NL DIVISION SERIES: BREWERS VS BRAVES

October 10, 2021

Craig Counsell

Truist Park

Milwaukee Brewers

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Craig, on Freddy, was it another easy call based on the season he had or were you considering something a little more outside the box?

CRAIG COUNSELL: No, Freddy was the starter. This was the plan from probably July.

Q. We just asked Freddy how he felt coming off the IL and the starts he made. He said he wasn't as strong as far as going deeper. Did you see much difference at all?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah, I think starters get, certainly, into a rhythm when they're taking the ball every four or five days. And that rhythm always helps him. It's often the challenge of being the starting pitcher is you don't touch the mound as much. And so you often are required to make adjustments in game.

So it's not just you're on or you're off; I think Corbin is a great example, you've got to figure it out in the game -- first inning, second inning -- and lock it in.

I think you have those road bumps during the season. And Freddy has had them. And you just gotta overcome them. I think he's in a good place, too. Our point kind of going to the end of the season was to make Freddy fresh going into this, anticipating that -- we're hoping he has probably five starts left, something of that nature. And getting him fresh for hopefully running five starts in October.

Q. If you look at the way the first three guys you're pitching in this series have developed in the Major Leagues -- maybe Woody came first, Corbin emerged last year and now Freddy emerged this year -- in what ways do you think Freddy has benefited from those other two guys being with them every day and even in the minor leagues?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think players benefit from having other great players around them. It's natural competition. It's natural motivation. It's great -- they're great teachers for each other. They push each other, just kind of naturally, in a healthy way, in a friendly way. And so you want to be part of it.

And I think it's helped all three of them for sure and every player is going to have a little bit of an individual journey. But they've also done it largely together. They really have done it together, I think. And it's a credit to all of them. And I think they've used each other's experiences to benefit themselves.

Q. You saw Ian Anderson earlier once this year. How much does it had he to even get one look at him? And what do you remember from that or what do you take away from that start that he had against you guys?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think, for hitters, they may have a couple of our guys have some personal experience against it. It's video. And I think we've seen Ian Anderson pitch a bunch. He's not an unfamiliar guy. He's going to try to do what he's good at, like any pitcher. This is about capitalizing on mistakes or pitches over the middle of the zone that aren't executed, and those are the ones that we gotta get.

Q. When we talked to you about Freddy's path and evolution and development, we seem to focus so much on, like, he added this pitch in and this pitch in. But where else do you see him growing into his role as a Major League pitcher? Where do you see his growth coming from?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think when Freddy came to the Big Leagues at such a young age, it wasn't a secret he was going to be special. When you see players at that age be able to kind of handle what he could handle, process things the way he did, just the way he interacted with everybody, he was going to be a learner. He was going to seek growth.

He wasn't going to stop getting better. We probably have to slow Freddy down sometimes from working. He works his butt off. So it's just, all the ingredients were there. And when you see players like that, at his age, you know they're going to have special careers.

Q. Freddy just shared that he thought that being in the bullpen and even just warming up for Game 1 might help him, considering the lay off. You mentioned slowing him down. We know sometimes he comes out a little amped up. Do you think this is one of those times experience will help him and even just getting up Friday will help him?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Look, we were going to use him. I explained that to you guys. The fact that we didn't, I think, ended up being a good thing, too. And what he did that day worked out really well, actually.

So I think it's helped a couple of our guys. I thought it helped Ashby. Ashby was up Game 1. I thought it helped him yesterday. Cousins, we got up yesterday. The fact he didn't get in, I'm glad he was up yesterday, if he has to pitch in the rest of the series.

But I think no matter what, Freddy's -- it's going to come to a point in the game likely tomorrow that he's going to have to figure something out out there. That's how these games work, usually.

There are the games where you got it going from pitch one. But it's more likely for, most starters, you've got to make a little adjustment during the game to lock it in.

I think when you have a little -- you feel like you have a little bit feel, I think that's what Freddy is talking about, the feel of the mound a little bit in Game 1, he thinks it might be a little easier.

Q. Take it for granted that Morton and Fried obviously threw the ball great against you guys great, you had done a good job in the second half cutting your team strikeouts a bit. But strikeouts were bad in those first couple of games. Do you attribute that to great pitching or anything else -- different approach or nervousness -- or just what do you see from your offense right now?

CRAIG COUNSELL: We've got two really well-pitched games against us by their starters. Having a chance to go back and watch the video, they pitched really, really well. You'll face that in the playoffs. That's not an excuse, but you're going to face that in the playoffs.

And I don't think we left a lot of pitches on the table with their starters. I really don't. Like I told you yesterday, we had opportunities against their bullpen yesterday. And those were some opportunities we let get away.

And when you're facing high-end relievers, you get a pitch to hit and you don't get it, then they're in there because they have the ability to strike you out, and there's going to be some strikeouts.

Q. We just saw Brent out there doing some activity. Are you more hopeful than a couple days ago that should your team advance that he'd be a part of it?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, today was kind of the progression for him. Obviously we're thinking of a progression that would have him ready for the next series. And, so, this is his first day on the field playing. We took a couple days off, basically took Friday/Saturday off. We got him back on the field today playing light catch in hopes that we can just keep -- if we have good days, we'll move forward to the next step tomorrow and keep moving forward. And that we think has a shot to get him ready for the next series.

I don't know if I'm more hopeful, but he's had two good days. And on to the third day.

Q. You mentioned getting those good swings against the bullpen. Is that kind of a positive you can take away through those two games, that your guys have seen a lot of their main guys in the bullpen so far and have some experience now against them?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, I mean, it's two guys we've seen, three guys, I guess. So those are their dudes, so to speak. But we have some at-bats against them.

I don't think in this series there's a lot of secrets with the pitchers and hitters. I think we see that it's a little bit of an execution -- these are execution games. The more you play a team, they become execution games. There's not -- I don't think there's as many scouting secrets as we think. They're execution games.

So, I think hitters will tell you it helps to have recent experience for sure against a pitcher. I think it comes down to kind of getting that pitch and putting a good swing on it or making that pitch for a pitcher.