He hit .500 in the World Series last season and .391 in the American League playoffs-21 for 47, a .447 average, with 13 runs batted. But Paul Molitor, after 16 years in the big leagues, says he only recently made a big discovery about hitting. The secret: wait on the ball.
“I finally got the confidence that I can wait a long time and still hit the ball,” Molitor explained. “The longer you wait the better you see the ball, the more you lay off bad pitches and the better contact you make.”
Molitor, a .306 lifetime hitter who led the Toronto Blue Jays to the world championship, is still learning.
“I study hitting a lot, and I try to take different things from different hitters,” he said. “I learned how to wait from Wade Boggs. He doesn’t seem to move on the ball until it gets into the hitting zone, and now that’s what I try to do. It has been a big change in my game.”
Even before, Molitor was among baseball’s best hitters. Today, he’s dynamite.
“When you talk about Paul, you’re talking about Hall of Fame material,” said Toronto manager Cito Gaston. “His head is always in the game, even when he’s the DH. And he’s a terrific person. Very easy to manage.”
At 37, when most hitters begin to decline, Molitor is peaking. He has hit .320 or higher in each of the last three seasons and appears capable of winning his first batting championship.
I asked if he thought a batting title was within his reach.
He laughed and told of an incident that occurred here last spring soon after he joined the Blue Jays.
“I went up to John Olerud,” Molitor recalled, “and asked him if he thought he could win the batting championship. He said he never thought about it. And then he goes out hits .363. If I’d have known I might not have asked him.”
Molitor hit .332, second to Olerud, but had career highs in home runs, RBIs and games played.
He admitted he was apprehensive at this time last year. A free agent, he signed with the Blue Jays after 15 years with the Milwaukee Brewers.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Molitor said, “Being a new man on a club, there is always concern. But things fell into place. I had a good year and the team won. Now, it’s a much more comfortable situation.”
“One of my better signings,” observed Pat Gillick, Toronto’s longtime front office boss. “We all knew he was an outstanding player. But the way he performed was almost too good to be true. It’s his consistency. I can’t recall him going into a slump.”
Molitor says this isn’t quite true.
“I think I had a couple of 0-for-10s last year,” he said. “But I don’t let that bother me. If you let yourself get too high or too low, you’re never going to be a good ballplayer. You have to take the bad with the good. There’s a new game each day, and every day you come out and try to win.”
I asked if he had any special advice for the young ballplayer.
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“Tell them to be patient at the plate and try not to overswing. If you develop a short, compact stroke you always have a good chance at making contact. And if you put the ball in play, the hits will come.”
Previously, Molitor had only slightly better than average power. But he hit 22 home runs last year and has been driving the ball well in spring training. He has already had a two-home run game. The first was a line smash to left that was still rising as it cleared. The second was a high, arching drive 40 feet beyond the fence in left-center.
“I’m not Frank Thomas,” Molitor said. “Never will be. He’s awesome.”
According to Molitor, the White Sox slugger is the most feared hitter in the AL, and pitchers still don’t know how to pitch to him.
“He doesn’t chase bad pitches,” Molitor said. “Other players talk about him a lot. Some people say `Pitch him inside, don’t let him get those big arms extended.’ Then, they pitch him inside and the ball is out of the park.
“When you can walk more than 100 times, hit 30 to 40 home runs and drive in more than 100 runs, that’s a complete hitter. And he’s improving every year. He’s only going to get better.”
The same could be said for Paul Molitor.