MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 26, 2024

Miguel Rojas

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Miguel, give us a rundown how you're feeling with your injury, how much good it did not to play the last round?

MIGUEL ROJAS: Last round, staying out of it, I think it helped me a lot to work hard, to be the best that I can at this position to play the last seven games of the season, which is the most important thing for us.

It took me a couple days to kind of like don't do anything, trying to give my leg a rest. And then after that I was working hard on trying to feel better as best as I can to catch ground balls, move around well at shortstop so I can contribute to the team.

It's not about being on the roster, it's about helping this team win. I'm going to be in there today playing short, and hopefully I can stay healthy for all seven games of the series.

Q. And what do you know about the off-season plan? I know you said you expect to have surgery. How involved is that going to be, and what's the recovery time?

MIGUEL ROJAS: I'm not -- I haven't really digged too much into it. I just want to make sure that I'm doing anything that I can to be on the field and to play with this.

To be honest with you, I feel better right now than when I was playing in September. In September my leg was really bothering me. I played through it, and I push everything that I can -- I did everything that I can to push through September because I knew the team was really close to make it to the playoffs. And I feel better right now.

I haven't really digged too much into the surgery. I know I have to have it. As soon as possible is better because I'm going to have a normal off-season, and I'm looking forward to play a couple more years.

Q. How hard was it for you to not be active the last round, kind of being a spectator but also participating pregame and all that stuff?

MIGUEL ROJAS: It's always tough. You want to be on the field. You want to contribute. You want to be in the lineup and helping the team win on the field.

But I feel like to win games and to be a championship team, you have to kind of understand that you've got to trust your teammates, you've got to trust your team. The way that they did it, it was -- because at the point that I was with the injury, I wasn't going to help the team on the field as much.

Carrying another pitcher, it was important. Having Kiké on the roster, he was going to come in and play some defense at center field. I'm not selfish. I've just got to understand where we're at as a team. And one thing I've been saying all this time is we have a lot of characters on this team, we have a lot of personalities, but there's no ego.

There's not one player that's going to win this thing by himself. It takes a lot of players. I wasn't fully 100 percent ready to go last series, and that's why I was excited. It's definitely hard, but I work hard to be in this position now and to be able to be on this roster.

Q. Even dating back to September and maybe even August, you've kind of taken the long view saying I just want to make sure I'm ready for October and all this. Was there any point last week where you thought you might not be ready for this week?

MIGUEL ROJAS: Yes, for sure. I mean, I took a day -- to be honest with you, it wasn't easy. I wasn't sure completely until the last day that I ran the bases. I took ground balls at shortstop. I took my at-bats during the sim games that we did.

Up until that point, I didn't know if I'd be able to make it. With this injury being day-to-day, sometimes I feel really good, sometimes I feel like I can't really walk. So that's kind of the balance that I've been going through this last month and a half.

There's days where in September I couldn't -- I was in the lineup, and that day I woke up, and I felt like I couldn't walk. So I was pretty sure that I couldn't play short, and I have to step out of the lineup and be off for like two or three days. That wasn't by design. It was just how my leg was responding at that time.

Q. When you guys have a win like you had last night, obviously you're professional baseball players, do you turn the page completely? Do you use it? What do you do with that?

MIGUEL ROJAS: No, we use that as a momentum and as a confidence booster. Knowing that we're down to the last out, having Mookie on the play, he's been walked because the matchup lefty against lefty, I guess was better for Freddie. But I have all the confidence in the world in all the players we have on this roster, and knowing that you walk one guy to face another Hall of Famer is really good in our side.

Freddie finally getting that hit, not just for the team, but for himself -- like what he's been through the last couple months of this year, the year that he had -- everything that he's done for this organization, to be on the field, to do anything he can to play with the injuries and all the things that he has to deal with off the field, it was a relief not just for him or for the team, but for us as a group to see him like kind of succeed at that moment.

It was pretty special, and we're going to carry on and have that momentum going into this game.

Q. What do you have to do after the World Series to fully heal? Is it two weeks of no activity, four, six? Do you need a procedure at all?

MIGUEL ROJAS: It's a sports hernia surgery, so I have to get it repaired. I'm going to get in contact with the doctor in Philadelphia. He did it to Kiké Hernandez this last off-season, Sterling Marte from the Mets. I talked to Derek Jeter a couple weeks ago, he had it. I've been talking to people who had this surgery before a little bit and trying to touch base. But I need surgery as soon as it's possible.

Q. Any idea what the recovery time is?

MIGUEL ROJAS: I heard you're back doing baseball activities in a month, so three to four weeks or something like that. With the off-season that we have, my goal is to be ready for next Spring Training, and I'm pretty sure I will be.