We all need grace. We all need Christ.
I can tell there are times when my body's getting tired and I just need to take a day here or there and make sure I'm healthy.
I had a chance to choose a couple different places and, well, I grew up - I was a small-town kid from Illinois, so No. 1, just trying to win a championship for my home state.
We are just so thankful that Christ does not measure us by what we do. God is not measuring us by that, He is measuring us by our faith in Christ.
I'm consistently making adjustments. You're going to have to do that in the postseason, too.
You used to be taught to let the ball go as far as possible and then drop it on the runner, whereas now it might be even more advantageous to direct the ball in front of the bag and get the guy on the leg.
I knew all the right Bible answers and the Sunday school answers.
One-hundred years from now, nobody's going to remember that I played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays - nobody!
I spent so many years shuffled around. I'm used to it and can deal with it.
We don't even think about it out there. We just focus on doing our job. The ball is the same baseball, the game is the same game. We're going to just keep trying to do our jobs.
There were always kids better than me. Because of that, I had to learn to be a role player and do my part.
I felt like in Tampa Bay a lot of people thought we were overachieving.
I'm not the best athlete.
I might have a great game hitting, but if I'm not having a great game fielding, if I feel like I let a guy get an extra base that I could have stopped, that's something I've got to do better, got to get better at.
You have to catch the breaks.
I just try to focus on one step at a time, what I have to do or what the team has to do to get here.
I'm not a cleanup hitter. I'm just batting fourth.
Anytime you put your mind on the results, you lose something in the moment.
You just want the highs to start once the playoffs start.
You just keep working and try to have quality at-bats.
If you're free of mechanical thoughts and free of knowing that your body and bat are going to be in the right position at the right time, you can freely focus on the ball. It's a great feeling.
I played a lot of right field with Tampa.
I'm just trying to create a working knowledge of my body. So it knows what to expect.
As I get older, I just need to continue to make sure I'm staying in peak shape and taking care of my body the best I can.
My dad was a pastor, so we were in church all the time.
For me, it's not so much about picking the right position; it's about the team.
We've made a lot of strides over the years in making the game better for players to be able to stay healthy and showcase talent.
As a ballplayer, there is no Christian way to swing a bat. There is no Christian way to swing or throw.
I didn't realize the ceiling that I had, and I don't think a lot of players understand what they're capable of. Some of them dream of what they're capable of, but you don't really understand until you get in the moment and you give it everything you got and see in the end where you can end up.
Each new day has a different shape to it. You just roll with it.
You just go through highs and lows as an individual payer and as a team.
I hit my knees and I went to him with that and I said God I want to do what you want. I don't want sports to be an idol in my life.
There are times when your mind isn't ready to go but your body is, and times when your body is ready to go but your mind isn't. You try to get the two in sync as much as possible.
I'm not the most powerful. I'm not the fastest. I don't have the best arm. I don't have any of that, but put it all together and do the little details well, and you're going to be a very productive player.
When the ball was hit, my first reaction as a shortstop was always go in the direction of the ball. You can't do that at first base. You go too far in that direction, and it's hard to scurry back and be ready to pick the throw.
I can't take 200 hacks in the cage before the game. Not because I'll get tired, but because I'll hurt myself! I can't do that. I might get injured.
I grew up in Illinois.
I've been back to the Kansas City area a lot in the past. My sisters went to college in the area. My brother went to college in the area. I've got friends there, so there's some ties to the area.
It's important to set a tone and get some momentum.
One of my best friends, James Miller, managed to find the only Cubs hat that is all red.
When I'm at the plate, I'm not thinking about what I'm trying to do with the bat - I'm thinking about what the pitcher is trying to do with the ball.
The best things happen when you're not overthinking it.
I want to try and get better in every facet of the game.
The most important thing is that we're impacting people for the Kingdom of Jesus Christ... that's why we're here.
My dad used to do it when we were little, and I tried it when we played around in the back yard. Eventually, I got a bat and a real ball and played around to see if I could hit left-handed.
A lot of times, if you stay in the present and focus on getting the most out of yourself today, then things work out the way they're supposed to.
I was so engrossed in my sport, I wasn't thinking about the future from God's standpoint. I was thinking about just my sporting future.
I never even thought about playing professionally. I didn't think that was a possibility for a little kid from Illinois.
You just have to keep grinding.
