Dusty Baker Ball Quotations

This guy is in great shape -- this is the best shape I've seen him in. Our trainers went down and checked on him. They saw him this winter. He's doing pretty good. He hasn't played baseball for awhile so we still have to break him in slowly.

They hit some balls on the nose. The elements were with us tonight. This is sort of strange. You think spring is here, then winter shows back up again, I guess that is Chicago; you've just got to deal with it.

Woody is a competitor. He wanted to go out on a positive note for next year. He couldn't wait to get out there, and I was anxious to see him out there. In the winter, what you remember is how you finish.

This is the best ball we've played the whole year.

It could have been decided in the first inning. If we put the ball in play there, we could have scored a whole bunch of runs.

It is a little strange to be watching baseball that counts at this time of year. I know our guys are really excited.

I think the main problem was he couldn't feel the ball in his fingers. I guess it's cold, and the ball is a little slicker when it's cold, and he really couldn't feel it. Consequently, he starts trying to drop down, different things to try to command the strike zone, and he had trouble commanding the strike zone.

We're not taking anything away from the young guys, but early spring is for the young. I said the other day, the young hit fastballs now, but they hit two breaking balls out. Those weren't quality breaking balls, but you've got to hit those if you are going to hit. I've got to give them some props for not missing them.

If he keeps throwing the ball like that, there'll be no problem.

He was going to third, but the runner had beaten him because the ball was high. He decided to throw to first, but it was too late.

We couldn't get the ball down today. The ball was up and the location wasn't where he wanted it. Power hitters -- when you get the ball up and over the heart of the plate -- you're going to get hurt.

I don't doubt that this guy is smart enough to do anything that he really wants to do. I don't know if he was quite pitching to the ballpark . . . and if you ask him he probably wouldn't tell you anyway.

They are both throwing the ball good. It's just a matter of location most of the time. I'm confident it will come. They've pitched well in the past, so why wouldn't they pitch well in the present and future? I'm not too worried. You want them to be in great form right now, but we do have some time. They have a couple of starts left.

He said he could go one more. But you could see he was laboring out there, throwing the ball high,

They say you come to the ballpark and you'll see something you haven't seen, and I haven't seen that before when you hit the guy on the helmet with a double-play ball. They get a run out of that and another run on the two-out base hit.

They say come to the ballpark and you'll see something you haven't seen before. I haven't seen that before, you hit a guy in the helmet on the double-play ball.

No. 1, you have to make sure he's OK so this thing doesn't linger all year long. Fortunately for us, he did get some at-bats during the World Baseball Classic and the fact that he did pretty well shows he's not that far off. He saw better quality pitching in that than he would down here. It was to his advantage and ours that he did play.

Usually, if he makes a mistake, they don't hit him out of the ballpark with that sinker, ... He made a mistake; that's what happens with youth. We have a young pitching staff and a young bullpen that's subject sometimes to walks and also subject to mistakes.

He had his control today and was changing speed. He didn't throw a lot of balls in the same location and used various speeds.

He doesn't fool around out there, does he? He gets the ball and throws it. This guy learned how to put different pressure points on the ball to make the ball move. This guy is the best I've ever seen.

He got beat up pretty good today. They hit some balls hard. He was around the plate, throwing strikes. I just hope he's all right.

He expects the ball to be hit back to him and he gets in good position. He reminds me of a guy I used to play with, Fernando Valenzuela . They expect the ball to be hit back at them and they practice it. Perfect practice makes perfect results.

Guys are throwing the ball well. We've just got to cut down on the walks. It seems like we walk somebody and they score.

The bullpen hasn't gone the way we scripted. Guys were going two innings and you can't use them the next day. They told me Aardsma was throwing the heck out of the ball in Triple-A.

The guy can pitch, but we had an opportunity to beat him today, just like we had an opportunity to beat him in St. Louis and he gets off the hook. He wasn't sharp early, he hung some breaking balls we hit hard, but we didn't find any holes.

The things I want to see out of him is baseball experience and work on fundamental instinctive stuff -- running the bases, hitting the cutoff man, knowing when to run. I've heard that when he gets thrown out, he stops running. When you get thrown out, you need to be more daring.

If you can catch a ball in Minnesota, you can catch it anywhere.

It's something we talked about. Again, the decision is up to the player. There's quite a bit of pressure on these guys, especially the guys from Latin America more than anybody because of the magnitude and importance of baseball in those areas.

He throws strikes, he's not afraid. He doesn't pitch away from the bat. He knows how to pitch. He has three good pitches. He's still trying to get a feel of his breaking ball some. He's been impressive. It's the first time I've seen him and I like what I see.

He threw the ball pretty good. He was better the second inning than the first. The important thing was, he was on the mound. I thought he did pretty good.

He's lost some valuable time and he's lost some valuable experience in there. We don't know if he's quite back to where he was before, even though he's throwing the ball very good.

He's got the legs (to be a power hitter). We know he can hit the ball to right field, he's got a good eye for the strike zone and he can run and he's making fine progress for a young man who came out of Double-A.

His velocity appears to be up, his location was good. I'm sure he's not happy about not covering first base. He's been working on it, and we've been making him very conscious of it, but the way he falls off, I don't know, it just looks like he has a lapse or something. Other than that, he threw the ball good.

It's at a point of no decision yet. It's not a 'no,' but it's not a 'yes.' I think he's leaning toward that way. Personally, I'd rather have him go down early while he's still in baseball shape and play, and then come home in December.

They're playing hard. Corey circled the ball and missed and, like I said, we just played bad defense today.

We executed that cutoff play perfectly. That was a very athletic play. That ball went into the gap, and it was obvious that they were going to send him. It was a perfect hop, a perfect throw and a perfect tag.

I like his approach. Anybody who can hit the ball up the middle and to the opposite field is going to hit. He'll learn how to hit with power. If he can hit balls to right field, he has power.

I have learned from hamstrings that when a guy says he feels good, you give him a couple extra days. Invariably, you top a ball and have to beat it out. It happens every time.

He's throwing the ball great. We just can't go to him when it means something yet. I have to talk to (general manager Jim Hendry ) and we have to figure this thing out, because we're not out of it yet.

He's strong. He's going to love Wrigley Field. He has tremendous sock to left field and to left-center. He doesn't hit the ball up in the air. He keeps it relatively low. The ball jumps off his bat. So far I like his swing. He can hit that fastball, which is where it starts.

You don't want to get beat, number one, and you hate getting shutout, number two, and even worse, no hits.

I love sharing my knowledge of hitting with others. Now coaches and players at all levels can learn my systematic approach to hitting a baseball with more consistency, mental strength and accuracy.

The fundamentals of baseball haven't changed, but how we can teach those fundamentals has. With an e-book, learning can be more rewarding and fun.

That's what baseball is all about right there, a matter of will.

He looked happy. If he looks happy, there's a chance he threw the ball pretty good.

He moves the ball around and works the ball on the outside part of the plate. He throws two or three different speeds off his fastball and keeps you off balance.

It's one of the best trades you don't make. Walker made some fine defensive plays tonight. He's hitting the ball outstanding.

He's a ballplayer. These are things a ballplayer does -- they run the bases well, they hit well, they throw, they throw to the right base, they steal a base. I think we're very fortunate to get such a talent at such a low price.

He's one of the premier leadoff men in the game. Anybody that follows baseball knows it's tougher to find a good leadoff man than a good power hitter. We're very, very excited to have Juan Pierre.

Sometimes he has great command of the strike zone, and the next time ... It's a matter of being more consistent. He is throwing the ball good.

The ball kept coming over the heart of the plate. It was supposed to be outside and it caught too much of the plate. He threw a lot of pitches (105) in a short period of time.

The ball is flying out of this ballpark, and ordinarily it doesn't. It's strange for here.

That first inning has cost him a lot of pitches. He's been throwing so many pitches the last three starts, that's why we took him out. After the first inning, he started throwing the ball better. He had a lot of deep counts, a lot of 3-2 counts. Those pitches mount up.

The only mistake 'Z' made was on Delgado. It was supposed to be a fastball away, and it came back over the plate. He made some great pitches and had a big triple for us. It's a great feeling to have that kind of offensive support from everybody.

The last few days, we haven't been as sharp. Baseball players aren't used to getting up at 5, 6 o'clock every morning. You have one day off in six weeks, that's a pretty good grind.

The field's a lot faster than ours. That ball got to him a lot quicker than he expected. We'll try to get him some more time at second base, especially with the split squad coming up here.

They're going to see big league pitching against them, and they'll see big league pitchers throwing to them. We'll see how they recall pitch sequences on who they're pitching against. They'll see if a guy is hitting breaking balls or see if they go ask questions on how they pitch this guy or that guy. Does a guy hit this -- what are his strengths or weaknesses. They have to pay attention because they're big in this equation.

I've heard it's a greater problem in high school with young kids. Baseball is attempting to clean it up by testing. That's where it starts. It appears to be cleaner now than a couple years ago because of the testing.

I was spoiled by some of the guys I had in the past, like Robby Thompson and Jeff Kent. I know the importance of that infield defense. There's more balls on the ground than in the air. Consequently, you have to play 'D' on the field.

He's been throwing the ball pretty good. He's been better in relief than starting. He enjoys the role and wants to go on every trip, which is rare. He wants to go in case he can get in a game.

Just because you can hit, doesn't mean you know how to play winning baseball, ... That's what I'm trying to instill here, and it's not easy to do in the short time I've been here.

A couple of balls caught too much of the plate early, ... but we were still in the ballgame. We ended up giving away 4 runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues, and we didn't play very good defense today.

A couple balls caught too much of the plate early. We were still in the ballgame, and we ended up giving away like four runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues. We didn't play very good defense today.

A couple balls caught too much of the plate early, ... We were still in the ballgame, and we ended up giving away like four runs on defense. You can't give away runs in the big leagues. We didn't play very good defense today.

He wanted the victory and knew we needed it. His fastball was moving.

He puts pressure on the opposition. He brings a different dimension to our lineup so we can play small ball and set up the guys behind him to play long ball as well.

For a while it didn't look too good because we were hitting the ball hard and on the nose, but right at people. We scored when we had to and the bullpen did a good job.

(Zambrano) struggled early. He made a couple young mistakes. I guess that comes with young players. He started working his breaking ball and had them off-balance. In the sixth and seventh, he probably had his best stuff. Fortunately, we got a couple runs in the top of the seventh.

You would think over the course of a winter -- actually three winters, two winters -- that guys would come back strong and healthy, which hasn't been the case. Woody had a little setback with his knee, but his arm is doing well. He's throwing the ball great. Hopefully, Woody will be ready soon. How soon we don't know. We have Wade Miller coming on pretty strong. We just have to pull our belts a little tighter and do what we have to do.

You've got to throw strikes. That's with most young guys. Throw strikes, throw quality strikes. Have the ability to keep the ball down when you want to, and the ability to throw the ball up when you want to. When you throw the ball outside, you don't want it to creep back inside. The main thing is just relax. Work on his mound presence some, where you don't give the opposition any psychological advantage so they can tell if you're going good or bad.