The Dodgers and Brewers getting set for first pitch, and this is a great
series for shortstops. Willie Thomas on the Brewers side, but the king of
defensive shortstops here with the Dodgers, Miguel Rojas. Thanks a lot for the
time. Yeah, no problem, man. Everybody knows trying to I mean
trying to get this thing going. You know, like we haven't been playing
really good the last couple of days, but I feel like this is a
great up portunity for us to close out the homestand with a serious win against
a rival that they're they're playing pretty good baseball too, So it's gonna be
a fun and really enjoyable series. Miguel, you obviously understand the grind of
one hundred and sixty two games, but how important is it not to allow
complacency to set in. Yeah. I feel like as a as a professional
athletes, we have to come every single day and and do our part and
to work at it kind of be prepared for the game, regardless of like
how long this season is going to be, and I mean what the part
of the season we are right now, like knowing that the All Star break
is coming and we're gonna need those days, you know, to kind of
relax and and set the mind for the second half of the year. But
at the end of the day, we can't really stop working. We have
to come to a ball part every single day with uh the mentality of winning
this baseball game. So it's really important. It doesn't matter what what kind
of UH of a day do you having off the field, you have to
come here and give your best to the team to prepare them be ready for
the game. Jason Heyward said something last night after the game. He believes
some of the guys having to fill in for the injured players have been trying
to do too much. How important is it not to try to do that?
It's really hard not to, you know, like when you get an
opportunity to play and you get an opportunity to help the team in a daily
basis, I feel like you are you feel the pressure and you feel the
necessity of getting your job done. I don't think it's a it's a bad
thing, you know, like we're gonna have to face that, We're gonna
have to deliver it on the top moments. And I feel like with the
with the injuries that we been having, throughout the last couple of months of
the season. Uh, that's gonna create a character on players who are start
the year on the on the bench or on the on a different role.
I feel like this is our time to be the next guy up, you
know. Uh, James Allman is going to have a new opportunity to come
here impact the game, and we all believe in him, and we all
believe and everybody that's out there in the on the field. So for me,
it's not it's not it's not necessarily a bad thing that you feel pressure
to do your job, no doubt. Got to have that urgency. And
Miguel Rojas certainly has been a consummate teammate, on selfish teammate. And I'm
not sure you heard what Mookie Betts had to say in the booth a couple
of nights ago about Miguel Rojas. He talked about how karma is paying you
forward now after your unselfishness putting in the time with him when he was playing
shortstop learning shortstop. What does that mean to you that he still appreciates the
time you put in to help him be a better player. That's the best,
because I mean when I when I decided to do it. I decided
because I just want him to feel comfortable and to feel better at shortstop.
I know it's not an easy task. He said it that he's one of
the like the hardest thing that he have to do on a baseball field and
during a baseball season, And it's not a really easy thing to do when
you have to go to short stop and be the best that you can be
in that position by yourself, you know, like he we have like a
great group of coaches, great group of people. I know he has his
own kind of core on his family and his friends, but at the same
time, you're going to need your teammates to actually like help you keep you,
keep you accountable, and at the same time like help you to kind
of like overcome little things, you know, and be next to you when
you're not like doing so good as well. So for me, it was
never like a sacrifice that I did because everything that I did with him helped
me to stay in shape for this moment. And I think my body's charted,
my mind is shart because I never took a game a day off from
working and from like doing what I need to do. And that guy,
right there make me work extremely hard because he's never satisfied with what he have.
I love that. Miguel Rojas, like I said, this is a
series of the best shortstops in baseball. How do you look at a series
like this when you got Willie a damis playing your position. Obviously he's younger
than you, but certainly you can appreciate how good he is. Well.
First off, I really enjoy when I have to go against the best,
and I feel like Willie's been on top of the game for a long time
now, you know, he found it seems like he found a home in
Milwaukee. Unleach kind of his potential offensively, but he's always being a defensive
first guy for me. When when I get the opportunity to play against him
in Tampa, I always see his ability to actually make great plays, but
he always make the routine plays as well. So that's kind of what you
want as a short step, you know, being able to make every routine
play and at the end of the day when the need, when the he
needs a clutch play out there. A shortstop, he's one of the guys
that I kind of look up to because he's he's really good out there.
And on my side, I feel like really proud that with thirty five years
old, I can actually compete against a guy like him in his mid twenties.
That's something that I really take pride of. Hey, it's not thirty
five years old, it's thirty five years young with way Miguel Rojas is playing
this year. Thanks a lot for the time, and obviously your words speak
volumes to appreciate the time. Thank you by appreciate it.