Satchel Paige Quotes

I just try to make the pitcher work.

You would be amazed how many important outs you can get by working the count down to where the hitter is sure you're going to throw to his weakness, and then throw to his power instead.

Basically, hitters fall into a pattern, and once you know what they like, you can set them up for the putout with something else.

If I get two strikes, I'll go to a pitch maybe that will help induce that a little bit.

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.

If a pitcher goes up there and he's throwing a ball and it's a breaking ball down and away or a fastball up and in, a perfect pitcher's pitch, and you're able to just foul it off and stay alive in the at-bat, just keep grinding, keep working through the at-bat and hoping for that mistake that he's going to make. And if he doesn't, then you walk.

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

I think we mixed a lot more curveballs than normal because they were either going after my drop or laying off of it and that's normally my go-to (pitch).

I don't see pitches down the middle anymore - not even in batting practice.

Hitting is business. With two strikes you really protect that plate.

Pitchers make adjustments, and it's up to the hitters to readjust and sort of tweak what they do.

In my own case I have frequently faced the pitcher when I had no desire whatever to hit. I wanted to get a base on balls.

My pitching philosophy is simple - keep the ball way from the bat.

The toughest thing in hitting shouldn't be deciding when to swing. It is, for me, deciding when not to swing. You should be swinging from the time you get into the batter's box until something says don't swing.

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.

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

There's no easier pitch to hit than a splitter that doesn't do anything.

Everybody in the league knew I had trouble with the inside pitch. I got away with it only because the great majority of pitchers were afraid of making a mistake in that spot. The threat of power is one of the best weapons you have in the batter's box.

Strikeouts are important. Anytime you can generate an out without the ball being put in play, there's nothing that can be done in those situations.

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.

All I really try to do is whatever hitter gets in there, I just try to get him out in as few pitches as possible.

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.

When I can buy strikes with that curveball, that just lets everything else play up.

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.