NL WILD CARD SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS BREWERS

October 4, 2023

Craig Counsell

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Just any word on Winker, and also I know Santana stayed in the game, but is he all right?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Everything is good in both places.

Q. Craig, some of your guys have been in this position before in postseasons past. How do you treat days like today and try to keep it the same and keep loose?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, I mean, days like today are very clear, so you put your backs up against the wall. It's win or go home. You have to play a good game to earn the next day.

To me, it's a fun feeling, man. Put your back up against the wall and put your best foot forward, play your best and you get to play again. It's a good way to do it. We're ready for it. It will be a fun challenge, and you pass it, and you get to play another one. That's the same day.

Q. Obviously the news about Woody was not good, but how much confidence and how good do you feel handing the ball to Freddy now for Game 2?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Look, Freddy has had a wonderful second half of the season. So this guy is -- we thought, obviously, going in that we had three pitchers that we could treat equally really, like they were all pitching so well that we didn't really have to worry about day's rest, whatever. Just keep them in order and let them pitch. That was kind of my thought going in.

That's why I'm excited for Freddy to pitch today. I mean, there's no drop-off or we're not getting less. He is pitching well. He has had a great second half. He has been in games like this. He has succeeded in games like this. So he is going to put his best foot forward.

Q. When you think about Freddy's second half, what was maybe the biggest driving force behind the production that he had?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah. I mean, I think really it's just execution of pitches I think as much as anything. Freddy has -- we say he has good stuff, but it still requires giving hitters like multiple pitches to worry about. Just in the second half of the season, he has done a great job of doing that. That's why the strikeout numbers have gone through the roof. That's what makes you pitch well.

It's a lot for the hitter. If you count the breaking ball, it is one pitch. It's just three pitches that are just all to me plus pitches and all create enough separation that it makes it really hard on the hitter.

Q. I know you've been in this position before in your career. 2001 in the World Series, you had to win two or else you guys would be eliminated. What was the message to your guys just from your personal experience on how to handle the next two days?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, there's no message about the next two days. The message is about today. The message is you win today. There's no two days. It's today. That's all you worry about.

So that's what makes this so simple. You just worry about today. You don't have to worry about tomorrow. You worry about today.

Q. With Tyrone, it's really more than a hot streak now. He has had a really extended second half where he has hit really well after struggling in the first. Just what kind of turned things around for him these last couple of months, do you think?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Look, he had health issues in Spring Training and health issues still during the season that we had to back off for him for an extended period again. It was actually only a couple of weeks.

And I think he just got past that. That's probably the biggest explanation to it. I think Tyrone as a player if you kind of erase the health stuff entering really the sweet spot of his career in terms of experience, overcoming adversity, having some failures, having some successes, having a role on a team, just in enough good places to kind of put him -- in enough places to put himself in a good place to succeed.

I think that's just where he's gotten right now, and it's fun to watch. I mean, it's also fun as a player who has been in the organization for a long, long time for him to be in this spot at this time of year I think fun for a lot of people in the organization.

In today's game, I'm not sure, what, I think this is 12 years with the organization. Just in today's game, the number of players that reach 12 years in the same -- in their first organization, I don't know, I would gather it's below 5% of players, so it's probably lower than that.

To get that guy who has been in the same place and doing it for the team that drafted him 12 years ago, and Tyrone does not feel old by any means. He feels like a young kid, a young man. That's always rewarding, I think, for a lot of the people that have been around him for a long time.

Q. Considering a game like today is all hands on deck, I know you're confident in Freddy, but to get so many relievers out there considering for virtually all of them, it's their first postseason, do you see a positive in that and just how they performed yesterday?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah. I think I'll be able to answer that after today's game better, but I think, look, you don't want to have to go through so many guys. Certainly that's hard to do on a nightly basis, but they did a nice job yesterday.

We're in good shape today. No concerns about that. I think probably the biggest one for me really was just Elvis getting out there, and he hadn't been out there for two-plus weeks and feeling really good, throwing the ball really well. That's great for us moving forward for sure.

Q. On that, Craig, I'm sure the plan wasn't Devin for 31 pitches.

CRAIG COUNSELL: Yeah.

Q. How big a chunk do you think that takes out, and is it a question even of his availability today?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Well, yeah, it's a question. We have to check and see how he feels and how his throwing program goes for sure. Yeah, look, there were a couple of things that didn't go our way, if you watched the game last night, but that's one of them that didn't go our way.

Certainly that's the -- you have a decision to make there. We're down one, and we really want to keep it at one, and you put your best pitcher in the game to keep it there.

Unfortunately, he had to throw a lot of pitches to get through that inning. So that's a risk that you take putting him in the game there, but I think we're going to have -- he'll make a contribution in this series again. We know that. We'll just see what the afternoon brings.

Q. Is there value that Brandon Woodruff can add to this team without even throwing a pitch, knowledge, and locker room presence?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Look, I think when Brandon came in here the other day, and I'm not sure that you were in here, but when he talked to you guys the other day, that tells you everything. And it tells you a lot, and it tells you sometimes it's hard to see how much the players care because they put on a face for competition, and it's moments like that when you see how much they care.

I think that's great for fans, and it also is great for the guys in the room because they're feeling the same thing. It's just we're not great at showing it all the time, but it's real.

Q. When you think about the playoffs, how games are played, strategy, how they're won, over your career, how has that evolved and seen that change?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I mean, I don't think it's -- it's changed just how the game has changed. I think we often say the game has changed. The game is going to always change. Everything changes. Life changes. Everything changes.

So I never think we should think of it as better or worse. It's just thinking is there a better way to do something? So that's what we're always trying to figure out, whether it be in baseball or anything else. Is there a better way to do something?

If there is, we all have to be willing to change our mind. So I think all of our jobs is to always consider things like that. You're always looking for some better way to communicate, to get messages through, to strategize, to employ strategies, and we'll always be continuing.

As far as particulars, I'm not sure that frankly since I've been doing this have seen anything I really strongly could point to because every team is different, so your team is different, and that means you're going to do different things because of different personnel with personnel sets you have on teams. No team you have is going to be so similar that it's not going to change the way you do things.