NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 21, 2023

Rob Thomson

Chase Field

Philadelphia Phillies

Pregame 5 Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with Rob.

Q. Yesterday Zack Wheeler was saying in times in the past when there's been an opener the day before where the bullpen has been used completely, he takes even more pride in going deep into games, more like a responsibility to save guys. Do you see, does he have that old-school mentality as far as --

ROB THOMSON: I think he does, yeah. I think every time he walks to the mound in the first inning, his plan is to go nine, so that's the old-school approach. He is not looking to come out after five innings or six. His plan is to go nine. So, yeah, I think he is old school that way.

Q. You have to be pleased with what you've seen from Kyle Schwarber the last four days, four games. He seems to have broken out. What did you see before that, and what have you seen since?

ROB THOMSON: I think he's not chasing as much. He's attacking pitches that are in the zone, and he's getting the ball up in the air. So that's probably a good combination.

When he goes through those streaks, sometimes he's chasing, he's getting out front at times and rolling over balls and pull-side ground balls. So when he lets the ball travel, swings at strikes, gets the ball in the air, he does a lot of damage.

Q. You've had other hitters kind of struggle especially since you got here. Have you seen a theme throughout your lineup?

ROB THOMSON: I think Schwarber is swinging the bat well. Trea is really swinging the bat wall. Bohm the last couple of games has swung the bat well. We need to get Stotter going. Marsh is swinging the bat well.

Offense comes and goes and game by game, it can change. Nick hit five home runs in three games last week, and now his head is moving a little bit. You've got to get back to staying behind the ball and driving the ball to right center.

It's the ebbs and flows of the game.

Q. Finally, Johan Rojas was 1 for 33 going into the triple last night. How important was it for him to get that? And when were you at the point where you had to start weighing defense versus offense?

ROB THOMSON: No, I think, especially in this building, we're a much better club with him playing center field. I know the triple broke the streak of hitless at-bats, but he hit a line drive at the third baseman. He had a comebacker the night before that was well hit. He's hit some balls hard. He's just chased a little bit. But he has to get back in the zone and try not to do too much, and he'll be fine.

Q. With so much bullpen use the last couple of days, what's the challenge for you today in mapping out how you follow Zack?

ROB THOMSON: Well, everybody came in. As always, everybody says they're available, but I think you have to be smart with this thing. Kerkering is a kid that hasn't pitched back-to-back, let alone three days in a row, so you have to be smart there.

Kimbrel has had a lot of pitches put on him in the last couple of days. You have to be smart there.

Hoffman has been three out of four, so this would be four out of five, so you have to be smart there.

A lot of things will happen during their throwing programs that the pitching coaches will relay to me about how their arm looks, how the ball is coming out of their hand, how they feel. Then once we find that out, then we'll have to determine, okay, where are we going in the six or seventh, eighth, ninth, that type thing.

Q. Is Ranger Suarez an option?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, he will be in the pen tonight.

Q. Two-part question. When you lose a game like that, a lot of second-guessing because of a lot of bullpen decisions. Torey was in here, and the other day that he pulled Brandon Pfaadt, he was aware of the noise around it. I'm curious -- you are pretty laid back -- how you react to the noise around it, people contacting you, friends, family? Also, do you second-guess yourself after a game like that?

ROB THOMSON: Not really second-guess, but whether things go well or things go poorly, I'm always looking at it and figuring, okay, was that the right move? So you are always sort of dissecting the game after the game. And I talk to the coaches a lot about what would you have done different? Was this the right thing to do, even if it worked out?

I don't really react, I just understand that part of the job is that people are going to second-guess or dissect my decisions. And that's part of the job, so you have to deal with it or else you might as well go home.

Q. How much do you think Kyle Schwarber's plate appearances affect his teammates in terms of the number of pitches he sees, his approach? When he was with the Red Sox, that seemed to be a thing. Has that been a thing with you as well?

ROB THOMSON: I think so because he can lay a six-, seven-pitch at-bat to start the game, which kind of tires the starter out. It helps Trea a little bit. Once we get to Harp, it helps him a lot. Once we get past him, it just helps because it's a little bit of fatigue on the pitcher, so their stuff typically isn't quite as sharp.

I love those long at-bats to start not only the game, but an inning. Because I think you get a little bit less of the pitcher's arsenal as you add on pitches.

Q. Your starting staff has obviously been great, and Zack Wheeler, when he was talking yesterday about J.T. Realmuto, he said he doesn't even do a whole lot of scouting himself, and J.T. does it all or does a lot of it. In your years in baseball, where do you think J.T. is as far as the amount of preparation and watching other hitters, and also the quality of it and the game plans and stuff he comes up with?

ROB THOMSON: He's right there at the top, and I've been around a lot of great are catchers. Posada and Pudge Rodriguez and Russell Martin and Brian McCann. I mean, there's been a lot of them. J.T. is right there with them.

This guy is the first guy to the ballpark, especially at the start of a series, to start studying and watching film and going through reports. He cares an awful lot about his pitching staff.

Once he gets his report done, then he goes to the cage and starts working on his offense. But I feel like in his mind, his number one job is to take care of his pitching staff, and that's what he does.

Q. What's the plan with Taijuan Walker? Do you have a strategy with him? Are you saving him for something?

ROB THOMSON: So he's kind of the length guy if we need it. The emergency guy if we get into an 18-inning game or something like that where he can take down three, four, maybe five innings. He hasn't pitched in a while, so that's really where I see him.