Carlos Pena Tampa Bay Rays (6-3-02)

What would you say your baseball philosophy is?

I think the most important thing for me is just to have fun out there. When you’re not having fun out there it’s miserable. It’s definitely a very difficult lifestyle, but if you’re actually enjoying it, it makes it that much easier. So I think the most important thing for me, number one, is I have to be enjoying what I’m doing.

How about a hitting philosophy?

I think the most important thing for me as a hitter is to have a clear mind. I don’t like to think too much up in the box. The more calm I am, the more I’m going to be successful. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be putting myself in a good situation. So I think the most important thing is just to be calm, which for me is actually very difficult to do. You have a very hard object coming at you, moving, sinking, and cutting so it’s very difficult to stay calm. When I stay calm, I have success.

How about coming over from Texas. Giambi leaves, everybody assumes you are the number one guy at first base. How does that affect you?

That’s the pressure right there. The most important thing is, how do you handle it? I was very happy with the way I was doing as far as handling the media and all the prejudice that comes from that. I think the most important thing is just concentrating on the task at hand. That way you don’t think about anything else. All I think about is, OK, I have a ball game tonight. So Giambi’s not on my mind. All those people who tell me that I have to replace him and do this, that’s out of my mind. I would say that the focus is just playing baseball. So I think just the being in the moment helped me out.

Is it a good thing to be sent down to Sacramento to give you some time?

I don’t know. I think they’re very smart people and they know. They have a lot of experience and so they know exactly what they’re doing. That’s a business decision that they made, sending me down here. Now I’m a Rivercat and I’m just happy to be here and trying to help out the ball club down here. So the big leagues are not on my mind. I cannot play with my head up there and be here. Honestly I don’t know. Yes it is a good thing that I’m down here. I’m not going to look at it any other way because if I look at it in a negative way, it’s not going to help me out. So yes, this is good. And I’m enjoying my time down here in AAA, and I’m getting myself better.

You have no question that you are going to be in the major leagues soon, or at some point?

Well, I hope so. Truly the decision is out of my hands. Right now I’m just thinking I’m going to be here the whole year. I’m not even thinking about the big leagues, because that’s a distraction. I want to focus on just playing hard every day here and whatever God decides with me, that’s what I’ll go with.

Pitchers throw inside to set hitters up. Do hitters set pitchers up?

I think some hitters do. I mean personally I don’t get that complicated. Thinking, that’s a complication trying to set pitchers up and things like that. I’ve heard about it. I’ve heard about hitters who’ve looked really, really bad on a curve ball early in the game, so later on in the game they’ll look for it because they think they’re going to get one again. I’ve seen it work but I’d rather stay away from those kinds of complications. I just want to see the ball and hit it.

It works by accident, doesn’t it? You swing at a bad pitch, and later in the game you think they’re going to throw it again?

Right, but it happens I’ve seen it happen plenty of times. The hitter makes an adjustment. They think I can’t hit the change, so next time I’m up, they think I can’t hit it and you get ready for it.

When you were drafted, did they give you a timetable on where you were going to be in two years, three years?

No, I was sent straight to the low class-A. I’ve been going year by year. I haven’t jumped any levels. Going year by year is a preparation process. I think it’s very helpful to just take your time and make sure you’re ready.

It seems sometimes that guys with all the talent don’t seem to go as far as the guys with lesser talent?

I think that’s a misconception. I’ve seen many guys with a lot of talent, and you can see they’re the superstars of the game today. They are out there because they are the guys with the most talent, and they also have a very strong line. But you also see situations where there are guys with a lot of talent that don’t pan out. It’s just sometimes things don’t work out and I think it’s very hard to find a reason why sometimes it works that way. It’s just the way things are. Sometimes things don’t come the way you would like them to and there’s no reason to look for, it’s just the way things are. The way it is, the way life is, is not fair sometimes.

It seems like with the situation at Oakland, it would be easy for you to cave in and have a bad season?

Yeah, it’s very easy to give in to all those things. But you tell yourself “I’m a man,” just like anybody else, trying to achieve my own goals, and everything else really doesn’t matter. I think when everything else comes into play it just confuses you and it gets to complicated. It really just holds down all your talent. When you’re free, when you’re calm, when you’re free of pressures, you can go out there and perform. Your talent will express itself.

When you were going through the ranks, do you think the hired draft picks get more chances?

I think there’s a bigger investment in the higher draft picks, so I believe that they, since they have invested a lot of money and time into them, might get more opportunities, or at least expect them to perform. It goes both ways. You might feel a little bit more pressure, because you have a lot to lose, whereas somebody who’s drafted maybe in the lower rounds, is thinking to himself that he has the whole entire world to gain, and nobody’s expecting him to be this superstar. So it goes both ways. It depends on how you take it. I think that as long as you stay focused on what you’re doing, then who cares. Everything else is just a distraction. So as long as you go play baseball, that’s all that matters.

What is competition at your level like especially coming to camp with first base open?

I think that it’s like I said earlier all that stuff is, competition. The moment that word comes to your mind “I’m competing for first base” it becomes a distraction, a straight distraction. That didn’t even cross my mind, because I know that if I think that I have to beat out the next guy I’m going to focus on what he’s doing, and I’m not going to focus on what I’m doing. So I don’t even think about that. I said I’m going to go out there and play, and if first base is mine, it’s mine. There’s no since trying to go out there competing with someone else and comparing myself to other people because again it’s a total distraction. I just have to be the best I can be, period.

How much film do you watch?

It depends. I really don’t like watching myself too much because I don’t want to over saturate myself.  and, you know, and then just think about things too much. I’d rather just go out there and play.

Have you been injured in your career?

I have. Last year I was injured twice, so that was pretty difficult. It’s very difficult to be injured, and it’s definitely a mental test.

How long were you out for and does it help watching your guys?

I was out for probably a total of a month and a half, maybe two months. This is the most boring thing sitting there watching baseball from the dugout. You can’t do anything. It must be the most boring thing ever.

What are some of things you learned about pro baseball that you didn’t know when you started?

Well, I learned this was a business. It’s a business. I remember when we used to go play Little League and how it was just all for fun. It’s no longer just that. This is a business and there are people making decisions all the way throughout the entire organization based on business. I think that is the difference. As long as we keep it fun everything is going to be all right but if you get caught up in the business part of it, it takes the fun away.

How important is weight lifting?

I think it’s just as important now. In being strong and the less injuries you’re going to have. I do it. I think it’s a must now. You can’t survive in the big leagues unless you do. It’s a hundred and sixty-two games season so you better be in pretty good shape. I think you have to hit the weight room to be in good shape.

Do you lift weight during the season?

I lift weights during the season but it’s just a maintenance program. In the off season there’s more of a gain involved with heavier weights.

What adjustments did you make from high school to college, and then to the pros?

Just an everyday grind. In college we never played every day; we played a few times a week, and it was easy to actually just go out there and play. In the professional ranks it’s every single day, so it’s a big grind. It’s very difficult to just stay focused on a daily basis.

Do you read the sports pages, or the scouting reports about you or how good you’re supposed to be?

No, no. no. I don’t think it matters. I don’t think about what other people think of me. Some are going to think great things about me, and some others are not going to think so highly of me. I think the most important thing is, how do I feel about me? Do I believe in myself as a player? Yes. OK, how am I living? Do I feel like I’m going to live a good life? OK good, so that’s all I’m after. Everybody else is going to have different opinions, so I never look at the scouting reports. All they can do is either make me overconfident or make me doubt myself, so either way, it’s not a good thing.

How do you handle the loudmouths, people yelling, things like that?

It’s the same thing. It just doesn’t matter. I look at them and I’m like, do I know this person? Does this person love me? Do I love this person? Do I know them? Is this person going to go to my funeral? No. So OK, who cares what they say. It really doesn’t matter what they say.

How about the umpires? How do umpires handle the balls or strikes?

Believe me I get a lot of calls where I’m like, oh man, I thought that was a ball. But I very rarely say something to the umpire. I just take it home. It’s like whatever, you know? Just wait for the next time up. I never say anything to them. It’s very frustrating, but what can I do it’s over.

What about the brush backs, knockdowns, and retaliations?

Well, I think it’s part of the game. It happens there’s no doubt about it. Thankfully I haven’t been involved in many of them. I just think it’s part of the game. It’s unfortunate though a person can get really hurt through all those situations and it really jeopardize their career. That’s the only thing that I have against it, but it’s going to happen.

Anything else you would tell somebody from high school on down about baseball?

I just think just play it and have fun. I think that your best game comes through when you’re actually just playing. Whenever you have all the other stuff in your head like I want to get drafted, I want to do this, I want to do that, it takes away from getting back to just playing baseball. The best advice for young kids is to go out there and play and enjoy it, really. Enjoy the fact that you’re just playing. If you do that it’s easier. When you go out there with a lot of pressures, you’re not giving yourself a chance.

So when you got traded you knew you were coming to the A’s … ?

This was very surprising to me even though I saw this opportunity right away, so it was a positive experience. I heard it and I’m like wow, I can maybe play first base there. So I saw the positive where ever it went.