AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: YANKEES VS ASTROS

October 22, 2022

Trey Mancini

Yankee Stadium

Houston Astros

Pregame 3 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll take questions for Trey Mancini.

Q. How special is it for Dusty to come back to you in this situation, given what you've been through of late?

TREY MANCINI: It's great. You always want an opportunity to play in these games, games of these magnitude, and, yeah, I'm really excited.

Q. As you look at your at-bats this October and kind of preceding in September, are there any mechanical things that you've noticed, any pitch selection that you need to get better at? What can you say is maybe the crux of why you're not getting the results?

TREY MANCINI: I would say, for whatever reason, towards the end of August I lost kind of the feel for my lower half. The lower half, the swing works from the ground up. The mechanics started getting flawed. And I got exposed a lot for kind of getting away from what had made me successful in my first few weeks after getting traded here.

So I've studied hours and hours of film, done the whole nine yards that everybody does when they're slumping at the plate. But at the end of the day, I know I just need to be ready on time, err on the side of being ready too early than too late. Once I'm up at the plate, I can work on everything when I'm not up at the plate, but once the game starts, your sole focus has to be on the pitcher because if you're worried about anything that you're doing, it's going to be tough against these guys, especially guys like Gerrit Cole, who we're going to be facing tonight.

You got to take all the work you do and try to have muscle memory from what you've done, but when it's game time, you got to go up there, try to get ready early, and just have a good game plan.

Q. Considering all the bats you've had against Cole, what's kind of the game plan when you face him and especially in this situation?

TREY MANCINI: I don't want to say too much since we're playing tonight. You got to be ready to go. You have to have a plan when you're up there. He's one of the best pitchers in the game. Obviously everybody on the Astros is very familiar with him since he played with the Astros for awhile. He's a great pitcher. You have to have a plan and stick to it.

Q. How would you describe just your run since you've been with the Astros? Obviously they really wanted you at the deadline, you started hot, you mentioned the struggles. But Lance was just discussing how you've got a huge opportunity here and one swing can kind of change everything for the team and for you in October. How have things been overall since you joined this team?

TREY MANCINI: The guys are incredible. I've absolutely loved my time with the Astros. Everybody's been incredible from the second I got over here. I'm so happy to be here with this team. Yeah, even though I have been struggling lately, as of now none of that matters. You have to look ahead. In the off-season, you know, in the future you can look back, think about what went wrong, what went right at times, all that. But right now we're in the ALCS. And you can't be dwelling on any of your at-bats in the past. You just got to get ready for the next one. That's all you can do. Because you would be remiss to be thinking about the past and everything like that.

We're in a great position. Luckily this team's so good about picking guys up that are struggling. If somebody is struggling, then they trust the guy in front of them, trust the guy behind them to get the job done. So we're in a great position. So it's just thinking about tonight and what's to come.

Q. Along those lines, we talked about this the other day, about your next opportunity, waiting for the chance. With all the postseason pressure and being in Yankee Stadium, in a weird way is this refreshing that you do get to kind of wipe the slate clean and start over tonight?

TREY MANCINI: Yeah, definitely. You try to treat it like any other game as best you can. But there's certainly a little more adrenaline that comes with these games. They're really fun. They're incredibly fun to be a part of. It's what I waited my whole life for and what everybody else playing tonight has waited their whole lives for. We were kids watching these games on TV.

So you got to enjoy it. But at the same time obviously you want to come through for your team and put your best foot forward. So it's really exciting.

Q. With your time with the Astros what have you learned about this group in terms of their ability to just keep doing what they do year after year this time of year?

TREY MANCINI: They're incredible. I haven't seen a group prepare as well as this team does. Obviously that comes with having a lot of experience. The core of the team has been together for a long time. So they're really familiar with everybody we play. But the preparation that goes into every game and how much everybody studies their opponent on this team is, it's incredible. It's been really special to see up close. I've learned a lot from all the guys.

Q. You obviously have a lot of experience in this park. Do you like hitting here? What has been your past experience here?

TREY MANCINI: Yeah, I do. How can you not like playing at Yankee Stadium? It's always a great atmosphere whether it's kind of in the dog days of the season or tonight. It's always a special place to play and a great atmosphere. So yeah I've always enjoyed playing here.

Certainly when you're the opponent you hear it, but at the same time it's fun. It's what makes the game fun.

Q. As a member, long-time member of the AL East, have you been a source of information having the unbalanced schedule and having seen the Yankees perhaps more than the Astros?

TREY MANCINI: Yeah, a little bit. In the first two games when I didn't start I tried to give some guys some tips. Because I've seen, especially the bullpen guys I've seen them a lot being in the AL East for a long time.

But at the same time most of the team has been in the league long enough to know these guys really well too. So we learned a lot from each other, but I do try to offer some pointers or tips on how they pitch me to the other guys that might not have seen him as much.

Q. How much have your conversations with Reggie Jackson helped you some?

TREY MANCINI: Yeah, who better to ask about hitting than Mr. October. It's really cool to have him around and he's a great source of information. I just like asking him about his approach at the plate and what he thought about up there. We just talked about kind of the game plan you should have as a hitter. So it's been really special to have him around.