AL DIVISION SERIES: GUARDIANS VS YANKEES

October 14, 2022

Bryan Shaw

Yankee Stadium

Cleveland Guardians

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. When the team had to make the roster decision at the end of the regular season, why was it important for you to want to hang around the clubhouse and at least continue helping with the experience in this clubhouse?

BRYAN SHAW: This group of guys that we have here, obviously me being down especially in the pen with them, the group down there, you can see the growth that they have taken from last year to this year. And where they are at now, it's just been a lot of fun being with that group and trying to help those guys as much as I can. Trying to stick around with them, stick around with this team and knowing what we can and should be able to accomplish.

Going forward, it was a no-brainer to stick around, being on the taxi squad, there's still a chance to get on barring things happening. But we have, like I said, a really good group of people just to be around, and there's no point in going home and just sitting there. I would rather stay here with these guys, root everyone on, and be here for moral support.

Guys have asked questions the last few games and stuff like that. We had that 15-inning game and guys were talking to me about postseason, because I don't think anybody than maybe other than Chak has actually pitched in a post season out of the pen until this year. So guys asked questions of different things. So it's been nice to be there.

Q. What makes Cleveland so effective at not just player development but seeming to always identify the right guys to acquire from outside the organization?

BRYAN SHAW: The Minor League staff that we have, the scouting department that we have, the directors and everything that we have from the minors up until obviously the big leagues, they just do a really good job of, like you said, identifying guys that fit the mold that this organization wants. And to be able to identify those guys that fit that, bring them into our departments with our analytics and everything that we have to essentially unlock what talent we think they can get out of them, they just do an amazing job.

There's a reason other organizations always want to trade for our guys because they know what they are going to get. They know the talent level they are going to get. They are always trying to take our development guys from the Minor Leagues, and we had a few guys leave last year to some different organizations. The guys that we have are very coveted and organizations want that. Organizations want the secrets that we have and stuff.

Some of the guys have been swayed away, but I think most of them have stuck around here because they know this organization does what it does and they are going to keep developing the guys the way they do because they are just really good at it.

Q. In your years in Cleveland, have you experienced the midges?

BRYAN SHAW: Never on the field. They are always around. You get done with the game and they are all over your car and stuff like that. They are just kind of an annoyance. They are just kind of there. Nothing to really do. They don't really do anything. They are just there.

Q. Would that be difficult to pitch through?

BRYAN SHAW: Like I said, I haven't had an experience pitching through them yet obviously. Just being around them obviously, it's just there. It's just something that you just deal with it, and it is what it is. It seems almost like if it's a little bit misty, a little bit of rain, you just kind of deal with it as it is.

Q. Wondering how disappointing that was to have that conversation after you pitched the whole season, playoffs are just about to start, and they made that decision that you were not going to be on the postseason roster?

BRYAN SHAW: Obviously it was tough. Obviously I had not pitched as well as I wanted to this year. We had tinkered with some different things, did some different stuff. You know, some pitch things. Some teams may have had some stuff. We don't really know for sure.

But it was obviously a tough conversation. But it was slightly expected, if that makes sense. Obviously like I said, I had not pitched that well and obviously the rest of the guys in the pen have done a tremendous job this year and are continuing to do so.

It made sense obviously. It was the right call obviously regardless how tough and how much I wanted to be there obviously on the team to pitch in the postseason. But at the time, obviously it's right call with the guys that we have.

Q. Trevor was in here a couple days ago and he gave you a lot of credit for helping him develop his split. How did that come about and have you dont that with others?

BRYAN SHAW: Yeah, I think it more started last year when we were talking about it. I knew he threw a split, and I was fortunate when I was a rookie to work with J.J. Putz, our closer in Arizona when I was there, and he threw a split. And at the time I was tinkering with the split and he was kind of teaching me how he threw it, the thought process going through it, the grip, the finger pressure, all the different kind of -- his thoughts on how he threw it and what made it so successful.

I essentially just basically reiterated everything that he told me and taught me about it to Trevor. And obviously we had Blake Parker last year who threw a split, so the combination of me and him talking with him and just kind of going over the thought process and different finger pressure and just the different things of how we threw it and what we tried to do with it. And it's obviously improved his tremendously from where it was at and the consistency on it and, you know, it's a great pitch for him.

Q. The trickiness of not just developing it, but also knowing when to use it in what situations to make it most effective?

BRYAN SHAW: Absolutely. Split is a tricky thing depending how you throw it. His is obviously very good but you can get essentially an inconsistency which is actually a good thing for it. Because a split is not necessarily going to just tumble every time. You get one that cuts, one that runs, and one that goes down. And having to -- we literally were talking about it yesterday. Working on it in the off-season and stuff with the finger pressure and finger grips, you can make it cut a little more, make it sink a little bit more and make it go down.

So trying to figure out the best grip for that pitch that you want at that time, you know, and that's something that he said he was going to try to work on now for next year.