9 Quotes by Keith Lieppman

Freddie has been in big-league camp before, but he was never much of a factor. But you have some guys who are late bloomers, and he's one of them. His name seems to pop up every day, whether it's about a play he made out on the field, or how he looked during batting practice.

He had a rough go. All that disappointment and anguish, all that time spent on the DL. I really admire what he's done to try to get himself back where he was. This year, you see a relieved guy, like there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

He has been outstanding. He's had sore arms in the past, but nothing that required treatment.

He's gone so quickly through the system because of his maturity level. He's talented, and he made adjustments. I think he's still under the radar. He has tremendous drive, he loves to condition and he'd try things out. He was willing to take risks. At the Triple-A level, when hitters starting catching up to his fastball, he started using a change and a split. He's had adversity, and he keeps bouncing back. Setbacks only fuel his desire to get better.

Right now, we've got a pretty good-sized gap between Triple-A and the rest of the system pitching-wise. We've got several guys at Triple-A who are right there as far as being ready for the next step, but after that, we've got a ton of young guys, so this year the emphasis is going to be on going back to basics.

You want the player to have a similar experience everywhere he plays in the system, so all of our coaches have to be on the same page. And if you run down the list of our coaches, you'll find that they share a lot of qualities. It's a low ego, high work ethic thing that runs through the whole organization, and as a result, a lot of the players we develop have those same qualities.

Danny is not going to be denied for lack of work or effort. He is real intense. And he's your typical A's guy. He grinds out his at-bats, he doesn't give up, with that aggressive but disciplined approach at the plate. You always have a feeling about Danny that he's going to find a way to get it done.

He's our Mexican version of Wash. He's a tireless worker who has the respect of all the guys, and he's got a very important job. Most of the Minor League kids just want to come in and swing the bat, and Juan has to teach them why defense is such a big part of our success.

He can do a lot of different things. And he does them all pretty well.