AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 15, 2021

Nathan Eovaldi

Minute Maid Park

Boston Red Sox

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. Nate, just being that you are from here, how much do you like pitching down here especially in October? You got to do it a few years ago and now this time.

NATHAN EOVALDI: It's definitely one of my favorite ballparks to pitch in. Growing up we went to a lot of the games at the Astrodome, Minute Maid, Enron at the time. Got a lot of fond memories here. In high school we had a tournament or two we got to play here in high school. Any time you're a high school kid and you get to step on a Big League field, it's pretty awesome. The Dodgers were in in town one time, and I got to come out here and throw a bullpen, so I got a lot of fond memories here.

Q. How good was having a three-day break for you guys mentally as much as physically just after all the emotions of the Yankees game and then the Tampa series and everything?

NATHAN EOVALDI: It was definitely nice. Even starting from Washington, we wanted to make sure that we were going to have home field advantage. And we had the Yankees series and Tampa came in right away, and all these games are meaningful and stressful. So for us to be able to have that time off, I think it was nice mentally and then being able to lock back in. Everybody got a little breather, got to work on any lingering issues, things like that. And everybody is feeling good now, and we're ready to go.

Q. Were you able yourself to get away for a day or anything or do anything with your family?

NATHAN EOVALDI: My family got to come up. My kids, they able to be up there, so just being able to spend family time with them, it's easy for me to be able to shut the game down for a little bit and just be able to focus on being a dad again and having fun interacting with the kids and the family.

Q. Nate, were you an Astros fan, and was there a pitcher or somebody that when you daydreamed when you were 10 or 12, whatever, you were picturing yourself trying to be?

NATHAN EOVALDI: Growing up I had a lot of guys I liked. I didn't have really one in particular. I like watching Biggio, Bagwell, Berkman when they were here. I liked watching Roy Oswalt. When I was in high school, it was more closer to the time when Pettitte and Clemens were here. Just getting to watch those guys do what they do, and even though it was towards the end of their careers, it was just awesome to get to watch them go out there and perform.

Q. As someone who has had Tommy John surgery twice, when you see Chris talk about how he has been battling fastball command, changeup, and things like that, can you sympathize with him on that, and also, how excited are you to see him and see what he does here tonight?

NATHAN EOVALDI: Absolutely. You spend so much time not throwing, sometimes it's tough to get everything back, and especially the way you remember it. It's like there's times you are throwing and the radar gun says it's coming out 91, 92, and you think, man, it doesn't feel like it. It just doesn't feel like it's coming out as good as it should. When you get 96, 97 back, okay. Even then there are times where it just still feels a little off, and nobody can really pinpoint what it is for you. You got to find it on your own. And getting to see him come back out here tonight, it's going to be great for him too to be able to come out, set the tone. Especially for us early in the series, and I'm excited to watch him go out there and throw, do his thing.

Q. First of all, just following up on that, as a two-time Tommy John guy, is there much communication among those who have had that? Looking at Jameson Taillon with the Yankees, have you spoken with him, and did you kind of follow him and cheer for him in a not hurting the Red Sox way?

NATHAN EOVALDI: I feel like any time you have a guy who has gone through it two, three times, you kind of relate. Coming up with the Dodgers, I played with Chris Capauno. And even though it was my first one at the time, talking to him, knowing that somebody has gone through it twice. Played with Venters. He has gone through it three times. Just getting to pick their brains and see how their rehab and everything goes.

I feel everybody has a little difference in the rehab process and things like that. Jameson had reached out to me too when it had first happened, and I don't know. I feel like the same thing I kind of tell everybody, you're going to be like that acquisition towards the end of the All-Star break, and you got to be ready to go. And we have you guys down in the Minor Leagues or just rehabbing and then when it's time for you to come back, you're going to be that big pick-up that we.

And that's kind of how it was for us with Sale this year. He was able to come back, I think it was in August. He was able to come back, and he helped out immediately. He gives us that extra spark in the dugout, in the clubhouse, and we got his back, and it works out to watch him go out there and throw for us tonight.

Q. Did your timeline differ from the first one as opposed to the second one?

NATHAN EOVALDI: My first one was a little fast. I was in high school. I didn't really have a team invested in me or anything like that. Second one I was with the Yankees and going through the offseason, and the Rays picked up on that progress. And I feel like I could have been ready towards the end of the season that year, but there was just no point because we were already knocked out of the playoffs, things like that.

So they told me just wait until the next year, and I had a setback in Spring Training when I had my loose body. So it's hard to pinpoint when I could have been ready to go, but I think the progress -- and I think it was a nine-year difference too in between. So being with different organizations, watching the way that they go about the rehab process, I feel like it's changed a lot since my first one and even since my second one. Every organization has a different way of going about rehabbing it.

Q. Just to clarify, you didn't feel it was necessarily harder to come back from the second because it was the second?

NATHAN EOVALDI: No, I didn't feel like it was harder to come back from the second one. I've been fortunate enough to where I've been around great trainers, and I haven't had too many setbacks during the process of coming back. I had the loose bodies, like I said, at the end of Spring Training in '18, but other than that, I got everything back fairly quickly and the strength and stuff.