I had a lot of friends and family here. It's nice to get a couple of hits. |
I had a pretty big sophomore year and I think my junior year I was struggling the first month or so because I was swinging at bad pitches. That was when I really started drawing walks. |
I just feel better and a little more comfortable. I got my feet wet last year. |
I knew I was going home the whole way, [I] just couldn't get it out of my glove quick enough. I probably would have had him out with a good throw. It would have been a bang-bang play, but it just got stuck a little bit. |
I probably would have got him out with a good throw on a bang-bang play, but I couldn't get a good grip on it. It's one play, and I'm not really going to let it get to me. |
I rushed it a little bit. I couldn't get a good grip on it. It was a bang-bang play, a 50-50 shot. We had talked about it right before that if it was a ball to me, I was going home no matter what. If he was staying I wasn't going to turn two. I knew I was going home the whole way, I just couldn't get it quick enough. |
I should have caught it. It was one of those plays where I knew it was going to take me off and I knew it was going to be a tag play, and I just got crossed up a little bit and kind of rushed it. |
I still don't feel 100 percent comfortable up there (at the plate), either. But when I do, I'll know it and I'll tell you. |
I'm just going to keep it simple, and keep the game plan I got here with. |
I'm not going to go up there and swing at the pitches (the pitcher) wants me to. I'm going to go up there and swing at my pitches. When I get to two strikes, I'm looking for something close to the plate. Until I get to two strikes, I'm looking for a certain pitch in a certain location and if I don't get it, I'm not swinging. |
I've still got a ways to go, but it's a learning experience. You're going to be put into situations you've never been put in before and you learn from them. |
It's just one of those things. They've all been on different pitches. |
It's made me work a little bit harder because I want to stay on this time. I want to play every day. Last year I really didn't prove I could. |
It's the last thing I'm worried about. Even if it doesn't come, there are a lot more ways to score runs than hitting home runs. As long as you get big hits in big situations it doesn't matter whether it's a long ball or not. |
Last year I wasn't comfortable when I got put into that situation. I had been comfortable wherever I'd gone until then. |