Eddie Stanky deserves some credit for my understanding of the mental side of baseball. He stressed the importance of keeping your head in the game, how you can pick up little things about a hitter just by analyzing his stance -- whether a guy is crowding the plate or backing away gives you a signal that he's making certain adjustments against you. Analysis is an important part of baseball. Here's a good example: Phil Niekro of the Atlanta Braves made a living off of his late-breaking knuckleball. The Astro hitters studied Niekro's delivery in pursuit of the ideal strategy: By moving up in the batter's box, they had a better shot at connecting with the pitch before it could break out of the hitting zone. Hitters know how to adapt; a smart pitcher is equally perceptive. I'm always evaluating a hitter's stance for more information.

There's more to pitching than just heading out to the mound and throwing strikes. All hitters -- even the great ones -- have their weaknesses. It's up to a pitcher to discover and exploit a hitter's flaws.

Unlike a lot of pitchers, I don't keep a written book on hitters; I work more on recollection. Is he a fastball hitter? Does he wait on the curve? Will he swing at the first pitch? All this information is filed away in my memory, ready and waiting to be put to the test of competition.

During the very brief exhibition season of 1990, I made the mistake of giving up a long home run to Sammy Sosa of the White Sox. I played with him in 1989 -- he was traded by the Rangers for Harold Baines -- so I knew about his strengths and weaknesses. Sosa is an excellent fastball hitter, but not the most selective guy in the American League. My plan was to start him off with a fastball low and outside, but the pitch got away from me and he turned on it. I wanted to throw him a curve on the second pitch -- but the home run took care of that idea in a real hurry.

I guess you could say I made a mistake by throwing the fastball on the first pitch. I knew Sosa would be guessing fastball, but if the pitch had been down and away -- as I intended -- he's lunging for the ball and it's strike, or out, number one. Location is everything in this situation. In a spring-training game I'm not going to have the precise control I need to apply ideal strategy to each at bat. But a pitcher can outthink the hitter if he's able to put the ball where he wants it -- and he knows the batter's weak spots.

Quality hitters are hard to outthink. The guys I struggle against tend to wait back on the ball and just put it in play. Here are the contact hitters who have given me all kinds of trouble at various points in my career:

New York Mets
1-Matty Alou
2-Billy Williams
3-Pete Rose

California Angels
1-Rod Carew
2-Tony Oliva
3-George Brett

Houston Astros
1-Pete Rose
2-Will Clark
3-Tony Gwynn

Texas Rangers
1-Wade Boggs
2-Don Mattingly

These guys are all selective hitters with a vast knowledge of the strike zone -- and are 10 of the most intense individuals you'd ever want to meet. In the final analysis, the mental aspect of baseball is as important to your success as your physical tools.

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