CJ Nitkowski

And I've noticed it about all the greats that I've been around, the Hall of Fame managers like Bobby Cox.

I had Sparky Anderson as a rookie and played for Joe Torres.

You know, all these great ones.

They make decisions with conviction, and it's always about winning.

It's not about like, oh, can I get this guy through another inning?

Because I feel like it would help his confidence a little bit.

When he recognizes between him and Jeremy Hefter, the pitching coach, that it's probably time to make a move, he makes it.

He is never going to be a batter late.

He's always going to be a batter ahead.

I really respect that about him.

These are the guys that you want to play for.

The way that he's run this bullpen, and it's a really good bullpen that they have, but he hasn't beaten them up.

There's been some days where he's asked a lot of guys, and then he works to get the days off as much as he possibly can.

So I think it's the aggressiveness in which he manages to win.

without burning everybody out.

He understands the value of rest.

He talked about that before the season even started and he'll get everybody some rest with the exception of Matt Olson, who's on this mini Cal Ripken streak that he's on right now.

But to me, it's about the conviction of winning and making the decisions.

And he's not like mean or bad about it, but that is the 100% first priority.

Hassan Kim going through a little bit of a tough time.