We're joined right now by the Dodgers super reliever who checks his ego at the
door, but performs like a champion every night for the Dodgers, and that
is Evan Phillips. Evan, thanks a lot for the time. Appreciate it.
Yeah, of course, David, thanks for having me. I had
to break up my conversation with Blake's now when I saw you playing catch or
catch time was over. I had a jog over here. Well, I
appreciate you making the time for me, and I started to interrupt your combo.
But oh yeah, absolutely. I feel like I had to tell you
that full disclosure because so many of your teammates get upset when I talk to
him. Not a problem with me. I appreciate the honest yet, Evan,
when I said, you check your ego at the door, there's not
too many relievers that obviously get the line's share of the ninth inning but also
understands the role and the importance of pitching in other innings. How has that
been able to stay consistent with you? You know, I've ut my role
and as a major league pitcher, it has always kind of been flexible up
until the past, you know, year or two so I've understood the value
of every outthroat the ball game, and uh, you know the Dodgers value
the same thing. So I think, uh, it's kind of like a
perfect harmony when you know that's mindset and it combines with their mindset to get
the job done to win the game. Right. So, me being versatile
in some different roles when called upon, I think in me having a you
know, pretty standard mindset with that, I don't get, you know,
to up or two down based on what ending I'm throwing. I think it
allows us to put the you know best, you know guys out there in
their roles to win the game. And you know, more often than not
that is going to be me in the ninth inning to finish the game.
But I think it provides flexibility in our bullpen. And I think you know,
the seven other guys down to the pen, whoever we have on a
given days, Uh, they're also willing to do the same thing. I
thought the great example of that was in Chicago. You face the same groupings
of hitters in the eighth inning one night and then the same in the ninth
inning. Yeah, exactly, And I think you know that speaks volumes to
how we'll approach you know, certain lineups in certain games. So I think,
uh, you know, not being you know, afraid of those situations
and you try not to have you know, too much ego to say that
I should only pitch in the ninth inning or for whatever reason that may be.
Yeah, I owe a lot to this team, So I'm certainly not
going to be the kind of guy that you know is stubborn about when I'm
gonna pitch. I'm happy to do whatever is and prefer preferably it's when that's
helping us win. Yeah, it feels like we all need constant reminders when
it comes to the Dodgers. It's not about the inning that you pitch in,
but the groupings of hitters that you're prepared for. Yeah, more often
than not, you know, especially earlier, and you know, when the
bullpen guys start to get into the game, it's all about their laying and
about you know, what sequence of hitters is coming up with the score is
you have certain kind of leverage situations like that, those are all indicators of
who's going to go win, win, you know. Bullpen availability is another
thing that comes into play. You'll see from time to time when we have
to force guys into different spots because we have you know, pitchers that are
down that day, things like that. But I'll tell you what, just
the way all that information is communicated, you know, day in day out
here is what makes this machine run so well. Evan Phillips is our guest
super reliever for the Dodgers. You've had success now, two three years running
with the Dodgers. Do you feel like you've taken the next level now where
you're starting to read swings from hitters and be able to make those adjustments in
real time? You know, I really don't even know if it's about you
know, the the in game adjustments to the hitters. I think it's it's
still all about what I'm doing out there. I think our preparation and our
preparation and our you know, attack plan is always going to be what we
fall back on. There may be moments where you have to react to what
the hitter is telling you, but more often than not, we're going to
stick with what we're doing. And I think, like you said, to
your point, I've had you know, two or three years of success at
this point. But to be honest with you, I think I'm finally at
that stage where I fully believe in myself and I have that confidence rebuilt,
you know, from all those times you throw out my struggles early in my
career, I think I finally feel one hundred percent convicted and what I'm doing,
I feel convicted in, you know, my adjustments up there on the
mound and what I need to do to succeed each night. Since you came
off the injured list, do you feel like you've been able to pick up
where you left off? Mostly? You know, there's been a little like
hiccups here and there, and like you sometimes it's in catch play, sometimes
it's in the game where you're fighting a feeling versus you know, what's what
you're seeing. And that was definitely the frustration going on the ils. I
was in such a good spot with you know, all of those things,
and I was trying to maintain those things while I was down for four weeks.
So there have been moments here and there where you know, I feel
like I'm gonna execute my slider in a certain spot and it just you know,
stays on the plate or you know, trying to expand and things like
that. So those feels are still coming back to full circle for me.
But you know, the work is there every every single day, and we
trust that it's going to be there when we need it. I know you're
always working on yourself every day. What is the evolution of Evan Phillips.
Is it a new pitch or constantly being able to perfect the pitches that you
already have. Yeah, at this point, I think it's just continuing to
you know, to strive for perfection. And what I'm doing, I think
the mix that I've been showing now for a couple of years has been working
well. So it's more so about you're putting the game play together and understanding
how to attack a hitter, Understanding the situation of the ending, and that
has been the biggest adjustment to the ninth inning and you know, closing games,
finishing games, Understanding how to finish the game and understanding that, you
know, win a guy's on base and it's uh, you know, what
kind of threat is at the play, All all these factors that come into
play. Talking with guys that have done it in our bullpen, talking with
staff that have you know, seen it and experienced it. Learning that part
of the game has been the next step this year Evan Phillips is our guest.
He's not just about himself. He has a great baseball IQ. So
I'll ask you this, Evan. Nobody's been able to answer it. We
saw Johann Ramirez in Cincinnati where Dave Roberts need to go out there to set
him down. Ever since that hug, the famous hug on the mound,
seems like a different pitcher. But there's got to be more than just that,
sure, And I think that's that's where the day in, the day
day out work comes from. I think you you see that moment on the
mout and you see you know, the recent six since then, but the
credit goes to Johann's work, day in and day out. And I think,
you know, our our pitching staff are pitching coaches. I've done a
great job, you know, really giving him some length and some runway to
really see this through. And he has shown us tremendous growth in a short
amount of time. So I think he's saying that he's earned himself even more
opportunity down the line. So I think we'll continue to see a lot of
Johann Ramirez and hopefully he can continue to run with it. What about Anthony
Banda. Here's another guy that was cut loose, the Dodgers pick him up,
and now he seems to have a lot of trust from Dave Roberts.
Yeah, AB's in the same category, you know, a guy I feel
like he was similar to myself when I first got to the Dodgers, where
he had no other choice but to listen at this point in his career.
I think the Dodgers brought him in and saw, you know, something that
they liked, and then we got him with our team, our group and
introduced a couple of new things and he's been able to run with it as
well. So I think he's been a great piece for us so far,
and we can hoping that can continue to build as well. Evan, is
it a case where at certain point in time in your career you finally give
in and maybe be less stubborn than a guy just coming in And you know,
I guess when you first get here, you feel like you have it
all figured out. You know, it's certainly it's more of an independent like
like case to case situation. Right, So you look at any any acquisition
we bring in, you know, every season, right, so like this
year, you look at ti Oscar Hernandez, who has had plenty of success
all Star player in his career, he wanted more. He wanted a championship,
and I think he knows that the Dodgers handle things differently here. Look
at a guy maybe talk about the pictures. We talk about Kevin Bigio as
well, like another guy that has had success at the major league level.
We bring him in. He's willing to listen, he's willing to learn,
and we're hoping we can take it somewhere. So I think that mindset when
you come to the Dodgers and you know that the goal is to build a
better version of yourself to help his team win a championship, that message is
really clear here, and I think it helps guys on a day to day
basis get their work in and have a plan to how to get better.
Would you even say a player of Showho Tani's caliber came here and now he
wants more from himself? Absolutely, sho Hey, Mookie, Freddie Freeman,
all those guys when they first got to the Dodgers, it was you know,
they signed here for a reason. They signed here to win championships and
to build better versions of themselves and help you know, they're part of it
and help the team win games. So I think you know that there's no
one that's immune to it on this team. I think it's one of the
Dodgers standards that we all, you know, kind of abide by here.
I think it's it's a great recipe, you know, to win baseball games,
and we're now our next step is putting that together in the postseason winning
a championship. I know you're always thinking the game, seeing what's going on
around the league. As we are just a month away from the trade deadline,
do you start to run scenarios and mock trades? You know, I
definitely don't. I don't put names to it by any means, but you
know there's plenty of that going on behind the scenes. You know, I
wouldn't be surprised if we see some movement. I think it's natural for competitive
teams to want to get better. And I can probably say this for as
far as our front office goes, that they're in the business of getting better
and winning baseball game. So if an opportunity to were to present itself,
I'm sure we won't be shy to make that happen. So you're not like
Zach Grank back in the day where he's on the Dugat railing and tells aj
Elis, I would trade you. No, it's definitely not who I am.
But I've heard those stories and they're all pretty incredible. Evan, thanks
a lot for the time. Great to see you and your family on this
road trip, and continued success and health the rest of the way. Yes,
sir, thank you very much,