When you bat, you need to have a lot of patience. I started training for it from the age of eight or nine. So, I knew what I needed when I stepped on the field to bat.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Are you tall? Are you strong? How big are your hands? You must be honest with yourself or you will end up using the wrong bat.
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.
You have got to field well. If you don't bat well, you can still make a difference by fielding well. There are times I have played games just because of my fielding.
I just try to do my best every at-bat. That's what I plan to do.
If you're free of mechanical thoughts and free of knowing that your body and bat are going to be in the right position at the right time, you can freely focus on the ball. It's a great feeling.
You always want to get at-bats. You always want to contribute.
You have to stay fresh and blank in your mind when you go out to bat. You complicate things, and you're gone.
Just because you're down to your last strike, you're not out yet. You can always do more. You'll always have more at-bats to take. That's true in baseball, in rescuing animals, and in life, generally.
I don't need to practice my swing. I grew up with a bat in my hands.
What I need as a player is just to get at-bats, I think.