PHOENIX — Austin Slater isn’t sure if he completely believes what Barry Bonds told him, but he took Bonds’ advice anyway.
“Barry once told us –and who knows if it’s true– but he said, “I never swung at a pitch that I didn’t think I could hit out,’ ” Slater said. “It may be harder to do in practice and in reality, but if you go in there with that mentality, by not swinging at anything that you don’t think you can hit hard, you’re able to lay off a lot more pitches.”
After producing some promising but relatively unsatisfying results in each of his first two big league seasons, Slater completely changed his approach at the plate.