July 15, 2025
Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Truist Park
National League
Press Conference
NL - 7, AL - 6 (swing-off 4-3)
Q. Hey, Dave, what do you think to use this system during the regular season?
DAVE ROBERTS: Excuse me?
Q. What do you think to use the walk-off system during the regular season?
DAVE ROBERTS: Oh, no. I think that it was great for this exhibition, but in the regular season, I don't mind how it plays out in the regular season with the man on second base.
But this was -- first time in history we got to do this and I think it played pretty well tonight.
Q. Doc, what did you think of it as you were going through it?
DAVE ROBERTS: Well, what part? I mean, I think that --
Q. Into the home run swing-off.
DAVE ROBERTS: I was hoping we didn't have a home run swing-off. And then, obviously, Eugenio got hit in the hand. So I had to replace him with my starfish, Kyle Stowers. That's his new nickname, starfish. So had to replace him, and just kind of thinking about the lineup, and I was going to save Alonso for the three-hole. And I was going to get Stowers in there first. And I was trying to get the format down, and Schwarbs, I was talking to Kyle and he said I never hit on the field anymore. So hopefully, I can take batting practice and hit a homer on the field and not just in the cage. He came up huge, Dino Ebel, our pitching coach, came up huge. It was a lot of fun. The cool thing is we got to see the players were all into it, too, which was fun.
Q. Was Suarez okay?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yes. He had X-rays and they were negative.
Q. In a game with Freddie, how did you come up with when you were going to remove him?
DAVE ROBERTS: That was more appreciating the fact that we had three first basemen, and I went to Freddie and asked him, you know, would he be fine with one at-bat, or does he want two? He's such a good teammate and understood that we had two other guys that wanted to get out there and perform, and so I just felt that to give Freddie his due, to get one of the first basemen to exchange positions with him and call a timeout, I just felt that Pete was the perfect guy and allowed me to finish up with Matt Olson, the hometown guy.
So that was kind of the thought behind it.
Q. And then how much of what happened in the derby, if you want to call it, or swing-off, was well planned in advance and how much of it did you go, can I call Shohei and see if he can come back here?
DAVE ROBERTS: No. Shohei was long gone. But I think what it was is you had to declare three guys with one alternate before the game. And so we went around and sort of polled the guys and figured out who was going to be in the back half of the game, kind of thing like that.
Q. Dave, what do you think of the way your guys handled the pressure in such a unique forum?
DAVE ROBERTS: I thought they did a great job and I think the great thing about this situation is you don't know a lot of these guys. You just see them from the other side. And there are some guys that you see under pressure, and you see how they respond. And this was a game that we clearly wanted to win. Those guys were fighting to win. And so there was some motivation. And it was good. It was good. There was a lot of fight on both sides. But there's a reason why these guys are the best players in the world.
Q. What message does this win say about the talent in the National League right now?
DAVE ROBERTS: Well, we finally beat these guys. They seemed to have our number over the last decade. But there's just a lot of talent in both leagues. But tonight, we got the best of them.
Q. What was your thought process in evaluating what three players to pick? How many were in the pool? How did you narrow it down? Did you talk to the coaches?
DAVE ROBERTS: I talked to my bench coach, Danny Lehmann, and I just figured that two guys that had been in Home Run Derbies before was sort of a no-brainer.
I've seen Suarez take batting practice, and when he touches it in batting practice, it goes 400 feet. So I felt that that was a pretty easy choice, as well.
And the Stowers one was it was the first-timer and I was hoping I wouldn't have to use him. It just kind of worked out that way.
Q. Did you wait until after the ninth inning to pick him?
DAVE ROBERTS: No, that was already decided. And then Eugenio was out of because of the hand.
Q. Clayton mentioned that you had him say something to the team before the start of the game. What went into that and how did you see him kind of experience this whole week and kind of the appreciation he had for being here?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think that it's almost like it's obviously full circle in the sense of he's done it 11 times. I think he enjoyed every single bit of this experience from being named to sharing it with his family to the media day and the Home Run Derby, which he stuck around until the end, to having his kids around, to doing the brunch and getting over here and pitching two-thirds of an inning.
He was very pleased. And then, also, I just felt it was apropos to give him the opportunity to speak to the guys if he chose to. And so it was a great message. Everyone was attentive and it meant a lot to the group for Clayton to speak up, yeah.
Q. You're talking about grabbing the three guys yesterday. Was there much negotiations as far as trying to convince them? Alonso didn't want to do the Home Run Derby. Suarez did and wasn't picked. How did it go about talking to those guys?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think it was I had Danny was the messenger. So I'm not sure if they shot the messenger or not, but that was kind of who I chose and who I thought made sense. And to their credit, they all kind of agreed to do it.
So I don't know how much coaxing there was.
Q. In this game, there's no winning or losing pitcher. Do you think Dino Ebel was your winning pitcher?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, there you go, put a "W" next to Dino's name in the paper. Well, there's no more papers anymore, but Dino should get the win. Absolutely.
Q. Dave, we know what kind of power Schwarber has. What was it like watching him have three swings and hitting three home runs?
DAVE ROBERTS: It's remarkable. Schwarbs, if he touches it, it's 110. Like I said earlier, he doesn't take much batting practice outside anymore. For him to get out there and see an arm he's never seen before in Dino, use a big part of the field and hit it out and clutch up and hit three homers. The last one bought in a little bit, kept it fair. That speaks to the hitter he is. You've got a guy who can really hit with bat to ball and has huge power. It's fun to watch.
Q. Dave, beside the home run swing-off, what was your thoughts of the ABS system being implemented during the game?
DAVE ROBERTS: I thought it was great. I think that Dan got a lot of the calls right. There was a couple that were overturned. I thought it was great. The fans enjoy it. I thought the players had fun with it. And there's a strategy to it, if it does get to us during the season. But I like it. I think it's good for the game. I'm okay with it.
Q. And you, manager and former player, what was your favorite takeaway from the weekend?
DAVE ROBERTS: Well, so when I come to Atlanta, I got this restaurant that I get my favorite sweet potato. So that was one takeaway that I had. Pop in Atlanta and get my favorite meal.
You know what? Spending time with the guys. In all seriousness, I think just talking to the players and sitting by their lockers And talking about the game and respecting the game and their responsibility to the game, and there's more talent in this game top to bottom than there has ever been.
And they also have to give back and respect the game. So those are things I just really loved. I loved seeing Clayton just happy. It was nice for me not to really -- I can smile, and laughter in a ball game. That was fun. It was, top to bottom, the Braves organization, the city of Atlanta, Major League Baseball just knocked it out of the park. It was fantastic. Well done this trip in.
Q. You discussed the selection process for the swing-off. Was there any consideration to let Olson do it due to the hometown element?
DAVE ROBERTS: I didn't think about it. I probably should have. It was probably more of I didn't know where he would be in the game. If it was going to be early, to have him stick around, I didn't want to put him in harm's way as far as injury, so I didn't know. I didn't know how I was going to do the first base situation.
Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports


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