Jim Tracy
Jim Tracy
batting guys half help hitting inches intangible league major necessary pitching sit six success takes talk team vitally
When half of the team is the pitching staff, there are some intangible things that are important. We can sit here and talk about hitting all we want. But that won't help the other part that is vitally necessary to the success of the Major League team, and that's the interaction that takes place between two guys 60 feet, six inches away from one another. That's just as important as anybody's batting average.
beyond depend landscape san series takes
It will depend on how things go through the weekend, not only here but what also takes place in San Diego. Once we get beyond (next week's series at Arizona), we'll see what the landscape is.
behind mound plate realizing ryan success takes vitally
What takes place between the pitcher's mound and behind the plate is vitally important to the success of a major-league team. I think Ryan is realizing that more every day.
admire appreciate coming demeanor gear guy hell improve nine players shown takes talk work
For a guy to come in here and work to improve his versatility, to put on that catcher's gear ... I admire that. I had a 15-minute talk with him, and I told him so. Like I told him, it takes a hell of a lot more than nine players to win. ... I appreciate the demeanor he's shown coming into this camp.
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.
accomplish game light takes
Sometimes it takes one at-bat in one game for the light to go on. You can accomplish a lot by doing what we were doing with Duffy today.
needs spring takes time work
Zach's doing what he needs to do to get his work done. It takes time -- that's all part of spring training.
cardinals club damaging hit reason takes tremendous
The Cardinals are a tremendous model, ... They're interesting for this reason -- they can kill you with the long ball. But what takes place with that club in between that long one being hit is what's most damaging about them.
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.