NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 20, 2023

Alek Thomas

Chase Field

Arizona Diamondbacks

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Diamondbacks 6, Phillies 5

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

Q. I was just talking to Torey about this. It's been a long journey for you this season, up and down to the Minor Leagues trying to work some things out. It culminates with a great night tonight. What was it like for you to go through this journey?

ALEK THOMAS: It's been crazy. Definitely a roller coaster of a season for me. Yeah, I was sent down, and definitely had to work on some things and change some things. Then I came back up, and it seemed to work out.

Then kind of slipped into that funk again, but none of that matters at the end of the day. You still have to show up to work and put your best foot forward. Yeah, it was a lot of hard work, definitely.

Q. So I would imagine it gives you some solace that all the work you put in really meant something?

ALEK THOMAS: Yeah, definitely. Just shout out to our coaching staff in Triple-A and the Big Leagues for helping me out and turning things around. But it's definitely been a crazy season, and it was awesome tonight.

Q. I'm sure you must have imagined this, right? How does it feel actually to have made a play like that, to have hit a shot like that as compared to what you might have thought it would feel like coming in?

ALEK THOMAS: Yeah. I mean, that play is definitely something that you see in your dreams. For it to come in real life and for it to happen to me is just awesome. I'm so grateful to have that moment. It's just unreal. Just crazy. I haven't really processed it yet, but it was awesome.

Q. Barry was asking about your long-term thought process, but in the short-term when the lineup change happened, your mentality of sticking with it and how your teammates and coaches were still supporting you through that.

ALEK THOMAS: Just having a good mindset about it. Definitely want to be in there all the time. But I trust Torey and I trust the coaching staff. So just stay ready at all times. And that's what I was doing. Definitely not going to hang my head about not being in the lineup, but I knew at some point they were going to call me and just got to be ready.

Q. Could you take us through the about it and just what you were seeing, what you saw on that pitch?

ALEK THOMAS: Yeah, getting to 3-2 on Craig Kimbrel, you know, he is one of the best closers in the game, Hall of Famer guy. I was just looking for something over the heart of the plate.

I felt like he was kind of hammering me in or at least it felt like it. Then I finally got something over the heart of the plate, or it was a little outside, but it felt like it was right down the middle.

So, yeah, it was just a great feeling to do it off someone like that and on the biggest stage. Yeah, it was just truly awesome.

Q. You scored for first last night. You obviously got out tonight. Previously in the playoffs you've done well. What has this overall experience been like in the postseason for you for a season that started here, but with Team Mexico overall?

ALEK THOMAS: It's been fun, man. Just a fun journey in the playoffs. I think a lot of people didn't think we would be here, and honestly none of that mattered. We believed in the guys in the clubhouse and our coaching staff and everybody in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

Definitely just a crazy, crazy season, crazy playoffs, and I'm so thankful to be here, and I think all of our guys are thankful to be here.

Q. These wins aren't easy, right? Your last at-bat -- do you have any concerns that you are going to burn yourselves out emotionally and you won't be able to stay locked in going forward?

ALEK THOMAS: No. I think we've been tested before and tested again and again, and I think emotionally -- honestly, I don't even know how our emotions are honestly. I think we're in a good spot, though. Yeah, honestly, I think we're in the best spot possible really.

Yeah, honestly I don't know. I think our guys are mentally in a good spot, so that's all.