Hitting Strategy Quotes

I don't like to guess. Just react. Some guys are guess hitters. I just could never do it. If you guess and guess wrong, you have no shot of hitting anything else.

I know I'm good when I'm hitting the ball the other way - that's Albert Pujols.

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.

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.

If you want to steal a base, steal a base. Don't make the hitter swing at a bad pitch trying to protect the runner.

What you have to do in certain situations, that's called situational hitting.

I'm not thinking home run, I just want to put a good swing on the ball. When you go looking for home runs, you get off of your swing. So you don't think of homers when you go up to the plate.

After all, there's only one aswer to be made to the young fellow who is asking constantly for advice as to how to hit. The answer is: "Pick out a good one and sock it!

If you try to give them a scheme, most hitters will rebel.

I let previous instances creep up in my thought process sometimes. I think that's where things go awry, and that's where the walks come in. I'm not giving up many hits, just putting them on base for free.

I like to hit with men in scoring position.

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.

The first rule of baseball is to get a good ball to hit.

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

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.

I think once I see everybody and go through every team and their pitchers, I'll get an idea of what they like to do. And they'll see what I like to do and swing at. I think there's always something you've got to adjust to.

Your goal as a hitter is to get on. And if the third baseman is playing back and letting you lay down a bunt, I don't have a problem with that, even if it's late in a no-hitter.

There's so much attached to playing shortstop that you lose your concentration on hitting, unless you're a natural hitter. There's so much to think about in the field, you don't have time to think about what you did at the plate last time. 'How did he get me out?'

You figure when you match up against other clubs and you go through the lineup one through nine, you get to the nine hole, if you can put together an at-bat or you can see some different pitches that helps give you an advantage competitively, it can make your lineup stronger.

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 know where my game is. I know I'm a power hitter and an RBI guy. I need to get on base for my teammates behind me and just stick with my game. I don't try to do too much. Sometimes when you try to do too much in this game you pretty much can't do anything. And that's pretty much my mentality.

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

That's why, to me, Spring Training is so hard, because every time you go up there, there's a new pitcher, and you have to come up with a new plan.

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.

The key to hitting a lot of home runs as a player at Kauffman Stadium is that you'd better run into some on the road.