Strike Zone Awareness Quotes

But hitting is so crazy. You feel great today and get three hits. And the next day you show up and it's, 'What happened to my mechanics? Where's my swing?' Sometimes I even Google it and the search comes up with no results.

I was kind of a slap hitter, trying to get base hits, hit line drives, stay below a certain trajectory with my ball.

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.

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?'

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

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.

You can't see the bat hit the ball if you're generating any bat speed. If you're just laying the bat through the strike zone, sure, maybe.

Sometimes you go to home plate, and you have an idea, like a clear idea, of what they're going to throw to you. I think that's all: getting better pitches to hit, realizing when you hit the ball better, what pitch you hit, if you're chasing too much. If you figure out all that, you can get a little better as a player.

One game, one pitch can change everything for a hitter. The way I like to approach it is that every at-bat is its own unique opportunity to go out there and do something really good.

The best compliment you can give a hitter is he's a tough out; that initiates fear in a pitcher.

I study pitchers. I visualize pitches. That gives me a better chance every time I step into the box. That doesn't mean I'm going to get a hit every game, but that's one of the reasons I've come a long way as a hitter.

The big thing is, it's about learning which off-speed pitches to swing at. A lot of people say, 'Oh, this guy can't hit a curveball; this guy can't hit an off-speed pitch.' But it's about swinging at the right one. Swing at the hangers. Swing at the ones you can handle.

Knowing the strike zone is very important, but I think the first thing is knowing yourself, knowing what things you do well.

As hitters, I think we take for granted at times how good our hands are and just how much the value of truly getting the barrel to the ball is. We don't have to do as much as we think we have to.

I think I have a natural hitting ability.

That's where my focus is all the time, trying to get on base.

There are certain things I can't do, certain pitches I can't hit. You stay away from them. You try to wait for pitches you can hit. The bat speed isn't what it used to be. You make up for it by using your head, working counts, getting ahead in counts and getting pitches to hit and hitting them hard.

Hey, I think it's easy for guys to hit .300 and stay in the big leagues. Hit .200 and try to stick around as long as I did; I think it's a much greater accomplishment. That's hard.

The great hitters use the whole field, and that's a goal of mine.

You never want to lose a strength, but I've also got to try and be a complete hitter.

Our hitting coaches have done a great job of understanding when I don't look right at the plate and getting me back on track.

Early in my career, I wasn't good in the strike zone early. I was good in the strike zone late, which is not a good thing.

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 kind of realized that when I take more pitches I put better swings on them.

Whoever's hitting in front of you or behind you is going to determine how you get pitched, but there's nothing you can do.