David Ortiz Quotes

Once I found my swing, I feel like if I put a good swing on it, I feel like it's got a good chance to go wherever - left, right, center - it doesn't matter. But I'm not just out here going to swing for home runs of anything. I'm just trying to put a good swing on the baseball.

I'm seeing the ball well. I'm not trying for home runs. I'm trying to hit to right field more. When I do that, the home run comes.

I don't try to hit the ball 500 feet. It looks good when you hit it 500 feet, but as long as it goes over the fence, it's a home run. When you swing hard, it takes a little bit of recognition away from you. The power you're trying to increase - you're not all the way through it with your vision.

I was a contact hitter my whole career but I learned how to handle the ball inside. And Ted Williams played a big part in that. He gave me the advice on how to handle inside pitches.

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.

You can't go up there trying to get hits. You can just go up there trying to put together at-bats and square the baseball up.

I wouldn't describe myself as a home run hitter. I'm just trying to hit the ball hard in the gaps. Just backspinning baseballs and hitting line drives.

The home run became glorified with Babe Ruth. Starting with him, batters have been thinking in terms of how far they could hit the ball, not how often.

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 think about how a guy mentally prepared himself to do battle, to go out and face the pitcher. I think so many hitters do not know how to get themselves prepared to play or hit against a pitcher. You have to mentally be prepared to hit against all pitchers.

I could always hit. I learned to hit with a broomstick and a ball of tape and I could always get that bat on the ball.

You don't have to swing hard to hit a home run. If you got the timing, it'll go.

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.

Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is 80% of being a successful hitter. The other 20% is just execution.

If a pitcher makes a mistake inside, I'm going to hit it.

I think my mindset and my approach is to hit the ball hard, whether it be first pitch or work the count.

The biggest thing is, you don't hit the good sliders; you just hit the mistakes. That's what my thing has always been: Just keep hunting mistakes.

That's one thing I learned from watching great hitters hit. A lot of hitters, they're ready to hit from pitch one.

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.

I try to think shorter swing with two strikes. That's how I was raised and taught the game of baseball.

Yeah, I'm going to go back (after hitting his 500th home run, but commenting on reaching the 3,000 hit plateau) to my Punch-and-Judy days, hit the ball the other way, start bunting the ball a little bit.

You might as well go in and start getting dressed. I'm going to hit his first pitch for a home run.

In this lineup, anywhere I hit, I don't care. I always go out there and swing the bat the same way.

I would think I drive most hitting coaches crazy. During one single at-bat I used six different stances on six pitches. Oh yeah, I also struck out. So what do I know?

There'll be a man on the moon before Gaylord Perry hits a home run.