AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS VS ASTROS

October 8, 2023

Rocco Baldelli

Minute Maid Park

Minnesota Twins

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Rocco, with Carlos, you guys had bumped him down the lineup earlier in September when he wasn't feeling as well. Is this a product of him showing you guys the foot is good and he's performing again? Or is this just simply you're facing a lefty?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Well, he's been playing well. He's been swinging the bat well. I like what I've seen from him.

We've moved our lineup around. It's been a lot of the same names when facing a lefty, but I think he's in a good place right now to hit right there basically in the middle of the lineup, right behind Royce. And I think Carlos probably likes it too.

I don't have to ask him that. I'm just going to assume on that. We just wanted to put the best lineup we can make for facing Framber Valdez, and this is what it looks like.

Q. Carlos' deke to get Abreu at second yesterday. Are you aware of those sorts of things he has up his sleeve to break out in those moments, Carlos?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I'm aware. He has all of the tricks. He has all the knowledge, and it's one thing to think about these things when you're laying in bed at night before you go to sleep. It's another thing to pull it off in the middle of a playoff game when it counts.

We played three games so far in the playoffs, and he's pulled one off every game. These are all -- each one of those is a special play in and of itself.

But, no, I'm never surprised when I see him do something like that. Never surprised.

Q. Rocco, you have all the analytics and all the scouting you've done, but when you get the eye test, do you change anything? Does that change any strategies or anything you do in the game?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I mean, everything we do is based on the eye test, to be honest. We kind of -- we need a place to start. You need a place to start, so you kind of look at a hundred different things, including all of your past experiences.

But once the game starts, there's never anything set in stone once a game starts. I think everyone would, to one level or another, probably say the same thing in their own job, whether you're the pitching coach or the hitting coach. The game is kind of -- it's always moving in front of you. You have to be able to react and think about all the different things, all the different scenarios that might play out in front of you.

I think it's -- what makes the most sense for me at least, what helps me make what I think the best decisions are, you have to have a good firm kind of foundation of what you think about a game, a situation, a decision, and then you see what happens in the game and you balance it all out, make the best call. That's what you do.

Q. Rocco, how big an advantage is it for you to play with the roof open tonight or not?

ROCCO BALDELLI: We've discussed this a little bit. I don't know. I have no idea.

We've played, again, in a few games, the crowd's been a part of the game each and every night. I'm not like challenging anyone, I swear, by making this statement. Like our two games at home I thought were louder than the game last night, and we were playing indoors last night. I don't think it matters very much if the roof is open or the roof is closed.

Again, we're all playing the same game here. Nothing's going to really, I think, change and hand any sort of advantage one way or the other, whether you're talking about the type of pitcher that's on the mound or the crowd noise. I mean, there's a chance the crowd noise can certainly play into a game and into specific points of the game, but I'm not concerned about whether or not the dome will be open or closed.

Q. With Chris Paddack, just his first postseason appearance as a reliever, do you have to treat him any differently in terms of him warming up and then in terms of him possibly pitching back-to-back games?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I'll just always say, in a playoff environment, there's going to be -- we'll use our guys. We're not going to go out of our way to put guys down. We need to win games. So if medically a guy is able to come back and pitch, we'll pitch him.

He's not going to be the first or second or third or fourth guy probably coming in today. We do -- the way I look at it, he's one of our starters next year. I've said this before. He's coming back off of a lot as far as his rehab and his surgeries. He's in a great spot right now. He's not a guy we're going to throw out there like three or four, anything like that.

But he's doing really well. He threw the ball great yesterday. We'll use him again this series for sure.

As far as the way we treat him if, if I have the opportunity to give him some extra time if I know he's likely coming into the game, why not give him that extra time? Instead of waiting until an inning ends and calling down and trying to get him up quick and get him moving, if you can call down a little early and say, hey, Paddack is likely going in. You can never say anything for sure, situations can change, but let's get him moving and get him hot.

Then you give him an inning -- you give him three-quarters of an inning basically instead of half an inning to get loose. If we can do, it we do it.

Q. We speculated about the possibility, but was Kenta ever a serious option for you guys to start yesterday? Now that you've used him, does that kind of eliminate the possibility that he would start in this round?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Ober and Kenta and Joe were all serious discussions and considerations to start, but also come out of the pen, and also potentially pitch in Game 4. So, yeah, all of them were thoroughly discussed.

I also think, moving to the second part of your question, the guys that pitched yesterday early in the game, they pitched, and they pitched more than an inning, but they didn't pitch so much that they're not going to be available for a while. So we kept them in play.

I would say Ober and Kenta are both going to be in play once we get back home, and we could use them again if we choose.