Pitchers made an adjustment to me. It's up to me to come up with an answer.
I had a lot of fun playing football and basketball, but deep down, the chess match or cat-and-mouse game between the pitcher and batter in baseball really drew me in. It's a thinking man's game, and for me, nothing can compare to that.
There are some great pitchers in this league. You're going to get fooled sometimes. They're going to get you.
I never want to play timid or scared of anything, especially when my pitcher or my teammates are out there going 100 percent.
The pitcher setting up the batter. It's chess, and you play with it.
Preparation is very important. The pitcher is going to do his job and prepare for you, so you as a hitter must do the same. I always watch videotape of pitchers before the game and even sometimes during.
It doesn't matter what the scoreboard says. I'm always having fun, talking to other guys. They even come to first base and ask me about hitting. I try to help them out as much as I can in the 30 seconds before the pitcher throws the next pitch. That's me. I don't think I will ever change that.
Any pitcher who throws at a batter and deliberately tries to hit him is a communist.
I think the biggest adjustment I've made before coming here was going from High A to Double A. I was going in facing pitchers who had more experience and knew how to throw all their stuff for strikes and in hitter's counts, things like that.
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.
