AL DIVISION SERIES: MARINERS VS ASTROS

October 12, 2022

Martin Maldonado

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Workout Day Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We'll get started with questions for Martín.

Q. How proud are you of the progress that you've helped the young pitching staff make like over the years to see how well guys like Framber and Garcia have done in just the time that you've been around them?

MARTÍN MALDONADO: Super proud. I feel like when you have kids, you want them to grow into men and after that to be able to be good people in life. I feel like the same thing I feel with those two guys. Even being the oldest guy over there, including Javier, including Abreu, they come a long way.

I feel like as a catcher, there can't be anything better than just to see them on a daily basis have success.

Q. You've been through a lot in baseball, experienced a lot of great moments. Where does last night's moment with Yordan stack up for you?

MARTÍN MALDONADO: Top 5, I would say. Like I said yesterday, Yordan is one of the best hitters I've ever seen and I've ever played with. Every time he's at the plate, even when he's swinging and misses, we're saying in the dugout, oh, because I know we always expect something big from him.

I asked him today if he had a little bit sore back. And he said, Why? And I said, Because you carry us as a team. But I would say probably 41,000 people, the fans too. So he got a lot of weight on his back.

Q. What about the fact kind of lost in the shuffle, he threw a runner out at the plate by a mile. When do you think about his whole game yesterday, what comes to mind?

MARTÍN MALDONADO: Yordan is really good in the outfield. He's way better than what people think. I think the numbers show that he's really good. He's got a good arm. It's not the first time he throw somebody out. He did it in Detroit, he did it here earlier in the year. I feel like he's always, he takes pride. A few guys out there, the days he plays outfield, you'll see him out there shagging, taking part in that.

Q. Why do you think it was such an up-and-down postseason for Framber last year? He had a couple of really good starts and a couple of short ones. And how much better positioned do you think he is in the playoffs this year to give you some longer efforts?

MARTÍN MALDONADO: I think, I don't think Framber got any postseason experience in 2019 or 2018. So the only postseason that he had was in 2020. There wasn't no fans, you know. You guys know, understanding that we go is back, especially in the playoff, I think that could be into the constellation on the way he was, I won't say afraid, but I would say he was, you know, intimidated could be the word. Especially, you know, those young guys, they have a lot of inexperience before. And I think Framber should be expecting great from him, expecting something that he did all year, to go out there and compete, throwing strikes, attacking the strike zone.

I think the mental part of the game, he's really strong about that, basically this postseason he should be, with the experience that he had last year.

Q. (Question in Spanish.)

MARTÍN MALDONADO: In the beginning, I said about Yordan, what I said earlier.

But the hair color, a lot of fans were asking me about the color throughout the year. But when I finally decided to do the color, I was going to go blue, but my wife was in Puerto Rico, so I called my wife, and I said, Well, which blue I should go?

And I heard my daughter from behind, Hey, dad, I think you should go pink.

And I said, Really, you want me to go pink?

Yeah, go pink.

So I went pink. And I think everybody would do something like that for a daughter or son, so...

Q. (Question in Spanish.)

MARTÍN MALDONADO: About Castillo, he's one of the best pitchers in the league. We got to figure out our plan to come in tomorrow to attack him, especially a guy that we haven't faced yet, a guy that we're going to be facing a lot the next couple years. I think we got to come up with something because that guy is one of the best pitchers in the game. We got to figure out something, the best way to attack him, just to be successful against him.

Q. Since you brought up hair, I wanted to ask you, Framber grew out his hair, I guess, right before the All-Star break. Sort of looks a little bit like Castillo. Did you give him a hard time about that? Was that a little bit of a Castillo knockoff or what do you think about what he did right there?

MARTÍN MALDONADO: First of all, I told Framber, That's a fake hair. That's not his own hair.

But, yeah, I told him, I think, it was an interview, I told him that he's trying to be, I said, Are you trying to be Castillo? And this is way before they traded Castillo. So I was like, I thought you wanted to be the left-hander Castillo.

So now it's funny they're going to face each other tomorrow. One of the two, from the DR, two Latin pitchers that are probably going to be pitching together in the WBC. It's always, to see two Latin guys square up against each other from the same country, I think they're going to have that feeling to beat each other out.

Q. It's a cliché, but after what happened last night, how much carryover can there be in Game 2 or does it, is it not relevant, it doesn't mean anything in Game 2?

MARTÍN MALDONADO: It doesn't mean anything. I think we go, I think the best thing about this team, the experience that we have, we know that we can carry over. If we win or lose I think is something that we show what kind of team we are. We got to go out there and compete tomorrow. Tomorrow's a different game. Tomorrow will be different pitchers. It's going to be a different approach. That's what the great thing about this team, it doesn't matter if we win or lose, we always take the next game seriously to try to win that game.