As a ballplayer, you just want to feel respected. I like the way Washington presented the team to me and I feel good about what was being said.

I think it looked like I was a little more aggressive than I was, ... I swing at bad pitches anyway, but I was swinging at even more bad pitches and missing. It looked worse. But I was thinking about [the milestone], no doubt about it.

I dedicate all my time to baseball, because when you come from where I come from, you don't want to risk anything.

I might be shy, but in the field, where I have to do my work, I do it. I let my bat speak for myself.

When we are youths in the Dominican, we pick up bats and balls because baseball is part of what we grow up with. The fun feeling you get playing keeps your head up when you encounter difficult times.

What I do is see the ball, hit the ball.

I don't have to get a pitch down the middle. If I like the pitch-even if it's 15 inches off the plate, and that's the pitch I wanted-I'm swinging.