April 14 — Nestor Perez

Columbus Clingstones broadcaster Jack Johnson visited with manager Nestor Perez at Synovus Park in Columbus, Georgia for his first appearance on The Pregame Peach. 

Perez discussed returning to Montgomery, where he played during the 2004 season, managing in front of large crowds at Synovus Park, his relationships with players throughout the Braves organization, and expectations for the upcoming series against Biloxi following a road trip in which Columbus took five of six games from Montgomery.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Back on the Columbus Klingstones pregame show, Jack Johnson with you inside the manager's office with Klingstones manager Nestor Perez for the first time this season, coming off a series in Montgomery, where Columbus won five of six and won the last five, a five-game winning streak coming into the six-game series against Biloxi. So, Nestor, I'll start there. Your takeaway from that series, especially that win on Sunday, we talked about it after the game. Team showed a lot of heart going down 4-0 early and coming back to win. Yeah, yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_00 0:30

You know what? We went to Montgomery with 0-3. We lost the first game in Montgomery, 0-4. But the team keep playing hard, the team uh team keep uh doing the things the right way, and uh we end up winning five in a row. So right now you say we're in a winning streak. Uh we hopefully this uh continue home now. We're back home, and we we want to win in front of all of our fanatics.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Winning those five games in a row while also having a high-powered offense that scored 43 runs that series, averaged over six runs per game, hit a ton of home runs, pitching staff was really sharp. Garrett Bauman was solid, Harry Hernandez was solid, a bunch of guys had bounce back performances. What was your highlight from that series or the way the team played?

SPEAKER_00 1:21

We got everything together. We got everything together. In order to win games, you gotta you gotta put everything together. When we play home first three games, uh we we miss something. We missed either pitching, we miss we miss either hitting or defense, but uh this time we we were able to put everything together good hitting, good defense, good pitching, good base running. So when you put everything together, it's you got big chances to win a game.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

To win five of six as a manager at the AA level is always impressive. But for you personally, to be back at Riverwalk Stadium, now it's known as Davos Park, but a ballpark that you played in in your career, you played over 40 games there as part of the inaugural team in 2004. One of my favorite moments of the series was when you showed me the locker that you had as a player inside the clubhouse that we now occupy at that ballpark there. What was it like for you to go back to where you had played in your playing days to now be a manager and a really successful one last week at that?

SPEAKER_00 2:16

Yeah, I had a conversation with uh their GM and uh with their manager Kevin Bowles, and I told them like I'm feeling like home. I said, I feel here like a home. This is home for me now. And we had a good series, we won five. So being back there, uh watched my locker, my locker when I played there in 2004, first season for the Montgomery Biscuits. So it was like uh I feel like I was young again. I was young, I was a ball player. I went there, I sit down in the locker, I look around, I say, wow, it looks like I was here like two years ago, and it was what 20 more years ago?

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So it was great. It was great sitting down in the office where my manager Charlie Montoyo was sitting uh that year. Um it was great. It was great. Always good to go back to Montgomery.

SPEAKER_01 3:05

Now it's a six-game series here in Columbus. You got through the first three games against Chattanooga, those are your first three in front of the home fans here in Columbus. What was the atmosphere and the experience like managing for the first time in Columbus?

SPEAKER_00 3:20

We got a big crowd every night. Uh, we were expecting this because we knew from last year that the crowd was gonna be there every night. That's big. That's big because um when you go out on the field and you look around and you see fans watching you, they that help you. That help a lot. And like I said, uh we gotta go back there tonight and every night, since uh from now until we every night when we play home and play for the fans. We know they're gonna be there. We just need to be for them on the field.

SPEAKER_01 3:48

You've gotten to spend a lot of time with a lot of these players over the course of your managerial career here in the Braves organization. Like we talked about when you were in Augusta, that was that 2022 draft class. Many of those players are here in Columbus today. Herri Hernandez is someone that you know very well. He's pitching for the first time in his double-A career here tonight at Cynobas Park. What should Columbus fans expect from Hernandez?

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Oh, Eric uh had he did well. He did well in his first outing in in uh in Montgomery. He did pretty well. Um expecting a guy that's gonna go there, he's gonna fight, he's gonna compete. Um he's a one of our young talent pitchers that with a bright future and and he's a is a few probably is a future believer.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Nestor, uh I wanted to ask about this Biloxi team that you're seeing for the first time this season, but also having an understanding of their lineup, their roster, and Mike Guerrero, who has been around in the game for a very long time. What is the thing you respect most about this Biloxi club?

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Um, the manager. He's a guy with uh a great great leadership, a guy that's been around the league a long time. I know him. Um last time I saw him in this level was in 21 when I was in Mississippi. So I respect him. And if if he's leading this team, this team is gonna play well, this team is gonna play hard, and uh that's that's what we respect the most from this team. We got the numbers for this team, but on numbers are numbers on Twitter. Don't go out there and see them playing because those numbers are from last week, from two weeks ago, and uh tonight's different. Every night is different. So we got the numbers, we got reference, but I I need to see what's what's going on on the field.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

So far, nine games through the season. What have you learned about this team in Columbus in 2026?

SPEAKER_00 5:38

It's easy. We've been every night, even we even we we lose the first four, we were in a situation to to win. And what I'm learning from my team, from our team in Columbus, is that that we're gonna go there every night and we're gonna be every night in with a chance to win until the last last out.

SPEAKER_01 5:55

That's been the case so far this year. Stones five and four facing the Biloxi Shucker, six game series here at Sanovis Park. Nestor, wish you and the team the best of luck. Thank you very much.