March 18, 200917 yr http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/diamondbacks/284842 Quentin vows to cage emotions By Sarah Trotto Arizona Daily Star Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.18.2009 advertisement PHOENIX — A promising All-Star season ended in a fleeting moment of anger and frustration for Carlos Quentin. After fouling off a pitch from the Cleveland Indians' Cliff Lee in the ninth inning of a loss on Sept. 1, Quentin slammed his right fist down on his bat and broke his wrist. The injury, caused by a habit he said he had repeated thousands of times during at-bats, cost him the rest of the season. Quentin watched as the Chicago White Sox won the AL Central, then fell to the Tampa Bay Rays in the division series, and as the Boston Red Sox's Dustin Pedroia snagged the MVP award Quentin vied for. "It was frustrating," Quentin said this week during White Sox spring training at Camelback Ranch. "Not being able to play on the field was terrible. The team did an unbelievable job getting to the postseason and did a great job down the stretch." Quentin is hoping to continue his All-Star production from last season — and avoid another untimely meltdown. His breakout year, complete with career highs of 36 home runs, 100 RBIs and a .288 average in 130 games, came as a result of a fresh start with the Sox. He had spent the previous four seasons in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, including parts of three seasons with the Tucson Sidewinders. He hit .214 in an injury-marred 2007 with the D-backs, who traded him to Chicago for minor-leaguer Chris Carter. After undergoing surgery for a torn left labrum and rotator cuff, Quentin made the Sox's roster out of spring training last year and won the job in left field. "A new environment allowed me to grow as a person," said Quentin, 26. "For some reason, being in Chicago, and being new and not really being noticed, kind of helped me in the sense to go about my business and learn as a hitter. "I give a lot of credit to (hitting coach) Greg Walker, because we both kind of clicked and came up with new ideas about how to hit and how to improve." Walker deflects the credit back to Quentin, saying the right-handed batter spent significant time analyzing video and shared his own ideas with the staff. Among the adjustments, they worked to limit Quentin's head movement and improve his posture, allowing him to better see pitches. Last season, he drew a career-high 66 walks, compared to 80 strikeouts. "He's a bright guy who figured things out, and a change of scenery did him some good," Walker said. "There was a lot there to work with." Walker praised Quentin's coachability, saying they agreed on ideas about mechanics, but he said he doesn't want to stress the mechanical adjustments too much, insisting Quentin would have been successful wherever he went. If he had not broken his wrist, Quentin would have won the MVP title, Walker contends. Quentin finished fifth in the voting. Now, he looks to cage his notoriously intense emotions. He said besides feeling sometimes sore, his wrist is fine. "Try not to hit things with my hands," he said. "I obviously don't repeat past mistakes." Walker said the Sox have talked to Quentin about his emotions, but no one felt worse about the injury than Quentin. "The season he had last year was pretty magical, and he did some amazing things, and we'd like to think he's going to do a lot of the same things," Walker said. "But we're not going to put that kind of pressure on him. Just go out and be Carlos, compete, stay healthy and see what happens. I have a pretty good feeling about it." Likewise, manager Ozzie Guillen wants to ease the pressure on Quentin, saying he doesn't have to carry the team. "He just has to go out, get good at-bats, but don't try to do too much," Guillen said. "He had an unbelievable year last year, and I don't expect him to have another one like that. "If he does, that's a plus for me. But I just want him to be consistent and do what he's supposed to do."
March 18, 200917 yr The key thing in this article is hearing that his wrist has been sore. It's possible we won't see the same kind of power from Q we saw last year. So far no HR's in ST and Derrek Lee suffered a power outage after he broke his wrist. Longoria and Vernon Wells also suffered broken wrists and after a quick scan of their splits after coming off the DL , I didn't notice any discernible loss of power. Miguel Tejada also broke his wrist and his power was down but he's on the down side of his career so that's to be expected.
March 18, 200917 yr I've always felt a little guilty for shouting MVP a few times the at-bat he punched his bat.
March 19, 200917 yr QUOTE (rangercal @ Mar 18, 2009 -> 06:52 PM) Old news. Beat like a drum at soxfest. I'm fine with soxfest recapping. I dont really pay much attention to that event, since there's no real baseball going on, it's just a manufactured moneymaker for the team.
March 19, 200917 yr Author QUOTE (Princess Dye @ Mar 18, 2009 -> 07:13 PM) I'm fine with soxfest recapping. I dont really pay much attention to that event, since there's no real baseball going on, it's just a manufactured moneymaker for the team. Its not. All profits go to Chisox charities. Much of the money goes to things like Fields of Dreams where they build specialized ballparks for handicapped kids to be able to play baseball/softball. They also use it build and/or rebuild diamonds in poor areas around the Metro area.
March 19, 200917 yr http://soxmachine.com/blogs/soxmachine/arc...3/19/15385.aspx The batting stance guy does Carlos Quentin
March 19, 200917 yr QUOTE (knightni @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 05:17 PM) He's in a glass case of emotion! LOL I love Will Ferrell.
March 20, 200917 yr QUOTE (kyyle23 @ Mar 19, 2009 -> 05:41 PM) http://soxmachine.com/blogs/soxmachine/arc...3/19/15385.aspx The batting stance guy does Carlos Quentin :lolhitting
March 20, 200917 yr I've broken my wrist, twice. There's no reason it should have any impact on his hitting, moving forward. He'll be fine.
March 20, 200917 yr I've never thought of CQ as an emotional guy. In fact, I'd call him the ice machine.
March 21, 200917 yr QUOTE (LosMediasBlancas @ Mar 20, 2009 -> 06:30 PM) I've never thought of CQ as an emotional guy. In fact, I'd call him the ice machine. He doesn't wear it on his sleeve, but he definitely is emotional. You can definitely tell he gets angry at himself at times.
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