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

I didn't get over 1300 walks without knowing the strike zone.

You get to the big leagues, and you think, 'Can I do this stuff?' Then you take the first pitch down the middle for Strike 1, and you think, 'I could have hit that.'

I am convinced that in my own career I could usually have hit 30 points higher if I had made a specialty of hitting.

But I got a guy on third, I was in a jam the other day in a game, all those situations, when you need a strikeout there, in big spots. But we are very aware of that fact, that these guys put the ball in play.

I wasn't ever good enough to be on the baseball team and that sort of stuff.

It's hard for a hit to be bad for your career.

I hate striking out, but at the same time, I'm much better at letting them go rather than, earlier in my career, worrying about it so much before the next at-bat against the guy. You grow as you play, and every year, I work to cut them down.

And I mean, I'm established. So I'm not worried about having a hit at this point in my career.