Kid's not afraid to take pitches.
I'm not going up there to take pitches.
At first, the Yankees adopted their standard approach: be patient, take pitches, see if the guy can throw strikes.
But for all his hitting prowess, he is unwilling or unable to take pitches and draw walks.
But too many players, Sweeney said, are enamored of statistics like on-base plus slugging percentage that encourage them to take pitches or take huge swings.
"If you draft lower, you can take pitching, because there's usually pitching later in the first round, or in later rounds".
"It's hard to take pitches all the time and you really don't have an opportunity to swing.
"Our stance has to be that you can't take pitching inside away from the pitcher," Torre said.
"I'm willing to take pitches because I know that he's not going to get thrown out," Longoria said.
He drew consistent praise from Randolph for his understanding of the strike zone and willingness to take pitches.
"We take pitches deep into the count, so we focus on pitches per plate appearance, which translates into on-base percentage, which translates into runs scored.
