AL WILD CARD SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS TWINS

October 4, 2023

Rocco Baldelli

Target Field

Minnesota Twins

Pregame Press Conference

Q. In what ways was it more difficult today to kind of set a lineup and game plan knowing they're all hands on deck in the bullpen and a guy like Kikuchi might be available to flip the platoons and that sort of thing?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Not really. Not really. We're going to run our lineup out there. Basically from yesterday we just made one very minor change in the batting order. And I think we do think through all the different scenarios, but one thing you don't want to do is overthink anything either.

Yes, every team is going to be all hands on deck, and that's a fact. So you could see anything. So what they're preparing for, I don't know. But we're going to set the lineup that we think is best for today. If they end up going to a left-handed starter earlier in the game, then they do. We'll adjust at that point.

Q. For Duran, how much have you seen him when you guys clinched, kind of that experience help him navigate yesterday? And he talked about Pete's mound visit kind of helped him get through yesterday too.

ROCCO BALDELLI: He's still a young guy. I think sometimes everyone forgets, even us, just how much time he's had in the big leagues and things like that. It doesn't stop us from using him and putting him in the biggest spots of the game. He's progressed really well rapidly, really, to be where he's at right now in his career.

Q. Now that you've won a game, are you comfortable saying that Joe Ryan is the starter tomorrow if there is a game tomorrow, or could anything happen today that would make you rethink?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I think one of the premises of those questions kind of applies to how I'm going to answer this. If we get to Game 3, Joe will start. We'll also pitch anyone and everyone when the time comes.

So a start is who is starting the game, of course, but we'll have a lot of pitchers in the bullpen who would be ready to go.

Q. How does Joe approach today, then?

ROCCO BALDELLI: How does he approach today?

Q. I mean, is he preparing -- he's obviously preparing to start?

ROCCO BALDELLI: He still has to prepare. In every way. Joe will be preparing in every way to make the outing and to get as many outs as we ask him to get. And he knows that.

Q. How much did Kenta having prior bullpen practice experience factor into that decision?

ROCCO BALDELLI: A little bit. There was no deciding factor. I just thought he fit well there. He has done it before. He's a guy that does match up well against right-handed teams in general. And we can ask him to do anything.

One thing I'm not going to do is look ahead, even to tomorrow, too much. But certainly not anything past this series. But with Kenta being in the bullpen, it does leave him kind of in a flex position where we can ask him to do any of a number of things right now.

But we're just going to try to win today's game. And Kenta, he could factor into that, absolutely.

Q. Do you think any of your players at all thought about the streak, that it was at least somewhere in their minds? And is there any benefit to ending it, or is that more for fans, external kind of thing?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I think our guys -- some of them at least -- were thinking about the streak because they were thinking about breaking the streak. They weren't thinking about the streak as something hanging over them. They were thinking about like busting this thing up and never having to talk about it or worry about it or hear about it ever again.

I think some of them kind of took that a little personally, even though most of them had nothing to do with any of those games. And they took it head on and, I think, felt good getting over that and just getting ready for the things that matter, which is winning a series and winning today.

And I do think that's, like, a legitimate point. We have a goal, and the goal had really very little to do with the big-picture discussion that everyone would like to bring up over and over again to them, which was a little bit almost -- it's like, let's talk about what matters here. And that's the Blue Jays and beating the Blue Jays.

Q. Buck said yesterday that he's internalized and knows that by playing he wouldn't be helping the team necessarily right now. What do you think it takes for a guy that's as motivated as him and has been through when he has to say something like that?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I won't speak long on the topic, but I want it to be accurate and meaningful.

I think it takes -- the team means a lot to him, is what I would say. And every guy in a Major League clubhouse, at some point, has to think selfishly in order to prepare. As a player, this might sound crazy, you have to be selfish because every day when you wake up has to be focused on getting ready to do your difficult job very, very well. And there's a lot that goes into it.

And all of our guys, like, when they wake up in the morning, they're thinking about themselves: What do I have to do? What do I have to do?

And that's how a lot of these guys have gotten to this point in their careers. So it's hard when you've worked that hard and you're that great of a player to actually look up and say what you just said. It's not easy to do.

But his love for the group and the team and his desire for the team to win -- and knowing what he's capable of at this moment, at least, it's not easy to always be honest with yourself about those things, but it takes a great deal of fortitude. It takes a great deal of honesty to be able to do it. It's hard. It is, but he did it.

And he's going to keep working. He's going to keep -- I said I wasn't going to talk long on this, but this topic -- he means a lot to me and everyone else in that room. He's going to keep working and see if he can get back. But right now he knows now is not the right time.

Q. Until the win in St. Louis, Sonny had gone multiple months without a win. It wasn't like he was pitching poorly there, but what's the difference you've seen in him from that point on just on the mound, I guess?

ROCCO BALDELLI: He's definitely pitched well lately. He was pitching pretty good, I mean, for the most part, even in that stretch. What's the biggest difference? We probably scored more runs, honestly. It's probably one of the differences.

I think he attacked the strike zone better late in the season. And I'm just talking, looking at the body of work and breaking it up into some bigger segments. I think he attacked the zone really well. He got ahead of hitters. When he needed to get back in the zone late, if he had to, he could.

I think his general feel and command were probably -- they're always good but they were a tick better probably late in the year.

He's talked about it. We've talked about it as a group. We tell our guys over and over again to attack the opposition, and that has to do with getting in the zone, strike throwing, getting ahead. And then all your weapons, they go from here to here when you do that. And I think he's done that well.

Q. As a former player, what's the degree of difficulty on that throw that Correa made on that play?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Well, I'm talking as an outfielder, you know. I said a little bit of this last night, but whenever you have to make a play you've never made before -- we go out and practice. We've gotten better over the years of practicing things that we don't do every day.

There were probably generations of players that went to one position and took roughly the same ground ball over and over and over again to get their work in. And now we put them everywhere, all over the field, every day, at different depths, in different spots, throwing from different angles to try to get them ready for what they have to do.

This is throughout baseball now and probably even down to definitely college and high school and youth levels. So the game has definitely changed.

But that's a play that you're probably not going to have to make that play ever again in your entire life. Some guys play 20 years and never have to make that play.

To get a chance to make a play -- and a defining play in a playoff game -- to make that one-of-a-kind type of play and to execute it, it's special. It doesn't play out like that most of the time. It's a very difficult play, is what it is.

But he sees things before they happen. That's how Carlos Correa plays the game. He envisions things. He envisions not one or two scenarios and what could happen here or there. He sees many things very quickly, makes quick decisions and then executes. It takes a lot to do that.

It was a play that I think we will see forever. In Twins history, I think that play's not going to go away. Some plays we start to see less of as time goes on. That one, I think, is going to stick.

Q. Griffin Jax, you had him in the middle of the lineup yesterday. Like all relievers had his ups and downs at different points in the year. You always stuck with him in that eighth inning, going against the top of the lineup. What do you like about his mentality as a young reliever?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I like Griffin Jax. I think he can get anybody out at any time. I think he has the stuff to do it. I think he's proven that he can do it. That's how I feel about it.

So without going kind of all detailed on you, like, I just think he's a seventh- and eighth-inning type of pitcher at the Major League Baseball level who can pitch against the 2, 3, 4 spots of any lineup or whatever the run is of hitters -- lefties, righties, anyone -- he has the stuff to get anyone and everyone out. That's why he's out there.

We show kind of what we're thinking about those decisions with who's out there in the field at the moment. And we chose him and felt good about it.

Q. During the season you wouldn't have given it a second thought of somebody having a bad game, but in this case do you talk to Jorge at all about kind of the rough day he had in the field and at the plate yesterday?

ROCCO BALDELLI: No, I don't have really anything to say to him about that. He'll be out on the field getting his work in. And whether you have a great day in the field or not so much, your routine is going to stay the same. He's going to be out on the field at third base. If he wants a few extra, he can have a few extra. If not, that's okay too.

He's a good infielder. And, again, he's our third baseman right now. We're going with him and he can do it.

Q. So far this week you've name dropped Tree House Brewery and stuck a Phish lyric in -- two Phish lyrics. Do you want to go for the hat trick and compare this team to Liverpool?

ROCCO BALDELLI: That's it. Hey, if I can get Klopp in there that would be probably the right thing to do, but I can't make any sort of comparisons right there.

They're playing well and that last match I really don't want to talk -- anyone that's followed them a little bit, I might sit up here all day talking about that. That was not right. But they're playing great.