MLB WORLD SERIES: PHILLIES VS ASTROS

November 5, 2022

Chas McCormick

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Pregame 6 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions for Chas.

Q. Who's the coolest person you from after your catch?

CHAS MCCORMICK: Coolest person? Myles Straw. (Laughing.)

Q. What did Straw say?

CHAS MCCORMICK: He just said, "Let's F'ing go. That was heat."

Q. Now that you have seen the video, I presume, what were your thoughts from watching it?

CHAS MCCORMICK: It was cool. It's a good catch, perfect timing, really big catch. I'm just happy that I was able to help the team win. But, yeah, I watched it a lot. A lot of people sent it to me. But it's a new day.

Q. That was a exquisite catch. Congratulations. As you say, it's a new day, new page. How are the guys inside? How do you guys feel about this Game 6 that usually has not been a nice game for the Houston Astros in the World Series? So how do you guys feel about tonight?

CHAS MCCORMICK: We feel good. We're ready to go. We're prepared. We're focused. We're going to do anything to win tonight. We're not going to play with too much pressure. We're just going to play like we've been playing all season. We're confident, ready to go.

Q. The Astros just announced that Yuli is now not a part of the roster. How do you think that changes the offense?

CHAS MCCORMICK: I don't think it changes too much. Obviously, Yuli's been one of our best hitters in the postseason, so obviously, it stinks not having him. But we have guys that know their role and we're confident in anybody who is going to be in that lineup. We have a lot of good hitters on this team.

Yeah, so I don't think it will change much. Obviously, losing Yuli sucks, but at this time everybody's got to be ready.

Q. You're wearing the Framber Quality Tour shirt. I see a lot of guys wearing those in pregame. Is that just a sign of support for the guy pitching tonight? And how did y'all all get those shirts?

CHAS MCCORMICK: Yeah, I mean, Framber's on the mound. We have tons of confidence in him. I personally just like wearing the shirt. It's really comfortable. I think a lot of us like these shirts.

But obviously Framber is pitching today and, yeah, it's just kind of support. We got his back. These shirts just randomly were put in our lockers. So I really like 'em.

Q. You've never been a high-profile guy until all of this. How do you deal with that? You've always been great about staying focused, even when you got sent down to Triple-A for a couple days. I mean, you've always done that. So how do you go forward in this world?

CHAS MCCORMICK: You just got to move on. Every day's a new day. Personally, I tried not to check my phone, kind of leave that out, just wait until the season is over, and then maybe I'll look at my phone more.

But like I said, today's a new day. You kind of got to -- it's in the past. You got to forget about it, just stay focused and be prepared every single day and know the ultimate goal. Yeah, it's just time to refocus and be ready to win a ball game.

Q. I know you're trying to focus on today, but I think it was the Yankee series you talked about your sort of evolution as a hitter. So coming off of this catch, I was curious about your evolution as a defensive player and if maybe there was some motivation for you as you were platooning over the last year or so of trying to put the work in to make some improvements there as well?

CHAS MCCORMICK: Yeah, definitely. Kind of been more of a corner outfielder guy. But they really needed me to play center field. I've done a lot of work this year, even in spring training, to become a good center fielder because being a good center fielder is really big in this league. You have control over the whole outfield.

But, yeah, I'm just trying to make plays for the team wherever I'm at. I'm confident in wherever I'm at. Yeah, for the past couple months, I've been starting to feel really good in center field.

Q. Back to your catch, did you get any strange or funny comments from friends or die-hard Phillies fans?

CHAS MCCORMICK: Yeah, I got some strange, strange things I won't really talk about. But most of 'em were, Man, you could have dropped that ball or why did you catch that ball? But, yeah, that's really about it.

Q. Kind of on that same thing, you were up against it anyway going into that series wearing the wrong uniform for your crew back home, but as good as they were about it before going into the series, after that catch was there more of an edge to it after they saw you do that?

CHAS MCCORMICK: Yeah. Yeah, I didn't have any friends after that, to tell you the truth (smiling.)

But I'm super happy I got to do it in the hometown.

Q. I guess just one last one on the catch. Growing up in Westchester, did you ever think that you would literally make your mark on Citizens Bank Park like that?

CHAS MCCORMICK: No, I never did. I know my 13-year-old self would be really mad at me. But, yeah, I mean, leaving my mark in my hometown ballpark, there's nothing better.