Jim Tracy
Jim Tracy
chance combined contact given great helped hitter last less man none saying sean seasons second strike
I'm not saying things would have necessarily been different if Sean was in the lineup but I think it would have helped to have a hitter who combined to strike out less 100 times over the last two seasons up in the situation. You need to make contact with a man on second and none out, and I think Sean would have given us a great chance of doing that.
far rest saying suggested swinging time
It's been suggested to J.D. for the time being to back off as far as swinging the bat. Am I saying we will not see him for the rest of the year? I'm not saying that.
behind continue count extremely goes saying tough work
It goes without saying that if you continue to work behind in the count that it makes it extremely tough to compete. It's not what you want to see.
challenge challenged chance people pride saying situation
The challenge is something I like very much, ... I take a lot of pride in people saying this is a situation where you don't have a chance to succeed. I'm really challenged by that.
absolutely andrew basketball lived loved player smartest
I loved those kids. I loved Andrew . . . I loved him. Smartest player I had in that program. He lived for it. Absolutely lived for basketball at St. Martha's.
behind casey guy hitting jason joe knows offense perfect somehow
In a perfect scenario, you'd have Joe hitting sixth. But if it's not perfect, I could see him hitting fifth, somehow behind Casey and Jason Bay. This is a guy who knows how to keep the offense moving, hit to all fields.
advocating bad good pitch preaching swing time walk weak winning
I'm not advocating we take the first pitch every time we walk up there. But, if you're going to take a swing at a first pitch, have it be a really good swing. If we keep preaching that, there won't have to be a whole lot said if you make a weak out on a marginally bad first pitch. It's not the way you play winning baseball.
advocating approaches ball continuing couple guys pitch smart swung taking time
I'm not advocating taking a ball on the first pitch every time up there. A couple of times (yesterday), the first pitch was there, and we swung at it. But I'm continuing to see these guys take smart approaches to hitting, and that's encouraging.
baseball challenge players understand winning
I mean, how do you play winning baseball that way? I challenge players to understand how the game's played.
clarify law says state strong study sure
I know the state law already says that, but I just want to clarify it. We want to study it and make sure that the law is strong enough to keep that from happening.
breaking good impressed interested numbers strikes threw
I know the numbers didn't look too good. However, the thing I was very impressed is that he, for the most part, pitched ahead, threw a lot of strikes and threw some very good breaking pitches. He went after hitters, and that's something we are very interested in seeing.
anxious ball club days deal follow forward history looking pirates pittsburgh players proud somebody understand
I'm looking forward to spearheading this ball club to back to some of the days when the Pittsburgh Pirates were somebody you really had to deal with. I'm very anxious in making the players understand there is history here - history for them to be proud of and history for them to follow up on.
biggest friday functional hearing medically parts push seeing versus
The biggest thing is to get him back completely functional versus seeing parts of him, parts of him there. With what I was hearing medically Friday and Saturday, it didn't make any sense to try to push it.
ability allow approach baseball best continue developed environment genuine league major man natural opportunity player position talent type unexpected
The best way to approach a player with his type of ability and talent is to feel like you've developed a type of environment to allow his development to continue on its natural course. With what we have done this winter, we have put this young man in a position to where his natural progression as a Major League Baseball player has a genuine opportunity to take place without heaping any unexpected expectations on him.