AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS VS ASTROS

October 7, 2023

Edouard Julien

Minute Maid Park

Minnesota Twins

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. Those Astros are one of the most experienced playoff teams this generation, and a lot of you guys are seeing this stage really for the first time this year. How do you bridge that gap in experience, do you think?

EDOUARD JULIEN: It's always a tough test when you go against the defending champs. They've been doing it for a while. You've got a bunch of guys that have been playing for a while too.

I think that's going to be a hard aspect for us because we have a lot of young guys, but at the end of the day, we're fearless, we're young, we're ready to go. We had a little taste of what it is against the Blue Jays. We're ready. I'm excited for it.

Q. Eddie, how valuable are you guys' veterans to you in situations like this? There seems to be a few guys that have some World Series experience, played deep.

EDOUARD JULIEN: Yeah, it's huge. I think before this year, that was the biggest key for us. I think the Minnesota Twins, we brought guys like Carlos Correa back. We got -- Christian Vazquez has won twice. Even guys like Kyle Farmer that has been around for so long. They just make it so much easier for us in the clubhouse before games.

It feels like it's a normal game. We just treat it as a normal game. There's no pressure really. We just go out there and play our best baseball and see what's going to happen. These guys for sure help.

Q. Considering who you guys are facing on the mound today, I know you're a rookie, so the streak doesn't go back to the beginning of your career, but how important is it going to be to try to get to him early and kind of set the tone as much as you can?

EDOUARD JULIEN: Verlander is one of the best pitchers in the game, even though he's 39 or 40 years old, I don't know. He's been in the league for so long, and he's a Hall of Famer. It's going to be hard for sure.

He's a great pitcher, but I think the key for us is going to be to get ready for the fastball early and just attack as soon as we can. That's the plan for everybody, I guess, everybody that faces him, but it's always hard when you've got elite stuff like he does.

I know for my part I'm just going to try to grind at-bats and make him make a lot of pitches and hopefully get him out of the game quick.

Q. You speak so respectfully of the veterans on the team, but there's rumors in the clubhouse that they still treat you like a rookie off the field, on the plane, wherever they can. What sort of -- how do they treat rookies around here? How do you deal with it?

EDOUARD JULIEN: Well, since I'm a rookie, I kind of have to deal with it, right? I can't just talk back or anything. I try to be the younger guy and just whatever they ask me to do, I'll do it. I'll carry stuff on the plane. I'll carry stuff on the bus. They'll make fun of me a lot, especially for my English, my French, and how I interact with the umpires or on the field.

So everything I do, they kind of talk back to me, especially Farmer or guys like that. But they're good guys, man. I laugh with them. I talk back to them. So it's funny.

I'm so happy to be with these guys, and they make it so easy, like I said earlier. They make is seem like it's a normal game and there's no pressure. I just love being around these guys for sure.

Q. The other day Caleb said that he blacked out walking off the field after the double play. What do you remember about the aftermath there and the fans?

EDOUARD JULIEN: From that play, I remember -- I think it was Chapman that hit the double down the line. It was a foul ball by a couple inches. I just heard in my ear piece fastball again. I was like no way, we're going to throw another fastball there. He threw a fastball, got a ground ball, double play, and that's the only thing I remember really after that.

We made the play, and I just look at Carlos, and he was yelling. Everybody was on their feet. It was pretty cool. We're going to try to repeat that here. It will be a little bit more quiet, but it's going to be fun.

Q. You got to be pretty hyped up that there's no lefties in this bullpen, but what's it kind of been like to process being part of such an aggressive platoon situation? Does that add extra motivation to you?

EDOUARD JULIEN: For me, I don't really care if there's lefties or not. I like facing them. It's for sure going to be an easier task for us to not go out there and face a lefty, sinkers in and stuff like that. It makes it easier, but at the end of the day, we trust our whole lineup. Even Farmer can face righties, and these guys that come in, Solano, they can also face righties. They're just not lefty hitters or lefty specialists.

It's going to be easy for sure. They have a good bullpen, one of the best bullpens in the game. They've been here before. So it's going to be hard, but like I said, we're going to take one pitch at a time, one play at a time, and we're going to go out there and compete.