Dusty Baker wants his hitters to hit. He likes aggressive hitters. He was talking about Joey Votto and finished with this:
“I really, really hate the called third strike. I hate that. You’re guess and you ain’t ready to hit.”
Does the aggressive stuff go for Adam Dunn, too? “Like I said, I don’t like called third strikes. Dunn’s not a kid. He’s not old, but he ain’t a kid. I bet you he gets better. He’s from Texas, right? There’s not a cow in Texas if he don’t get better.”
“He wants to get better. Barry Bonds he always told me Dunn would be one of the best around. Comes to hitting, Barry’s got a pretty good idea.”
On Votto: “He needs to swing some more. I talked to him about that. Strikeouts aren’t the only criteria. I’d like to see him more aggressive.”
“A lot of this on-base percentage is taking away the aggressiveness of some young kids. Most of the time you’ve got to put handcuffs on a young to keep him from swinging.”
The Reds have signed Corey Patterson to a minor league deal. He is competing, Baker says, for the center field position and the lead-off hitter slot.
