AL WILD CARD SERIES: RANGERS VS RAYS

October 4, 2023

Bruce Bochy

Tropicana Field

Texas Rangers

Pregame Press Conference

Q. As a former catcher, how much do you respect or appreciate what Jonah has done here the last -- really since he came off the injured list?

BRUCE BOCHY: I mean, I respect all aspects of his game, the receiving part, the throwing part, blocking, his durability. He did have the injury there, but we've used him quite a bit down the stretch. Caught 11 or 12 in a row, plus the offense. So no, you really appreciate somebody like Jonah when you get to see him every day.

Q. Even though you have a 1-0 series, what's the importance of winning today's game?

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, it's always good to take the first game. You have to win one before you win two. I think you look at how the game went, too, with Monty going seven innings, our bullpen is in good shape. But we have work ahead of us.

We understand that any club would say it's good to win the first one, but you also know there's a lot of baseball left.

Q. Beyond the obvious power, how has Adolis Garcia affected your defense this year?

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I think you look at the defense, he's really good out there in right field, he's a good base runner, he's athletic. His presence in the lineup, we know what he does with the bat. But when he had an injury there and we had to sit him for a little bit, we missed him. We missed his presence. He's our cleanup hitter. So when we got him back, we were a different club.

Q. If you do end up playing a Game 3, how would you describe what it does to your pitching situation? Because you don't have anybody who's --

BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, I'm not thinking about that right now, to be honest. We've been pretty good at being creative. We had to do that in Seattle. Right now we're just focused on today's game, and we'll worry about that if that happens to come up. That's how we have to look at it.

Q. Could you talk about what Venable brings to you as a sounding board and how he's impacted your staff?

BRUCE BOCHY: He's great. Will is great. I'm a little bit older, so it's good to have a young guy there helping me. He's worn some different hats. Been the first base coach, third base coach, bench coach, now his title is associate manager. But really organized and really keeps me abreast of things. He's a great connector with the players because it wasn't that long ago that he played.

Got a great way about him. Smart guy that just has done a terrific job for me, and I'm thankful I have him here beside me.

Q. Your players, do you think they look at you -- as a man with all the experience of having won the championships, do they look at you as a father figure? You have a lot of wisdom. How do you think they look at you?

BRUCE BOCHY: That's a great question. That's a hard one for me to answer. I don't know about father figure. Maybe grandfather figure. I don't know.

I really can't answer that. Hopefully they know that I care about them, and we all want the same thing, and that's to win ballgames.

Hopefully I can help put them in that situation. That's my job. If they understand that, then I'm good with it.

Q. If they've absorbed anything of the manager's characteristics, what would you hope that they've absorbed?

BRUCE BOCHY: I would say probably to stay calm. Just show up the same every day, no matter what happens. That's part of being resilient, being able to deal with adversity. I try to do that when I come to the park every day. We've had to deal with a lot, so if they can get that from me, then I'd be really happy.

Q. Knowing what you know about Adolis and Arozarena and their relationship, can you imagine this series taking place without one or either of them doing something that is highlight-reel worthy?

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, both great players. So to your point, yeah, that is something that would not surprise any of us with the talent that these two have. I know how close they are and their story, and it's pretty cool. You saw Garcia -- Dolly -- go out there and hug Randy's mom. There's obviously a very, very close connection there.

No, I see what you're seeing. We'll see how it goes today.