AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 22, 2021

Ryne Stavek

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 6 Press Conference

Q. Hey, Ryne. Can you compare how information is collected and distributed to players here as maybe your time in Tampa, given kind of the two organizations are known for being so good at that sort of thing? Can you compare kind of the two situations?

RYNE STANEK: Honestly, I think it's pretty similar. The analytics being kind of the forefront of the game and very, very much something that each team emphasizes. The way they distribute information is obviously good because they have people that understand it and can break it down into laymen's terms, which is probably the most important factor. You can have all the information you want, but if you can't give it to the players in a way that's digestible to them, then it's worthless. Because if the player doesn't understand the information they're being given, then what's the point?

Yeah, the ability to just take the information and give it to you in a way that's able to be productive is what they do so well.

Q. If you could, just what's going on in that bullpen right now with guys willing to take the baseball in any situation, and how does that kind of build on itself when you see somebody go out there and get it done and then hand the ball to the next guy, whether it's you or somebody else?

RYNE STANEK: This time of year, you know games are going to be tight and that bullpens are going to be used, and it's something that all the guys down there take pride in. They're, like, hey, just pass the baton off to the next guy. Get the job done and move on.

Yeah, it's something that -- obviously, you want to do well for yourself, but you want to do well for your teammates. You want to do well and keep the game where it's at and just, I guess, like you said, pass the baton off. That's basically the whole mindset.

Q. Ryne, what's it been like to watch Luis García grow as a player and as an athlete in his rookie year?

RYNE STANEK: What he has done this year in his first full season has been pretty special. Just to see a young kid come up and adapt and learn and grow in the game. You see the way he has pitched, and he has had a lot of really great moments, and then he's had some moments where he's scuffled. But the reason why he has done so well is when he has scuffled, he has taken the time to learn and figure out why he has and then improved on that and showed a lot of growth, I feel like, through the course of the year.

He has really been impressive. I think he has thrown probably double the innings he has probably ever thrown in his career, and he has been pretty nails for us for the year.

Q. Both of you teams are talented. Christian Vázquez in a news conference, he said, we're going to play two games in Houston. It's a fact. Yeah. What's your reaction to that?

RYNE STANEK: I mean, if he didn't believe that, I would be questioning him as a competitor. I mean, everybody on our team would be saying the same thing. You're not going to go there and expect to lose a game. That would be a ridiculous mindset to have going into a playoff game and especially the ALCS. You're sitting there going, like, we have to win this game. So that's their mindset, and I would be shocked if that wasn't their mindset.

Q. Ryne, a lot of guys in this bullpen have been asked to do a lot in this series, but, I mean, you pitched four out of the five games. You led the team in appearances in this regular season. How do you feel physically and how much did you need a day off yesterday?

RYNE STANEK: I mean, it's October, man. This is the grind. This is what you live for. The workload has been high, but that's what we're here for, and we have days off in the series for a reason. It's not like last year where you're sitting there just gutting through seven straight days, which is incredible that that happened.

But, yeah, you get a couple of days built in in between, and you get to run a little harder because of it. Overall feel good, ready to go like just every day.

Q. As one of the original openers in Tampa, did you think that that would kind of be a Tampa thing, or did you imagine back then that maybe that concept has taken off in the manner that it has in the last few years?

RYNE STANEK: I feel like with Tampa it kind of showed that it had merit and in certain situations based on most of the time personnel and how a team was basically structured with their guys. But in the playoffs, not really. It seems like it makes sense in the playoffs because you can match up early. You can kind of hand the ball off to somebody that's going to be your bulk guy, your bridge guy, whatever you want to call him, to get three, maybe four, and not have to face the top of the lineup. Which later on in the game, you're going to match up on those guys anyway, so you kind of just start it there, let a guy run for a couple innings and then just continue to match up for the rest of the game. I think in the playoffs, it makes sense.

Q. In that setup, whether it's the playoffs or the postseason, how valuable is a guy like Cristian Javier to make everything click when he can take down multiple innings two, three times a week?

RYNE STANEK: For one, Javy is absolutely disgusting. What he has been able to do for multiple innings and come out and pound the zone and miss bats. For us he has been huge in the series because he has eaten chunks of innings that we've really needed to be taken care of, and he has done it in an incredibly high level. What he has been able to do has been phenomenal. Honestly, what he has done is probably about the most important out of any of our relievers this series.

Q. What's it like in the bullpen? Greg had asked you what was going on back there with the guys, but when you see the Red Sox, most of their scores come innings one through five. Most of the Astros scores come six through nine. Do you just, hey, guys, just keep them close here. What's the mindset, and how does that help you knowing that your guys have that ability to score late?

RYNE STANEK: I feel like we have the opportunity to score kind of at any point in the game. But, yeah, we just have a lot of guys that have been there before, that don't stress, that don't put extra pressure on themselves. They go, okay, if we don't get them early, we're going to get them late. And if we get them early, we're going to keep putting it on them. I feel like this has been the mindset of our offense, it's just kind of relentless throughout the course of the game. It's really hard to keep them down over the course of nine innings just because of the depth that we have.

Q. In a series like this where kind of your set roles maybe that you have in the bullpen are scrambled around, does that change your in-game preparation? If a guy before you, whether it's opener, starter, a guy like Javier is having a super long inning and you think you might get called upon, do you have to do something differently than you would normally than if you just know that, oh, I'm coming in in the seventh?

RYNE STANEK: A little bit. Not so much that the preparation is any different. It's just you kind of push your timetable up a little bit. Like I said earlier, it's really all hands on deck. At the first sign of anything, most of the time there's going to be a phone call no matter what is going on. You just are always going to be prepared for whatever happens. I typically would go down in the third inning, but at this point that's not a thing anymore. I could get my name called in the second. You just have to be ready at all times, and I feel like that's what's kind of crazy and special about October.