NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES VS PADRES

October 21, 2022

Josh Hader

Citizens Bank Park

San Diego Padres

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. Given all the hurdles that you've had over different parts of the season and the transition to a new team and everything, how good does it feel to be making the impact you're making out here in the postseason?

JOSH HADER: It feels good. It's one of those things that you want to be at your best at the end of the season. Obviously you're going to go through ups and downs, but to be able to get through that and figure it out and play good baseball that we're doing, that's when you want it.

Q. Dominating hitters is nothing new to you, but when you've been doing lately, it seems like it's at a different level. Is this some of the best that you've thrown, 90 to 100 on the fastball, change-ups when you need them in big situations. How good do you feel?

JOSH HADER: Good. I feel like when I went through that struggle, it almost gave me confidence in the pitches that I had to try to rely and those. When you don't have the fastball, you have to try other things.

I think that was one of the biggest things for me is I had to figure out how to use my change-up, change the grip on that, to have a little bit more consistent spin on that.

So I think that's kind of what brought me to where I am now. And obviously once I got my mechanics back in tune to where I needed them to be, the fastball played a little bit better, which then helped the secondaries as well.

Q. A lot of times in the postseason, a lot of guys will go heavier on the breaking ball than they would otherwise. You've gone heavier on the fastball in the playoffs. Is that a product of just how good the fastball feels right now?

JOSH HADER: Yeah, like I said, when you're commanding your pitches, when you're commanding your best pitch, you live and die by that. I feel like that's what got me here.

Obviously with the velocity jump, it's been able to help me get hitters off the off-speeds because you have to sit one pitch, which then allows the secondaries to play a little bit better.

Q. How do you assess where that velocity jump has come from this postseason?

JOSH HADER: I don't think there's like an exact answer, but I think through the shoulder programs that I'm doing, building strength that way, and then obviously having good mechanics, I think that's where it starts, right?

When it starts from the ground up and when your driving from the ground, everything else is effortless and it kind of plays everything up a little bit.

Q. In these postseason series, especially without the off-day this year, obviously managing the bullpen is a big part of what teams are thinking about. A lot of that has to do with fatigue. Is it a valid concern at all, I guess, about bullpen arms being exposed too often to the opposition. Do you worry about guys seeing you too much in a seven-game series and sort of getting used to that delivery?

JOSH HADER: I think that's something we can't control, right? When we want to win games and you want to be in the games to impact them, I think that's where it kind of gets to a chess match when you get to see those hitters.

Sometimes you may face the three hitters more than once. Sometimes you may face a different part of the lineup. That also depends on that too, but I think it adds a different variable on the other pitches that you have to command, which then allows the other -- for me, the fastball -- to play a little bit up.

Yeah, I think it's more of just like that chess match where you're just trying to out-beat them and kind of come up with new things.

Q. Talk about the mechanics and being sound. Is that something you worked with with Ruben since you got over to San Diego to get a little more sound from the ground up?

JOSH HADER: Yeah, I think it was more of how do we do it, how do we attack? We knew what we were doing. We knew the reason behind of my inconsistent arm slot, why it was higher than normal, and just like the toe is like the biggest thing, not driving evenly through the toe and the heel.

So when you get that consistency, you're able to get down the mound a whole lot better and more consistent, right?

I think that was one of the biggest things we really worked on was just trying to be sound on that lower half and through the foot.

Q. Back to the fastballs, is this the best your fastball's been, or when was the last time it felt as good as it is right now?

JOSH HADER: I would say velocity, it's probably the best. I would think just in general, the playoffs is just a different beast. When you get in front of these fans, you get into this atmosphere where it's do or die, you need to win these games, the adrenaline bumps up a little bit and takes you to a new level.

This is the reason why we play this game, right? To be in this moment, to bring out the best whatever you got.

Q. How do you view the five games in five days? How do you expect to kind of be used in that stretch?

JOSH HADER: We'll see. Obviously one game at a time I think is the biggest thing. We'll focus on one game and then go from there. You can't really tell the future, right?

So I think when you keep in the mindset of focusing on one game, that's what you've got to do.

Q. The guy in front of you, Robert Suarez, what's it been like getting to know him since coming over and seeing him get on this roll he's been on?

JOSH HADER: It's fun to watch him. He's a great dude. He works hard, and he knows what he's doing out there.

Kind of looking back at his story and how he came to be where he is now, it's amazing, and it's special to see that. That's why we do what we do. You know, to have that type of person in front of you, you kind of feed off that energy, that momentum.

Obviously just seeing him pitch day in and day out, it's unreal.