Jermaine Dye Chicago White Sox (4-23-2002)

What is your baseball background?

I went to high school in Vacaville California; I went to Junior College in Sacramento and played for Cosumnes River Community College.

What is your baseball philosophy?

My philosophy of baseball is to play hard like it is the last day I will be out there on the field.

What is your hitting philosophy?

My hitting philosophy would be to try to hit line drives back to the pitcher or to right center field. Be short and quick.

Do you look for a certain pitch?

I don’t think I look for a certain pitch; I just try to pick up the ball first, see it, take a nice and easy swing, and try to hit the ball hard somewhere

Do you have a zone you look for?

My favorite zone is probably middle away; that is where I try to hit the ball. I look for a pitch in that zone and react to an inside pitch.

What are your strengths?

My strengths would probably have to be my arm and for hitting, mostly for driving in runs.

It seems at times guys with all the talent don’t seem to go as far as guys with lesser talent. Why is that?

Well I think there is a lot of guys in baseball that don’t have as much talent but they work hard and show that they want to be there. They go out there and play hard as far as running balls out for example. They might not have the best talent but they might stand out more then the guys that have talent. The guys who have talent may not work as hard or they may not run balls out and that shows. I think you should just work hard and play hard. I would rather have a guy like that then one with lots of talent.

Do you think first round draft picks or high draft picks get more chances?

I think so. I think they might get a couple of more chances; they might have a little bit more leeway. They might not be as good but get more of a shot. They might be brought to spring training into the big league camp faster then a late round draft pick. Of course they are going to get more chances because someone they feel is a top pick, they believe that someday he is going to help that big league club.

When you get to the major leagues is it just the best guys, or the guys who could win?

No, it is not going to be just your best guys. You could have all the talent in the world but if you don’t play together as a team you are not going to do so well. You could have a young ball club, like we do in Oakland. We fit well, we play together well, and we do the little fundamental things that are going to win ball games. But if you don’t have everybody on the same page and there is a star that goes his own way then you won’t.

Do you start that at spring training?

I think you have to start it in the off-season before spring training. You’ve got guys working out together in the off-season. Everybody knowing what their job is, and what they are capable of doing, then going out there and doing it. They don’t try to do to much, but rely on the people behind them that if they are not able to get the job done, then someone else will do it.”

How about the different teams you’ve played on. Atlanta was successful and Kansas City wasn’t. In Oakland you have a young team. Kansas City you had talented guys but didn’t go as far?

I think we had talent, but we just had young pitching. Pitching wins ball games. If you have good pitching, you have guys out there throwing strikes; you can let the defense work behind you. If you don’t have good pitching you could have all the hitters in the world and your not going to win ball games. Texas has a great lineup but their pitching is so-so and struggling a little bit, and they are not winning that many ballgames. So pitching defeats hitting, if your not pitching well, then your not going to win ballgames.

How much film do you guys watch?

I think as hitters we watch a lot of film. Basically we are watching what our approach is and what our swing is doing, if are hands are in the right place and stuff like that. As far as watching pitching tapes, I don’t watch pitching tapes that much. I just go with charts of what they have thrown me in the past and go from there. I know pitchers watch a lot of tape.

Being around the league you have probably seen most of the pitchers. Do you keep a book on them, or just keep it in your head?

I just keep it in my mind. Our hitting coach keeps it in a little book so we have something to go back too if we can’t remember. You know basically what that pitcher is going to try to do to you that night. You try to have a game plan before you go up there.

Do they pretty much fall into a pattern, or do they try to just throw their best pitch at the time?

It can work that way. Over the course of the game you try and figure out what has been going for strikes and what hasn’t, and try to eliminate pitches. Once you do that, you give yourself a better chance to succeed.

How about the closers in the major leagues like Rob Nen, or the guys who throw that hard; would you go up looking for the fastball?

I think I would go up there and look for a fastball that is close to my zone, then take a nice easy swing and not try to swing too hard. That is what they want you to do. Let them supply the power and give yourself a chance to hit the ball hard.

With some minor adjustments, do you have one hitting approach for every pitcher?

Yea pretty much I have the same approach for whoever is pitching that night. I always try to use the same basic approach. Usually I’ll switch a little depending on when a lefty throws. With them they throw a lot more change ups and off speed pitches, so I’ll look for a pitch instead of waiting.

How is it being injured and watching the guys perform? Have you been injured before?

Yea I have been injured before but not this long. During the season it was about three weeks at the most, but never this long. Its tough. You try and sit back and scout for the players and try to pick up little things that they may not be picking up because they are so into the ballgame.

So you sit on the bench and help out?

Oh yea definitely, trying to do the other things. You are pretty upset that you are not playing so you try to do other things that can to help the team.

How do you handle the fans and loudmouths?

Your going to hear some stuff but you tend to just block it out. You go out there and focus on what is going on in the ballgame. They have a right to say what they want to say. The crowd is so loud in a big league park that you hear them for a little bit, then you learn how to tune them out and you go out and play.

Is there one particular park that is worse than the others?

By far New York has to be the worst. Fans out there get on you pretty hard. You know that it is all in fun, and they are just trying to take you out of the ball game and try to help their team win.

How about umpires. How do you handle bad calls?

I am not too big on yelling at an umpire. The call is not going to change. Sometime you might want to ask them if they thought it was high or low, or if it is going to be there all night. They’re human and they make mistakes too. So you go out there and hope there is not that many bad calls that night.

What about the brush backs, knockdowns and retaliation?

Pitchers have the right to throw inside. If pitchers are throwing at guys then we have the right to hit someone on the other team. I don’t mean throwing at their head, but anywhere around the leg or thigh is fine. You know when someone is throwing at you and you know when someone is not. That’s baseball.

With the new rule change where the pitcher can be thrown out if the umpires thinks he is throwing at someone, does this change the pitchers at all?

No I don’t think so. I think the pitchers are still trying to pitch inside. If the hitter is diving and they happen to get hit with an inside fastball, then that’s their fault for diving. If they want to take that chance then so be it. I think pitchers are always going to pitch inside. You can’t take away the pitchers strike zone on the inside of the plate just because a lot of guys are getting hit and you might get thrown out of the game. It’s just accepted.

What are your thoughts about being traded?

The first one was pretty hard coming from Atlanta to Kansas City but I was young still and didn’t know how to deal with it. From Kansas City to Oakland it was pretty easy. Once you’ve been in this game for a long time you understand that it is a business and you are not going to be on the same team for your whole career. So I try to tell guys to go out there and play as hard as you can for that uniform that you are in that day. There are always scouts in the stands scouting you that day and you don’t know what can happen.

What would you tell somebody from high school on down about major league baseball?

Coming through the minor leagues is tough especially here in “A” ball. It was tough playing everyday because traveling wasn’t good, the bus rides were long, and you don’t get a lot of fans. But once you go up it gets that much better every year. Once you get to the major leagues it is everybody’s dream. It seems like your a little kid in the candy store, it’s so fun.

Do you still have fun after all these years?

Oh definitely. That is what it is all about, having fun. When it’s not fun anymore, I won’t play anymore.

Anything else about the inside of baseball I didn’t cover?

Work as hard as you can and get to the big leagues, because once you get there everything is free. You don’t have to pay for anything anymore and you get whatever you want. That’s a big incentive for working hard. Once you get to the big leagues don’t stop working hard because there is always someone under you trying to take your job.