When Barry Bonds was drawing walks at a historic rate, Dusty Baker recalled there were times when the San Francisco Giants’ slugger would take his elbow guard off before the pitch even crossed the plate. Then in another at-bat, Bonds would crush the first or second pitch he saw into McCovey Cove or somewhere else out of reach.
Bonds, now a hitting coach for the Miami Marlins, had mastered his vision and concentration to the point where he could constantly take advantage of opponents, even if he was seeing just one good pitch a game, according to Baker, who managed the Giants from 1993-2002.