Quotes About Baseball

If they are going to nibble and try to go below the zone or off the plate a little bit, I want to try and get a pitch in the zone that I can do damage on.

I understand why there is a push for an automated strike zone. However, I do think there would be some unintended consequences of having it that I think need to be addressed first before we would go down that road.

A lot of hitters stay away from the plate, some are close up, some are forward, some are back. The thing about hitting is this: You have to know the strike zone. That's the most important thing. Hit strikes and put the bat on the ball.

I love the game, it's the greatest game on earth, that's why I can't understand all of this talk about trying to make the game better. People talk about the high strike zone and changing this and that. Why? To speed up the game? That's the beauty of baseball. There is no time element.

You had to pitch in and out. The zone didn't belong to the hitters; it belonged to the pitchers. Today, if you pitch too far inside, the umpire would stop you right there. I don't think it's fair.

Balls and strikes are the basic tenet to everything in baseball. From the perspective of hitting, pitching, offense and defense, it's all about the strike zone and how the battle is waged there between the pitcher and hitter.

At this point, I'm just grinding through it, trying to establish strikes in the zone with my pitches, using some information the opposition gives me, and kind of moving forward in that regard.

Early in my career, I wasn't good in the strike zone early. I was good in the strike zone late, which is not a good thing.

At the end of the day, all we're trying to do is get the hitter off balance. Get him in a position where he's not strong in the strike zone.

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 got into a bad habit of dropping my elbow and pushing the ball to the plate instead of getting on top of it and using some leverage to get it down in the strike zone or get some depth with the ball.

Yeah, if I see a ball in the zone then I'll try to put a good swing on it.

I know when I get to 0-2, 1-2, when I'm ahead in the count, that I hold a distinct advantage over every single hitter. I have so many options because I don't have to work within the strike zone anymore.

If you can constantly just put pressure on all four quadrants, it gives you a little more leverage to be able to fill the zone up with breaking balls and fastball counts - or with breaking balls when guys are maybe sitting on the fastball that you've established.

For me, that's the difference in good hitters and bad hitters. If you can stay in the zone and make them throw you pitches, you'll be able to drive the ball a little bit better.

I'd like to continue to reduce the amount of balls I swing at outside the strike zone. I've been told I have a really low number, one of the lowest percentages in the game, but there's no reason it shouldn't be the lowest.

There's only a certain percentage of the strike zone that you can do extra-base hit, barrel damage with the ball. Just because it's in the strike zone doesn't mean you have to take a cut at it.

I used to go to San Diego all the time to hang out. My cousin played for the San Diego Padres, and my brother lives down there. I love going to the zoo and walking around Old Town.

Whoever wants to know the hearts and minds of America had better learn baseball.

Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.

When I come into a game in the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, no one out and a one-run lead ... it takes people off my mind.

There are a lot of fellas with all the ability it takes to play in the major leagues, but... they always get stuck in the minor leagues because they haven't got the guts to make the climb.

Hey, I think it's easy for guys to hit .300 and stay in the big leagues. Hit .200 and try to stick around as long as I did; I think it's a much greater accomplishment. That's hard.

That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit.