AL WILDCARD GAME: RED SOX VS YANKEES

October 5, 2021

Kike Hernandez

Fenway Park

Boston Red Sox

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Hi, Kiké. First off, can you talk about the two pitchers? What's tough about facing Cole and talk about Nate.

KIKE HERNANDEZ: First off, Cole. I mean, everybody here knows about him. He's got a really good fastball. And he's been one of the best pitchers in baseball the last few years. He's got two breaking balls and change-up, and he's got a fastball that he throws really well. And you've just got to stay on one side of the plate and pick one pitch and just grind it out. You may get one pitch. You can't miss that pitch.

And Nate did a good job all year. He was our horse. He stayed healthy. Gave us innings. Got some big wins when we needed. And he also has a five pitch mix that he controls really well. He changes the tempo with a quick pitch with a little hesitation delivery. He does a great job keeping the hitters off balance. He also has that powerful fastball that everybody has to have in the back of their mind. So he's got a great mix. It's going to be a fun one tonight.

Q. I'm going to ask you a question in English if you can answer in both English and Spanish. You've been an excellent postseason performer. What does it take to be one?

KIKE HERNANDEZ: I don't know. For me, personally, I think it's wanting to be in that spot, wanting to be in that situation. You learn through the years a lot of times when you have four at-bats, that fifth at-bat is coming through in the game. And you're just thinking, counting, do I want this fifth at-bat?

And over the years, you learn that once you stop doing that and you start wanting that fifth at-bat, you know, that fifth at-bat tends to go a little bit better. And in a playoff situation, I think that is that same thing. I think it's envisioning yourself in that situation and wanting to be in that spot and, you know, being confident that you know whatever happens happens.

I do a lot of visualizing and I always try to visualize myself succeeding in those situations and sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But that's what works for me personally.

Q. Going back to when they signed you and in spring training, Alex has talked a lot about your leadership and what you can bring to the clubhouse. Can you talk about how you maybe have tried to do that and how it was different from your time with the Dodgers.

KIKE HERNANDEZ: I try to be the same guy, man. I try to be the same guy anywhere I go. Edoardo here knows me. He met me when I was 18 years old. He was my manager in winter ball. I've always been the same guy ever since I was a little kid. I understand my qualities as a person, and as a teammate. And you know one of the things is to keep things light. And I like to make people laugh. I like to make people feel happy and feel comfortable.

And also I understand that I have a lot of experience in this situation. And guys come up to me and they just -- they ask random questions. But for me as a leader, I take a lot of pride in leading by example. And that's -- when you ask me what can I do as a leader, it's just, you know, I do things the professional way, do things right. Play the game the right way, play hard at all times. Respect my teammates, respect everybody in the clubhouse. And I'll say as a leader, I'm more of a leader by example than vocally. But, yeah, I'm here for my teammates. Whatever I can do to make this team better, to help this team win.

Q. (No microphone)

KIKE HERNANDEZ: No. Like I said I'm the same guy at all times. Maybe now I have more experience here than, you know, in my first six years in LA because I was coming up and there was a lot of super stars on that team. But, you know, I think one thing as a veteran guy, it's very important to feel that you're approachable and make guys feel comfortable.

As a younger guy coming up, sometimes there's some guys that have a lot of time that have done a lot for the game or whatever. And they're not always the most open or approachable guys. And those are the guys that you're a little bit hesitant to come talk to. And I try not to be that way. I try to make everybody feel comfortable. Make everybody feel like I'm here for them at any time for whatever it needs to be and that's me.

Q. This may be building off of both of those two last questions. Was there somebody earlier in your career that you did look for, both as a postseason performer that is somebody you saw the way they carried themselves that you took some things from?

And the same idea, somebody that you looked to that was an approachable leader. They can be two different people. I suppose. But are there guys that you look to that you're taking a little bit of them in who you are now?

KIKE HERNANDEZ: Yeah. I mean, coming up with LA, Justin Turner and Chase Utley were those two key guys for me. I also had the opportunity to play for one-plus year with David Freese who's been one of the best playoff performers in our generation. Same with JT in my opinion. And then obviously Chase, not just in the postseason but he had an unbelievable career.

But I was able to force myself under the wing of those guys. And I did learn a lot. And, you know, it just seems that whenever that big situation comes, they always seemed to be in control of everything. They never seemed to be panicking. They never seemed to be over-swinging or forcing anything. So you try to look up to those guys, try to absorb as much information as you can and try to duplicate whatever applies to your game.

Q. How does your approach change at all hitting second. You've hit first since I think June 26th or something like that.

KIKE HERNANDEZ: It doesn't, to be honest with you. I've been hitting in front of Kyle for a few weeks now. Hitting behind him, I think it's the same approach. Kyle is going to set a table tonight and if Kyle doesn't set the table, then it's my job to set the table.

I can't sit here and tell you that I'm going to change my approach just based off I'm hitting second instead of first. It's the same. AC called me last night to tell me I was going to hit second and I told him, AC, that's not my job. It's your job. You make the lineup, I'll hit, and I'll play defense wherever you want me to play. And if you think hitting second makes our team better for tomorrow, I'm all for hitting second.

The approach is the same.

Q. Obviously it's JD tonight, but also you think of COVID and some other guys hurt at real times. Has this felt like a year where there's always something? And how have you all as a clubhouse handled the really unexpected wrinkles that have come in the second half?

KIKE HERNANDEZ: Yeah. We've dealt with adversity all year long. We've dealt with doubts, we've dealt with pretty much everything. And it almost seems -- like, not fitting -- but it's almost like, well, that was the one thing that was going to happen for the wild-card game, we don't have JD.

But we've done it all year. Now, here we are now in the wild-card game, we're ready. We're excited and with or without JD, you know, we're going to go out there and we're going to do everything we can to win this ball game. And we don't have one of our best hitters, but we're going to grind through it and we're going to find a way to win this game.

Q. Your hot streak this season started when you were put in the lineup against Cole on June 27th. Was there anything about your approach that changed at that time?

And a totally unrelated second question. The Yankees in case of a four-way tie were in a position to pick whether they'd face you guys here or Toronto in Toronto. They would have chosen you guys. Has that been a discussion point at all?

KIKE HERNANDEZ: For the first question, I started feeling better. Like the first two months weren't good at all, and then I started feeling better at the plate in a series here against Houston. I don't even remember what I did that series or whatever, and then a few series after that. But I think I started feeling better, a little more comfortable.

And then when AC put me in time-out for two games in Atlanta and then the first game in Kansas City, it was time for me to hit the reset button. And, you know, I said to myself, you're feeling better at the plate, team is playing good, you know, whatever. There's still a long season to go. You've done it before. You've had some bad starts and you finished strong.

So I just hit the reset button. I told myself season starts today. And I started feeling better. And then that day against Cole, I just -- you know, put me back in the leadoff spot and I was already feeling pretty good at the plate. And I said I'm going to take my chance first pitch of the game and I hit a homer. I took off from there. But the approach has been the same. I felt better at the plate, made better decisions at the plate, the pitches I was swinging at, blah blah blah.

And as far as the second question. We knew about it. We don't really talk about it because we had some business to take care of ourselves. But, you know, they swept us the last series here so they wanted us. But at the same time, you know, you can't blame them. They feel pretty good about the fact they swept us here and they felt comfortable playing here. They wanted us and they got us now, so win or go home. That's it.

Q. What are your memories of what Eovaldi did in Game 3 of 2018 and what was it like just watching him keep coming out and taking the balls in that game?

KIKE HERNANDEZ: My memory is that we beat them. No. It just felt like -- that World Series felt like starters kept coming out of the bullpen. We were like, well, we were preparing for the starter tonight and the guys in the bullpen, but we're not preparing for two starters in one day or whatever.

But what he did that night was unbelievable. That game was just back and forth and back and forth. And, of course, it lasted like a day. It was exhausting and, you know, he kept pumping heaters up there. It just felt like it could have gone either way. But I think -- I don't know if they would have won the World Series the way they did if Nate didn't do that in Game 3. I was on the other side so there's not much I can say about that one.

But, yeah, I believe that his role in Game 3 was that important. I don't think that they win the World Series that easily or maybe not win at all if Nate didn't do what he did in Game 3.

Q. Speaking of that game, how tough was it to see Max Muncy go down this time with the Dodgers?

KIKE HERNANDEZ: Yeah. It's tough. Whenever teams are this late -- you never want teams, one of their top guys to go down. They have two of their top guys go down late in the season and it's unfortunate. But at the same time, we have one of our guys going down as well for this game. So it's tough. It's tough one way or another.

And as much as I love those guys, I love these guys more now. And my whole focus is here. And I didn't even know that that happened to him. So it was actually my dad who told me that he got hurt. Because I wasn't really watching any box score on MLB Network or anything like that. I was just watching the scoreboard while we were playing and that was it. I was trying to focus in on us and just quiet all the noise on the outside. And pretty unfortunate but, you know, it happens.

Q. (Question in Spanish and answer in Spanish)

Q. How much can you lean on some of your postseason experiences of the past to not let this moment feel like it's more magnified than it is for you?

KIKE HERNANDEZ: I don't know, man. Experience. I don't know. I've been very fortunate to play a lot of playoff games in my career. And I wanted the next chapter to be somewhere where I could add to that. And here I am. Different league, new team. We're in the playoffs. And I honestly don't even know how to answer that question. But, yeah, postseason experience helps a lot as we've seen in the past.

I think it's, you know, helped me, helped us in previous years beat some teams that maybe didn't have that much experience. But, you know, we have a lot of guys in our locker room that have a lot of experience. And it's up to us, some of the older veteran guys, to lead the charge and help those guys that don't have that much experience or don't have experience at all feel that, you know, trying to find the way to make them feel like it's another game.

And it is a very important game, but it's another game. We have to treat it as another game because otherwise the moment gets too big, and when the moment gets too big, it's not good. So just find a way to have fun. That's the most important thing is have fun because this game is going to be special. It's going to be fun. And I think this game is very good for baseball. Boston/Yankees wild-card game and a lot of people are going to be watching and hopefully we get to pop some bottles tonight.