Kevin Seitzer talks to the media

Gregor Chisholm has a transcript of the press conference call with Kevin Seitzer, up at North of the Border (sure, don't invite us to listen in, you would think a team that was as bad as they were, would be begging people to write about them and giving people that are writing about them as much information as they could). Anyway go read it, I'll wait.....

He says all the right things, don't they always, I liked this bit:

I know that there's probably a lot of questions about Bautista, Encarnacion, Rasmus, guys like that, that are more pull-type hitters, I also have a philosophy of if it's not broke, don't fix it.

Much better than just saying 'my way or the highway'. Of course, what he says to the press and what he says to players might be two different things, but I'm sure Alex wouldn't have hired him if he said 'hey, I'll fix that Bautista guy for you'.

If teams are shifting around to where they have the second baseman playing up the middle on the shortstop side for a right-handed hitter, or vice versa for a lefty, to be able to shoot that ball the other way.

I can't argue too much, but then I like guys that know their strengths and stick to them. If you hit the ball hard enough, the shift really doesn't matter.

For me, the bottom line as far as philosophy, approach, is really making consistent hard contact and that's why the thinking, the plan, of hitting the ball to the middle of the field, gap to gap, gives you a better chance to put the barrel of the bat on the ball.

I do like that. I always think 'hit the ball hard, good things will happen'. I think planning to go up the middle does tend to make you look for pitches over the plate. Thinking pull or push makes you look for pitches to one side of the plate or the other.

He talks about his relationship with Gibby:

We had a tremendous relationship, I have all the respect in the world for him. He's a very easy going guy but yet has some fire and intensity to him at the same time. If you're around him, he's a very good baseball man, I have ultimate respect for him. One of the things, too, our first year, he was our bench coach, we spent some time talking about philosophy and what I teach.

I'm sure he and Gibbons are close, and it likely is a good thing to have someone you are comfortable talking to in the coaching roles. Though I thought Dwayne Murphy was pretty easy to talk to, but then maybe Gibbons agrees more with Seitzer's philosophy of hitting.

He talks about helping Alex Gordon out:

Alex Gordon, is probably one player that I feel the best about in accomplishments just because he struggled so bad his first years in the big leagues and it was a major overhaul process to help him make some adjustments he needed to make.

I wonder if he can have the same success with J.P.?

Anyway, read the interview and let us know what you think.