Its a real honor to be included among the list of finalists, when you see the names that are there, ... Some of the guys who won the Hank Aaron Award in the past are thought of as some of the best players in the history of the game, so just to be included with those guys is really gratifying.

I always lift weights very heavy and spend a lot of time in the weight room.

I've always felt that I need to be somebody in the middle of the lineup that's going to drive in runs and come up with big hits.

I don't play baseball first. I put Christ first in my life. I put my family behind Him and I put baseball down the line. I obviously want to succeed. I want to do well. I want to perform. But at the same time, I'm at peace that no matter what happens on this earth, the more important part is being a Christian, and being in the Kingdom of Heaven when it's all said and done.

Being from Baltimore, I'm a crab cake snob, and I'm very particular on where I eat my crab cakes.

One thing that I've realized is that you're never going to be 100 percent successful. You're always going to be let down. When you have God in your life and you follow Christ, you're never going to be let down. Every time that you fail, He's there to pick you right back up. Every time you think the world's going to end because you had a couple of bad games, God's there to remind you that's not what it's all about.

I'm half-Italian and my name is Portuguese. Michael Young is half-Mexican. There are players from the United States that have heritage elsewhere and it's a great thing to have a world cup to celebrate the whole world. It shows the world that baseball is important and how great the game is.