over again in the World Series, and he's going to be facing some elite pitching. We need him to be good, to be at our best. And I look forward to him DH'ing both Game 1 and 2. We'll see what happens when we get to Washington.

Q. The Nationals are a little bit more traditional in the way they use their pitchers than the other teams you've faced this postseason, particularly I guess the Rays and then that Game 6.
AJ HINCH: I'll believe it when I see it. I think they should take their starter out after the third inning, to be honest.

Q. Which is easier for you, I'm sure there's differences in how you set up your lineup, but is there a way you prefer to play?
AJ HINCH: I'm the last person that's going to tell you it's easier to face Scherzer and Strasburg in the first couple games just because they're traditional pitchers.

We're at the point of the season where these are elite teams. We went through Tampa, incredible team, the Yankees, incredible team, now we have the Nats, incredible team. So these pitchers are all really good.

How they deploy their guys, it is what it is. I think when -- we'll see how much easier, quote, unquote, "easier" it is to face a guy a second and third time, but with the type of pitching that we're going to face out of the rotation with the Nats, I'm not sure you can use the word "easier."

It was different on the front end going through different bullpens and never getting to see the same guy twice in a game. But we saw them three and four and five times during series.

But I think this particular series, you've got to beat their starters. If you want to do well against the Nats, you've got to beat their starters, and then make them make decisions as the game goes on. If you sit back and kind of wait for the bullpen or wait for them to make a decision, you'll look at Strasburg and Scherzer throwing 120, 130 pitches and you'll be too deep in the game to make up a difference. Those guys getting 21, 24, 27 outs is a real possibility for them. And that makes it tough either way.

Q. What are the differences between this team in 2019 and the 2017 team?
AJ HINCH: They're different years, different teams. There's a few different players. We're a little bit more mature, the guys that are here. But I haven't given a lot of thought to try to historically compare them. They're both really good teams. We both have gotten to the World Series; one's got a ring, one doesn't.

Q. In the time that Josh James has been up here with you, how have you seen him grow and develop and get used to his role with your team?
AJ HINCH: It's pretty incredible to see James evolve as a pitcher. When he got here in September of '18, it was to get a spot start and we were going to see what his velocity and change-up was all about. And he burst on to the scene at Fenway and ended up making our playoff roster after having very little Major League experience.

Coming back this season, it's been a little bit of an up-and-down season for him. Was he going to be a starter, was he going to be a reliever? When he got to be in the bullpen was he going to throw enough strikes? But the one constant has been punching guys out. He's been able to miss bats his entire Major League career. And that's very, very attractive this time of year and it's why I've put him in some situations where punch-outs are huge with guys on base or in a certain area of the lineup where we think we can seek a punch-out.

He's grown, he's matured, he's become a father. He has an identity on this team. Everybody knows that he's going to be prepared. And I love how he's been able to handle the uncertainty of being a young rookie last season into this year, bouncing around a little bit in roles of leverage and then coming out of it in October as a very viable weapon.

Q. Joe Smith has made 782 career appearances, no World Series appearances. So assuming he gets into the series, nobody has ever gone that many games without appearing in a World Series. What does it say about just his career and how happy are you for him?
AJ HINCH: I'm very proud of him. And he would be the one guy on this team, maybe Marisnick, too, that I would bring in my office and pretend like he's not going to make the roster, just to get the reaction from him, and he wouldn't buy it.

He was on the World Series team with the Cubs in '16 and didn't make the roster. So this will mean a lot for him. For him to come back from the injury that he did, very likable guy in the clubhouse, super positive type guy. Has been on a lot of different teams, if a guy sticks around this long and evolves as a pitcher, it means he's a weapon and he's also got some veteran savvy to him that teams buy in on.

I'm proud for him. I'm anxious to get him in the name. It will probably be one of the first games he's nervous. He's hardly ever nervous, but I bet he'll be a tick nervous just because of the stage and the World Series and the excitement of having to endure all that before he gets to throw his first pitch in the World Series.

He's a viable weapon for us. He pitched a huge eighth inning the other day. It's funny, I told him before the game, You're going to probably pitch in the 2nd against Sánchez or Urshela. And then I didn't, I passed on him and I went to James. I know he got his family here, You better hurry and get to the game. It might be in the second inning when I pitch. And then after the game he yelled at me, and he said, You told me you were going to pitch me second. I'm like, No, I meant second-to-last. So I was happy to get him in the game and he helped us win.

Q. Two years ago you had gotten Verlander midseason, you got Greinke midseason this year. What's your learning curve learning what those guys can do in a couple months and how much more comfortable are you with each of them?
AJ HINCH: That is a big change. And one of the reasons we traded for Maldonado in the middle of the season this year is to get some familiarity back behind the plate as well, both with Greinke, having caught him in Milwaukee, but also the rest of our staff. And that's really hard to add somebody.

We added JV at the very end of the season in the second deadline, it was old school back in the day when you could have two.

Getting to know them up and getting them up and running, those guys are elite so you kind of adapt to them and figure out what's made them be successful. The last thing you're going to do is all of a sudden not have them prepare the same way. You might sprinkle in a few ideas, and we've done that. Just getting them into our program and into our communication line, it's been huge for us.

Because they're so elite, it's a seamless transition when they come to a new team. They take over. They know how to prepare. We add a little bit. We get the familiarity with the catchers. That's one of the most important ingredients in this, to get the elite pitchers on the same page as the catchers so that when they go out in the game they just be themselves.

Q. Have you decided on your starting rotation?
AJ HINCH: Yes, we'll have Cole on Game 1, Verlander in Game 2, Greinke in Game 3, and Greinke gets to hit. That's going to be fun for him. In Game 4, as in typical fashion, we'll read and react based on how we want to do it; could be Peacock, could be Urquidy, could be somebody different based on how the first three games go.

Q. The value of winning over the Yankees in 6, to start Gerrit.
AJ HINCH: I would have had to settle for a Greinke start in Game 1, that wouldn't have been horrific; he's elite.

Certainly getting to start the series with Gerrit and JV and Greinke lined up is nice. We did have a pretty good backup plan if we were pushed to a Game 7. But it's hard to think of many guys better than that trio to kick off a World Series.

Q. Last week you said you'll officially be old when two players retire. Would you offer any words of encouragement to Fernando Rodney to keep this thing going?
AJ HINCH: For next year, yeah, I want him to enjoy this and I'm proud of him, too. I got to catch him. And he's one of the rare guys still going.

Fernando, if you're listening, keep playing.

Q. How has he been able to stay this long in the game?
AJ HINCH: I don't know how he continues to throw this hard. He's just got a gift and he's able to deploy it in the games.

He's bounced around, played for a lot of teams in some huge roles, too, some high-leverage situations. He's pretty unflappable. I've talked to him different stops along the way, said hello to him, and it's the same guy that I had back in '03 with Detroit. And yet this isn't just like a couple of years ago, this is 15, 16 years ago when we're talking about he and I overlapping, and he's still throwing 96 to a hundred and pitching late in games.

Q. What did Josh Reddick bring to you guys when he came here three years ago? And how do you explain sort of the connection he has with the fans?
AJ HINCH: How about that catch? First off, it was a huge play for us.

He brings an edge that he often doesn't get credit for. The fans have really embraced him. He's got the wrestling thing going, he's got a great personality, they've done a few bobbleheads with him. He's just got that engaging vibe around him that I think people appreciate because he plays hard.

I think when people watch him play, success, failure, struggle, dominate, whatever he's done, he's always played with some consistency. And fans around here appreciate that as much as they appreciate anything.

And then on our team he's an edge. He doesn't make it comfortable, in a good way. He's all about the competing. He's all about the reaction. There's never been a good call made on him from the umpire, he'll make sure people know that. He likes holding guys accountable, making comments. And that to me is a part of a team dynamic that you guys don't often get to see, but us behind the scenes know how important he is.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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