AL WILD CARD SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS TWINS

October 3, 2023

Rocco Baldelli

Target Field

Minnesota Twins

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Royce Lewis is on the roster, DHing today. Is there a chance he's going to play third or is he DH only for this series?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Royce made a lot of physical improvement. Hammy is doing really well. I wouldn't rule anything out as far as him being able to play third at some point in the future. I don't know when exactly that will be.

What I do know is for today's game he's good to go and his swing has felt pretty good. He's gotten a bunch of live ABs, and he can go out there and run the bases.

I think he just fits well for us right now, and he's improved enough where he can definitely do this.

Q. What did the decision come down to on Buck? What condition is he in, and how did he take the news?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Buck worked incredibly hard to get back. And he got, I would say, close where at points we thought he might be. But he had what I would call some minor setbacks along the way of trying to return.

Again, all we can ask him to do -- and he can certainly look in the mirror and go, he worked his butt off to get in the best possible physical shape he could -- but it was a hard, emotional talk when I spoke with him because talking about these things is difficult and frustrating, too, at times.

We both were sitting in the room knowing that he wasn't going to be able to play in this series. So the actual decision part of it of what was the right decision, we both knew what that decision was and so we made it.

Q. Are you comfortable with Royce having to beat out an infield hit or are you holding your breath on that situation?

ROCCO BALDELLI: We'll see. Honestly, we're going to do whatever we can to keep Royce in the lineup and keep him hitting third for us and have him out there. There might be periods of time in the series where he's slightly more conservative in order to make sure that he stays on the field.

If he hits a tapper to the third baseman, however fast he is -- and he's pretty fast -- we might not see the highest rate of speed from Royce.

But he's good enough where he can run the bases. If he's on first base and someone hits it in the gap and he stays in a good spot, relatively under control, he can score. He can do a lot of things right now. The infield hit part of it, that might be one part of the discussion we'll have to wait and see.

Q. Carlos hasn't played since September 18th and Royce the 19th. What concerns do you have about those guys about the rust factor in a short series?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Those guys have faced a lot of live pitching over the last week. So I don't have concerns about that part of it. We got done everything you could possibly get done without them being in an actual ball game.

When Carlos gives you the thumbs up and says I'm good to go, you put him out there. He understands his level of -- his skill level, his body, all these different things about as good as any player could. You definitely trust him with that.

And Royce, again, we kind of just discussed him, but we've talked about him excessively and we had staff members here. We had medical staff here. These guys have watched these guys a lot, and we think they're in a good place right now.

Q. Touched on this a little bit yesterday about how you anticipate kind of philosophically a lot of similar things to what you've been doing, but does the pinch-hitting philosophy and the aggression of substitutions, does that change at all based on this matchup, how right-handed the back of their bullpen is and that sort of thing?

ROCCO BALDELLI: It's all going to be situational, I think. We're still going to use, probably, I would say, most of our roster every game. I see more scenarios where we're using our players and ending up with nobody or maybe one player left on the bench at the end of the game.

I see more scenarios like that than scenarios where we're just sitting there and playing the same guys for nine innings.

I don't know what they're going to do, the same way they're not really sure which direction we're going to go in. So that works good. That's actually part of the game.

But there are always moments, just like we've had previously this year, where we will let some of our lefties face a lefty or two along the way over the course of a game. And there are times where we're going to go grab them.

They have a couple lefties and they have guys they can turn to as well.

It will be fun because they're a good well-rounded team. They have many, many options on both sides of the ball, actually, when you look at their roster. But I think we're going to make some moves, too.

Q. What did you need to see out of Paddack the last couple of weeks to keep him on the roster?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Paddack offers a unique combination of a guy that can give us two or three innings. He's a strike thrower by nature. And his stuff has returned really well from his comeback.

It's easy to look ahead with a guy like that and go, we're going to get this guy ready to be in the rotation for us next year. We're going to focus on that; we're not going to talk about postseason baseball.

No, he's worked himself into a great spot. I think he's throwing the ball really well, and I think there are some scenarios where we're going to need a guy to go out there out of our bullpen and give us two or three innings. I think that's very possible over any series, even a three-game series.

That's why he's there. We have him and other guys, they're going to fill roles when we need them. If we need them, when we need them they'll be ready to go, all that.

But he's looked good. I like the way he's thrown the ball. He went out there in Colorado this week, it's obviously difficult out there. I thought he looked pretty good out there.

Q. What were the factors that made Andrew Stevenson the choice over Jordan Luplow and Joey?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I think speed and defense is always something to think about in a postseason scenario. We've used -- there are times this year where we used Willi Castro in some of these spots effectively and even Stevenson in just the last couple of weeks, the last series or two.

You start getting in these close ball games in the eighth or ninth inning, you need a run. Your lead-off guy on. Putting something like that in the game creates a lot of issues for the other team.

We know it because we experience it on that side of the ball, too. Everyone sees it. Everyone feels it and knows that there's a lot of ways to score when you have an elite baserunner out there.

Q. You talked about the tough conversations with a guy like Buxton. I'm curious, your conversation with Andrew Stevenson, being able to tell him that even though he was a late addition that he's going to be a part of the roster.

ROCCO BALDELLI: He was almost speechless. He had a smile ear to ear. And a guy that understands what he's there to do, too. He knows his role. He'll be prepared to do it very well.

But, so, I couldn't tell -- I might have caught him off guard a little bit when I called him in. Everyone's optimistic and everyone's hopeful and everyone wants to be playing when the playoffs come around. But to be able to tell guys that they are on is -- it's a good part of the job. And again, I don't know what he thought I was going to say, but what I told him, he liked it.

Q. Did you see Pablo come in the Johan jersey today?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I did. He likes history and nostalgia, and I think it fires him up. He's a Jersey guy, too. I've got my soccer jerseys. He's got his Johan Santana jersey.

We wear what makes us feel good. And that's what he does. We have a couple guys like that in the clubhouse. Sonny's done that a little bit too. But the Johan selection for Pablo, it's hell of a choice.

Q. Saw Pablo in the jersey. We heard him yesterday talking about potential of ending the streak and using that as motivation. We heard Kyle Farmer kind of promise the fans that it would happen. Do you appreciate guys using that as motivation? Are you onboard with that being something that will fire them up today?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I'm fully aboard. Whatever gets our guys ready to play, gets them going that sounds great. Love to hear Farmer doing that; that fully works for me.

Everyone here anticipates going out there and winning a ball game today. So we talk about goals and things like that. This is just what we plan on doing.

Q. You've kind of alternated catchers, Jeffers and Vazquez, all season. How are you planning, Jeffers gets the start today, to divvy up that?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Probably one of our more challenging decisions and ongoing conversations now that we've started in the playoffs. We'll treat it day to day, honestly.

I did talk to Vasky a little bit yesterday. Jeffers starting today. Not 100 percent sure what we'll do tomorrow yet.

But Jeffers has had a phenomenal season. It's not hard to look at what he's done and be very impressed. He's played out of his mind for a lot of the year and swung the bat great and done a good job with the pitchers. We have good options behind the plate.