NL WILD CARD SERIES: MARLINS VS PHILLIES

October 4, 2023

Skip Schumaker

Citizens Bank Park

Miami Marlins

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Hi, Skip, just the decision to go with Stallings over Fortes for Garrett.

SKIP SCHUMAKER: We talked about it as a staff a couple days ago, what we think the rotation will look like, and then if we wanted to split up the catching duties. Luzardo and Fortes worked really well together. Thought blocking the really tough slider was going to factor into the game yesterday. I didn't realize how much it was going to factor into the game yesterday. Then Fortes did a really, really good job in getting out of some big jams with Zeus.

I felt like Stallings can catch Brax no problem. I talked with Brax about it. Brax is a pitch maker. Stallings is a smart kid and can navigate through a game as good as anybody and has had some big hits lately. So I felt like that was the right move.

Q. After looking back at the game last night, thoughts on the approach that you guys had against Wheeler and then what you're hoping to see differently. Obviously score runs is going to be the main answer there, just to see the offense hopefully get a spark early.

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Yeah, hopefully we don't see Wheeler again this series. I'm not sure who is going to -- you know, watching the game again this morning and seeing what Wheeler did last night was impressive. Had some teeth on that sinker, and the sweeper/slider, however you want to call it, was as good as I've seen him throw it whenever he wanted to throw it.

I'm not angry at all watching our at-bats because that stuff was real, and he was really, really good. Sometimes you have to tip your cap to guys, and Wheeler was on his game.

Hopefully we have a better day at the plate and we can provide some runs for Brax.

Q. With Josh Bell specifically, you've mentioned just the game he had last night, he had 3 of the 7 hits. Just what he's meant over these two months since you guys got him, just the value he's had on the field and in the clubhouse, the importance of what he's brought and what he can bring for you guys?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: It really helped our lineup. Our depth, obviously some slug. The one hit he didn't get, Stott made a really good play up the middle. He has provided leadership in that clubhouse. What he has meant to Jazz and a lot of the young guys, as far as preparation, during the hitters meetings. He works his tail off in the weight room defensively just to get his body right. That's what a leader looks like.

We're very lucky to have him. I knew what he could do with the bat, obviously after watching him a number of years and talking with a few coaches that have coached him previously before we acquired him. All said, he's a 10 out of 10 human being, and that's the type of guy that we want in our clubhouse and the culture we're trying to create.

Q. You were on the 2020 Padres coaching staff in the exact same position the Marlins are in now. Do you see any similarities between the two clubs, and anything you can take from that experience into this one?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I just think we're a group that has fought all year long to get where we are. I guess a little bit of similarity, but not -- they're just such different teams. So it's tough to really compare those two teams, the way this group has gone about it with the injuries and the comebacks and all -- what the young guys becoming real Big Leaguers now. I just think that it's just two different clubs, so it's really tough to compare.

But I just know that these guys fight. You saw it last night, even when Wheeler was as good as I've seen him -- and I've seen him a lot. He beat us last year too when I was with the Cardinals. Sick of seeing him because he's so good. But I just feel like even then we had a chance. We had second and third, and we still had an opportunity.

Just proud of how they fought back. All you can ask for is a chance and give your best shot. It's tough to compare the two, though, honestly.

Q. How do you feel about the fact -- I don't know how much it even bothers you, but the fact that baseball awarded the win to the Mets today and the fact that it took so long for this thing to kind of play out?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: We obviously like to win every game. I'm okay with not going back there and getting into the postseason. If that's what it was, then I'm okay with it. It was a difficult situation, but I feel like we've moved on.

I'm happy that Major League Baseball did not make us go back there. That would have really put us in a difficult position heading into Philly here before postseason. So I thought Major League Baseball made the right move.

And they were great the whole time there, by the way, in trying to get that game in. So I thought it was a great move by them.

Q. What can you say about the way Jazz has taken over center field? And what were you thinking last night in the dugout as he was attempting that throw to home?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: Jazz, if you think about it, he has not played a ton of center field even this year because of injury. Making a position change is hard to do. I've done it myself. It's not easy to do. It takes work.

Jon Jay has done a really good job with Jazz, and he struggled maybe the first couple weeks of the season but then became a really good center fielder. He's owning that position and made a good throw. A lot of guys can't make that throw. It's a freak type of athlete.

I think beginning maybe of the year, beginning of the year he was trying to throw everybody out, and some backside runners were taking advantage of him. He was learning along the way, learning during the season, and you can't mimic a lot of these plays in Spring Training, in drill work. You have to actually play the game to learn from mistakes.

He's learned. He's rarely made a mistake twice, and he's now throwing through the cutoff and not over the cutoff. I think he has become a really good center fielder, and he can do things that most guys can't do. You saw the play last night as an example of that.

Q. What's it been like to watch Tanner's evolution over the course of the season as he's taken on greater responsibility for you? And how important has that been for your bullpen?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: I don't know where we'd be without him honestly. He is -- every inning we've thrown him in, it feels like it's been a leverage type of inning. We've thrown him in the meat of the order when he's not the closer because we felt like his stuff would overpower a lot of guys, middle of the order, whoever team we're facing.

There's power in belief. When you have a staff that is believing in you and he is put in situations and he starts succeeding in those situations, that goes a long way.

I know what the numbers were last year. He had 20 saves, but there was some blown saves, I get it. But if you don't believe in a kid and you don't throw him back out there and show him we believe you can do this if you just do X, Y, and Z, then you don't know.

So he was thrust in that position because of a couple different circumstances, and he grabbed ahold of it, and he's been nothing but great for us, especially down the stretch. Four-out saves, and bounced back when it didn't work out. He is the leader of that bullpen in my opinion. The way he goes about the work -- I know these are little things, but he's the first guy off the bus, in the weight room, getting his body right. Always trying to work, trying to figure out ways to get better.

He's been really, really impressive this year.

Q. I know it creates chatter amongst fans and you want players to have confidence. Do you like it? Are you a fan yourself of -- like Josh Bell said 15 minutes ago, hey, I'm pumped up to celebrate after the game tonight. Is that something you like?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: You want them to have confidence. I think, if no one believes in you -- if you don't believe in yourself, what's going to happen? Are you going to expect other people to believe in you? Like you have to come in with the mindset of you're going to win tonight.

I don't know another way to put it. I hope those guys, every one of those guys are coming into the ballpark expecting to win. I expect to win. Everybody, the Phillies are all expecting to win tonight. I think, when you're in this position, you're expecting to win. That's part of the competitiveness of a Major Leaguer.

So Josh Bell saying that he expects to win, I mean, I hope so. I hope that's the case. I don't have a problem at all with Josh Bell saying that.

Q. Historically speaking, you've been part of World Series championships, some incredible games, seen it all, baseball fans all across the country. Do you believe that the fans, and maybe specifically the fans in this park, could impact the outcome of a game?

SKIP SCHUMAKER: It's one of my favorite places to play because of the crowd and how passionate they are and they're into it, every pitch, every strike, every out.

When I was a player, you could feel it, but you're so -- at least I was -- I was just trying to survive and trying to focus on what my job was and trying to produce to help our team win.

As a manager, I was sitting back and kind of observing it a little bit more, and it was loud. You could see the towels. I think you saw some of our players kind of look around like, okay, this is what the postseason is all about. If you haven't been there before, you don't know.

Talking with some of our younger guys that haven't been there, talking with them this morning, they're like, okay, I get it. I understand the magnitude of what a postseason is. I understand why the details are so important. I understand why every pitch is important. And when you're trying to say that during Spring Training and during the regular season, for those guys who don't know what it feels like or looks like, it's hard to get that message across sometimes.

Then this happens, right? And then you're out there like, okay, every pitch, I understand the details, the base running, everything matters. And I think that was a big step for a lot of these young guys to be in that game and in that situation, take a look around.

So I think after the first inning, I think a lot of guys calmed down and realized that it's just a game. Play your game and go from there. I think from there it was just another game.

But yeah, the introductions and all that stuff, it was loud, and it was fun. So I am glad that a lot of our guys got to experience that.