He was the biggest cheater the game has ever known. I told Jim he shouldn't be wearing glasses because he must have Superman vision. The ball would be two feet from me or Bernie, and there's Jim ? from the other end of the court ? making line calls. |
He wasn't totally out of sync, but he wasn't using the whole field. I think his ability to work the whole field is what makes him a better hitter, ... He's found a much better rhythm to where he is squaring the ball up and using the whole field now. |
He'd hide it in a gully near a creek but also near a road so he'd not have to tote the sugar far, ... He drove a lot of cars and would leave them on the side of the road if [he was detected by revenue agents]. He'd just drive a $50 car and leave it. |
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He's a big kid; he covers a lot of ground. You have really got to work hard and you've got to score on rebounds and their defense did a good job of clearing the net. It's basically a dogfight every shot and rebound in there, and they played it well. |
He's a big, strong, athletic kid. He's got a good fastball with excellent movement and good sink. He's got a major-league slider. Obviously, the stuff is there and the ability is there. He needs to pitch a little bit more and get consistent outings. |
He's a great coach. He's done a tremendous job for me here. I think it's not just the coaching ability you're getting; you're getting a great person, too. He's very passionate about this profession, and that's why he's climbed the ladder so quickly. |
He's a great teacher and coach. His players are very well-skilled in fundamentals, and that made them tougher than most of us. Plus, he had talent. Combine that with his coaching, and you have an undefeated (regular) season. He did a remarkable job. |
He's a guy that he'll respect you if you show respect. That's kind of the way I am. I think he values good leadership; that's important to him. He knows he can only do so much as a coach, that it takes good leaders on the team to go that extra mile. |
He's a hard-nosed guy. When I watched him play, that never escaped me. He's focused. He's right there in the middle of things. He has an amazing ability to anticipate. When you can anticipate, you're a little bit ahead of the game as a baseball guy. |
He's a tough guy. He'll pitch through just about anything. And you know what? We expect him to be sore here in spring training, just like he always is. It's no different, and we expect him to take the ball every fifth day just like he's always done. |
He's a young guy, so when he gets frustrated he kind of thinks the world's going to come to an end, and it's not. But when he's on, he's difficult. We talk a lot about how we would play him. I tell him that I'd probably double-team him all the time. |
He's all heart. Every night Tino knows he'll be going against a bigger guy, but he'll work harder and be more physical. Central even had a 7-1 guy [Drew Walker from Port Clinton] in there at times tonight, but Tino never steps back from a challenge. |
He's been a starter most of his career, but in Chicago, because of the depth in their rotation, he pitched out of the bullpen. He has looked very good in Spring Training. He is in the mix, along with a few other guys, but he continues to impress us. |
He's been playing the last week to 10 days with some degree of discomfort. From my knowledge, the discomfort has only changed mildly. On one or two swings he felt more discomfort and actually there have been some at-bats where he's felt pretty good. |