WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL B - CHINA VS AUSTRALIA

March 11, 2023

Alex Hall

Tokyo Dome

Team Australia

Pregame Press Conference

Q. What are your aims for the next game?

ALEX HALL: Just have a good start against China. I think the best thing is our offense, so if we can get that rolling early, it will be a good start.

Q. Alex, you won the MVP of the Australian Baseball League this season. Can you tell us what was different, if anything, or what clicked this year that kind of launched you to those career numbers in the ABL?

ALEX HALL: Just lots of playing time, back-to-back days. It's always fun playing in Australia with friends and family around, and getting in a good mindset with my coaches and stuff like that and lots of extra reps in the cages.

Q. (No translation.)

ALEX HALL: Just tomorrow is going to be a hard game but we have to worry about today first. We know Team Japan is the best in the world and it's going to be a hard game but as long as we get through today, then we'll worry about tomorrow and we'll put everything forward.

Q. (No translation.)

ALEX HALL: My dad made me switch hit when I was playing t-ball and I carried on from there. I wanted to quit many times but got through it.

And I'm pretty happy where I am at right now with both side of the plate. I just go back and watch video of lots of other great switch hitters, and that's what helps me get through it.

Q. How important is it to be on this team and have played on the ABL with someone like Tim Kennelly, how does someone like that help lead this team and bring everybody together for Team Australia?

ALEX HALL: Playing with Tim Kennelly is unbelievable. He's done it for so long. I'm grateful that he's from the state with me back home. So I get to play with him every year, and hopefully he's got another couple years.

But he's our captain and he's our captain for a reason. He does everything right. You would never know he has another job back home. You would think he plays baseball every day. He's a great mentor of mine and I've got everything for him, and I want to be on his shoulder for as long as I can.