Fastball Quotations | Page 3

I thought I used my fastball good. I got some outs with my fastball with two strikes. That's something I've been trying to work on. I got some key double plays to get some outs. My defense helped me out. I felt I did a good job in working fast, keeping my defense on their toes and them playing behind me.

The 2-2 pitch was pretty close, ... The 3-2 fastball wasn't.

That was a terrible pitch. I left a fastball up and he made me pay for it.

That was vintage Elliott. He spotted his fastball well on both sides of the plate and had all three pitches working. He's done a much better job coming inside this year when he gets ahead.

That was the best fastball I've ever thrown in my life. He swung and missed. I remember walking off the field, with everybody in Yankee Stadium standing up, and I said to myself there was no way I could let the game get away from me.

That was probably the least amount of curveballs I've thrown in my entire career. I had a pretty good cutter today and I was locating my fastball pretty well, so I stayed with that all day.

That was a good sign. It means I'm keeping my fastball down. That's what I wanted to concentrate on doing.

That was a fastball that was all over the place. But it worked.

That's the thing. You get a couple of innings like that and you can go six or seven innings. His curve was working. His fastball up (high) was working, an outstanding outing for a sophomore.

I wasn't trying to hit him in the head. I don't play the game that way. I've got to pitch in. This is the only place I'll get comfortable doing it, making it part of my game plan and taking it into the season. I promise you there are very few people in this world who have stepped in the box in the last seven or eight years against Pedro Martinez that haven't thought about the fastball in. I'm definitely not one of those guys from a pitching standpoint because I've had so much success away.

My breaking ball, I didn't have command of it. I threw a fastball and he really wasn't timid at all.

My changeup, curve and sinker were good. I'm just waiting on the fastball. I need more velocity and I know it's going to come. After I take time off and start throwing again, there's a period when you work through the shoulder soreness. I'm at that point now. I'm right on schedule for the Classic. The fastball should be there for me in Puerto Rico.

We were going fastball in and it just kind of pulled a little too much, just out of my reach. I just ran out of arm. My arm's not long enough to get it.

You know what you're going to get with Brent. He's not going to blow an 86 mile per hour fastball by you, but he's going to keep the ball down and keep the infielders in the game. They tend to play good defense behind him.

We needed Rich to throw that fastball down in the zone better when we have a lead like that late in the game.

We know they can hit the ball. Phillip (Watson) does a good job keeping you off balance. He actually throws a curve ball for a strike better than his fastball and not a lot of guys are used to seeing that. Then Josh Bradshaw came in and did a good job on the mound. He throws the ball over the plate. He's pretty fearless.

We haven't really decided where he fits into things. He's a guy we could use as a starter in that piggy-back role, but we also feel he can help us out of the bullpen. He's got two plus pitches, the fastball and the slider, but we haven't defined his role yet.

We were just trying to locate a fastball away - trying to get ahead. He got good wood on it. He timed it good and hit it out of the park. I tip my hat to him.

When guys make mistakes you have to take advantage. He made a mistake with the fastball the first time.

Today was probably as bad a fastball physically as I've felt like I've had all spring. Regardless of my emotions coming out of this game or how I feel about everything. I've got to be ready to go Monday.

We work on that a lot, especially early on, being able to throw your breaking ball early in the count and get ahead of the hitters without them seeing his fastball first.

We worked on some very small things. We just went back to basics, worked on getting the ball down, better fastball command, fastballs down and away.

The experience at the higher level for pitchers is invaluable. For example, the idea that when he attacks a batter inside with a fastball and then tries to double up with a fastball and the guy hits it. You need to start recognizing and realizing hitters' tendencies as a pitcher, and you need to pitch off your experience.

Welcome back, ... That's got to be at least the fourth time I've seen him do that. They keep trying to sneak a fastball by him, and he keeps hitting it a mile.

Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster.

We had something going on in the fifth, it looked like we had a chance to get back in the game, but they cut the inning off. We took some good at-bats off him, we created some opportunity for ourselves ... but from watching him, he's got a crisp fastball and his breaking ball also is very sharp.

Tonight was, in my opinion, dramatically better than what we saw in Florida. In Florida, he battled, but his fastball command was erratic. Tonight, it was crisp, it was good to both sides of the plate. It's a big step forward for him.

This was my birthday present. Winning the game was all I really wanted. It was a cutting fastball a little bit over the plate. It was a huge win after (Friday). We were real flat coming back from (playing) Dixie State. We needed a win to get us on a roll.

This was 10 times better than my last start. My location on my fastball was much, much better.

Throw strikes down in the strike zone. A fastball up in the zone looks like a beach ball. The other thing I stress is location. If you can locate a pitch, you'll do fine.

Towers and McClung pitched great. (Towers) has been on a roll and (McClung) can overpower you with his fastball and when he gets his curveball over he's tough. He has a great arm.

Towers and McClung pitched great, ... (Towers) has been on a roll and (McClung) can overpower you with his fastball and when he gets his curveball over he's tough. He has a great arm.

Vintage Maddux. He's hitting his spots well. When he struck out Tony Womack, it was as hard a fastball as I've seen him throw in my time here. He just looks like he's in great shape. And we need him to be that way.

Everything today went really well. My mechanics felt better than that one inning I threw against the Korean team. The breaking balls still aren't there yet, but my fastball and changeup felt real good.

Everything looked normal for him, his fastball velocity, everything was good. He just lacked location. He had trouble getting the ball on the inner half. He's the type of pitcher that has to establish inside to those right-handers and he was having trouble with it. He just wasn't sharp. That's kind of expected when you miss a week or two of competition.

Everybody knows Leo likes to throw outside, and that's what I was trying to throw, the fastball outside. I worked on everything: my breaking ball and my fastball location.

At some point this year he's going to help us in the bullpen. He's come a long way in the last year and had a good training camp. He just needs to work on commanding his fastball better.

At Northwest, Wade dominated some good hitters. He didn't have his usual zip on the fastball or the bite on his curve tonight, but the really good players still find a way.

Dexter has been getting some quality at-bats. He's very poised and confident for a 20-year-old. He took advantage of a fastball that caught too much of the plate and drove it.

Early in the game, I established trying to get ahead (in the count) throwing my fastball down and away. When you show that to them, it makes them more aggressive. Then, you can use it against them later in the game.

Eric did a great job out there for us. He was able to locate his cutter and fastball where he needed to to be effective.

Fastball right down the middle. I had a great pitch to hit. I didn't come through, and that's not acceptable. I need to do more.

Everything was working. My fastball felt good, I was able to throw it with velocity, and my slider was working well. It got away from me once, but other than that, I felt it was working good.

I've been battling lately. Today I was just trying to really stay on the ball a little bit more. It was a high fastball and I got under it and put a good swing and hit it really good.

The whole world can hit a fastball if it's in the right place. I just try to change it up.

I've preached all year that we've got to hit the fastball better. Last year we didn't do that. There's some pretty good pitchers out there and we've got to be able to handle them.

It was the team's best performance by far. Everything was clicking offensively and defensively and my arm felt great. I was able to establish my fastball early and felt real comfortable.

It was two badly located fastballs right there that ended up getting me. A badly located fastball to Sierra. It was supposed to be away, it came right back to the inner third. The same thing to the next hitter.

It was working really well. I was hitting my spots with my fastball away. Those guys were kind of taking it here and there, so I was taking advantage of what they were giving me.

The sixth inning was a big inning. That was huge. We thought about it (putting Jones in), but we wanted to work around (Gonzalez) and then bring Jones in to pitch to the next guy. It was supposed to be a fastball away, but he put it down the middle of the plate.

The second time through the lineup went a little smoother. He was locating his fastball on both sides, and I started to figure out the way he likes to throw. It took a couple of innings. Pitchers like him, they throw anything in any count. Where you set up is really important. The first time you catch any pitcher is always tough. It's just the process.

The second inning was better than his first. He had some nice pop, but when you can't get your second and third pitch over (the plate), teams are just going to sit dead red on the fastball and drive it.

I usually throw between 120 and 130 pitches in a game. My fastball did me in today as I couldn't hit my spot and they were on top of it.

Sanchez had his game on. All of his pitchers were working pretty good. His fastball at the end was high. That was a little concern that he was getting tired, but he got through.

Randy threw well tonight. We got some things going off of Johnson and when we did, we got some runs out of it. I hit a fastball in, and all I wanted to do was keep it fair and hit it hard.

Ortiz left a fastball up and away from me. I worked the count to 3-2 to see some more pitches and finally got one I could handle and drive.

A fastball inside, that's how you get him out. I didn't think it was a bad pitch.

A fastball down to Chipper and that was it. It wasn't belt high or anything like that.

After getting two quick outs I had a walk and then fell behind Zaun 2-0. I wanted to get a fastball over for a strike and I got more of the plate than I wanted to and he took care of business.

After my first two at bats, I had to make a little adjustment. He was throwing me nasty cutters and I just came out and laid off of it. I got to 2-0 and tried to go the other way and play my game. He made a mistake with a fastball up, but I'll take it.

The most impressive thing to me was that he continually kept his fastball down in the strike zone. He had a nice downhill plane and kept the ball down in the strike zone.

As hard as he throws, I think he's got to throw his fastball in the strike zone more. Then he can pitch off his fastball. Every successful pitcher in this game pitches off the fastball.

A scout told me that he could have pitched in the big leagues that night, and he was only 17. But I remember that last at-bat, and he threw a 98-mph fastball and stepped off and shook his arm a little. He struck the guy out, but when he got back to the dugout he said he felt something.

Austin established his inside fastball and then could work the softer stuff away. He really hit his spots today, which was a nice improvement from last time out. It is good to see him get better each time he throws.

Ball two went by and obviously I was in a good situation. I'm zeroing in on a fastball up in the zone. It's exactly what I got.

Ball two went by and obviously I was in a good situation, ... I'm zeroing in on a fastball up in the zone. It's exactly what I got.

Baker was fantastic. He used his breaking ball, his changeup and had the high fastball working. He located pretty good. He gave us a great chance to win. It's unfortunate we couldn't score enough runs for him. Rincon came in and had two good innings for us, got out of the one, which was huge. Then we finally come up with the big base hit.

You're trying to be ready for everything, and you're not ready for anything. We'd like for them to be ready for the one pitch, the fastball. That's where you start. We go from there. ... All timing comes off the fastball. You've got to be a fastball hitter first.

Zach, to me, it's very easy to see. The thing that was pronounced as a result of his timing being off a little bit, the life of his fastball wasn't there.

You're not really focused on necessarily getting guys out more than you are trying to execute some pitches. Most of the time, we have in our plan just trying to get ahead with our fastball and mix in some breaking balls.

You never pick up the ball until it's too late. He throws just hard enough to sneak a fastball by you when you're looking for a breaking pitch. I was glad we signed him because that meant I didn't have to face him.

You really have nothing to lose in that situation. I choked up a little bit, especially with two strikes. I wasn't looking for an offspeed pitch, but I knew he had it. He ended up throwing me another fastball that I stayed on and hit it where I was supposed to hit it instead of trying to pull it.

You might say he didn't get a chance because his fastball wasn't fast enough, or his curveball wasn't crisp enough, ... But he can do a lot of things.

A lot of guys get upset in that situation, ... but he was able to shrug it off. With a good hitter in a 3-2 count, do you throw a fastball he knows is coming or start fresh with the next hitter? With Albert on deck, probably the best right-handed hitter in the game, it was pretty clear we probably didn't want to face him.

They're fastball hitters and they're very aggressive. They jumped on the fastballs.

It was one of those things -- when it got to be 2-0, I wanted to see a fastball and get a hack on it.

It was evident in his first game that Darrell had no fear. He has the pitches that get you ground balls and strikeouts. His fastball command has improved. Now he is getting a strike on the first pitch most of the time. When he gets ahead, a batter is in trouble.

It was the best Snell has done. I'm beginning to see some progress from him. He threw enough breaking balls for strikes. He had much better command of his fastball tonight.

It was real simple. He kept his fastball up and his breaking ball down. When a pitcher with that stuff can consistently do that to hitters, he?s going to be successful every time out.

I told myself I wasn't going to throw a cut fastball to a pitcher all year and I did; look what happened. I just had to kind of forget about it. He just put the ball where we weren't. That was it.

I tried to throw a fastball inside, and the ball kind of slipped out of my hand where I didn't want to throw it. That was a big mistake. If I walk Chipper in that situation and get a groundball with the next hitter, then nothing happens and I should win the game 2-0.

It's all about location. He located his fastball on the outside corner all night long.

It's tough to get a read on them, because I'll get ahead 0 and 2, and throw a fastball up and in and they'll swing anyway. They throw their bat at everything you throw, no matter where it is.

It's not the same fastball he used to throw. But he's smart enough to mix 'em up.

It should be thrown, with the wrist and grip set, just like your fastball , slightly off center - with the same velocity and intensity.

Dave Bush was really, really good. He kept his pitch count down. He got us through seven innings, which was big. He was spotting his fastball really well.

Darrell couldn't throw strikes during the fall of his freshman year. We work so much with our pitchers in the fall on fastball command and his fastball is his No. 3 pitch.

(The offense) makes my job a lot easier. I had pretty good command of my fastball and slider and was able to hit my spots pretty well." ()

That's probably more than I wanted to throw in four innings. But the velocity on my fastball increased, and that's a good sign. My mechanics were a little better, too.

That's probably the toughest job in baseball, to come off the bench like that and pinch-hit. He's a fastball hitter. He got it.

That's something I'm probably going to go to sleep with tonight - realizing I'm a lot better pitcher than that, and I know a lot better than to throw a 3-0 fastball up in the zone and let him swing freely. If I could do it right now, I'd throw it low and away, and not care if I walked him. There were two out.

That's the day I think he learned how to use his fastball a little bit.

That's the best fastball I've had all season. I moved the ball around very well. Today was my day.

That's the first time I've ever faced Billy. He threw me a fastball in, then inside again. The last pitch was 99 mph, so I could have popped it up.

It's nice to be in that position, two games up and getting runs early, ... It gives a pitcher a lot of confidence to throw the ball over the plate. I threw a lot of fastballs early. I had a lot of confidence in the fastball tonight. I got to speed up with the fastball and later on threw the curveball. The team put up runs and it all worked out.

Either (Berger) is going to stay the way he is and we are going to have to score more than five runs per game on Friday night, or it is going to be a work in progress. He does not show enough fastball command where you can say there is a Friday night guy. Our guy has the ability.

Everybody was saying that my fastball was down, so I was trying to make it happen instead of going back to the basics, ... Anytime I've ever forced it, it seems to take away from it instead of adding to it.

The best thing about Colon is you know his fastball is coming, but you still can't lay off the high pitch. He's effective with that and that helps make him a winner. When he's locating and throwing strikes, he has a lot of success.

The best team is going to win. This is not baseball. Nobody has got a hundred mile per hour fastball can't nobody hit.

That first inning could have been a lot worse. When I went out there, I just told him to settle down, take a little off his fastball and to find some strikes. They were struggling to put the ball in play.