Hal McRae Quotes (11 Quotes)

On-base percentage is No. 1. If you strike out a hundred times, but you also walk a hundred times, you're a pretty good hitter -- like Bobby Abreu. Yeah, he'll strike out. But his on-base percentage is always over .400, which is what you want.

I think it's his drive. He wants to achieve a lot. He has some goals that he doesn't talk about.

He's not in screaming distance of what he was. It's just a matter of him committing to doing it. It's not difficult to (fix). It's nothing new. It's just something he's gotten away from.

Make them pitch into his strike zone. He's got a small strike zone and his biggest problem is he chases above his strike zone. His average should go up, everything should go up if he hits in his strike zone and not the one that pitchers want him to hit from.

It's fun to win and you play to win. Amazingly, when I went to spring training, the thought was to win it all. The thought has always been to win it all. So far, we've continued to win. We've won all year. But there was no thought of playing .500 or being competitive. The only thought was winning it all. It's fun.

He's getting a lot of base hits to the opposite field, which is a positive. He stopped hitting the lazy fly balls to right field. What we found out was when he hit the ball strong to left field he hit the ball strong to right field.

Right now, Albert's chasing the game. He's got to let it come to him a little more. It will if he lets it. When you chase the game, you don't catch up to it very often.

If somebody else tried to do what Jimmy does, they'd leave here in a straightjacket. He's different. What works for him probably wouldn't work for somebody else. He's so gifted, and that's probably made what he's going through worse.

Jimmy's been off and on, and we know how capable he is. He either bats before or after Albert. It's going to be important that we hit around Albert so he gets pitched to, so he feels he can take his base on balls and another guy will do it. It's going to be important for (Edmonds) to have a good week.

It was taboo to strike out a lot. Now there's so much emphasis on the home run, guys can make good money even if they swing and miss a lot.

It's tough. The key for me is him keeping his head back. I saw that as the cause of his inconsistency. ... Hopefully he'll get into form before the year's out.