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.
I love sharing my knowledge of hitting with others. Now coaches and players at all levels can learn my systematic approach to hitting a baseball with more consistency, mental strength and accuracy.
I was stealing all the bases, and when you had to go to arbitration they said, 'You know, only the big boys make the money.' So I got to try and figure out how to hit a home run, too.
Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is 80% of being a successful hitter. The other 20% is just execution.
I don't want to take anything away from Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle. They're both great hitters, but they're batting against guys they never would have seen in previous years.
The key to hitting for high average is to relax, concentrate, and don't hit the fly ball to center field.
I'm still learning about my swing more. I continue to learn, with the help of my hitting instructors.
If this validates anything, it's that learning how to bunt and hit and run and turning two is more important than knowing where to find the little red light at the dug out camera.
I may not hit 50, 40 or 30 home runs, but I can do the little things like moving runners over that don't show up in the box score.
