WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D - NICARAGUA VS ISRAEL

March 12, 2023

Garrett Stubbs

Dean Kremer

Spencer Horwitz

LoanDepot Park

Team Israel

Postgame Press Conference

Israel 3, Nicaragua 1

Q. Garrett, a great situational hitting after a tough day for the whole team, leaving a lot of men on base and just coming in. How do you prepare yourself for that at-bat? And, Dean, I've been following you as the first Israeli to pitch in MLB and come here on this stage after also pitching for -- what did this game mean? And also congratulations. Some really gutty, gritty pitching the way you kept them scoreless coming back with key strikeouts, so congratulations. I want to know about your personal feelings about that. And, this is also your first time playing for Team Israel, right? So I want to know a little bit about just some of the feelings that are going through your head.

GARRETT STUBBS: I didn't prepare for any sort of specific situation. Never do for games. The games just develop themselves, but obviously it's a Big League pitcher. Been in some big situations in his career before, and he is an unbelievable reliever. In this situation just ended up getting a good pitch to hit and capitalizing on an opportunity.

DEAN KREMER: For myself, I mean, playing for Team Israel, any time I get to put on that uniform is special for me. It's like another home. I mean, every time I get to represent, it's one of the better feelings.

As for today, I think it went pretty well. Executed when I needed to. Defense was pretty solid behind me, so no complaints there. Then, I mean, the offense, Stubby stepped it up. The guys really came through there at the end.

SPENCER HORWITZ: Yeah, coming into this I didn't know what to really expect, like you said, this being my first time playing for Team Israel, and it's living up to everything that people are saying.

That environment we were just in was definitely electric, and looking forward to getting a few more, and hopefully just keep competing and hopefully a few more W's.

Q. Spencer, you had the game-tying hit. How did you feel to be able to break through and get the team back on the board?

SPENCER HORWITZ: Yeah, you saw the emotion pouring out of me at second. I normally try and stay pretty even-keel, but in that moment it was quite a special feeling. I'm glad I could just do it for these guys.

Q. Garrett, the game-winning hit. How did it feel to get the ball out there and just get everyone moving around?

GARRETT STUBBS: Yeah, I mean, I was psyched when Spence hit his hit and just put us in a situation where we had a chance to win the ball game. You know, then they walked Noah there. Then Wielansky has that play at the plate with Lavarnway, and I'm coming up in a situation with two outs and a chance to put us ahead.

Like Spence said, the emotions start flying in places like this with the WBC. You see it with all the teams. So it's a lot of excitement, and it's fun.

Q. Dean, you went four innings, four strikeouts. How did it feel out there in general, and how are you feeling physically with the season coming up soon?

DEAN KREMER: Feeling good so far. Really happy with the way it went, representing the country and for myself as a build-up. I couldn't have imagined it going any better.

Q. For all three of you, how are you guys feeling with the upcoming competition that you are going to have to face? Start with Garrett.

GARRETT STUBBS: In the pool of death? It's going to be a lot of fun. Nicaragua showed out really well today. There were a lot of fans. A lot of Israel fans, too.

Obviously, there's going to be even more fans coming up pretty soon with the DR, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, and we'll feed off that energy too. It's going to be exciting.

Q. Spencer, talk to me about that at-bat, what you were seeing out there, and what it was like seeing Major League pitching for the first time? And for Garrett, I would like to hear about that play Matt made to throw the runner out at third. It was a really big play in the game. Take me through that one.

SPENCER HORWITZ: Yeah, Youk gave me a great approach, which is telling me to stick to the two pitches, the fastball and changeup. Those were the two that he liked the most.

You saw I hooked the changeup foul, and then once I saw that, I was much more comfortable because I knew everything he had that was going to come at me.

Yeah, just stayed with that and trusted him and trusted myself to come up in that big situation.

GARRETT STUBBS: I thought you were going to ask me about the play Merv made in the first inning when I long-hopped him at first base (laughter).

He is a really good player. It's been fun playing with him the last week. In that situation the ball kind of goes into no man's land, and Merv picked up on the runner going to third and made a really good, obviously, transfer throw to me. It was right on the money.

I felt like I had catcher's gear on at that moment. Forgot that I was playing third base. But he made a perfect throw and made it real easy on me.

Q. First for Garrett. How has it been playing third base, because you have never done that before? What does it say about the team that you are willing to just run out there and play a position you've never played in on such a big stage?

GARRETT STUBBS: I think anybody on this team is willing to do whatever we need to win a game in any situation, in any position what not. It's been fun getting over there. Obviously, it's very fresh to me. I've never played third base ever in my life all the way dating back to I don't know how long, but it's been a lot of fun. I think anybody on this team would be willing to play or do anything in order for us to have a chance to win.

Q. Then for Dean, growing up speaking Hebrew, being Israeli, what does it mean to you hear those Hebrew songs coming through the speakers, seeing the flags in the stands today?

DEAN KREMER: I've gotten the chance previously, the WBC before that I got to play for the Senior National Team before pro ball in the summer of '14 and '15. I was around a lot of guys that spoke Hebrew. It's like being at home. That's kind of the feeling that you get. It's very comfortable. I mean, it means everything.

Q. For three of you, as you say, this group of death with Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Puerto Rico, and Israel team is really always a quiet team. What is the message of Israel to this group after this win, after this important win?

SPENCER HORWITZ: Yeah, no one is really giving us a shot in this pool, and we like it that way. We're going to go out there and do everything we can. Like, Garrett is playing third right now, and we're going to go out there and compete. Wherever the balls -- wherever they land, they land.