NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 5, 2024

Mike Shildt

Dodger Stadium

San Diego Padres

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. To add the two pitchers that you added today to the roster, was it a combination of Musgrove being out and the longer series or one of the two?

MIKE SHILDT: You know, both. With Joe being out, we're not sure what Game 4 is going to look like exactly. So we went with more pitching and longer series. That's pretty much it.

Q. What kind of role do you expect from each of those guys, Perez and Jacob?

MIKE SHILDT: Maybe more longer, Martín is obviously built up. He'll be in the bullpen for whatever the situation arises for, maybe for extra innings, no ghost runner want some length if you get into that environment. So more than likely that scenario.

Q. So yesterday when you were in here you gave a short statement about Joe, and then A.J. went into detail. How much of the discussion was there in the clubhouse? And how has this been digested by you? I know it's kind of a family thing with you guys.

MIKE SHILDT: It is a family thing. The reason I didn't want to announce it is because we had a 2:05 clubhouse where Joe was going to be able to share it with the teammates and staff.

It's tough. Joe Musgrove is -- he's everything good about sports -- heart, competitor, great teammate, leader, likes big moments. But Joe Musgrove is also what's really just good about humanity. He's as good a guy as you'll ever meet.

So it's hard. It's hard. It was a tough meeting for him, clearly, but we're going to rally around him, support him. He's here with us. We'll figure out a way to move on.

Q. Back in April, I think it was Colorado where you guys scratched Jackson Merrill from the game just to be cautious. Since then 156 games in the regular season, still going. Back then, did you think there was a possibility he would play as many games as he did after -- he's 21 and three years after high school? And what have you made about how he's managed himself physically?

MIKE SHILDT: I give a lot of credit to Jackson for being able to manage that. He's gotten good guidance from the clubhouse.

I appreciate him being honest about his workload relative to going into games. He got to a certain point where it's like there's an expectation for young players to be out there every day -- DP, early work, defensive work. Once we realized he was going to be an everyday guy, we had a conversation, what's it look like to scale back so you're ready to carry the load for the remainder of the season.

It can go one way or the other. He's never done it, which clearly is something that you've got to experience at some point. You can also look at the fact that he's 21 years old and loves playing baseball.

I think it was really impressive on his part on how to prepare, how to conserve his energy and still get after it.

One thing that was telling for me, at least, was the ground ball the other day, running from home to first was his fastest sprint time of the year. So clearly he's ready physically and mentally.

Q. Just to go off of Jackson playing as much as he has, he's talked about the influence that Manny has had on him throughout the season. Just wondering if you could elaborate on the impact that Manny's had, both on the field and inside the clubhouse this particular season.

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, him being able to show the way by his actions, which he clearly has, playing hurt and not at full strength, beginning of the season, coming off surgery speaks volumes, and Manny has done that for a long time.

His ability -- and I get the privilege of seeing this, and I don't go into the clubhouse a ton but I pay attention and had conversation with him -- had stories like you just shared.

Manny's done a really nice job being able to share his experience. He's been able to lead by the proverbial example on the field, but he's also able to take guys like Jackson under his wing and say, hey, this is what this looks like, this what we can get ahead of for you. And you share thoughts for him. He's done that with a lot of guys in our clubhouse. He's been a big part of our club.

Q. To follow on Jackson, can you take us down the path a little bit of, here's a guy who is a shortstop, a guy who might be able to help us all over the diamond, he might be our everyday center fielder. How did you get comfortable with all these new positions and workloads?

MIKE SHILDT: I had the privilege of getting to know Jackson back in '022. Spent time with him in his minor league journey. Spent some time with him at Petco -- he was working off an injury. Sat down with him and James Wood during a couple of games. And just watched a big league game with him.

Recognized pretty early that he's a very stable, put-together, high baseball IQ, emotionally sound young man that loves playing and sees the game really well. Clearly he's got ability.

Hadn't seen him play a lot, quite candidly. But saw him in instructional league things and saw him in the big league camp the year before. Saw that he was able to not make the situation bigger than it was in big league camp his first year. I think he was 19 at the time. So it was a good sign.

I've seen guys at that age do that both ways and he was on the good side of that ledger the way he went about it, didn't back down from anything.

And then as far as him making that switch, we weren't in a strength with outfield going into Spring Training. We had Tati, hadn't sign Pro yet, had some guys in camp that we liked, clearly.

And then Jackson came up for discussion with Kimmie, Bogey, guys that we have some depth at shortstop that we were confident in. And also knowing that Jackson was knocking on the door. We would see what the outfield looked like.

We were forward-thinking about that in December, maybe even late November, if I get my time frame right.

Got him over to the complex with Vinny Lopez, who's our field coordinator, also does outfield base-running instruction on the minor league side; David Macias, our first base coach and outfield instructor, lives in the area. We got him with those gentlemen.

Got him to work on it so when he showed up to Spring Training, I called him after I got the job and said this is a real opportunity for to you make the club, which for him was like whatever it takes.

Started initially with left field. We put him in the first Spring Training game in left field. Sun field, gets a tough sun ball, makes a play, top spin ball, comes in, makes the play, goes makes a play against the fence. It's like the first two innings the guy has three different plays that you're going to see and kind of checked off some boxes.

We put him in center field, I think, two or three days later. And it just looked right. Okay, that's what it looks like, he's not going to make it bigger than it is.

Bring him back out there and there was some internal debate about it, there was some competition still to be had, but I can be pretty clear that he was going to be our center fielder, to his credit.

Q. I believe we have Luis coming in here in a few minutes. His reputation precedes him as a contact hitter. Seeing him up close every night, can you tell me what you learned that maybe you didn't know and just what he brought to the club at the top of that lineup?

MIKE SHILDT: More confirmation than learn. But seeing it is still impressive, right, until you see it. I've seen him a little bit across the way. I didn't cross paths a lot.

I recognized a competitor, bat-to-ball skills. We trade for him and immediately, we were in Arizona, and I get a text from Skip Schumaker. It's like glowing. And we talk to each other, he goes, "This guy will blow your mind, the way he takes bats and prepares and the way he sees the game."

And then the kind of guy he is, the human he is. He's just a really solid dude. He's fit in great. He showed up, had four knocks the first game, boom, boom, boom, you watch the preparation and how he competes. He's done nothing but elevate us on the field and off.