A.J. Hinch Astros Pregame 3 the Manager Positions Around the League and Rightfully the MODERATOR: Questions for A.J
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AL Championship Series: Astros vs Red Sox Tuesday, October 16, 2018 A.J. Hinch Astros pregame 3 the manager positions around the league and rightfully THE MODERATOR: Questions for A.J. Hinch. so. Q. Could you talk to us a little bit about Carlos He's very good and I have no doubt in my mind he's Correa's tough year, the injuries this year? And going to be an excellent manager whenever somebody secondly Alex told us yesterday about how hires him. important it was (indiscernible) school for him being head coach right now, a manager. Could you Q. When you have Altuve as DH and an open spot talk to us about Alex Cintron and Joe Espada at second, what makes Marwin your choice over possibilities in the future? Kemp as far as playing second base? A.J. HINCH: To answer your first question, Carlos has A.J. HINCH: Marwin is a really good infielder. And one had to battle a couple different things throughout the of the best infielders we have at a couple of different year and it's been a broken year for him medically. And positions. So I think my comfort with that is Marwin's he's had to endure that. He's had something almost an infielder by trade. We pushed him into the outfield every year of his career. He's been -- he's had to because of the opening of the playing time. toughen himself up and get through it. He's developed into an excellent left fielder as well. The good part about Carlos is he'll always post when But as far as turning the double play, range, his hands, he's available. I never doubt whether he wants to play, his arm, we don't miss a beat with him in the infield. whether he can play. He's had to battle some swing And he's filled in everywhere. adjustments along the way and some aches and pains and missed some time. But I think sometimes you I'm often asked about Marwin and I say, "He's the have to remind people he's a really good player and he answer for everything." When I need to play Jose at has a chance to have great impact. He's had some big DH my answer is Marwin Gonzalez and Tony in the hits for us this postseason, maybe not at the rate that outfield. We're more comfortable with this alignment we're all accustomed to. But at the same time I trust both at the beginning of the game and potentially the him when he's on the field and he's a really good end of the game. And so this is the lineup that we went player. with. So the second part of your question is we've been Q. Alex Bregman gets obviously a lot of attention, fortunate around here to have a number of guys, understandably, for his swagger and all that. But quality coaches that have been here and have now when you think about him on the field, he's gone on to other jobs. improved every year, what's the most impressive thing to you about his game? And what's the I haven't had the same staff year to year for a couple of biggest way that he's improved over these three years and that's because people are coming and years? grabbing guys and taking them to new positions. Alan A.J. HINCH: So on both sides of the ball he's improved Zinter and Alonzo Powell have gone on to be hitting since day one. I don't think young players get enough coaches elsewhere. Trey Hillman went to be a credit for the adjustments they make along the way and manager in Korea. Alex Cora went to go be a manager how fast we ask these guys to do that at this level. in Boston. Craig Bjornson was here and went to the bullpen in Boston. For Alex, in particular, on the defensive side, he went from playing shortstop his whole life to playing third We have more in line. And obviously it's a great tribute base in the Big Leagues in the span of a few games. to the development of these guys. We have quality We asked him to play third base a couple times in the people here, we have a good thing going, people want minors and all of a sudden he's playing third base in to come and interview our guys. Joe Espada and Alex the Big Leagues. Cintron and others in our organization have bright futures. Obviously Joe is getting a lot of attention in You're held to such a high standard nowadays Rev #1 by #188 at 2018-10-16 17:52:00 GMT page 1 of 2 analytically, from scouts, from analysts, from everybody But I did not check it today. So I assume nothing in the industry now where his defense at third is largely happened. No news is -- no news. underrated. And we're seeing that this year how good he's been. And we see it all the time. Q. Secondly, with Marwin being in the lineup, after his run-in with the green monster the other night, I don't care how you want to grade defensive metrics obviously he's okay if he's in the lineup, but was and we can have an argument over an hour over the there anything lingering where you were nervous if value of that. He's a really good third base and you're you'd be able to have him in the lineup tonight? seeing it with your eyes. A.J. HINCH: I wasn't nervous about it because it's October. And if these guys can walk, they're going to On the offensive side, I've watched him go from being a play in some capacity. And I texted back and forth with good overall hitter to an incredibly dangerous hitter. him before I give our guys the lineup, and he said he'd These guys are pitching around him, and rightfully so. be good to go. Our trainers have checked with him. Yet he's still staying at the at-bat, he's taking good swings at pitches he can hit and taking his walks. The The lingering issues that any of our guys have, you power numbers are through the roof -- both doubles know, are going to linger until the season is over and and homers. And his discipline hasn't suffered we hope that not to be for a couple more weeks. because of it. I don't have any issues. I don't have any concerns. I So to be an all around hitter, to move positions, two don't think he's going to be limited in any capacity. major adjustments that you're asking a guy with -- Almost in its entirety I don't think anyone is 100 percent second overall in the draft to the Big Leagues in the across the board on either team. But it's October. blink of an eye is incredible. These guys will be fine. Q. You talked about the multiple changes on your Q. Could you talk to us a little bit about Martin staff. It may not have been seamless, but how have Maldonado approach to the Houston Astros, his you all made it seem seamless? contributions to this team? And so far a very A.J. HINCH: Because the players. The players adapt tough two games, first games behind the plate. Do to whatever coaching staff that we've had. And we you have a comment? certainly have a hard-working front office and analytics A.J. HINCH: Well, his approach has been great since department and coaching staff and we work hard. I he got here. He jumped on board. He gained the work hard to help implement with the coaching staff pitchers' trust. He gained my trust. He worked and we've had some mainstays. Brent Strom in the tremendously well with our advanced scouting and has pitching department has been a mainstay before I got adapted well to the Astros way of doing things. He's here and all through my tenure. So the adjustment for intellectually curious, he's always asking questions, a new bullpen coach is very comfortable through him. he's inclusive -- all things that I think are important as a catcher on a championship caliber team. The hitting department, Dave Hudgens has been here since my first year, someone I've known a long time. His first two games, you know, we asked a lot out of Him working with an assistant hitting coach, a different him. And I know he got a little bit uncomfortable the one a couple different times he's been excellent. other day in the eighth inning. I don't know if it was two bad games as much as it was a couple of situations, a The base coaches -- we have a good thing going couple of tough balls to block, end up scoring a run. because we work hard. And our coaching staff, we Got a little uncomfortable with McCullers. I think one work hard on bringing the right pieces to help the was a little cross-up and one was he just missed. players along the way. But the attitude is the same. The approach is the same. We expect you to evolve as Again, I think all those things are magnified this time of a coach.