World Series: Brewers' Hamilton, Pratt before Game 2

Yeah, I have a question for one for David and one for Cooper. I guess, David, you know, you were drafted by the Brewers. You were in their organization for a little bit and then left and came back. What are some things, if there are any, that you remember that the Brewers emphasized in the minors when you were here that you now see kind of playing out in the big league level? Honestly, I got really bad memory. I don't really remember that far back. I feel like I do remember just the small ball aspect of the game, and they emphasize that a lot. a lot on defense, you know, we've got to play a good defense. Yeah, I don't really remember too much, though. Well, along those lines with Cooper, defensively, I remember seeing you in Nashville this year, and they were all saying you could play shortstop already. They knew that your defense was great. How do the Brewers communicate that to players about the importance of being a good defender and turning batted balls into outs? I mean, if you look at our team, everyone's a good defender. except for Hamilton um i'm just kidding uh like you go through the lineup and everyone can feel their position to a high level and i think like i mean you take that we're a defensive team that hits plays the game the right way bunts uh we don't hit the most home runs it's more of just get on base get them over get them in and play defense and um we've had a lot of success i mean You've got guys like Turang, Sal, Churrio, Hammy, Joey, Contreras that are unbelievable defenders. And to have that, it's almost like a confidence to the pitchers too that you can go out and pitch and the defense is going to make a play. But, I mean, I just think, from my personal opinion, they just really, really teach defense and they teach base run. They teach everything small. Everything small they teach and they pride themselves on it for sure. and we've got a lot of good defenders on this team. To Kurt in the fourth round. Cooper, throughout this run, Have you encountered any other teammates that are also Fanta aficionados? That are what? Fanta aficionados? On our team? Yeah. No, they all just drink the champagne and the beer. Is it just a celebration drink for you? It's more religious than anything. Like you drink Fanta at home? I mean, not really. I kind of just water etc um but I just walked into the we didn't have any sparkling cider and I just walked into the uh cafeteria and there was Fanta in a glass bottle so I was like hey but uh I didn't expect it to blow up like it did I just kind of grabbed them because I didn't want to feel left out and uh yeah and now everyone keeps sending me pictures of their Fanta so for the twin striper in the second round um congrats on the win last night you guys just played in your first ever World Series game how did it feel and was it different than you thought it would be um I feel it it felt uh surreal I guess you know at the end of the day it's the it's the same game but yeah I mean it was it was a cool atmosphere and um yeah I'm glad we glad we won? I think it felt no different than game one. I think every playoff game has kind of felt the same. They're all just as important. I don't really see it as, oh, it's the World Series. I just kind of see it as, oh, it's another playoff game. No different than we're playing the Padres or Dodgers. Steve, in the second round. Mr. Cooper, you talked about all the great defenders on this team, but I just wonder, playing next to Bryce, the Platinum Glove winner, what has he kind of taught you or what have you kind of learned from just playing next to him for the last few months? Yeah, I mean, he has a platinum glove. I think he's on the ballot for a gold glove this year too, yeah? I mean, it speaks for itself. He makes my job a whole lot easier. I can just throw it over there anywhere. I'll catch it and throw it to first. And, like, there's balls in the four hole that I'm, like, sure a base hits, and then sure enough he's fielding and spinning and throwing to first base. He's an unbelievable defender, and he's fun to watch and to kind of take some of the things he does and try and add it to your bag or stuff like that and just kind of see how he works and stuff, it's really impressive. Ron, is there anything you think about or do to prepare yourself for when you're settling under a pop-up and the eventuality it hits the roof and you have to react quickly? No, I don't think you can prepare for that. Yeah, we don't really practice that. It's kind of hard to hit the balls that high. It's just react on the moment. Yeah, I've never seen it happen. So, I mean, Trillo did a good job of catching that. I didn't even know it hit the roof. Go to the far right in the third row. Guys, is there anything you've seen around town the last week or so that's given you the feeling that, yeah, this is a little bit different around here than what it's been like previous in this season? I'd say all the media, for sure. Especially media day, was it two days ago? Just seeing all the people around, yeah, that's about it. Is that in the third row on this side? Cooper, I know you got asked about it post-game, that last play of the game, the double play. But when you got home last night or even this morning, have you had a chance to watch that back? And what were your thoughts when you did watch it back? I mean, it didn't really matter because we ended up winning the game. But I don't know. You can't – I couldn't really tell. Like, I saw a bunch of videos. I couldn't really tell if I was on or off. Some videos, it looked like my cleat was touching some. It looked like it was completely off, so I don't know. I mean, they have enough people in that room probably to figure it out. So, I mean, just glad they could pick me up and won the game. It wasn't bigger than it needed to be. Cooper, at the start of the year, you faced that decision about the contract that was in front of you. With the benefit of hindsight now, how do you think that changed your season, changed the way this whole thing has unfolded? And what advice would you give to another player next year who's in the same position? I mean I think it was more of a personal decision I don't know if it was like it's all it's all personal like I wouldn't say for someone to do it or not to do it if they were in the same situation I think that's just your choice I guess or what you're feeling and uh but I mean I'm I feel like it was the right decision for me especially to kind of just forget about all the stuff outside of baseball and just be able to play and not worry about that and just play more relaxed and I feel like after about the first month I started to do that and I can't really answer the question because everyone's different you see guys that say no and end up ends up being just fine and guys that say yes that end up being just fine so I don't really know how to answer it I just feel like it was the best decision for me at the time and it's kind of cool that this year that happened and now we're in the World Series and all this stuff but I I don't really know how to I think it was just a personal decision for me take one last one fifth row up the top yeah David and Cooper I know that during this postseason the lineup switches it's been insane to watch like every single day it feels like it's something different um how is it that everyone in this clubhouse is so calibrated in the same way where it feels like you wake up you don't know if you're gonna play if you're not gonna play when you're gonna play and it doesn't really matter you guys just show up and do your thing every day i think uh to start the year we had a different lineup pretty much every day um yeah sometimes we don't even get the lineup till we get to the field and sometimes it's like four o'clock you know um i think that everybody just comes to the field and they're ready to do their job if they're in the lineup or not and if they're not in the lineup they're probably going to get in the game somehow some way so always just be ready and be prepared yeah i found that out early first off day i was coming in off the bench never did that in the minor leagues um but uh yeah i think you just kind of show up show up expecting to play and if you're not in there you expect to come in and if you don't hey good job staying out of it um but uh yeah i mean i don't really think the lineup like where you're hitting in the lineup or if you're in the lineup really matters as long as you're ready to play and ready to perform when your name is called. All right, guys, appreciate the time. Good luck tonight. Thank you.