AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: GUARDIANS VS YANKEES

October 13, 2024

David Fry

Yankee Stadium

Cleveland Guardians

Workout Day Press Conference

Q. To recap last night, can you explain what that feeling is like of clinching and celebrating -- I know you guys already did it twice, but to have your first one now in the playoffs, what is that like?

DAVID FRY: Pretty incredible. I was actually texting with my family earlier. I still get chills even today looking at the picture of me and Kwan behind home plate when Lane is crossing after his grand slam. I mean, it was just so much fun. Hopefully we'll get to do it a couple more times.

Q. What allows you to -- in Game 4, you hit the two-run homer. Then you dropped down to bunt. What allows you to do that? What kind of skill set?

DAVID FRY: The homer is -- luckily, I just got a pitch to hit and it ran into my barrel. The bunt is a lot of years of being bad at hitting in high school and early in college where I weighed 130 pounds, so I had to bunt quite a bit.

Yeah, whenever Vogter asked me, I felt good about the bunt.

Q. You guys all take pride in your defense. Just what kind of comfort level does it bring all of you to know that you have Rocchio and Giménez up the middle in the infield?

DAVID FRY: We talk about getting the ball to the Venezuelans. We want to get the ball to Rocchio and Giménez. It's so comforting for us as players, I can't imagine as a coaching staff. Okay, a ground ball is hit, it's either one or two outs. We're making the play.

Even with our outfield, Kwan is a Gold Glover. Lane runs everything down. Whoever is in right field, it seems like Jhonkensy is making a diving play every other night. Our defense is, outside of our bullpen, it's been like the backbone of our team, and it's been really fun to watch.

Q. What have you learned about Cleveland in the time you've been here? How much do you think this kind of postseason run has meant to the city?

DAVID FRY: Obviously it's huge. It's so cool to see how much they love their sports teams. Even just like walking around, especially during football season, all the Brownies stuff, but it was really cool to feel how like the atmosphere we had in Cleveland this last postseason series. Obviously I wasn't here in '22 when they were in the playoffs, but guys were like you'll be surprised how loud it gets here, and it was.

It was just a different feel. It was good like baseball feel too. It wasn't like you need a scoreboard to tell you, hey, it's time to get loud. It's like, hey, they know there's two strikes, two outs, this is a big moment. A guy moves the runner over, the fans know it's a good baseball play, and they're getting really fired up. It's really cool.

Q. The biggest strength of your offense, it seems like all season long, it could be anyone who's the hero on any given day. To know this past series that you guys did what you did with José had the one big homer, but then everyone else was stepping up, what can -- if José gets hot at the right time, what kind of offense can this then become on top of that?

DAVID FRY: Yeah. Like you said, it's been a different guy every night it seems like all year. We were having dinner last night and talking about it. It's so cool to see that. A guy like Brayan Rocchio has a huge series. Kwan didn't get out series, it seems like. Then these last two weeks, Josh and José can be like we're just going to win it for us. They're that good.

So it's cool that guys who are role players pick up huge responsibilities in the playoffs knowing that our two main guys can just pretty much take over whenever they want.

Q. What do you think about the Yankees, you saw them during the regular season. It didn't go great for you guys. But what problems do they present?

DAVID FRY: They're a tough team. Obviously they've got the two big guys in Judge and Soto. They have a deep roster, really good pitching staff, some veteran starters who have been around a little bit.

It will be a really fun series. They're a good team, and we're excited for it.

Q. You obviously don't know what it's like to take a ball five straight games in an ALDS series, but imagine what it would be like for Cade Smith as a rookie, I feel like we keep driving this home, but just how impressive is it for you guys night after night to see what he's been able to do in no matter what situation?

DAVID FRY: Yeah, Hedgy did a great job of it on the bus the other day talking about it. It's like almost sometimes we take it for granted because of how good he's been and the rest of our bullpen. I guess he set a record for strikeouts by a reliever in the Division Series. He's a rookie. He didn't know if he was going to make the team coming out of camp. He's on a trip to Oakland, and it's like, hey, you might be on the roster. We don't really know. He's unfazed by it all.

He's folding a sweatshirt in between and acting like nothing's happened. He's setting records. He's so good and it is so fun to watch because he's so humble and such a good guy. It couldn't happen to a better guy. Yeah, he's been so good.

Q. How have you adapted in the second half mostly just to DH'ing?

DAVID FRY: Yeah, it's definitely different. Obviously the last couple years a big part of my role is playing different positions, but it's been good.

I've gotten good stuff from guys on the team and coaches of kind of how to adapt to that role. Me and Manzo going back and forth probably the past month or two with the righty-lefty splits has been fun, me and him just shooting it up in the dugout and talking about how we're going to attack, whether he's pinch-hitting for me or I'm pinch-hitting for him, how we're going to attack a certain pitcher. It's been fun.