I have not watched a fall practice yet, but I talked to Travis Jewett on Thursday about the challenges facing him in his second year with an almost all-new baseball team after last season's disappointing debut.
Here's what he had to say:
So you basically have an all new team.
"I was talking on Willie (Fritz's) show the other night and had some talking points. It's 23 new and nine of those are junior college/grad transfers. It's a pretty good combination of the two. It's a lot of new faces, but we lost a lot, so when you lose a lot, you have to bring in a lot. The thing that I like about it right now is we're pushing maximum capacity plus and competition from within is evident. We've got some depth and some guys that are competing hard, so that's a good thing."
You weren't able to do fully live scrimmages last fall because you had no healthy catchers. How much can that help this fall?
"Well, yeah, any time you can actually play the game itself, it benefits you. Plus it gives you a truer indication of what guys can do. Batting practice is awesome, it's necessary, and tee work and flips in in the cage and just those types of things. It's nobody's fault, but last year we were a little bit undermanned (due to the lack of a healthy catcher in the fall) and not quite healthy enough. Now we've got four catchers that we can split up, and we've certainly got a lot of pitchers.
"What we've tried to dos is almost put the fall weeks like a season. We play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, take our normal Monday off, try to get a good training in on Tuesday, play on Wednesday, evolve in the game. When you have a lot of new faces, it's hearing a lot of things for the first time, and putting it into a competitive environment, can you slow it down and function and things like that? We're trying to use the days in between to grow from the scrimmages and play a lot."
Is it close competition between the four catchers?
"Yeah, I think so. We've got the two junior college kids. Ty Johnson came from Central Arizona, and he's athletic, so we're cross training him. He's catching a lot and then he's also playing in left field to get him some dual work. And Acy Owens from Hinds (CC), so those two guys are doing a good job. And then the two freshman--(Frankie) Niemann and (Jake) Revere--are doing well and coming along. Those are four guys we can put back there and not go backwards."
Sal Gozzo showed a lot of potential last year. How much is going to benefit from all that experience, and how good is he going to be?
"I think he's going to be a rock star. The thing that I've noticed about Sal this year, his drive is really evident. The work that he's putting in is at an elite level. He's out here all the time. I come out here to talk on the phone or get out of the office and I seem to see him out there. He knows what he wants and he's understanding what it's going to take to get there. The work that he's put into this point is showing up when we are competing. He's obviously playing great defense. He continues to get better there. Coach Harris and he have made a lot of nice moves. He was good anyway, but he's gotten better. And just offensively he's stronger, he's more mature and he understands his swing a little better. I'm happy for him because all the success he's having is a direct reflection of the intent and the work he's put in to get out of it what he expects."
It's early in the fall, but who are a couple of guys who have stood out?
"Sal certainly is one of them. He's playing a full complete game right now on both sides of the ball. (Kody) Hoese's making those same kind of transitions in terms of just being older and playing really well. Spoon's (Grant Witherspoon) is coming off the Cape (Cod League) and he's doing his thing. The two junior college catches, it's been nice. Acy's a left-handed hitter, too, so he's got some surprising leverage in there. He's got a chance to hit for some power and do some stuff, but they both receive the ball well, they can both throw and that's been a good thing."
This is your team this year. You inherited a lot of guys who had been through a lot last year. How different does it feel?
"As you know, when we got here at the end of July last year, we really didn't have too much. There were a few of them but not many, so between then and the signing period we went out and got most of these guys. It is a lot of new guys, and just because it is new, everybody's dialed in to kind of how and why and all those types of things. It's been good. Last year was a different thing because those guys were older, they were experienced and they were good players. They knew what it took. It's not any better than last year. It's just different. I do like the vibe and I like the way the kids are getting after it. We just try to be together every day so we can continue to grow that part of it, both the baseball team part of it and just the skills."
You had to make a coaching change forced by the health concerns for (hitting coach and recruiting coordinator) Billy Jones. I know nothing's official with the new hire, but how will that affect things?
"New players, new coaches, so there's a lot of new. (Pitching coach) Tighe (Dickinson) is still here, but Brian Harris is our new volunteer coach (replacing Gabe Boruff). He played at Vanderbilt. He was an All-SEC shortstop. He's done a tremendous job with our infielders. I love watching him work. He's been here from day 1, and then obviously like you said with the unfortunate situation, I miss Billy every day, but he's doing fine. He's going to be fine, but it was just something that presented itself that there was nothing anybody could do about it.
"I thought it was going to get back to where it needed to be. Billy's a very prideful guy, too. He's a dear friend of mine, and I'm just glad he's OK. I just wish him well. I'm excited about Eddie Smith, our new guy. He's doing well. He's coached in Omaha a few times. He played for (Paul) Mainieri at Notre Dame. He was with (Brian) O'Connor at Virginia, so he understands. It's good. Just like any time, we're just trying to make sure that each day we're moving forward. It's another beautiful day to be out here to do that. I always like this time of day because I get to be around the kids and watch them get better."
There was a lot of turbulence around the program last year. What do you anticipate going forward?
"The turbulence, if that's the word and I don't know if that's the word, but when you've got a program that's had some recent success and people want this environment at that time of year to be something they can lean on from a success standpoint, when you don't match it, then you're going to get what you deserve. I wear a lot of that. I wasn't used to it, either. It's not just everybody else that was disappointed. I certainly was myself. I always have to evaluate it. Everything that happens, I would say positively it's because of the kids and negatively it's because of me. I'm willing to take that burden or responsibility or whatever you want to call it. I think what we're doing and how we're teaching it and how we're going about it is the right way. Hopefully it will show up on the scoreboard throughout the spring.
"As you know, it's a very tough schedule that we put ahead of us. I don't know if we'd want to do it any other way. It's going to help us with the RPI if we're good enough and we win and we win some games on the road and home and against quality competition in a great league, then we're going to be versed or ready to perform in the postseason. It brings credence to the crowd. It brings credence to the kid. It gets everybody's attention. Your game's got to be on point in every single day that ends in Y that we're going to do this thing so that we have a chance to be successful."
Here's what he had to say:
So you basically have an all new team.
"I was talking on Willie (Fritz's) show the other night and had some talking points. It's 23 new and nine of those are junior college/grad transfers. It's a pretty good combination of the two. It's a lot of new faces, but we lost a lot, so when you lose a lot, you have to bring in a lot. The thing that I like about it right now is we're pushing maximum capacity plus and competition from within is evident. We've got some depth and some guys that are competing hard, so that's a good thing."
You weren't able to do fully live scrimmages last fall because you had no healthy catchers. How much can that help this fall?
"Well, yeah, any time you can actually play the game itself, it benefits you. Plus it gives you a truer indication of what guys can do. Batting practice is awesome, it's necessary, and tee work and flips in in the cage and just those types of things. It's nobody's fault, but last year we were a little bit undermanned (due to the lack of a healthy catcher in the fall) and not quite healthy enough. Now we've got four catchers that we can split up, and we've certainly got a lot of pitchers.
"What we've tried to dos is almost put the fall weeks like a season. We play Friday, Saturday, Sunday, take our normal Monday off, try to get a good training in on Tuesday, play on Wednesday, evolve in the game. When you have a lot of new faces, it's hearing a lot of things for the first time, and putting it into a competitive environment, can you slow it down and function and things like that? We're trying to use the days in between to grow from the scrimmages and play a lot."
Is it close competition between the four catchers?
"Yeah, I think so. We've got the two junior college kids. Ty Johnson came from Central Arizona, and he's athletic, so we're cross training him. He's catching a lot and then he's also playing in left field to get him some dual work. And Acy Owens from Hinds (CC), so those two guys are doing a good job. And then the two freshman--(Frankie) Niemann and (Jake) Revere--are doing well and coming along. Those are four guys we can put back there and not go backwards."
Sal Gozzo showed a lot of potential last year. How much is going to benefit from all that experience, and how good is he going to be?
"I think he's going to be a rock star. The thing that I've noticed about Sal this year, his drive is really evident. The work that he's putting in is at an elite level. He's out here all the time. I come out here to talk on the phone or get out of the office and I seem to see him out there. He knows what he wants and he's understanding what it's going to take to get there. The work that he's put into this point is showing up when we are competing. He's obviously playing great defense. He continues to get better there. Coach Harris and he have made a lot of nice moves. He was good anyway, but he's gotten better. And just offensively he's stronger, he's more mature and he understands his swing a little better. I'm happy for him because all the success he's having is a direct reflection of the intent and the work he's put in to get out of it what he expects."
It's early in the fall, but who are a couple of guys who have stood out?
"Sal certainly is one of them. He's playing a full complete game right now on both sides of the ball. (Kody) Hoese's making those same kind of transitions in terms of just being older and playing really well. Spoon's (Grant Witherspoon) is coming off the Cape (Cod League) and he's doing his thing. The two junior college catches, it's been nice. Acy's a left-handed hitter, too, so he's got some surprising leverage in there. He's got a chance to hit for some power and do some stuff, but they both receive the ball well, they can both throw and that's been a good thing."
This is your team this year. You inherited a lot of guys who had been through a lot last year. How different does it feel?
"As you know, when we got here at the end of July last year, we really didn't have too much. There were a few of them but not many, so between then and the signing period we went out and got most of these guys. It is a lot of new guys, and just because it is new, everybody's dialed in to kind of how and why and all those types of things. It's been good. Last year was a different thing because those guys were older, they were experienced and they were good players. They knew what it took. It's not any better than last year. It's just different. I do like the vibe and I like the way the kids are getting after it. We just try to be together every day so we can continue to grow that part of it, both the baseball team part of it and just the skills."
You had to make a coaching change forced by the health concerns for (hitting coach and recruiting coordinator) Billy Jones. I know nothing's official with the new hire, but how will that affect things?
"New players, new coaches, so there's a lot of new. (Pitching coach) Tighe (Dickinson) is still here, but Brian Harris is our new volunteer coach (replacing Gabe Boruff). He played at Vanderbilt. He was an All-SEC shortstop. He's done a tremendous job with our infielders. I love watching him work. He's been here from day 1, and then obviously like you said with the unfortunate situation, I miss Billy every day, but he's doing fine. He's going to be fine, but it was just something that presented itself that there was nothing anybody could do about it.
"I thought it was going to get back to where it needed to be. Billy's a very prideful guy, too. He's a dear friend of mine, and I'm just glad he's OK. I just wish him well. I'm excited about Eddie Smith, our new guy. He's doing well. He's coached in Omaha a few times. He played for (Paul) Mainieri at Notre Dame. He was with (Brian) O'Connor at Virginia, so he understands. It's good. Just like any time, we're just trying to make sure that each day we're moving forward. It's another beautiful day to be out here to do that. I always like this time of day because I get to be around the kids and watch them get better."
There was a lot of turbulence around the program last year. What do you anticipate going forward?
"The turbulence, if that's the word and I don't know if that's the word, but when you've got a program that's had some recent success and people want this environment at that time of year to be something they can lean on from a success standpoint, when you don't match it, then you're going to get what you deserve. I wear a lot of that. I wasn't used to it, either. It's not just everybody else that was disappointed. I certainly was myself. I always have to evaluate it. Everything that happens, I would say positively it's because of the kids and negatively it's because of me. I'm willing to take that burden or responsibility or whatever you want to call it. I think what we're doing and how we're teaching it and how we're going about it is the right way. Hopefully it will show up on the scoreboard throughout the spring.
"As you know, it's a very tough schedule that we put ahead of us. I don't know if we'd want to do it any other way. It's going to help us with the RPI if we're good enough and we win and we win some games on the road and home and against quality competition in a great league, then we're going to be versed or ready to perform in the postseason. It brings credence to the crowd. It brings credence to the kid. It gets everybody's attention. Your game's got to be on point in every single day that ends in Y that we're going to do this thing so that we have a chance to be successful."