AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES VS ASTROS

October 20, 2022

Alex Bregman

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 2 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Alex Bregman.

Q. Rapper Bun B this morning said that Jeremy Peña was a dog. You yourself in the locker room celebration after you beat Seattle talked about your teammates being a dog, all of 'em being dogs. Can you describe to me what it's like to play with a team full of dogs?

ALEX BREGMAN: You know, these guys, they prepare, they work hard, and I mean, Jeremy's on the biggest stage in the world right now in his first season, and he's not scared. He's prepared. He works hard. He's confident in himself. It's been amazing to see how mature he is as a player in his first season in the big leagues.

So just super proud of him. He's worked so hard. There's been ups and downs just like there is for everybody throughout the course of a season, but to be able to handle that in your first year in professional baseball has been extremely impressive. Just super proud of him.

Q. Continuing on Jeremy, what do you think about him being a finalist for Gold Glove at shortstop?

ALEX BREGMAN: Oh, for sure. Playing next to him, just being able to see the side-to-side range that he has, it's special. He goes and gets a lot of baseballs. Half the time when Altuve or I go make a play, he's like, Bro, I was there. I could have got that one. So he's got a special range. He's a special talent, and that's awesome for him.

Q. Do you have any thoughts one way or the other, advantage or disadvantage, the roof being open tonight?

ALEX BREGMAN: No, no, not at all.

Q. I know you said there won't be an advantage or disadvantage or whatever, but you guys don't play a lot of games, but in BP what do you get a sense when that roof is open and how the ball does or does not fly off the bat?

ALEX BREGMAN: I think it just depends on the day. We've played a few games with the roof open over the last few years, maybe 20, 25 games. But I think it just depends. I'm not too sure. I'm not positive. But I know the ball Soler hit didn't have any problem getting out last year, so...

Q. I wanted to ask you about Altuve and how you observe him going through a tough stretch but how he tries to work his way out of it. What do you see as a teammate that José is doing right now?

ALEX BREGMAN: I just see the same guy every single day. It doesn't matter to him. He's going to work hard. He's going to play hard. At the end of the day, the only thing that matters to him is winning. That's why he's such a great leader, such a great teammate. His energy is always there. He's always focused. Even if he gets out, you saw last night a ball hit off the bag, but he made an awesome -- that's a tough play. I know it was a, I know it didn't really seem like much, but a ball bouncing off the bag like that, that's a really tough play.

And just like Jeremy, never take your bat out to the field, never take your glove to the plate. You got to compartmentalize and keep playing baseball.

Q. How has fatherhood changed this playoff run for you?

ALEX BREGMAN: It's been a lot of fun, to be honest with you. Just to be able to have Knox come to all the games. Yesterday actually he didn't come to the game for the first time, but he's going to be here today. Just to be able to, down the road be able to like tell him, Hey, here's a photo of you at the game in the postseason. Like, that's pretty special. Just to be able to go home to him and realize that that's what really matters. Win, lose, whatever, he's smiling waiting for his dad to get home, and to me family is everything, so...

Q. Jeremy came into the season with a decent amount of pressure, having to replace someone like Carlos Correa. How do you see him kind of deal with those expectations and was there any advice that you gave to him in terms of handling just the spotlight that comes with being a shortstop on a team that's gone to the ALCS so many times?

ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, Carlos has been an unbelievable teammate, unbelievable defender here, and I think Jeremy had the right mentality coming in. He wasn't trying to be anybody but himself. He said that from day one. He understood how good Carlos had been and what he meant to every single person in here.

But when he came in, his only focus was just to be Jeremy, and he's stuck with that the whole year. He hasn't tried to do too much or be anybody he's not. He's trying to play his game and leave his legacy.

Q. Is the urgency to win tonight any different than it would be normally in this round knowing they have Cole and Cortés lined up for Games 3 and 4?

ALEX BREGMAN: I think it's just as urgent as every single game. We understand how good of a team they are. They can pitch. They can hit. They play defense. They're well-coached. So we have the same sense of urgency every single time we take the field.

Q. Last night was another example of this team's depth offensively and on the mound as well. Does this feel like one of -- you've been here for almost all the playoff runs right now. Does this feel like the deepest team you've had or one of the deepest teams you've had to the point that whether it's Díaz or Mancini or McCormick, etcetera? I mean, you have multiple guys that have been able to play a role this entire season and even if they're not in the lineup they can contribute the next game.

ALEX BREGMAN: Hundred percent. You saw that in round one. You saw -- in Game 1, actually, of the postseason. I think we used every single position player on the roster in that game. Every single person in the clubhouse knows that their number could be called. It probably will be called. And we have all the confidence in the world in 'em.

Last night Chas came up huge for us. Jeremy came up huge for us. Maldy huge, huge hit. Chas scoring from first, scoring on contact. That was amazing. Yeah, it could be anybody different any night, and we have confidence in every single person in there.

Q. I'm sure that you guys all have different reasons for wanting to win a title and win another World Series, but is there any talk among you guys about getting Dusty his first one since he's been in the game for so many years and that's really the only thing he hasn't been able to do?

ALEX BREGMAN: 100 percent. We love going out there every single day and competing for him. He loves this team. He loves winning. He loves the game of baseball. And a hundred percent we want to win for him.

I think, just like Dusty would say, I think it's the same mindset that all of us have is just this game today is the most important game and just we got to stay locked in on every single pitch.

Q. Back in the day, before you showed up, this team used to regularly be one of the most strikeout-happy franchises in the majors. Can you give us a little insight in how that obviously has changed. Last night the Yankees strikeout 17 times. You guys strikeout twice. Talk a little bit about the contact nature that this batting lineup takes to the plate every time up.

ALEX BREGMAN: I'm not sure. I think guys just try and put together a good at-bat. In the postseason you're facing unbelievable pitching. Taillon is one of the best pitchers in the world. Their bullpen is full of guys that are really, really good, so I think offensively we're just trying to put together a good at-bat and try and string together a few good ones in a row. That's really all we're trying to do is pass the baton to the next guy.

Q. With what Lance was able to do in Seattle, how have you seen him develop just as a postseason pitcher over the course of his career?

ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, Lance is an incredibly defender. He loves the big moment. We have all the confidence in the world in him when he takes the mound. His confidence in himself is amazing as well. We love it when he's out there. We know he's going to compete. We know he's going to attack. He's had some unbelievable postseason moments throughout his career and we're very confident in him always.

Q. How have you seen Yuli kind of battle through some of the struggles that he had to come up with a huge moment for you guys last night, and how happy are you for him, given the respect that you have for him and the pride he takes in what he does at the plate?

ALEX BREGMAN: I mean, Yuli is probably, if he was here when he was younger, he might be in that conversation for being a Hall of Famer. He's had an unbelievable career. Being able to learn from him, being able to be around him, has been amazing. He is the definition of a baseball player. He could probably still play shortstop. He's an unbelievable defender. He can hit the ball from line to line. He won the batting title.

He's had so many big moments for us in the postseason. We have all the confidence in the world in him. He should have a lot of confidence in himself too, and I know he does because he knows what kind of career and what kind of player he is and he's had and to see him come through for us these first four games has been awesome. I know he expects that out of himself. We expect it from him too. We know he's an elite hitter.

Q. You guys have seen Severino plenty of times in the past. What sort of challenges does he bring tonight?

ALEX BREGMAN: A ton. He's one of the best pitchers in the world. He's got great stuff. He's a great competitor. He's very tough.

Q. I want to piggyback more off of Yuli. He had his fair share of struggles this season. Can you just tell me as a hitter and what you saw from Yuli with his professional at-bats, because guys who go through slumps tend to expand the zone a little bit to try to do too much. Can you talk about the professional at-bats he's had throughout this postseason?

ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, I feel like he's just, he's hitting line drives. I feel like he did that some this year too. Like during the course of the season, like he would line out a lot, I felt like. I feel like he hits so many line drives when he's right that sometimes you get into those where you're hitting 'em right at people.

Last night he hit one to left field on a line. Hit that ball really hard. And Stanton made a really good play on him. And his next at-bat he hit another one just a little bit higher and it got out.

So when Yuli's at his best he's hitting the ball from the right field line to the left field line, line drives all over the ballpark.

Q. So many different styles in your pitching staff. What's it like to play behind Framber? And just kind of looking back at what he's been able to accomplish this year, he says that he's kind of adjusted mentally this season to kind of get him going a little bit. What have you seen from him and what's it like to play behind a pitcher like that?

ALEX BREGMAN: Yeah, he attacks. He tries to fill up the zone with strikes. It keeps us on our toes defensively. We know that we got to play good defense behind him. He's had an unbelievable year. He's set the record for quality starts. He's a competitor. He has a lot of confidence in himself and so do we.

Q. From your advantage point do you think that ball you hit last night in the first was in the gap and what did you think of the play Judge made to close and get that ball?

ALEX BREGMAN: No, it was an unbelievable play. He's one of the best defenders in the outfield in the game. He's got an unbelievable arm, he's got great range.

Off the bat I thought it had a chance to get down. They got really good outfield defense and he made a heck of a play.