Pitcher Quotations

Let the pitcher move first, then, as he draws his arm back, you draw the bat back and you are ready.

When I started in professional baseball, I had what you might call a rude awakening. See this scar right next to my left ear? That's where the pitcher hit me the very first time I came to bat as a pro. I was out cold for about 10 minutes.

Never let yourself get fooled by the same pitcher on the same pitch on the same day.

A pitcher is only as good as his legs.

If a pitcher sees you fiddling with the bat, he'll stall until your arms are tired before you even get a chance to hit.

Jamie Moyer was in his third year as a major league pitcher and was, by his own admission, still wide-eyed, watching everything going on around him and soaking it in. He paid particular attention to older teammates on his Chicago Cubs squad, hoping to emulate habits that had allowed those veterans to extend their careers.

I don't know why you would trade a stud pitcher.

When I played, a pitcher could throw at you any time he wanted to. In fact, he could tell you he was going to throw at you, and there was nothing said. You had to take it. If he hit ya, he hit ya.

I've won plenty of games by knowing when to take out my pitcher; whom to replace him with; or how to place my infield or outfield to defend properly against the opposing hitter.

No one intuitively understands quantum mechanics because all of our experience involves a world of classical phenomena where, for example, a baseball thrown from pitcher to catcher seems to take just one path, the one described by Newton's laws of motion. Yet at a microscopic level, the universe behaves quite differently.

You don't always make an out. Sometimes the pitcher gets you out.

What is life, after all, but a challenge? And what better challenge can there be than the one between the pitcher and the hitter.

The overall thinking of the shortstop covers the overall context of the ballgame. You have to know the count they'll hit-and-run on. You're thinking of the speed, not only of the runner at first base, but the runner at the plate. You have to know how fast the pitcher is on a particular day.

It was much more fun playing with him than against him. If you wanted one pitcher to start the seventh game of the World Series, which he did in 1945, you'd pick Hal Newhouser.

Goose Gossage is a friend of mine, and he's definitely a Hall of Fame pitcher in my mind.

Balls and strikes are the basic tenet to everything in baseball. From the perspective of hitting, pitching, offense and defense, it's all about the strike zone and how the battle is waged there between the pitcher and hitter.

For me, the most important thing is running a good clubhouse. The X's and the O's - you sit up in the stands and, for the most part, a lot of fans go to the game and they know what's going to happen. You're going to hit and run, steal, put a pitcher in, take a pitcher out.

In baseball, you can do something poorly and still get credit. A pitcher could throw a bad ball, the batter hit a screaming line drive, and an outfielder make a fantastic diving catch. Yet, when you look at historical databases, 80% of the time when a ball is struck with that trajectory and velocity, it is a hit.

I think the changeup has become more popular recently by pitchers like Pedro Martinez and the success he had with it.

It takes 20 victories for people to recognize you as a great pitcher.

It doesn't matter what the scoreboard says. I'm always having fun, talking to other guys. They even come to first base and ask me about hitting. I try to help them out as much as I can in the 30 seconds before the pitcher throws the next pitch. That's me. I don't think I will ever change that.

There is no set numerical value you can put on a pitcher. Theyre all different.

But because I could throw so hard when I got to college they made me a pitcher.

In baseball, I was a pitcher, which I hated because there was no action there.

The other two (pitchers) will come around because we can't ride one pitcher the whole season. They have to step up, and they're capable of doing that.

We've all been there. Maybe it'll be good later that he's getting it out of his system now. Every pitcher who's ever been out there has had that happen at one time or another.

When you've got guys like Andruw (Jones), Chipper (Jones), Julio (Franco) and Marcus (Giles) in front of you, you have some RBI chances. A pitcher doesn't want to pitch to those guys. He'd rather pitch to a rookie any day.

We've always had a lot of respect for him. He pitched so well against us for Houston. He went out there last year with some discomfort and gutted out his starts in Boston. He's a winning-type guy. He's a winning pitcher who, when he's out there, he wins you games.

What helped us a lot was being patient at the plate in that one inning. Against a great pitcher you have to do what you have to do for your team. Take a walk, a hit batter; anyway we can get a runner on.

We're going to keep sending him out there. He will get there. Kris Johnson on his game is as good as any left-handed pitcher in America.

Unfortunately, it took a long time to fix my mechanics, ... That's the pitcher everyone expected. That's the pitcher I expected. Today my velocity was up because my mechanics were much better.

Usually in a game like this you're hopeful for one good shot at a pitcher like Pedro. And we got that in the sixth inning. We couldn't ask for any better chance than we had there, with the people we had coming to the plate. We got nothing out of it.

Usually in a game like this you hope for one good shot at a pitcher like Pedro. It wasn't whether they had good at-bats, they just weren't productive even if they hit the ball hard. We had the people you wanted at the plate in the order you wanted and expected to be productive, but we didn't get it.

We faced a really good pitcher our first game.

We faced a quality pitcher, the best pitcher we've faced all year, but our guy was pretty good, too.

We faced a pretty good pitcher in that first game. The girl came out and threw hard, but girls like Amanda Doyle - she's just been on fire lately.

We're fighting for the wild card. We have to get in there and try to get their pitcher out of the game. . . . You have to wake up a little bit and score runs early in the game.

We're feeling great, facing a pitcher like Abbott. Having as many big hits as we did is great. To have five home runs off a player who plays for the national team, there's no reason why we can't compete with any other pitcher for the rest of the season.

Yes he did, ScooterÊ-- just look in the Pitcher of Venice and you'll see that exact quote.

Yes he did, Scooter -- just look in the Pitcher of Venice and you'll see that exact quote.

We knew we were facing a good pitcher there. We kept going at them and finally the well broke on them.

We knew this game would come down to whoever blinked first. I think Nicole held her own, but we're going against probably the best pitcher in the state.

You can't go out to the mound, hobbling and take a pitcher out with a cane.

Nobody ever had too many of them (pitchers).

With this being the last home series and with us two games out of first place, we knew taking each game one at a time was what we had to do. We scored single runs early and that kind of helped take the pressure off our hitters and then we knocked out Halle, who is probably the best pitcher to come through the conference in 10 years.

We're still looking for a starting pitcher to add to the mix.

We've got a solid middle of the lineup. And we've got a lot of speed at the top of the order. We need to change our approach to what the pitcher is giving us. For me, I stand off the plate, welcoming the outside pitch. I know if it is inside I can just react to it.

I never compliment the other pitcher. I make my living off pitchers.

We have a starting pitcher on the disabled list right now and he will come off sometime this season. So competition, there's always competition.

When he goes to the mound and says something to a pitcher, he's speaking from experience. He's telling the pitcher what he's supposed to feel like, because he's been out there in key situations. He has the ability to get that across.

The pitcher setting up the batter. It's chess, and you play with it.

Rules or no rules, pitchers are going to throw spitters. It's a matter of survival.

There are more teams looking for pitchers than there are pitchers. That's why it's pricey.

If you talk to any pitcher, consistency is the most important thing.

There are different hurdles a pitcher has to clear on the way to establishing himself, ... This is a good stat for him to add to his resume.

We really felt we had to get a better pitcher into our rotation, along with making our pitchers a little better. This is the first step toward that.

We ran into a great pitcher today. But to get to where we need to go, we've got to figure out a way to beat those guys.

We held them off. We got to them early, but then their pitcher settled down.

When he is not pitching he can play anywhere. He is really invaluable to this team not only is he the No. 1 pitcher he is just a utility player that can play anywhere else.

Whenever you've got your pitcher out there throwing strikes, you've got to come up with some big plays sometimes to help the pitchers out.

We needed a win. Anytime you can get a win against a quality pitcher like Matt Bryant, it makes you feel good. The kids really wanted it tonight.

When I have two strikes, I feel free, ... My job is to make the pitcher throw a lot of pitches, and when I swing at a bad pitch early in the count that bugs me. Once I get to two strikes and I swing at a bad pitch, I don't mind it at all.

I'm not really a pitcher; I just play one in the movies.

When you commit to a delivery alteration or different focus, which we've done with almost every single pitcher on the staff, it sometimes takes a while to get the consistent release point. It takes a while to be able to throw the baseball without concentrating on that alteration. Once it's ingrained in there to where they can throw without concentrating on that and put all of their focus on getting hitters out, then they pitch better.

The pitching was really good for the most part. South Alabama's (junior) pitcher P.J. Walters was great for them. Friday night's game was more of a pitchers' duel. Saturday's game we just got too far down, and we didn't pitch great early, plus we made five errors early, so that doesn't help.

The pitcher will go to the well once too often.

The pitcher threw it home and (the runner) plowed the catcher too.

Luke has really developed as a strong pitcher since coming here. Bobby Mack is a right-hander who is a solid pitcher and we'll use him out of the bullpen.

Mainly, he puts every pitcher in a comfort zone.

Leaving a game in the fifth inning I wouldn't think would make any pitcher happy, ... Sometimes different things will motivate people different ways.

Sean did a great job changing speeds against a lineup 1-9 that is as tough as you will see. He made them swing the bat, and then you make some plays and it gives the pitcher confidence.

So far this year that's one thing we've been good at. We come out of the chute and put some runs on the board. The starting pitcher gets something to work with and we keep pushing.

She's the best pitcher we've had, by far. Back in her freshman year, she was the first pitcher we had . . . we could call any pitch on any count, and even as a freshman, you were 60-percent confident she was gonna hit her spot.

She's a strikeout pitcher and knows how to locate her pitches. She's not playing like a freshman right now, she's hitting her spots and moving the ball around.

She's pretty tough. She's probably the number one or number two pitcher in the league right now. She's pretty good and she's just a sophomore. She can bring some heat and she mixes her pitches well.

She's great. Today, I think she threw the ball the best she has all year. Anytime a pitcher has 19 strikeouts, you have to be happy.

She's getting stronger. She's been a quality pitcher for the last three years.

She's definitely stronger than she was last year, some of her pitches are moving a lot better and she's stronger. The second half of the year, everyone should be healthy, hopefully, so if I can get one more pitcher (back), things look promising.

She's not an overpowering pitcher but she pitches in spots and hits her spots well. I think she was trying a little too hard today which got her out of the rhythm a little bit. Sometimes in a big rivalry game, you push a little too much.

She's minimizing her mistakes and she's starting to understand what a mistake is. She's learning how to pitch, and she's got the tools and the pitches to be a good pitcher if she just minimizes her mistakes and learns how to pitch.

She comes prepared all of the time and is an outstanding pitcher that wants to dominate the game. She definitely has a presence when she walks on the mound that she is going to dominate you.

She has a really good, quick bat. She's a good person for us to have at DH for the pitcher or for someone else.

She has really great chemistry with the pitchers. She has a great grasp of the entire game, what is working and what is not working for the pitcher and what to do in certain counts. She keeps the game moving, so we don't have to call time nearly as much.

Since he is not a pitcher and he's a shortstop, it was worth at least trying to rehabilitate the shoulder. If he doesn't get any better in the next couple of weeks, we will go ahead and operate.

Since halfway through last year this guy has probably been the best pitcher in the major leagues. I don't think anyone's been better. I'm just glad I don't have to face him. He's nasty. On a cold night, you give him some runs to work with and he's going to be tough.

She pitcher very well. She had four walks, but she scattered them. For the first time this season, we played a complete game. We had timely hits and the defense was very, very solid.

She really kept the ball low. I thought the pitcher was outstanding.

She (Johnson) knows as a pitcher she has to help herself. She knows she has to step up and she normally does.

She never lets anything get to her. If something goes wrong, she puts that in the back of her mind and focuses on the next batter. She's really unbelievable. She's not going to blow you away as a pitcher. She's more of a finesse pitcher. But she's a smart pitcher and she's not going to lose. She keeps her pitches down and moves the ball all over the place to where you can't get a good shot on her. She's fun to watch out there.

Shelton has a lot of league games this week and they did not throw their top pitcher against us. They threw a young girl and we hit her hard.

She is a great player. She is a great pitcher and a great hitter.

She (Hutchins) kept us off balance. We didn't hit the good pitches when she threw them. Then, after that, were behind in the count, chasing. That's what every pitcher wants. Tonight, we gave her that luxury.

Mention those guys, that is comforting. That helps. Obviously, you like going into a year having your No. 1 pitcher back. And Dorn, last year we didn't talk much about him but had high expectations.

Mentally it always helps tremendously to get the jump right away. Of course, that helps the pitcher out too, knowing that she has a little cushion to work with.

Megan adds an element of speed to our team. Lauren has improved as a pitcher each year, and we look forward to good things from her this year.

My main concern was safety. I didn't want to get a pitcher ---- Vista or ours ---- hurt.

My favorite sport is baseball; my cousin is pitcher Heath Bell.

One of my personal favorite moments in life was when a buddy of mine and I were working in the joust. We finished up one really hot day, went over to the Rosie Stag, a little on-site period tavern, clapped our swords on the table, ordered up a pitcher of ale, whipped out our period pipes and tobacco, and just sat there relaxing for the next hour waiting for the next joust. Moments like that, you feel like you've transcended into what (life) might have been at that time.

Next time, they could make a rule that a pitcher has to pitch in the last 30 days of the (previous) season. There will be some kinks like that, that need to be worked out.

Right now he's getting ahead of hitters and throwing three pitches for strikes. That's what a starting pitcher needs to do.