MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS VS BRAVES

October 29, 2021

Phil Maton

Truist Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. When you got over here, I think you were saying how much you struggled a little bit in two-strike counts with the Indians. What have you changed, if anything, here? Has it been pitch usage? Has it been pitch shape? What has worked since you've gotten here?

PHIL MATON: It's kind of been a little bit of both. When I got traded over here, I kind of scrapped the way I threw my slider in Cleveland and kind of overhauled it. It kind of took a week or two to get that dialed in and change it more into like a sweeper instead of a more traditional slider.

Then just having another weapon in two-strike counts, that honestly helped me out quite a bit. And just kind of having a little bit better of a game plan, kind of how to finish guys. A lot of it too has just been trusting Maldy behind the plate. That's helped me out quite a bit.

Q. Just want to get your thoughts in general terms on the importance of fan support. There's a small contingent of fans from Houston traveling, or have traveled, but of course there's a whole bunch obviously in Houston who are giving you guys their support. Just your thoughts in general terms, please?

PHIL MATON: After getting traded over here, kind of any support on the road is nice honestly. I got my first taste when we were in San Francisco and L.A. in pretty hostile environments. We'll take anything we can get because it's much appreciated.

Q. They've used you a lot against left-handed hitters here. Is that something you were used to because of your curveball? Is that how the Indians used you as well, or is that something you've kind of had to get used to here?

PHIL MATON: A little bit. Kind of the way my fastball profiles with a little bit of cut. Honestly too, it's just kind of a comfort factor. I don't really mind who I face.

With lefties, I feel like I have a lot of room to work, having that whole arm side miss area where I don't have to worry about hitting guys. So it's like I can rip off my best pitches and not really have to worry about hitting them with especially fastballs.

So mostly comfort. I think the profile of my pitches help out a little bit. I think ultimately anyone can get lefties out, but it's just kind of a comfort thing and something I've always embraced.

Q. If you could share with us what was it like growing up in the Maton household there in Chatham, Illinois, with brothers who also loved the game as much as you did?

PHIL MATON: We were definitely busy in the summer. Nick's with the Phillies and Jacob at Coastal right now, and then my brother ran. If it wasn't baseball, we had track meets, basketball, soccer, just busy. Always had someone to play catch with, always had someone to play with. It was really exciting. I don't know, wouldn't trade it for anything.

Q. Since you've been in the Majors since '17, it's been a thing where you get to the playoffs and the bullpen becomes more and more important. I'm just wondering from your perspective, you're entering three games here, and Atlanta has acknowledged publicly they're kind of playing everything by ear. You guys -- you haven't started today, but this bullpen is going to be huge. What's it like when you're in this situation knowing that it's almost a free for all and the better team really will win each day?

PHIL MATON: It's really tricky because kind of my role and a few of the other guys is we're trying to bridge it to our 7, 8, 9 guys. So it's really to try and take pride in winning that second third of the game, kind of bridging it from a starter to our back end guys.

So just kind of looking at the matchups and trying to piece together the game from there, I think is definitely the challenge for the managers. So far Dusty has done a great job of kind of putting us in situations to succeed. Right now we're just trying to keep that going and win a few more games.

Q. Each bullpen has logged more postseason innings than its starting staff. Do you guys kind of -- it's especially notable for your team. Do you feel that this series could be decided by the stronger and deeper bullpen?

PHIL MATON: I think it definitely could be. And also just kind of going back on the ALCS, like how we had two huge starts to finish that series against the Red Sox. I wouldn't count any of the starters out on both teams. They're extremely talented staffs.

I don't know, the big thing for us is kind of just continue to go do our job and just bridge it to our back end guys and just handing the ball to the next guy with a zero.

Q. Maybe a follow-up to that kind of thing. Jake talked with us with a tremendous amount of pride about the role that all of you have taken. No one's at 100 percent. No one exactly knows when their name is going to be called. How has that kind of built on itself and how much pride do you take in that, just grabbing the baseball and delivering for your team in whatever role is asked?

PHIL MATON: Yeah, definitely. In the regular season, those middle innings aren't exactly the sexiest thing. In the playoffs, ultimately the only thing that matters is winning. If the starter goes two innings, four innings, eight, ultimately, some of those innings need to be filled, and they need big zeros.

With our offense, if we can put zeros up and keep them close, we always have a chance to win games.

Q. What has it been like for you and your teammates in the bullpen to get the kind of notoriety you're getting at this stage and the way you've all been successful back there?

PHIL MATON: Ultimately the only thing that matters is winning ball games. So the attention is great, but I don't know, ultimately there's only one goal at the end of the line, and that's a World Series.

How we do it doesn't matter, doesn't matter who we use. The only thing that matters is winning ball games.

Q. Your nickname on Baseball-Reference is Spin Rate. Does anyone actually call you that?

PHIL MATON: No, no, it was kind of a joke. I think it was my rookie year where that was the first year MLB did the Players Weekend. So I had to do something. One of my teammates was -- I'm obviously being quiet, just being the standard rookie hiding in the corner of the clubhouse just trying to make the team, and someone just put it in for me.

Because that was kind of the gimmick back then was spin rate was starting to show up and starting to become a bigger thing in analytics. So that was my gimmick. So that's what they did.

Q. (Question regarding Players Weekend)?

PHIL MATON: That's a great question. I have no idea.

Q. You've worn No. 88 all three teams. Any reason behind that?

PHIL MATON: That was the number I was given in my first Big League Spring Training. I don't know, I was a 20th rounder, didn't get a lot of attention. So I feel like the number kind of fits me, corner of the locker room, the prospects get all of the good numbers. So kind of like the underdog thing with being 88. It's not a sexy number, so I don't know, I like it.

Q. When you came over, you came over with other relievers, right? People looked at this Astros team and said, okay, this is an area of need. What was it like to come in kind of as part of this reinforcement group that kind of solidified what Houston was then and kind of how rewarding it is to be part of the team now in the World Series?

PHIL MATON: Yeah, extremely rewarding. Initially, it was kind of challenging just trying to figure out when we were going to throw. It was definitely probably challenging for Dusty too.

Just a lot of pressure to kind of just prove our worth. We just wanted to kind of be pieces that would really drive us home and ultimately take us to that next step and help us win the World Series.

Q. Who are your pitching heroes? Who do you love? Who do you love to watch? And who has really influenced your style?

PHIL MATON: That's a really good question. I don't know if I have any necessarily like pitching heroes. I feel like I've just kind of gone from one thing to another trying to figure out kind of myself in the Big Leagues, and that's kind of been the biggest challenge. I throw pretty different from a lot of guys, so I don't know. I've kind of just been really trying to find myself, not necessarily following anybody and how they do their thing.

Q. When the Atlanta lineup gets hot, they can score a lot of runs. What is the general attitude in the Astros bullpen about the Braves?

PHIL MATON: Extremely talented lineup, especially the top two guys are incredibly difficult to get out. I was lucky enough to play with Eddie for the first half in Cleveland, and I also faced in him in previous years with the twins. He can be very pesky at times and very difficult to get out.

I don't know, kind of the big thing with us, and at least with me too, is I try to eliminate as much slug as possible and make them single us to death. Try to eliminate free bases with the walks, but if we can take the slug out of their bat and let them score only one at a time, ultimately, that's going to keep us in ball games.

I don't know. It's very tough to do. It's an extremely talented lineup. We just need to try to keep putting up zeros.