WEBVTT

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We're joined right now by the Dodgers
super reliever who checks his ego at the

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door, but performs like a champion
every night for the Dodgers, and that

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is Evan Phillips. Evan, thanks
a lot for the time. Appreciate it.

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Yeah, of course, David,
thanks for having me. I had

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to break up my conversation with Blake's
now when I saw you playing catch or

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catch time was over. I had
a jog over here. Well, I

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appreciate you making the time for me, and I started to interrupt your combo.

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But oh yeah, absolutely. I
feel like I had to tell you

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that full disclosure because so many of
your teammates get upset when I talk to

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him. Not a problem with me. I appreciate the honest yet, Evan,

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when I said, you check your
ego at the door, there's not

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too many relievers that obviously get the
line's share of the ninth inning but also

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understands the role and the importance of
pitching in other innings. How has that

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been able to stay consistent with you? You know, I've ut my role

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and as a major league pitcher,
it has always kind of been flexible up

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until the past, you know,
year or two so I've understood the value

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of every outthroat the ball game,
and uh, you know the Dodgers value

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the same thing. So I think, uh, it's kind of like a

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perfect harmony when you know that's mindset
and it combines with their mindset to get

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the job done to win the game. Right. So, me being versatile

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in some different roles when called upon, I think in me having a you

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know, pretty standard mindset with that, I don't get, you know,

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to up or two down based on
what ending I'm throwing. I think it

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allows us to put the you know
best, you know guys out there in

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their roles to win the game.
And you know, more often than not

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that is going to be me in
the ninth inning to finish the game.

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But I think it provides flexibility in
our bullpen. And I think you know,

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the seven other guys down to the
pen, whoever we have on a

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given days, Uh, they're also
willing to do the same thing. I

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thought the great example of that was
in Chicago. You face the same groupings

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of hitters in the eighth inning one
night and then the same in the ninth

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inning. Yeah, exactly, And
I think you know that speaks volumes to

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how we'll approach you know, certain
lineups in certain games. So I think,

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uh, you know, not being
you know, afraid of those situations

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and you try not to have you
know, too much ego to say that

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I should only pitch in the ninth
inning or for whatever reason that may be.

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Yeah, I owe a lot to
this team, So I'm certainly not

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going to be the kind of guy
that you know is stubborn about when I'm

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gonna pitch. I'm happy to do
whatever is and prefer preferably it's when that's

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helping us win. Yeah, it
feels like we all need constant reminders when

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it comes to the Dodgers. It's
not about the inning that you pitch in,

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but the groupings of hitters that you're
prepared for. Yeah, more often

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than not, you know, especially
earlier, and you know, when the

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bullpen guys start to get into the
game, it's all about their laying and

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about you know, what sequence of
hitters is coming up with the score is

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you have certain kind of leverage situations
like that, those are all indicators of

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who's going to go win, win, you know. Bullpen availability is another

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thing that comes into play. You'll
see from time to time when we have

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to force guys into different spots because
we have you know, pitchers that are

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down that day, things like that. But I'll tell you what, just

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the way all that information is communicated, you know, day in day out

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here is what makes this machine run
so well. Evan Phillips is our guest

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super reliever for the Dodgers. You've
had success now, two three years running

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with the Dodgers. Do you feel
like you've taken the next level now where

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you're starting to read swings from hitters
and be able to make those adjustments in

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real time? You know, I
really don't even know if it's about you

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know, the the in game adjustments
to the hitters. I think it's it's

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still all about what I'm doing out
there. I think our preparation and our

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preparation and our you know, attack
plan is always going to be what we

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fall back on. There may be
moments where you have to react to what

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the hitter is telling you, but
more often than not, we're going to

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stick with what we're doing. And
I think, like you said, to

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your point, I've had you know, two or three years of success at

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this point. But to be honest
with you, I think I'm finally at

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that stage where I fully believe in
myself and I have that confidence rebuilt,

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you know, from all those times
you throw out my struggles early in my

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career, I think I finally feel
one hundred percent convicted and what I'm doing,

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I feel convicted in, you know, my adjustments up there on the

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mound and what I need to do
to succeed each night. Since you came

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off the injured list, do you
feel like you've been able to pick up

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where you left off? Mostly?
You know, there's been a little like

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hiccups here and there, and like
you sometimes it's in catch play, sometimes

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it's in the game where you're fighting
a feeling versus you know, what's what

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you're seeing. And that was definitely
the frustration going on the ils. I

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was in such a good spot with
you know, all of those things,

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and I was trying to maintain those
things while I was down for four weeks.

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So there have been moments here and
there where you know, I feel

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like I'm gonna execute my slider in
a certain spot and it just you know,

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stays on the plate or you know, trying to expand and things like

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that. So those feels are still
coming back to full circle for me.

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But you know, the work is
there every every single day, and we

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trust that it's going to be there
when we need it. I know you're

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always working on yourself every day.
What is the evolution of Evan Phillips.

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Is it a new pitch or constantly
being able to perfect the pitches that you

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already have. Yeah, at this
point, I think it's just continuing to

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you know, to strive for perfection. And what I'm doing, I think

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the mix that I've been showing now
for a couple of years has been working

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well. So it's more so about
you're putting the game play together and understanding

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how to attack a hitter, Understanding
the situation of the ending, and that

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has been the biggest adjustment to the
ninth inning and you know, closing games,

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finishing games, Understanding how to finish
the game and understanding that, you

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know, win a guy's on base
and it's uh, you know, what

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kind of threat is at the play, All all these factors that come into

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play. Talking with guys that have
done it in our bullpen, talking with

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staff that have you know, seen
it and experienced it. Learning that part

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of the game has been the next
step this year Evan Phillips is our guest.

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He's not just about himself. He
has a great baseball IQ. So

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I'll ask you this, Evan.
Nobody's been able to answer it. We

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saw Johann Ramirez in Cincinnati where Dave
Roberts need to go out there to set

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him down. Ever since that hug, the famous hug on the mound,

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seems like a different pitcher. But
there's got to be more than just that,

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sure, And I think that's that's
where the day in, the day

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day out work comes from. I
think you you see that moment on the

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mout and you see you know,
the recent six since then, but the

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credit goes to Johann's work, day
in and day out. And I think,

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you know, our our pitching staff
are pitching coaches. I've done a

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great job, you know, really
giving him some length and some runway to

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really see this through. And he
has shown us tremendous growth in a short

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amount of time. So I think
he's saying that he's earned himself even more

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opportunity down the line. So I
think we'll continue to see a lot of

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Johann Ramirez and hopefully he can continue
to run with it. What about Anthony

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Banda. Here's another guy that was
cut loose, the Dodgers pick him up,

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and now he seems to have a
lot of trust from Dave Roberts.

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Yeah, AB's in the same category, you know, a guy I feel

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like he was similar to myself when
I first got to the Dodgers, where

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he had no other choice but to
listen at this point in his career.

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I think the Dodgers brought him in
and saw, you know, something that

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they liked, and then we got
him with our team, our group and

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introduced a couple of new things and
he's been able to run with it as

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well. So I think he's been
a great piece for us so far,

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and we can hoping that can continue
to build as well. Evan, is

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it a case where at certain point
in time in your career you finally give

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in and maybe be less stubborn than
a guy just coming in And you know,

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I guess when you first get here, you feel like you have it

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all figured out. You know,
it's certainly it's more of an independent like

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like case to case situation. Right, So you look at any any acquisition

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we bring in, you know,
every season, right, so like this

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year, you look at ti Oscar
Hernandez, who has had plenty of success

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all Star player in his career,
he wanted more. He wanted a championship,

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and I think he knows that the
Dodgers handle things differently here. Look

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at a guy maybe talk about the
pictures. We talk about Kevin Bigio as

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well, like another guy that has
had success at the major league level.

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We bring him in. He's willing
to listen, he's willing to learn,

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and we're hoping we can take it
somewhere. So I think that mindset when

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you come to the Dodgers and you
know that the goal is to build a

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better version of yourself to help his
team win a championship, that message is

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really clear here, and I think
it helps guys on a day to day

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basis get their work in and have
a plan to how to get better.

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Would you even say a player of
Showho Tani's caliber came here and now he

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wants more from himself? Absolutely,
sho Hey, Mookie, Freddie Freeman,

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all those guys when they first got
to the Dodgers, it was you know,

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they signed here for a reason.
They signed here to win championships and

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to build better versions of themselves and
help you know, they're part of it

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and help the team win games.
So I think you know that there's no

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one that's immune to it on this
team. I think it's one of the

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Dodgers standards that we all, you
know, kind of abide by here.

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I think it's it's a great recipe, you know, to win baseball games,

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and we're now our next step is
putting that together in the postseason winning

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a championship. I know you're always
thinking the game, seeing what's going on

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around the league. As we are
just a month away from the trade deadline,

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do you start to run scenarios and
mock trades? You know, I

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definitely don't. I don't put names
to it by any means, but you

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know there's plenty of that going on
behind the scenes. You know, I

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wouldn't be surprised if we see some
movement. I think it's natural for competitive

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teams to want to get better.
And I can probably say this for as

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far as our front office goes,
that they're in the business of getting better

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and winning baseball game. So if
an opportunity to were to present itself,

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I'm sure we won't be shy to
make that happen. So you're not like

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Zach Grank back in the day where
he's on the Dugat railing and tells aj

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Elis, I would trade you.
No, it's definitely not who I am.

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But I've heard those stories and they're
all pretty incredible. Evan, thanks

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a lot for the time. Great
to see you and your family on this

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road trip, and continued success and
health the rest of the way. Yes,

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sir, thank you very much,