A Quote by Billy Butler

I want the pitcher to know he can't take a pitch off, or I'm going to damage him. — © Billy Butler
I want the pitcher to know he can't take a pitch off, or I'm going to damage him.
Sometimes we're going to take marginal pitches on the edges and get called out on strike, but we want to get a pitch that we can drive and a pitch we can do damage on. I think when you do that, you don't necessarily chase as much out of the zone.
Zito was my favorite pitcher for a good long time, pretty much until Lincecum came into the league. Obviously, if you know Barry Zito, you know the big curveball. So that was kind of my inspiration for learning how to throw it. Tried to pattern that pitch off of him as much as possible.
If they are going to nibble and try to go below the zone or off the plate a little bit, I want to try and get a pitch in the zone that I can do damage on.
If a pitcher goes up there and he's throwing a ball and it's a breaking ball down and away or a fastball up and in, a perfect pitcher's pitch, and you're able to just foul it off and stay alive in the at-bat, just keep grinding, keep working through the at-bat and hoping for that mistake that he's going to make. And if he doesn't, then you walk.
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.
Paul Scholes was the main figure for me growing up. His attitude, he's humble off the pitch - you didn't hear much about him - but on the pitch, he was loud, aggressive, liked to tackle, and I learned off him.
I'm always amazed when a pitcher becomes angry at a hitter for hitting a home run off him. When I strike out, I don't get angry at the pitcher, I get angry at myself. I would think that if a pitcher threw up a home run ball, he should be angry at himself.
I'm star-struck when I see Paul Scholes because you never see him. On the pitch you can't catch him. Off the pitch he disappears.
The great thing about small children is they're portable, so we take them everywhere, but when it comes to 2015, Zachary's going to school, and I want to be there to drop him off and pick him up. I don't want to just be the father who reads them a bedtime story.
You do see very few English players going abroad and those that do are largely good players otherwise they wouldn't have gone, but I feel a lot of their downfall is in the language. On the pitch you can learn the different basics of 'left,' 'right' and 'behind you' but off the pitch you want to have that influence around the team.
I want to be that good. I want to be Barry Bonds. I want when I pitch to be 'Win Day.' I want my teammates to relax on the days I pitch because they know they only have to get us a couple of runs. I'm totally prepared for that.
For me it's pretty simple to diagnose concussion on a football pitch. If there's any doubt about it, then in my eyes, they should take the player off the pitch.
Certain guys, they can see a guy do a certain thing with their glove and know what pitch is coming. I couldn't do that. But I can get on first base and I can tell you by his move if that pitcher is going to first base or home plate every time.
You can watch videos and hit off the tee, stuff like that, but at the same time, it's you against the pitcher. I just need one swing or one pitch to click, and you can find your swing.
I think you need to know how to seperate what happens on the pitch from off-the-pitch matters.
Greg Maddux is probably the best pitcher in all of baseball along with Roger Clemens. He's much more intelligent than I am because he doesn't have a 95 or 98 mph fastball. I would tell any pitcher who wants to be successful to watch him, because he's the true definition of a pitcher.
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