AL WILD CARD SERIES: RANGERS VS RAYS

October 4, 2023

Jonah Heim

Tropicana Field

Texas Rangers

Pregame Press Conference

Q. How are you holding up physically? I know it was a big deal this offseason for you to make it through 162, but now we're beyond 162, so how are you?

JONAH HEIM: I feel great. I had three weeks off, not by choice, but got the body right. And adrenaline is a powerful drug, so feeling great and ready to get after it.

Q. How is the wrist, and do you still have to have offseason surgery?

JONAH HEIM: That's to be determined. I know we have to go through the specialist after the season is over, but feels great and no issues.

Q. How much of a luxury is it for you to have a guy like Nathan Eovalde pitching in Game 2 of a playoff series?

JONAH HEIM: It's huge. You see his playoff experience and his resume and you just have to place faith in him. True competitor, and he's going to give you everything he's got, and it's going to be pretty fun today.

Q. You looked frustrated when you were held up at third base last night. Was that more just you knew you were going to be safe or that you knew a run was left on the board there?

JONAH HEIM: That's just me being frustrated with my ability of being fast.

Q. You guys for most of the season were really good hitting with runners in scoring position. It's cooled off a little bit the last four or five games. What are you collectively seeing in those moments for this team right now?

JONAH HEIM: I think it just goes to the talented arms we're seeing. We've been thrown into the fire with Seattle's bullpen and their starters, and last night with Glasnow, he's one of the best in the game. I'm not worried about it. We're going to keep putting together good at-bats, and we're going to be just fine.

Q. You guys have been through so much down the stretch, ups and downs. Can you talk about the steady hand that Bruce Bochy offers to you guys and what's built into that secret sauce and how he maximizes your effort?

JONAH HEIM: Yeah, absolutely. No matter the ups or the downs, he's going to have a cool head and keep his composure up there. You look at the end of the dugout and you see him and he's got the steady nature of him. There's just never any panic and you always feel like you're at ease and he has complete faith in you.

Q. How do you describe the wisdom he imparts?

JONAH HEIM: You just look at his experience and you know when he says something it has value. He's seen plenty of baseball, so when he speaks you listen, and it's always some good advice.

Q. We only ask you about the bullpen when they're struggling, but this last stretch in Seattle they did really well and they closed it out last night. What are you seeing from that group of guys over the last week, 10 days or so?

JONAH HEIM: Yeah, absolutely. I feel like baseball has its ups and downs, and that's for pitchers, as well. They go through struggles they go through ups, and right now they're throwing the ball really well. Every time they come in the game, we have confidence that they're going to get their doing their job. And they're just coming and doing their job and not trying to do too much. When we can do that, we're going to be just fine.

Q. Going back to Bochy for a second, what do you feel like this team has absorbed or taken on that the manager brings to you guys? What of his traits have kind of carried over to this club?

JONAH HEIM: I think just knowing that we're always in the game, no matter the score or the situation. There's never any panic. We get down a run or two, we come back and claw our way back.

I think just knowing that we're always in a game no matter the situation or the run and just keeping our composure and no panic.

Q. What has Adolis Garcia come to mean to the culture of the team and the clubhouse?

JONAH HEIM: Yeah, he's huge. Huge staple in the middle of our lineup. Always having fun. He's always going to keep it light and have fun, and he has a threat to leave the yard at any time. But also last night, you saw off Glasnow, big at-bat, put the ball in play with two strikes and kept the line moving.

I think with a guy like that in the middle of your lineup, it does great things for us.

Q. I don't know if this is a fair question, but yesterday Montgomery made a great play off the mound, not just the field of the pop-up bunt, but a couple other plays. You guys did not have great fielding from your pitchers last year. How much have you seen in terms of how much they've helped themselves with what they've been able to do off the mound this year?

JONAH HEIM: Yeah, I think that was a big focus even in Spring Training. Maddux came in and said we're going to do little things right and we're going to field our position, and it started in Spring Training. And I think they've seen the value of that throughout the whole year, because if they can get their own outs and not leave outs on the table, then it makes their job easier, too.

I think that was a big focus for us even in Spring Training, and it's carried us through the whole year.

Q. Jonas, you worked through games like these with experienced starting pitchers, like Jordan and Nathan have been through this before. How much do you rely on them versus your own experience when calling a game?

JONAH HEIM: I think it just starts in the pregame meetings that we have, just going over all the data we have and what they like to do, what they want to do. And you trust that if they're shaking off or if they're calling a pitch, they're throwing it for a reason. It all comes down to communication and knowing that they've been through it before. They understand the moment and they know what they need to do to get the job done.