Michael Barrett Pitches Quotations

He just had a tough time getting pitches where he wanted them and too many walks. It's really tough to spot-start. He's in a tough role right now and was coming off a great game. He's had trouble locating his stuff.

I encourage him to shake me off. That's how I'll learn his game, learn his style. I tell him it's more about the conviction of his pitches than the selection. If I have an issue, I'll go out and talk to him. We've had some discussions on the mound and he's been as cool as a cucumber out there. I can't say enough about his composure. I think that's carried him to this point.

Where I hit in the lineup shouldn't dictate my performance. It has no correlation. I just have to get good pitches to hit.

That is surprising. He's all about efficiency. But he's talked about how he's had to throw more pitches as he gets older, and that's part of it, too. Either way, the guy is 5-0, and you can't dispute that.

I really push having conviction in pitches that you throw, versus the selection. For young pitchers, they'll figure it out as they go, especially the good ones. Over years of learning, I can't keep giving them information. They have to learn to process it themselves. Some guys learn faster than others, and some guys don't learn at all. Things can get confused if I try to do too much.

That's really what I'm more nervous about, because I'll see a lot more pitches catching than I will hitting. Hopefully, it won't affect us too much.