Jim Tracy
Jim Tracy
baseball care catch chances defense either fairly game good level managing name people philosophy pitching playing since
Pitching and defense has been the name of the game in baseball forever. I don't care what level you're playing at. My philosophy since I started managing has been that, before you can look at any other phases, you've got to feel fairly comfortable that you've got some people who can pitch and you've got to be able to catch the ball. If you can't do either one, your chances of being very good are slim.
both competent either figure guys kids sit smart talking time understand
We have two kids there. Both are very competent kids -- smart enough to understand what we're talking about -- and they will figure it out. We've got to find opportunities for both of them. We'll take it a day at a time and go from there. As I've said all along, with these two guys on the club, I don't want to see either one of them sit for too long a time and not participate. It's advantageous to both of them to do it that way.
base either extend front game guy hitting men number opportunity people plate possibilities takes year
Think about the ... significance of ... how many at-bats he takes this year with men on base because the guy (Casey) hitting in front of him is going to be on base. There's going to be a number of times that he's going to come up to the plate with people on base and have the opportunity to either extend the inning, put a game away or extend leads. All those possibilities will be there.
ask days eighth either guys period seventh sit special time
We've got to find opportunities for them. I don't want to see either of them sit for any period of time and not participate. We can't let these guys sit for days on end and then ask them to do something special in the seventh or eighth inning.
catch speed
We're going to speed Duff up and get him some at-bats. We've just got to catch up a little bit.
easy few gonna guy identical last leave quality recognize saw seeing start starts step teammates took
What we're seeing right now is, in my mind, identical to what we saw last year, when it took him a few starts to get untracked, and then you see one quality start after another. His teammates recognize that's he gonna leave everything that he has on the field, and it's very easy to step up for a guy like that.
came says schedule
What the schedule says is what you do. I think we came out of it pretty good, all things considered.
arm ball decrease instead pushing slot throwing timing
When your timing is off and you're pushing the ball instead of throwing the ball, there will be a decrease in velocity. If the timing is off or the arm slot is off, you won't see the same thing.
impact push runners talking
We're talking about a catcher. Squatting, up and down out of the crouch, runners going, boom, the impact of landing. ... It doesn't make any sense to push it.
rest
We're not going to say we're not going to see him for the rest of the year, ... We're going to take it day-by-day.
beginning direction guys seeing themselves
We're seeing some of these guys beginning to escalate themselves in the direction that you want to see them going.
along change extra fact few general laying steps taken
We're scratching surfaces and laying the general framework. Things aren't going to change dramatically other than the fact that we'll be more detailed-oriented, and a few extra steps will be taken along the way.
beyond guys looking opportunity
We're looking for 35 or 38 or 39, and this is an opportunity to find out who are those guys beyond the 25.
change landscape perception
With what we have here right now, ... you'll see the landscape change and be better than what the perception is.