Chris Shelton Quotations

What they will tell you is that good pitching will always beat good hitting.

Yes, I would be blown away. I'm blown away seeing my name there right now.

Maybe when the season is over, I can realize what I did to start the season and that I did something special. Right now, it's about getting some wins.

My defense is every bit as important as my offense, because I don't want to hurt the team.

My goal is never to go pole-to-pole. My goal is to stay in the middle of the field.

I don't expect to hit home runs. I expect to hit the ball hard. They're just going out of the park right now. Whether they will a week from now, two weeks from now, who knows?

I don't feel like I'm doing anything differently. I couldn't explain what's going on other than I'm hitting the ball hard and they're going out of the ballpark. That's all I can tell you.

I don't drink Red Bull. I don't drink red pop. I do chew Big Red gum. I've tasted red pop and it wasn't for me.

Today, it was frustrating, and I really (couldn't) care less about what I did today.

He didn't get it in as far as the first one. I just put a good swing on it. I can't quite tell you why it went out of the ballpark, but the pitch was in a good spot for me. It was in an area where I could hit it hard.

I remember watching him when I was growing up. Just to watch him go about his business was huge.

People, almost daily, complain about our lack of computers with Internet.

Our GM, Dave Dombrowski, called me and asked to report early and I was happy to do it. I'm really looking forward to getting started.

I was expecting it to skip off the grass faster. If I catch it, the inning is over.

It feels good and it's fun. The biggest thing is we got to go out there and make sure that we get wins. If I'm going out there looking for personal numbers, that's the wrong thing. We need wins, and today what happened got us a win.

It feels unreal. You put me in with all these names, you put me with everybody else ? maybe when the season's over, I can sit back and really realize what I did to start the season, and hopefully, I can continue to enjoy that throughout the season.

I think once you understand the length of the season and what happens, the biggest thing is you have to learn to pace yourself,

July was a special month -- those don't come along all the time. You can't expect 40 hits a month the whole season, as much as you'd like to see it happen.

I'm striking out way too much. I'm not making any adjustments, either.

I'm striking out way too much. I'm either hitting the ball out of the park, getting an extra-base hit - or I'm striking out.

I wasn't surprised. I was more disappointed that they only protected 37 guys on their roster. All of my success is predicated on everybody telling me I can't do this or that. It's given me a chip on my shoulder to prove people wrong.

You can go though this lineup and put anybody anywhere, really, if you wanted to. I'm not going to lie, I feel really comfortable hitting third. But I'll continue to go wherever he puts me. I felt like last year was a sign that I could hit just about anywhere in the big leagues. I hit second, third, hit fifth, it doesn't really matter to me. As long as I'm in there, I don't care. There's going to be plenty to go around in this lineup.

You just have to look at me. There's no way. If you come to the ballpark and you look at me in person, you could tell I'm not on steroids. I don't have the body to be on steroids, that's for sure.

Yeah, it might work just one time, but if or when it does, it will be worth it.

To learn and listen to him was something I'll never forget.

Yeah, that was in the back of my mind a little bit.

You know what he's done. That's the biggest thing.

Trust me, I've been paying attention to all of the people that I've been compared to. I don't deserve to even be mentioned with players like that.

You have to pace yourself. If you have a day off, take it as a whole day off. Just relax. That'll help in the long run.

The pitch before cut a little bit. With the way I took it, I don't know if he took that to mean I wasn't really looking for something in there, but he threw another one.

Everyone thinks the clubhouse had problems last year. We didn't have problems. It was just frustration because we weren't playing well. That's when trouble starts.

I've never tried to hit a home run. Every time I hit one, I just say to myself, 'There's no way that just happened again.' It's mind-blowing.

I've never been the guy who had all the talent and could take a day off here and there. I've had to work and prepare myself every single day. All this attention is new to me. I'm gonna have to get used to it, if I keep this up.

Same Jim Leyland as he was in Spring Training.

Sometimes I had to remind him I was just his boy, his son, and not some big-leaguer, not anything special.

That's why I was shaking my head as I walked away.

They're all actually starting to grow on me, if you really want the truth.

It's pretty amazing to me to even be mentioned with players like that.

It's strange for me, power-wise. It's not something I'm accustomed to. I'm not going up trying to hit home runs. I'm just trying to get good pitches to hit and they're going out of the park. It's surprising.

The biggest part is to come out here and try to improve myself in every aspect of the game and try to get myself ready for the season. Obviously I want to come in here and make the team and we'll just go from there.

It's instant feedback. You can see things right away. You can put a bad swing on top of a good swing, and you can compare.

It's instant feedback. You can see things right away.

It was my first opening day actually playing and it was exciting. I didn't expect anything of that magnitude, but it's something special.

It will be good to start playing at home. We have an opportunity to get off to a very good start this season. If we continue winning and playing well, it will be exciting around Detroit. Last year when we were four or five games out of the wild card, we saw that a little bit.

They just felt like I wasn't in their plans at that time. Detroit has given me an opportunity, and I'm taking full advantage of it.

The thing is, good pitching always beats good hitting. Unfortunately, Dmitri (Young) stole third and we had one out, all I had to do was hit the ball to the outfield. I couldn't get it done. We just didn't get the big hits when we needed to.

I'm not going to lie. I've paid attention to that a little bit. When you turn on the TV, that's all you see. It feels unreal to put me with all those names.

I'm not going to lie, April was a special month. I can't explain it. I don't know why, all of a sudden, balls were flying out of the ballpark.

I'm looking forward to the opportunity to be playing for Jim Leyland. Just his track record alone makes him demand respect from the start. He's a proven leader, and he's won everywhere he went. He doesn't care if you are a rookie or a 15- or 20-year vet. You play the game hard, and you won't have any problems.

I'm lucky if I get two in a year, let alone in back-to-back at bats. It's all kind of overwhelming. It's been a great week. What else can I say.

I'm just happy for the opportunity to play ball every day. I would rather just get in, do my job and get out without dealing with all of the questions. But I guess it comes with the territory. If we weren't winning, nobody would want to talk to me then. And that's the most important thing.

If you can hit .300, it's something. It doesn't matter if it's your first season or your 15th, .300 is a good year. If I can get that done, that would be great.

I just put a good swing on it. I can't really tell you why it went out of the ballpark, but it did. I wasn't trying to go up there and hit a home run, I was just trying to hit it hard.

I just think that if we play the way he tells us to play, we'll win.

I really used that season as a learning experience. I tried to stay as sharp as I could physically by taking extra batting practice. It was a really big year mentally, though. I was able to watch major-leaguers play up close and ask a lot of questions. It really prepared me to eventually play at the big-league level.

I love playing first base. It keeps me in the game.

I heard that. As soon as he hit it, the place went silent so you could hear it for a little while.

I didn't think in my wildest dreams I'd be on any of these shows or be doing any of this like I am. I mean, it's fun, but it's kind of overwhelming and kind of shocking.

If he says we played bad, we played bad. He's the boss.

I feel like my actions speak for themselves, whether I play well against them or not. But there is a part of me that definitely wants to play well against them.

He's nasty. That's why the Yankees went and got him and that's why Chicago has him now. He's going to be huge for them in the playoffs.

I continue to go out there and work, and I want to become one of the better defensive first basemen in the league.

I can definitely see why he's such a coveted player.

I can control going out and playing hard everyday and trying to improve myself, and Carlos is the same way. I can't control what Carlos does. If we're in a ballgame and he's there, I want to try to help him anyway possible and try to help the team win and I know it's the same way with him.

Hearing all the time I couldn't do this and couldn't do that put a chip on my shoulder.