NL WILD CARD SERIES: PADRES VS METS

October 9, 2022

Jeff McNeil

Citi Field

New York Mets

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Jeff, Buck said recently that he really likes -- he can bat you basically anywhere in the order and you are mostly open to that, but there's one spot that you really don't like. After looking at the numbers, I was wondering if that's No. 5. If so or if not, what the spot is and why you don't like hitting there.

JEFF McNEIL: No, I like hitting anywhere. It doesn't really matter. I think I fit everywhere in the lineup this year. I feel comfortable no matter where he puts me. My job is to get on base and have guys drive me in. Doesn't matter where I am in the lineup. Just going to do my job.

Q. Having been unable to not talk to him until the lockout ended until Spring Training started, how has your relationship with Buck evolved over the course of the year?

JEFF McNEIL: It's been fantastic. Love playing with him. It's a manager who is very easy to talk to. He's very open to ideas and thoughts. So he's been fantastic.

Love playing for him and hope to do it for a long time.

Q. Just facing a win or go home situation for both teams, what is the mood in there right now? What are you guys thinking, what are you guys feeling three hours before you get out there?

JEFF McNEIL: I think it's kind of the same as any other game. Really loose in there. Guys are playing pool. Guys are watching football. We're just kind of having some fun right now, trying to stay loose.

Once it's time to get ready to go, everyone's going to be extremely focused. This is a huge game, definitely the biggest game I've ever played in. We're all looking forward to it.

Q. You guys play in a pretty turbulent media market. Chris Bassitt talked about it a little bit yesterday. For this season you guys have stayed pretty even keel. You never lost more than three games during the whole season. You had a couple of major injuries, but you continued to play through. Is that kind of the trademark of the team? Do you guys have a pretty level, even keeled mindset, and does Buck kind of contribute to that too?

JEFF McNEIL: Yeah, we try not to let one loss affect us too much. We know every single game is important. When it comes down to it, we lost the division by a game. So every game is extremely important.

I think being able to turn the page has been huge for this team. Losing on Friday night sucks, but we were able to turn the page coming into Saturday and play well. So hopefully we can keep that going.

Q. As someone who's been here for a while, how have the changes over the last two years and the additional support structures helped you specifically?

JEFF McNEIL: We've had a lot of change in the four years I've been here. We brought in a lot of staff these last two years with Steve, and it's been fantastic. The analytics team has been great. They're open to ideas and stuff, and I kind of bounce stuff off them and they bounce stuff off me.

I've been able to use that information each -- you know, we use that information, like kind of tailor it to each individual, which has been huge.

Q. What are some of those things, the information that have helped you?

JEFF McNEIL: I think -- I mean, I'm not a huge analytics guy, like as in hitting-wise. I like to kind of look at my numbers against the shift versus not the shift. It shows that I've been able to kind of beat that this year and go the other way. It just shows a lot to my approach.

Q. Jeff, as your plate appearance was coming in the seventh inning last night and their pitcher is having trouble throwing strikes and he's taking a long time and then there's a mound visit. You occasionally will ambush a pitcher on that first pitch. I just wonder if it's challenging sometimes to stay in the moment and discipline yourself not to be overly aggressive when that at-bat was taking so long to evolve and you had to be getting a little bit antsy. Was that a challenge for you?

JEFF McNEIL: Maybe a little bit. Yeah, they were having trouble with pitch calling and that long mound visit, and I wanted to kind of get in there. But at the same time, you have to remember to slow things down.

I take my deep breath before every single bat, which kind of helps me slow things down. Once I get in the box, I'm always ready to go, always ready to swing. He fell behind 2-0 and knew he had to throw a strike. So I was ready to get him then.

Q. Have you always been able to take that deep breath, or is that something that you kind of had to learn over the years as you got more comfortable with being a Big League hitter?

JEFF McNEIL: No, that's something we learned in college at Long Beach. We worked with Ken Ravizza a lot, and I think that really helped me for the Braves series and this series, the two biggest series.

Kind of taking that deep breath, staying in the moment, staying present, slowing things down, I think I've been able to do a really good job of that, and I contribute a lot of that to my time at Long Beach.

Q. Each of the last two nights, with Ruf last night and Scherzer on Friday, we've seen Mets fans boo their own players as they've come off the field in tough spots. I'm curious how something like that kind of plays within the team.

JEFF McNEIL: It's tough. You never want to get booed. I know New York fans are extremely passionate and they want the best out of everyone. It's a tough place to play.

As a player, you've got to kind of try to tune it out, move forward. I think everyone in that locker room has been booed at some point in their career, so it is tough, but you've got to stay mentally strong. You've got to work through it and give these fans something to cheer about.

Q. Has the batting title sunk in yet, and what's the reaction you're receiving from people?

JEFF McNEIL: I think it kind of sunk in that night and then the off day. It's something that's really special to me. It's something I've always wanted to win.

So it was a fantastic year for me at the plate, and it just means a lot. I put a lot of hard work, effort into this off-season trying to get back to who I was, and I was able to do that.

Q. It seems like Eric Chavez brought a more simplified approach for you guys at the plate after a lot of analytics overload last year. How much difference did that make for you?

JEFF McNEIL: It was huge. We got a lot of numbers last year and kind of certain approaches that were maybe a little overwhelming last year. This year I think it's kind of been simplified to the information we really need.

You know everyone's different. I'm someone who doesn't like to get a lot of information or be kind of told what a good approach is against this guy. There's certain guys on the team who like to be, hey, what should my approach be on this guy?

So they kind of know who to work with with that kind of approach, and I think it's worked for me this year just kind of simplifying things and going up there and smacking the ball.

Q. It probably seems like ancient history at this point, but in the minors you went through ups and downs. When you're having a tough stretch, how hard was it to picture this kind of day, making it to this point?

JEFF McNEIL: I spent a long time in the Minor Leagues, six years going through a bunch of injuries and just my whole career was pretty tough to get up to the Big Leagues. So to be in this kind of situation of winner take all in a playoff series, it's pretty special.

I'm going to enjoy the moment, and hopefully we can a W and it's one to remember.

Q. Jeff, in a game of this magnitude, I don't want to say it would allow a player or your teammates to relax, but does scoring first prevent the guys from pressing?

JEFF McNEIL: Yeah, I think 100 percent. I think Lindor yesterday getting off -- hitting that home run and giving us a 1-0 lead, I think it's huge to score first. It kind of takes a little pressure off.

So it's going to be big tonight for whoever scores first.