John Kruk Quotes

You don't catch the knuckleball, you defend against it.

If I'm ready to hit early, if I get fooled, then whatever. I've still got two more strikes.

You never hit a good slider or curveball; you just try to go after the mistakes.

The one unbreakable rule about hitting is this: if a batter hits well with his own particular stance and swing, think twice - or more - before suggesting a change.

To tell the truth, I never think about a homer. I'm just thinking of the situation and what I've got to do when I go to the plate.

I have to go with the approach I had in Triple-A. I need to take a lot of those fastballs I am seeing to left field. Also must gear up for the changeup and take them up the middle.

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.

I've witnessed thousands of superior athletes try to becomes hitters and fail at it.

It makes no difference to me what kind of bat I have. For instance, I often grab the first bat I come across when I go up to the plate. Muggsy McGraw uses a light stick and Jake Stenzel uses a heavy one, but I'm liable to take any one of the miscellaneous lot that falls in my way.

The way those clubs shift against Ted Williams, I can't understand how he can be so stupid not to accept the challenge to him and hit to left field.

I don't think I do anything that well, but I do a little bit of everything!

I don't feel like consistency is in my life at all, but I honestly wouldn't have it any other way because it keeps my life interesting.

For me, the strike zone has always been, If it's something I can drive, it's most likely a strike. I feel like if it's a ball I really can't do much with, it's most likely a ball. So that's just always been my approach.

Working my way through different formats has not changed my batting approach much.

I'm 5-foot-9, 180 pounds. I don't have much else to work with, so I just try to use my bat speed and get the most out of what I've got.

When you go up there in the batter's box, you're engaged to hit. It's the same thing with baserunning.

Hitting is not an exact science.

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.

I adapt to things quickly, including good things, which I wish I could shut off sometimes. My friends have to keep reminding me how crazy my life has become, and then it hits me fresh and I just slap my forehead and think, "Wait, what... ?"

The key to hitting for high average is to relax, concentrate, and don't hit the fly ball to center field.

I think the philosophy will continue to be what it always was; which was, let's keep throwing a bunch of things at the wall, and see what sticks.

I think anybody incapable of changing his mind is crazy.

I think that cynicism is the enemy. Cynicism thinks it knows how things work. "Oh yeah, you know how that works." I think uncertainty is the thing you have to keep embracing. You have to keep saying, I actually don't know, and going out is going to tell me something every time.

I think the more you have a generalist perspective, I think sometimes the more you can kind of see through the forest and the trees. And when it gets a little bit cloudy, you know, have some sense of, "Well, maybe this might happen or maybe that might happen." So I really am a big believer in liberal arts education. I think it's better - particularly in these kind of uncertain times - to know a little bit about a lot of things as opposed to being expert in one thing.

You can't think about what you're going to do. It just gets in the way. You have to be just available for life, otherwise you're not bringing anything to the party. So I don't lie awake thinking about what I'm going to do workwise. There's just too much going on.