AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RANGERS VS ASTROS

October 16, 2023

Jonah Heim

Minute Maid Park

Texas Rangers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Jonah, there's a lot of guys in this lineup who are experiencing their first playoffs and don't seem too overwhelmed by it. What has allowed you to seem really comfortable in your first playoffs?

JONAH HEIM: Yeah, I think it's what we've been playing 162 games for. We're going out and playing baseball and enjoying the moment. If we can go out there and just play ball, we'll be just fine.

Q. Got kind of a two-parter, here. First of all, can you describe what the journey has been like with this starting rotation the last couple of years. Obviously, the front office has made a lot of investment in that group. And even this year the group you had penciled in in Spring Training, there were some ups and downs because of injuries, then the front office kept adding to it. What has that been like?

JONAH HEIM: It's been great. They've been solid all the way. This offseason C.Y. made a lot of moves, bringing guys in. Obviously you never want to see deGrom go down, but Dane came in and did a great job stepping up in his place. And I feel like that's what we've seen all year, a guy goes down, it's the next guy up, and they do their job.

It's been special to be a part of, and hopefully they can keep rocking.

Q. Now that Gray and Scherzer are back on the roster for this series, deGrom is still down, but there are four starters that had significant stretches and did a lot of work in the rotation during the season in the bullpen for this series. What are the advantages of having starting pitchers in that role?

JONAH HEIM: Absolutely. It's great to have those guys back. And it shows us the depth of our rotation. Even if they're coming out of the pen, I'm not sure what their role is going to be. But even if they come out of the pen, it just shows how much depth we have in our bullpen right now. When you have a guy like Scherzer back, just having him on the roster is a big morale boost, for sure.

Q. What does it say about Max that, at this stage in his career, he was physically capable and sort of mentally willing to put in the work to try to make it back in this situation?

JONAH HEIM: Yeah, just shows you the kind of guy and his character that he is and truly great teammate that he is. It's obviously a lot of work to come back, to get to where he's at now.

And he wants to win. He's going to do everything in his power to win, and him coming back gives us a great opportunity to do that.

Q. Did you watch Nathan Eovaldi in that World Series, and have you guys talked about that moment at all, has he said anything to you?

JONAH HEIM: Definitely watched it. We kind of joke about it all the time, just clubhouse banter, but it was impressive to watch then and impressive to watch now. He's a true competitor. He's going to give you everything he's got and give us a chance to win.

Q. Coming into the postseason, the bullpen was really maligned. People were like that's the Rangers' sort of Achilles heal. They've made it work thus far. How much of that is execution at the right time versus how you guys are planning, you, Bochy, Max, into how the bullpen will be deployed?

JONAH HEIM: Yeah, it's no secret, I guess, that the bullpen didn't have a great year during the season, but they really showed up in the postseason, and we wouldn't be where we're at without what they've done so far.

They've done a great job. Everybody has embraced their roles. Whoever is coming in, they're up to the task, and they're executing. When we execute our pitches, our pitchers have the stuff to get anybody out. It comes down to execution, and it seems to always win.

Q. Talking about the bullpen, Jose Leclerc, up-and-down season. To see him where he is now, back pitching well, in high-leverage moments, what has that been like to watch his journey this season to wind up where he is now?

JONAH HEIM: It's been amazing. I feel like he comes up with a new pitch each day. He's got four or five plus pitches that we can go in any situation. And his velo has been upwards to a hundred miles an hour so that makes my job easy when you can throw a hundred and has a wipeout slider like he does. It's been amazing to see. He's really picked it up lately and it's really been fun.