I just try to make contact with the ball. It's obvious that I like to swing the bat. I'm not thinking of taking a lot of pitches.
The good rising fastball is the best pitch in baseball.
I could hit the damn ball. No matter who was throwing. Or where the ball was. I left the bench swinging. I didn't get many walks.
Cleaning up that lack of the definition between the two, and then leaning on the four-seam, having it become my primary fastball over my two-seam, it's just benefited me as a whole.
Every great batter works on the theory that the pitcher is more afraid of him than he is of the pitcher.
There's no easier pitch to hit than a splitter that doesn't do anything.
Typically, being under the strike zone with the sinker isn't a big issue. I need to be a little bit higher with the strike zone earlier in the count. If you miss under with one here and there when you're ahead, it's really not an issue.
I think the changeup has become more popular recently by pitchers like Pedro Martinez and the success he had with it.
I only know one way to pitch. I really do.
That's when I'm at my best. When I can throw a fastball over in the count, just throw strikes both in and away, it just sets up all my stuff.
If you want to steal a base, steal a base. Don't make the hitter swing at a bad pitch trying to protect the runner.
It took me a few years to realize that throwing harder wasn't always better.
Anytime you can see a hitter and face a hitter, you gain knowledge, and you gain that experience. Whether they hit a homerun off you, or you strike them out or whatever it is, it's information.
When I'm at the plate, I'm not thinking about what I'm trying to do with the bat - I'm thinking about what the pitcher is trying to do with the ball.
John Wetteland had a very good curveball. He threw it for a strike, too, in any count, any situation. But, he really didn't use it much. He didn't want to throw it. He wanted to throw fastball-slider.
I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn't throw it past me, none of them.
Half the time, I have trouble following our own pitcher's sequence.
I use fast curves, pitched overhand and sidearm, fastballs, high and inside, and an underhand fade away pitch with the hand almost down to the level of the knees.
I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider. Then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first 30 feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it has crossed the plate.
The overall thinking of the shortstop covers the overall context of the ballgame. You have to know the count they'll hit-and-run on. You're thinking of the speed, not only of the runner at first base, but the runner at the plate. You have to know how fast the pitcher is on a particular day.
I've kind of found out that when I do get into trouble, that when I do have people on base, sometimes the best thing is to throw a little bit more off-speed, back off a little bit.
If you get fooled by a pitch with less than two strikes, take it.
All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.
The reason I think I'm a good pitcher is I locate my fastball and I change speeds. Period. That's what you do to pitch. That's what pitchers have to do to win games.
A hitter's impatience is the pitcher's biggest advantage.
