Jim Tracy
Jim Tracy
belongs build certainly game hope left minor prove terrific
He was terrific tonight. I certainly would hope that this is a game he can build on. He doesn't have anything left to prove in the Minor Leagues. He has to prove that he belongs here, and I think he started to tonight.
proud spring training
He has to be, and should be, proud of the spring training he's had.
extra jump
He had a little extra jump in his delivery. This was precautionary.
counts few puts vulnerable
He had a few more three-ball counts -- too many -- than I'd like to see. That puts him in a vulnerable position.
field great helped left longer reach saw short somebody swing trying wall
He got out of his game. He got out of what helped to get him off to a great start. I saw a much longer swing in Houston. I saw a very short wall in left field and I saw somebody that was trying to reach it way too often.
degree handled huge realize respect sitting
He doesn't realize what a huge backer he has sitting here. I respect him to the nth degree for the way he's handled himself.
ball good ground indication march pitchers positive sign starting
He got 13 ground ball outs, and that's good for a nine-inning game. That's an indication of how well he pitched. That's a very positive sign ... It's March 18th, and you want to see your pitchers starting to sharpen.
ahead batting behind gets players
He gets it. He gets situations. He gets who's batting ahead of him in the lineup and he gets who's batting behind him. To have a winning-caliber team, you need players like that.
expect gave nice plays
He gave us more than you would expect from a young kid, offensively, ... and defensively, he made many nice plays at third.
aware guy hit home runs seen type
He may not have seen live pitching, but he's the type of guy who wouldn't take long to resurrect his hand-eye coordination. I don't think he hit 700-and-something home runs by accident. I think you would have to be aware of him.
depending great months rehab safe weapon
He makes everyone around him better. It's not going to take him months to resurrect that great hand-eye coordination. It's safe to say he's a weapon depending on where he's at with his rehab situation.
huge realize
He'll get his at-bats. He doesn't realize what a huge backer he has in me.
improve intangible mindset necessary order talked trying
We talked about the things that are necessary in order to dramatically improve this club. That was the gist of what I was trying to get across. There are intangible things that are necessary. There is a different mindset that we have to take on.
ahead beautiful four great hard hit home run spring took worked
We took great at-bats tonight. We hit four home runs. And the beautiful part of it was the run that we scored to go ahead was something that we worked at very hard in Spring Training.