NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 10, 2021

Gabe Kapler

Dodger Stadium

San Francisco Giants

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. Since you asked about Alex, I'll ask you about Alex. Dave Roberts on his Zoom today said Alex always feels he's the best option at any time.

GABE KAPLER: Yeah.

Q. I'm wondering what your thoughts are on Alex and kind of his demeanor and competitive nature.

GABE KAPLER: Yeah, when I read Dave's quotes I realized, like, you really get to know that as a manager. He always wants the ball. He wants to stay in the game as long as possible. He always feels like he's the best option to get the next three hitters out. And you can't help but respect that level of competitiveness.

Got a chance to see him on the field today at Oracle before we got on a plane, obviously, and yeah, the preparation is second to none. He's thinking about a game four, five, six days out or more. And everything that he's doing in the days leading up to that start is by design and he leaves nothing up to chance. I think he's a perfect example of how we would want a young pitcher to establish his routine as well.

Q. You've now had five or six different relievers make their postseason debuts in this series. What have you learned about your bullpen so far and how is that information going to help you over the next two days?

GABE KAPLER: I think we got some good information with Jake McGee yesterday, and in particular, we saw that he's healthy, plenty of life on his pitches. He was able to execute his slider. Very comfortable putting him into any situation in a game now. Not that we weren't before, but I think seeing him out on the field and feeling good and strong gives us a lot of confidence.

Castro continues to look like a weapon in any situation. The curve ball's playing. I thought he got some sort of awkward swings and obviously that comes with some familiarity, or lack of familiarity, but I do think that he continues to execute his fastball-curve ball combination and good things are going to happen for him. So those are a couple of things we learned.

Q. You mentioned that Belt was going to see your hand specialist yesterday. Did you guys get any update on where he stands in his recovery?

GABE KAPLER: What we learned is that sometimes the fracture takes a little bit longer to heal relative to the way Brandon is feeling. I think Brandon is feeling much better, but there's still signs of that fracture, and I think that nothing has really changed from a prognosis standpoint.

We're still not going to rule anything out beyond this series, and obviously, have hopes that he can heal as quickly as possible.

Q. Alex for sure has a lot of postseason experience and a lot of familiarity with the opponent. How much do those things come into play? How much do those things present an advantage for him once the game gets going?

GABE KAPLER: I think the experience is huge. But kind of sharing what I shared with Susan, it's the competitiveness. It's the fierceness. It's definitely just the shear talent and the ability to get in the zone with a good fastball and two great secondary weapons, a changeup that he can kind of fade off the plate, be below the zone with it, and then a slider that he can back-foot to a righty or kind of bring on the plate if necessary to a left-handed hitter as well.

So I think it's a combination of the stuff, kind of the talent and the preparation, and of course the experience is always valuable.

Q. To follow up on that preparation piece. You mentioned he was out at the park earlier today. What does Alex typically do a day before a big start with this?

GABE KAPLER: He was out on the field with Craig Albernaz and Andrew Bailey just kind of throwing a flat ground and a very light one, and then he was in our garage. We've got two kind of training facilities right now. One is in the clubhouse. It's a smaller facility. And then we have what used to be a parking lot for us out in left field. It was a players' parking lot and we turned that into additional kind of training facility with some turf and a mound.

And he was just kind of going through some machine sprint work, but light stuff, and then also very capable of engaging in a strategy conversation as well.

So, yeah, really has his head about him right now.

Q. At times this year when Buster is hitting really well you have said that it's because his lower half is working really well. I guess could you explain what that means and how it shows up with him at the plate?

GABE KAPLER: It's a really, it's a speed thing. So you can kind of see the quickness in how he rotates and how he drives off his backside. For me, it's also kind of the firmness of his front side. So you have to hit hard against like a firm front side. That's when you see him producing the power, getting the ball in the air, driving the ball to the opposite field.

So the back knee drives toward the pitcher, and then the front side kind of stiffens up and that's what creates that power and that explosiveness. And so when Buster's lower half is, when I'm saying Buster's lower half looks good, it means it's really explosive and athletic, fast.

Q. And he's hit more opposite field hits in this postseason than he had in all of his previous postseasons combined. I guess is there anything to that and I guess what are you seeing with him at the plate just in terms of going the other way?

GABE KAPLER: He's always been a hitter that's used the whole field. I wasn't aware of how often that's happening relative to what he's done at various points in his career or various postseasons, but I do think the ball that he went to the opposite field on, the home run, based on what I've heard, one of the harder hit balls he's hit that way.

But we have seen him use the whole field all season long. Like, legit line-to-line, balls that slice down the right field line, carry into the gap in right center field, pull, pull side power, line drives to the middle of the field, just kind of a complete hitter in that way.

Q. You have quite a few players you rely on in their mid-30s, and tomorrow the Dodgers are starting a pitcher who is 37, a third baseman that's 36, and the first baseman's 41. With so many teams going with younger players, what is it about these older players that allow them to succeed so late in their careers, including Albert?

GABE KAPLER: Well Albert is obviously one of the greatest hitters that ever lived. And when you have the true outliers of the outliers, they tend to like kind of defy age and in some cases you'll see kind of a peak in their career towards the end of their career. You know this better than anybody, obviously, given the players that you've covered, but experience, you have this file in your brain, Albert does, Alex Wood does, Buster Posey does. You've seen the pitch come out of the hand so many different times from so many different angles and had success with your barrel accuracy or in Alex's or a pitcher's case and knowing just what to do after you see a specific swing, you read the swing and you want to go somewhere else. And you're able to access bigger, more robust files.

And then, if you're exceptionally gifted, talented like these guys are, it's the combination of being able to access those pictures, those images in those files and the talent that leads them to their success on the field even later in their careers.

Q. Do you have a Game 4 starter yet?

GABE KAPLER: Not quite yet.