Jeff Natale Interview

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Jeff Natale is an unheralded infielder in the Boston Red Sox organization who
is nothing short of a machine when it comes to getting on base.

Posting an impressive career .436 OBP, Jeff’s specialty is doing whatever it
takes to get on base. This is in large part due to his excellent plate
discipline, methodical approach at the plate and fantastic bat. With all
these tools it’s no wonder that he has won numerous awards including the
2006 Red Sox Minor League Offensive Player of the Year.

With most of the prospect attention in the Red Sox organization recently
going towards Jacoby Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Justin Masterson and Lars
Anderson over the past couple of seasons, Natale has quietly put together an
impressive pro career and is ready to take the next step.

Here’s a look at Jeff Natale’s career numbers:

+------+-----+----------+-----+-----------+----+-----+-----+----+
| YEAR | AGE | TEAM     | AB  |  AVG/OBP  | HR | RBI |  R  | 2B |
+------+-----+----------+-----+-----------+----+-----+-----+----+
| 2005 |  22 | LOW (A-) |  41 | .488/.522 |  0 |   9 |   9 |  5 |
|      |     | GRV (A)  | 160 | .338/.463 |  2 |  35 |  35 | 19 |
| 2006 |  23 | GRV (A)  | 175 | .343/.487 | 10 |  41 |  38 | 10 |
|      |     | WIL (A+) | 273 | .278/.419 |  7 |  46 |  46 | 13 |
| 2007 |  24 | PRT (AA) | 404 | .270/.417 |  5 |  64 |  66 | 28 |
| 2008 |  25 | RSX (RK) |   6 | .167/.333 |  0 |   1 |   2 |  0 |
|      |     | LOW (A-) |  39 | .333/.449 |  1 |   6 |  11 |  6 |
|      |     | PRT (AA) |  29 | .241/.395 |  1 |   4 |   4 |  2 |
|      |     | PAW (AAA)|  82 | .280/.410 |  3 |  11 |  12 |  2 |
+------+-----+----------+-----+-----------+----+-----+-----+----+
|       4 Seasons       | 358 | .300/.436 | 29 | 217 | 223 | 85 |
+------+-----+----------+-----+-----------+----+-----+-----+----+

I had a chance to talk with Jeff over the New Year where we discussed
everything from his disciplined approach at the plate to the most thrilling
moment of his career. 


Matthew Whipps: I have to start out by asking, were you a pretty big Red Sox
fan growing up in Connecticut?

Jeff Natale: I wasn’t too much of a Red Sox fan growing up, but that
automatically leads people to believe that I was a Yankee fan which isn’t
true either. Honestly growing up I was just a big baseball fan. I love the
Red Sox/Yankee rivalry but I wasn’t a Yankee or Red Sox fan but more of a
baseball fan.


Whipps: So growing up, who were some of your biggest influences in your life
both on and off the field?

Natale: On the field, It was Derek Jeter and Nomar (Garciaparra). Watching
these guys play growing up was awesome. Every time either of these guys
stepped on the field they played (and still play) full tilt, hard every on
every play no matter what the situation. Off the field it had to be my dad.
He would spend countless hours playing with me, hanging out with me, and
being a great dad.


Whipps: As someone who has won quite a few offensive awards, what type of
hitter would you describe yourself as?

Natale: I would consider myself a very patient hitter, with a little bit of
power to the gaps. I get on base a lot, which some people consider luck and
other people consider it to be a good eye. I take a ton of pitches and
actually enjoy the challenge of hitting with 2 strikes. Ever since I can
remember I absolutely hated to strike out, something that has carried with me
up till pro ball today.


Whipps: Anyone who even briefly looks at your career numbers can see that
year in and year out you are constantly among the minor league leaders in on
base percentage. With this being such an important quality to have as a
hitter (getting on base), what do you attribute to your success?

Natale: I would most definitely attribute this to my dad. When I was growing
up, even as young as Little League, he would always stress to me “get a good
pitch to hit.” Its hard enough to hit when you are just swinging at strikes,
so if your swinging at pitches that aren’t strikes, you’re in deep trouble.
After reading Ted Williams’ “The Science of Hitting” in high school, it
became more and more apparent to me that getting a good pitch to hit was the
most important part of hitting.


Whipps: Throughout your career you’ve always seemed to post very low
strikeout totals. Do you have a different approach that you take at the plate
to adjust for two strikes?

Natale: I think the reason why I don’t strike out too often is because I don
’t take a different approach to the plate with 2 strikes. A lot of times
when people strike out they chase pitches out of the zone because a lot of
people are taught to “expand the zone” with 2 strikes or “you need to
protect the plate” with 2 strikes. I hate these philosophies because I feel
with 2 strikes, you should take a similar approach as when you have less than
2 strikes (obviously a little different than the approach you take 2-0 or 3-0
or 3-1) but definitely not expanding the zone so that you’ll swing at a
pitch out of the strike zone.


Whipps: I was very surprised to see that your numbers were even better on the
road last season than at home. This is quite a feat and since we normally don
’t see this from hitters, do you have any explanation for it?

Natale: I had a rough time hitting at home last year. I felt very comfortable
at the plate on the road and I would always get home and feel a little bit “
off” for whatever reason. I don’t know if there’s any good explanation for
it.


Whipps: Getting back to the offensive awards you’ve received, how big of a
thrill was it to be named the 2006 Red Sox Minor League Offensive Player of
the Year?

Natale: That was the biggest thrill of my baseball career so far. I was out
to dinner with my parents when Mike Hazen called me to tell me that I had
been selected for the award and I couldn’t have been more thrilled. It was a
once in a life-time type of award and I’m extremely proud to have been given
it.


Whipps: To all those who will never be able to experience it, can you take us
to the day where you were honored with that award and introduced in front of
a sellout crowd at Fenway?

Natale: I can even really explain the feeling of stepping onto the field with
thousands of fans cheering for you. The adrenalin was pumping, I was nervous
but really excited, I was thinking “please don’t trip, please don’t do
anything dumb” pretty much the entire time.


Whipps: Last April you suffered a pretty bad injury that put you on the
sidelines for a couple of months. While your numbers didn’t seem to suffer
the rest of the season, do you have any lasting effects as a result?

Natale: The arm is doing great. I had a great group of trainers down in Ft
Myers that were working with me every single day from the surgery to the day
I was back on the field at full strength. I wasn’t put on the field a minute
before I was 100% ready to go, which was frustrating at times, but overall it
was the right decision.


Whipps: What can we expect from Jeff Natale as we head into the 2009 season?

Natale: Right now I’m in the best physical shape of my life. I’ve worked
really hard this off-season on my arm strength, my overall physical strength,
as well as my core strength. Hopefully this hard work will translate into
having a really good spring training and then starting out the season on the
right foot.

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→ betadu:噢 原來有受傷 抱歉沒看到
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