MLB WORLD SERIES: YANKEES VS DODGERS

October 28, 2024

Aaron Boone

Yankee Stadium

New York Yankees

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. We haven't seen the Yankees hitters do what they're supposed to do the last couple of days. Are we going to see Jasson Dominguez sometimes in the lineup?

AARON BOONE: I mean, not right now, but it's playoffs. You never know moving forward. He's not in there tonight but always ready to go.

Q. Will you think before, if you want to move up Judge second or down a little bit, just to take a little bit of pressure off of him hitting right now in the World Series?

AARON BOONE: It's the World Series, no. That's our guy, and there's pressure in the Series, whatever spot you're hitting. He's our guy and confident he'll get it going.

Q. Aaron, in terms of using your bench in particular for pinch-hit opportunities, it's unique this time of year obviously how long it's been since some guys have played, had an at-bat. At what point do guys like Dominguez or somebody else get cold or you have to think harder about up against a great relief pitcher?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, that's what plays in. The way we're set up, we're not really built to have that pinch-hit platoon. Jon Berti was kind of the right-handed option with some of our lefties. That's kind of gone away. So that's just part of who we are and where we're at in the season.

That being said, they're all ready to go and need to be on a moment's notice. As I say all the time, they might find themselves up in the biggest moment of the season. So we'll keep them as ready as we can.

Q. Does it change what you sort of bake into your calculation for making a pinch-hit call as we get deeper into the month?

AARON BOONE: I guess a little bit, but again, there's not a lot with our group that I'm hitting for guys in certain situations.

Q. It's hard to believe it's been almost two weeks since you guys have played a game here at this point. How do you think that's going to impact the group to have the fans tonight?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, hopefully puts a charge in us. I know everyone's looking forward to doing it and going out there in Yankee Stadium in the World Series.

I was thinking about it on the flight home a little bit. It's like we've had a lot of workouts here, but it has been a minute. We're excited to get back here. It's going to be a cool night, and it's going to feel like the World Series. Our guys are ready for it.

Q. There's been a fair amount made so far in the World Series about you guys maybe not working the at-bats as long as we saw during the regular season. How do you walk that line of making sure you're in the aggressive swings that you preach but also making their pitchers work?

AARON BOONE: We're two games into this. In the second game, I think Yamamoto did a really good job of once he got a lead of really attacking and getting ahead.

Part of being patient is not sitting around and digging a hole for yourself. I think one of the guys -- I point to Gleyber. One of the things that's been so good about him for the last three months is there's a patient component to what he's doing in getting on base, and there's been a number of seven, eight, ten-pitch at-bats. But he's also going up there looking to get after it on pitch 1.

So that's a fine line. If they're working and trying to get ahead of you, you've got to be ready for that. And now as bats start to unfold, as people nibble, hopefully that's where our strength shows up.

Q. Lefties have hit Buehler very well in season. So why Trevino over Wells today?

AARON BOONE: Righties have hit him pretty well too. Historically, he's fairly -- we view him very neutral. This just comes down to I just felt like it was the right day to get Trevy in there with what Austin's gone through offensively the last couple months. Again, I still maintain, I have a lot of confidence in Austin that he's going to have a big at-bat for us, the right at-bat for us, but I just felt that getting some more balance in there was the right thing to do tonight.

Q. With the offense kind of sputtering a little bit the last two games, was there any consideration of shaking up the lineup even further?

AARON BOONE: I considered a couple things on the long flight home, but this is what I settled on.

Q. I assume you don't want to share some of the considerations?

AARON BOONE: No, I considered a couple of different iterations.

Q. You're going against a pitcher you haven't seen much in Walker Buehler. You spoke about it a little bit, but what is the biggest key to making some of those adjustments at the plate to get the hit you guys are looking for?

AARON BOONE: Again, ultimately hitting comes down to taking advantage of mistakes, having a convicted plan up there of what you're going up there to look for, where you're looking for it, and then being able to control the strike zone, which is a hallmark of our success. It's what the Dodgers do really well. Making sure we're swinging at the pitches we want to swing at, and if we can do that, we'll give ourselves a good chance.

Q. What is the mood amongst your guys right now, down two games but back at home?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, we're relishing the opportunity to try to get back in the series tonight. I think the guys are in a great frame of mind. We're ready to go. We know how obviously important this game is tonight.

Q. You take this job, you know the history of the franchise, kind of the enormity of it. What is it like to go through seasons where really the only acceptable outcome is either getting here or winning the whole thing?

AARON BOONE: I don't know. It's what you know being here. It's part of it. It's part of the beauty of it. Like there's tremendous expectations for good reason.

We try and run to those and embrace it and work really hard to put ourselves in a position to have an opportunity to do this, compete for a world championship.

When you're in it, you're just kind of nose down and trying to achieve that ultimate goal.

Q. Is there anything either in this postseason so far or before this that tells you Clarke Schmidt is ready for this moment? Is there anything you've seen from him that gives you confidence for this stage?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, I've seen his growth now for four years. I talk all the time about his confidence. He'll be the most confident guy on the field tonight, I promise you that.

And for good reason. He's got the stuff and the arsenal and everything to back it up. So whatever his results are tonight, I know he'll be expecting excellence and walking out there with a lot of confidence.

And it's really been fun to see him grow over these last four years, how much he's really gotten so much better year in and year out. Credit to his work ethic, credit to his aptitude, and ultimately credit to the stuff he walks out there with.

Q. Rodón said the other night that he didn't think the blister would impact availability going forward. Is that still the case?

AARON BOONE: Yeah, that's kind of the feeling, but obviously we'll pay attention to it.

Q. On Saturday Ohtani walked off the field in obvious pain and the Dodgers said he had a partially dislocated shoulder. What was your reaction when you saw or heard that just two days later he'd be right back in the lineup?

AARON BOONE: Obviously I was hoping he's okay. You see him walk off holding it like that, obviously that's a concern, but hopefully he is okay. We want to all be out here competing with and against the best, and obviously Shohei embodies that.

So hopefully everything's okay, and we'll get to go compete against him.