Van Horn on Position Battles, Pitching Ahead of First Practice
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn with the media Thursday morning looking ahead to the season that's starting Feb. 16 at Baum-Walker Stadium.
Transcript
00:00 I think I'm the smartest questions Andrew had he can be your bullpen.
00:06 Uh, how's it shaping up? You know, going into practice now and we haven't
00:11 heard much about gauge. We haven't talked much about him, I guess. Kind
00:14 of. How's he doing? What are your thoughts on him?
00:16 Yeah, first off, the bullpen shaping up fine. Um, we have, we have, you know,
00:22 some really good arms. Obviously, they got to go out and do it in a real game.
00:27 Bullpens have been great. Um, we feel like we have a really good mix of left
00:32 and right heading handed pitching, which is,
00:35 you know, the right hand pitching usually they're having some options
00:39 left handed out of the pen is going to be a big time plus for us this year.
00:44 And as far as gauge would, I mean, he had a really good fall and you'll see
00:50 is just really grown up, matured. He looks, he looks older. Thanks. It's an
00:57 eight. He he looks older. He's physically in tremendous shape and I
01:03 think you'll see a difference there. But as far as throwing the baseball,
01:08 he's been, he's been better than he ever has been. As far as some bullpen
01:12 arms or some names you could throw out for who you think is looking good
01:16 right now.
01:19 Uh, yeah, I could throw some out there for you. Let me see here. Let me, let
01:23 me look at my list. So basically, uh, if you're looking for a left left on
01:28 left matchup, you know, we have stone Hewlett who transferred in here from
01:32 Kansas. That's, that's what he does. He gets lefties out. Um, you know, I
01:39 think freshman Colin Fisher is a guy that could be a starter or a, uh, a
01:44 reliever out of the pen and,
01:46 you know, uh, 100 each could be a starter or a reliever. Obviously we're
01:52 gonna have to wait just a little bit for him to get right. Parker coil
01:55 starter or reliever. Um, really made a jump. So that's exciting. Tate McGuire,
02:03 freshman Gabe Gackle, freshman McIntyre, by we could be a starter would
02:08 Frank's back better than ever. Fairdee is, uh, turn the corner. I think going
02:13 out and playing in Cape Cod league and
02:16 yeah,
02:16 throwing the ball really well except for maybe one game has really helped
02:21 him. And he's a guy that has super stuff upper nineties all the time. Uh,
02:28 kind of easy out of his hand, throwing a breaking ball for a strike, throwing
02:31 fastball for a strike. I think cooper Dossett has made a huge jump, made the
02:36 team going to be right there to help us. Christian Fouch, Dylan Carter. There
02:42 you go.
02:43 And, uh, you, you mentioned deeds. Well, what's his timeline for, I guess,
02:48 getting back to practice and then when he could maybe be game ready?
02:51 Well, he's already back to practice. He's doing all the drills. He's not.
02:56 He's not throwing, uh, to hitters or anything yet. But, you know, they, uh,
03:02 they just went in there and took care of a problem that he brought with him,
03:06 and we knew it was there, had to make a decision after fall ball
03:12 because he showed his first few outings. How good he was at the end of all. It
03:16 wasn't the same. It was still good, but it wasn't nearly nearly as good because
03:19 it's pretty electric and, uh,
03:21 you know, versus I'll just wait till the end of the season. I really don't
03:26 want to miss any more like, Hey,
03:27 we're fine with you miss and we want you the second half. That's what really
03:31 matters anyway. And, uh,
03:33 after realizing that this was going on as a sophomore and then it really hit
03:38 him again his senior year.
03:39 Um,
03:42 talking with his parents and
03:44 advisor, whoever else in the doctor's like, Yeah, let's just do this. And he
03:48 was all about it. He's way ahead of schedule. So I'd say to answer your
03:52 question, he'll be ready. Uh, sometime. Probably go full blast in April.
03:58 Hopefully, I got a couple more about. I'll turn back to Oliver. Thanks. Okay,
04:03 Mason.
04:04 Yeah, coach. Just after watching your team in the fall and having this break,
04:10 what are some of the biggest things you'd like to accomplish before opening
04:13 day with position battles or whatever it may be? Yeah. So, you know, just
04:18 having Stovall back, um, man, he's been amazing. I don't again,
04:23 building accuracy of his arm
04:27 has been great getting him and, uh, behavior to play together, play catch
04:34 together every day, get to know each other.
04:37 Um, that's that's one thing because you just want the middle infielders to
04:40 just kind of know what they're doing before it happens. And, uh, you know,
04:45 just
04:45 getting that infield squared away. You know, we've got a little battle at
04:49 first base with McLaughlin and Wagner when it's left when it's right. One can
04:54 D H Wagner can actually play some outfield if we needed him to as well.
04:59 Um,
05:00 but that's that's something that is on is gonna go. It's gonna be ongoing,
05:06 and it's a good thing. It's healthy competition amongst teammates. And then
05:11 the outfield, you know, third base, you know, you could, you know, you got hold
05:15 over there that
05:16 the spark plug gamer, good player, had a good fall. And and then, you know,
05:25 with with Sprague lot, it came in from Richmond. I mean, honestly, you know,
05:30 he's
05:32 maybe our best defender just fielding the ball. I'm not saying he's the best
05:36 shortstop, but as far as just fielding the ball at third and all positions
05:42 combined, he's gonna be a incredible utility guy, maybe an everyday starter.
05:48 Um, but, uh, you know, so it's a It's a good thing. It's a good thing. The
05:53 outfield, you know, we've got to get that. We've got to get that.
05:58 Maybe left field is still up there. You know, we've been playing Jason Jones
06:04 out. There's late fall in the drill work. He's been working out there like
06:08 80% of his time a little bit at third, you know, because of if the back gets
06:15 going, it could really help us. And, uh, you know, a lot of times left field,
06:19 whether it's
06:20 in summer ball or Division one baseball, the big leagues about swinging the
06:25 bat and being a good defender, you have to be overly special out there if you
06:29 can hit enough.
06:30 So that that's that's up in the air with him and Edmondson and maybe Lovic
06:36 Lovic was someone who missed most fall practice. It's healthy now left handed
06:41 hitter, the transgenic from Missouri. We'll see how that how that plays out.
06:45 Um, and then Ty Wilms, Meyer and centers is our best defender. Um, you
06:51 know, you got Grimes battling and some other guys battling, but we'll we'll
06:55 just have to see how that that all turns out. I think it will be a work in
06:59 progress. If it comes down to just defense, it'll be Wilms Meyer.
07:04 I think the only position you didn't hit there was catcher, and that was gonna
07:08 be my next question. I mean, like we know it's a crowded room. Are you one
07:12 like an everyday guy or kind of switching out or figure it out early in
07:16 the year? What?
07:18 Yeah, I'm not. I'm not all about not having an everyday guy. I think I want
07:24 our players to know that when they walk through the door, they don't have to
07:27 look at the lineup most of the time. I think it just makes for a better, a
07:32 better player, better situation. If you earn the job, you're the best catcher.
07:36 You're the best hitter. The pitchers like throwing to you. There's a
07:39 combination there, but we are very fortunate that we have. I mean, we have
07:43 Parker rolling back. We started for us last year, and yeah, he didn't hit much,
07:47 but he caught extremely well, and he did a great job with our pitching staff.
07:51 And then, you know, you've got Hudson White who came in here from Texas Tech
07:56 that was splitting time back there with a younger player,
07:58 and he has made a huge jump on the defensive end. He throws well
08:03 athletically. He could play other positions, and he was our best hitter in
08:07 the fall. I mean, as far as just barreling up the ball and hitting the
08:10 ball all over the field, tough out, taking walks, falling off pitches. Um,
08:16 you know, he's gonna be in the lineup, and it'd be hard to beat it out. And,
08:20 uh, you know that that's a good problem. Then, you know, freshman Ryder
08:25 Helfrich is, uh, is talented of freshman catcher I've ever had. And I
08:30 had James McCann in here. Uh, that was pretty darn good. I've had some good
08:34 ones. But, uh, you know, you think back of James. His first year was catching
08:40 throw, and then the back came on. It really came out his junior year, and he
08:44 probably let us in hitting even with those terrible bats we had to use that
08:48 year. Um, but writer has a lot lot more bat potential this year. And if he
08:56 keeps getting better with the bat, which I'm sure he will arm strength
09:00 receiver, he was outstanding the first five weeks of fall baseball the last
09:06 week. Not so good. And, uh, I don't know if he just kind of hit the wall or
09:11 what happened. But, uh, he's kind of hard on himself, and he's really good
09:16 player, and he just doesn't. He just needs to relax and play. But, you know,
09:20 I mean, you got Hudson Polk that came out and hit in the fall and caught the
09:25 ball better. And, you know, is a great guy. Great team guy. We all we all feel
09:31 like that one day he's gonna coach at a high level and for a long time if
09:34 that's what he wants to do. So, yeah, you know, you go from having
09:40 two guys last year that didn't hit a whole lot, did a pretty good job on the
09:43 plate to having guys that, you know, we got four guys. And, uh, you know, how
09:47 do you let that happen as a coach? Well, first off, it's a good problem to have.
09:50 But, you know, you bring in the transfer guy because you, you know, you think
09:55 maybe you're gonna lose your freshman catcher and then he doesn't sign and,
09:58 you know, welcome to our world of professional baseball draft mid July.
10:07 You know, I won't go into that tirade again, but it's just it's an issue.
10:11 So,
10:13 Tommy there. I'm here. You know, I actually had the weather report coming
10:21 up because I was gonna ask you, does it look good to get outside tomorrow? And
10:24 I'm sure you guys have been tracking this. Are you gonna be able to get
10:28 outside some this at the start? Yeah, I mean, uh, yesterday, which was
10:32 Wednesday, it was first time that we've been outside and all three did was
10:37 shoot fly balls and do pop up communication. We stayed off the dirt.
10:41 For the most part, we didn't take any ground balls. Uh, just try to see the
10:45 ball in the air because we haven't done that. And then we were hoping the rain
10:49 would get out of here early on Thursday today, and it's not happening. So we're
10:54 gonna let the field dry again. We have the tarp on and we're gonna be out
11:00 there tomorrow. We're gonna throw the first pitch two o'clock.
11:04 Do some early work wherever we can, either on the field or in the indoor,
11:08 and then
11:08 come on over, you know, Saturday. We're gonna take Saturday off. You know,
11:13 track is got the whole facility. They have that, I think, three or four times
11:18 a year, and this just happens to be the weekend. So it'll rain most of the
11:23 morning and mid afternoons cool down.
11:26 We'll use that as an off day, and then we'll go back at it on Sunday. We're
11:31 gonna throw the first pitch at 12 noon, and then we'll scrimmage again on
11:35 Monday. You know, if it in a perfect world, we go Friday, Saturday, Sunday
11:39 would have given a Monday off, but supposed to be in the sixties or warm
11:43 on Monday and next next week looks great. So that that's that's the plan
11:47 right now. Okay. Hey, your comment on Cody Frank was back better than ever.
11:52 When did he get fully by me? What's his What's he looking like?
11:57 He looks 100% to me. You know, we, you know, last year he got up a picture to
12:02 here and there, you know, 92. I think you might have touched 93. We don't
12:06 expect in pitch there. We didn't last year. I think he probably will end up
12:10 getting there, but he's thrown a couple times alive hitters in the indoor and
12:15 pretty much sliced him up because that's what he does. He doesn't. He's
12:18 different. You got incredible change up with movement,
12:24 works fast, feel this position. He's not scared. I think he'll get a lot of
12:30 innings for its fee. Stays healthy, and I don't know why I wouldn't. But I
12:33 would say he's 100% now. The velocity is not 100% yet, but I don't think
12:38 anybody's is. All right. Hey, my last thing is other than dates, anybody else
12:43 gonna be dinged up or slow to start the year?
12:45 Uh, knock on wood. Not yet. But you know, we haven't started doing anything
12:50 yet as far as competing, running the bases and doing those type of things.
12:54 So I'm sure something will come down the road. But we're in good. We're in
12:58 good shape right now. Um, as far as injury. So hopefully we can keep it
13:03 that way.
13:04 Ellis.
13:06 Yeah, Coach, you miss it. You mentioned Jason Jones. Just how much upside he
13:10 has, how much you could help, you know, with so much power potential that
13:14 you're having to replace from last year's outfield. How important is it
13:17 for someone with some pop to emerge at that spot? It just is that something
13:19 you take into account that he might have another level to tap into this
13:23 year. Yeah, it's you know, it's time. I think he's he's ready to go. Um, as far
13:29 as just all the outside noise, all the worries. Uh, we I think we've we've
13:36 had some really good conversations in my office and here and there and coach
13:40 Thompson and had good talks with him as well. It's just, you know, time to play.
13:46 Have fun. Enjoy it. Enjoy the game. Enjoy being on a team. Um, because
13:53 because when you do that, I just I think it starts to flow for you. Yeah,
13:57 you put everybody pulls for each other. And that's that's what I want. I want
14:03 Jason to not worry about all the other things. Just play baseball. Don't worry
14:07 about what somebody down south is saying or this guy's saying or it's
14:12 time to just play baseball and enjoy it. And that's probably the best way I
14:15 can put it. I think we've got a pretty good idea of your top three starting
14:20 pitchers might be being that first weekend you play four games. I was just
14:22 wondering, is that maybe a chance for one of your younger pitchers to get a
14:25 spot to show they can do in the starting role? And as I guess you got a few
14:28 weeks to make the decision. Is there a little bit of a competition for that
14:30 spot now? Yeah, I would say there is. You know, when we when we scheduled,
14:35 we thought in a perfect world due to playing in the tournament the next
14:39 weekend, if we could play on Monday or even play four through the weekend
14:44 with a doubleheader, if we have to do the weather, we'll see how that turns
14:47 out. Skip four games in four starts, four different pitchers not play.
14:52 Tuesday gives us a chance to recover some of our bullpen more, maybe heading
14:56 into that tournament. Um, so, you know, I mean, yeah, the guys are gonna get
15:01 to throw the next three weekends. And if somebody really jumps out there and
15:06 it's easy for us, great. I think, you know, one of the pictures has made a
15:11 really big jump has been by me. He throws nothing but strikes for the most
15:14 part. Now you got a really good breaking ball. Now he's got a slider
15:17 cutter, which he needed that other pitch. Got a good change up. Um, you
15:21 know, a little older, you know, he's a guy that could take it. But there's
15:25 some of those freshmen as well. And you never know. Like I said, there might
15:28 be another one of these guys jump out there before it's all said and done,
15:32 heading into the opening weekend.
15:34 Yeah,
15:34 Matt.
15:36 This weekend specifically, what are you hoping to accomplish with your team?
15:44 And over these last couple of weeks of instructional workouts, has there been
15:47 anything that stood out to you? Well, really, this weekend to me is all about
15:52 getting live at bats on a baseball field with our pitchers going running
15:58 the bases because, you know, you're throwing the hitters inside. They're
16:01 not running. They're just swinging. And, you know, the pitchers obviously
16:06 have an advantage inside. It's harder to it's harder to hit inside in an
16:10 area like that, although our guys do a good job in there. But, you know,
16:14 you know, fortunately, we've replaced the lights in there a year or so back,
16:20 and it's it's great as far as the visibility compared to what it was. But
16:26 it's still not outside. It's just a different feel. Um, but yeah, really
16:31 more than anything, just playing the game at life live at bats on the field
16:35 for our hitters playing baseball. Um,
16:38 that's probably the main thing, you know, and then see if the pitchers can
16:42 take it what they've been doing inside outside because again, you have
16:47 elements, you have wind, you have different things. The mound feels
16:49 different and
16:52 I don't know, gain a little confidence. You know, all, uh, you know, the teams.
16:56 I don't know if I'm gonna load up team yet or not. What I mean by that is if
17:02 we were playing the next day, this group might be starting and the guys know. I
17:06 mean, these guys are pretty smart. They can figure it out real fast. Like, Hey,
17:09 I should be on that team or why am I not on that team or or vice versa. So, uh,
17:15 just playing baseball and really the second weekend, the third weekend, we'll
17:20 have to, we'll have to really start making some decisions. Then this first
17:24 weekend, let's just see what happens. You probably saw the College Baseball
17:28 Hall of Fame announced they're going to be in Overland Park beginning next year.
17:31 Given that you're from the area, I wonder what your thoughts are about
17:34 that. And you guys recruit Kansas City so hard. Do you think it benefits youth
17:39 baseball up there in any way? Well, I think that going to Overland Park,
17:44 obviously, I'm really familiar with Kansas City area growing up there. Um,
17:48 it's a great area. Number one. Uh, I just think it's a lot easier area to
17:53 get to than Lubbock. And I think that the traffic,
17:57 the attendance will be a lot better. And, uh, I think people will be able to
18:05 go out of their way a little bit on vacation, different things to go to go
18:09 through there, the museum. And I think I think it's a great spot. Central part
18:13 of the United States booming area. Uh, and it's it is a baseball area. You
18:19 know, many years ago, we used to always say that in Missouri and the Kansas
18:24 City area that ST Louis might have been a hot spot for baseball. It's still
18:28 really good. But we feel like Kansas City area, you know, whether you're
18:33 talking the Kansas side, Missouri side, north of the river or whatever, it's
18:38 it's really, really come on over the last 15 years. And, uh, that's where
18:43 we've gone and got a lot of our players. So I think I think it's
18:46 definitely gonna
18:47 it'll bring a little attention to the area.
18:49 Excellent.
18:52 Yeah, Dave, every preseason poll that comes out right now, it feels like it
18:58 comes with a picture of Hagan Smith. Just what? How has he been handling the
19:02 hype that's come along with this junior season? Anything different, you know,
19:05 mentality preparation wise, just knowing there's big expectations right
19:09 now? Yeah, he's handled it really well. You know, we there's been years where
19:13 we've had guys that were projected high picks and
19:17 they stressed out over it.
19:19 Maybe change their routine. We just tell our guys to do what you do what you
19:25 do every day. Get up, eat, go to class, come into the place, come into our
19:31 building work.
19:33 Don't worry about it. And it's easier said than done. But if you stick with
19:36 your routine instead of thinking, I gotta sleep in, I'm gonna miss class.
19:40 It just all snowballs on you. Just do what you're supposed to do, and it'll
19:45 all take care of itself. And Hagan, you know, 20 years old, be 20 years old
19:50 draft. He knows he's gonna be a good draft. Um, he But if you talk to him,
19:56 he's just it's amazing. He just wants to win at the highest level as a team.
20:02 And I think that's why the players love him so much that he just works. He
20:07 hadn't not a big talker, but he's been a lot more verbal this year because he
20:11 knows he's older and it's probably his time and he feels more comfortable in
20:15 that role. But you can't outwork this guy and his stuff has been amazing. Um,
20:21 I just I'm excited for him and his family. But I'm excited for our team
20:27 because we have him because we have him on our team. And that's why he's, you
20:31 know, been put out there a lot.
20:32 And excuse me. I know Kendall hit lead off for you guys, but you might want
20:38 him in the middle of the order. You might not have an obvious lead off guy
20:41 right now. Who are some people that might be competing for that number one
20:45 spot in the order?
20:45 Um, probably Peyton Stovall. Maybe, um,
20:51 you know, if we started tomorrow, that's probably who I would hit lead
20:56 off. Swing the bat extremely well. You got a good eyes, a lot stronger than
20:59 he was last year at this time and really seeing improvement of him driving
21:03 the ball the other way.
21:05 Um, you know, that's, you know, we want Kendall anywhere from 2 to 5 in our
21:13 order, I would say right now. And, um, you know, you know, maybe we in the
21:19 past we've had more left handed hitters in the lineup where we could go four
21:22 or five. You know, maybe this year it's three. So I don't want to put two of
21:26 them back to back, you know, at least at the beginning. So if we go left in
21:31 the top, we'll go right in the two and then probably, you know, left to right
21:35 and then left to right. So just try to mix it up at least through the first
21:40 five as best we can, you know, so later on the game there, they're not getting
21:44 us getting two for one, bringing in hot shot lefty to get us. So, um, yeah, I
21:50 would say Stovall right now. And other than that, um, I don't, I don't really,
21:55 I don't know, hope could hit lead off a little energy to the top. But, uh, you
22:01 know, we've got, we've got guys that we feel like that are more middle of the
22:04 order hitters.
22:05 Lovely.
22:07 Hey, coach, the obviously talked a little bit about the polls. Talk to me
22:15 about the respect it shows for your team to be put up there two and three, you
22:18 know, having not played a game and all that. And just, you know, where you
22:21 think you have a confidence to be able, you know, for people to do that.
22:25 Yeah, I mean, I think we lost maybe seven starters in the field again, just
22:28 like we did the previous year and maybe the year before that. And we've been
22:32 very fortunate that some of the young freshmen have developed into good
22:35 sophomores and now they're good juniors. Um,
22:39 you know, guys that maybe didn't play every day last year because of injury.
22:43 I think about McLaughlin, you know, that have come in and really made a jump
22:48 and in our pitching staff, the young guys have gotten better. We plugged in
22:52 a portal guy here and their starter reliever. Um, and then position player
22:57 wise through the portal, we've gone and gotten a few guys that, you know,
23:02 looks like they're gonna be good players for us. Um, and I just think
23:06 that, you know, the polls reflect that a little bit that they feel like that
23:10 our pitching is good and it's deep and, uh, there's a lot of potential there
23:16 with the offense. You know who's to say how that's gonna turn out. But, uh,
23:20 it's kind of been the same the last couple of years and then maybe took a
23:23 step forward this year with returning some really good pitchers and bringing
23:28 in some really good young freshman pitchers that I truly believe are gonna
23:34 help us this year. And I mentioned a few of their names. I didn't say their
23:37 roles, but talked about the bullpen a little bit. But these guys are, they're
23:42 gonna be starters here one day, maybe a couple of them this year.
23:45 Also, you like having that four game series to start off before you all head
23:49 to Texas.
23:51 Yeah, I do. I just like I mentioned earlier, I just feel like that, you
23:55 know, it might wear everybody down a little bit. Um, we hope it can go one
23:59 day at a time or one game if we have to play a double header. I mean, we could
24:03 honestly, if we see the weather's great on opening day and then Monday is not
24:08 looking good at all. We could schedule a double header opening day and we can
24:12 always make an adjustment if Saturday and Sunday aren't looking great. We feel
24:16 like we're gonna have to fight to get one in. Uh, it, it just gives us that
24:20 option and it gives more pictures of an opportunity to play. You know, maybe
24:25 another catcher gets in their, uh, position player here and there. Um, so
24:31 it's, you know, hopefully we get to that weekend. It's uh, it's good
24:35 weather are good enough to play games.
24:37 Thanks. Daniel.
24:46 Daniel, you hear me? Oh, hi, coach. Just one kind of a little bit out of
24:52 left field with practice starting. I mean, I'm just wondering all those
24:56 years ago, I'm working on a piece about the eighties McClellan teams. Just kind
25:00 of what were your kind of as a player, your feelings whenever a season like
25:04 this started again in the first day of practice.
25:07 So we're going back to the eighties. All right, you see here. So the eighties,
25:13 uh, reminds me of now a little bit with the mustaches and the long hair. Uh, we
25:19 had turf at the ballpark. So, and it was freezing there because nothing
25:24 surrounded it. If it was windy and it usually was out of the north, it was
25:28 pretty rough. Uh, but we were all excited to play baseball. Um, I don't
25:34 know if we had the rules like we do now. I think we could get it going pretty
25:37 much when we got back to school. They could even bring you in early back then
25:40 and you could just start practicing. It's a little different now. It's
25:43 limited hours up until tomorrow. Um, and then then you get so many hours a
25:50 week. Uh, but yeah, I think there's, it's not like it's, you know, maybe
25:55 the feeling of spring training because I don't know, it's not that feeling.
26:00 It's just, it's college baseball. We know that we're all starting in three
26:04 weeks and there's a lot of excitement.
26:07 And then I guess what are your earliest memories of coach Butler at McClellan
26:11 and things of that nature and McLennan when I played there? Yep. Yeah. So yeah,
26:19 I played there as a freshman in the sophomore. We had two really good teams
26:22 been to the junior college world series both years. Um, you know, a little
26:27 different feeling when you're a true freshman, just first college game. You
26:32 just, you don't know how it's going to go. And I was a starter on a team that
26:35 was loaded with sophomores. Mhm. So that was a little bit of stress for me,
26:40 but it went well. And coach Butler was a an outstanding coach. Dub Kilgo is our
26:46 assistant. He was an outstanding coach and we won a lot of games. But yeah, I
26:52 know as a true freshman, I'm sure our guys feel the same way now. A lot of
26:56 unknowns, a lot of anticipation, a lot of excitement in some cases, probably
27:01 the freshman, you know, am I going to get to play much? So we just tell those
27:05 guys to stay strong, keep working when your name's called, be ready to go.
27:09 And then you've had McClennan guys over the years on your roster. Just kind of
27:14 any sentimental value there all these years
27:16 for moving.
27:18 I would say, you know, a little conversation off the field about
27:23 living in Waco and playing at McLennan, you know, talking to him about their
27:28 days there. But I guess that would be the only sentiment, sentiment value.
27:33 It's all about
27:34 you know now about playing now and playing well and getting in the lineup.
27:39 I mean,
27:40 yeah, I don't think it puts him a step ahead of anybody.
27:45 Thanks so much for indulging my blasphemy past. Thanks, coach. Good
27:51 memories. Last one is here. Mason.
27:53 Yeah, coach. I just wanted to ask you, you know, the way that Hunter Holland
28:02 performed for y'all last year, just his first year with you. How much confidence
28:06 does that give you in a guy like Mason Molina coming in and doing something
28:09 similar?
28:10 Yeah, I mean, it's easy to be confident with guys that has shown it before. You
28:16 know, the junior college, it's a different level. You are facing some
28:21 good hitters. It's usually not maybe 88 in the lineup that you're facing, maybe
28:27 even nine and always seven good hitters, especially in league play that you got
28:32 to get through in junior college. It's it may be maybe maybe 345 guys that
28:38 they're going to fight you a little bit. But if you get pitch like you know you
28:42 can, you're going to get him out. So it's a different jump as far as going
28:46 through lineups at this level. But you know, when you get a division one
28:50 transfer, especially a guy that's been it's pitched it at a high level like
28:55 like Mason has. Um and then he goes out and shows us in the ball and he shows
29:01 our hitters in the ball that he's hard to hit. Um I have a lot of confidence
29:07 in Mason.
29:08 All right, Bob, our starter, our closer.
29:13 Hey, hey, Dave. Um hey, uh the big lefty from ST louis. Um I guess how
29:23 how's he doing? Yeah, Tommy, right? Tackling. I'm sorry. He didn't have uh
29:28 he didn't have Tommy john. He had a little short of that. I forget what
29:32 they call it right now, but it's uh not quite so invasive. Um recover quicker.
29:38 But uh he's I mean he'll be he should be healthy enough to throw sometime
29:46 during the spring as far as live real game. But he's not ready to throw in
29:51 scrimmages. I mean Adam is working hard. Uh you got a big arm, you know, so
29:58 we we are our hope was that he would get on the mound before this season's over
30:03 when he'll have to show us that he's ready, you know, with how he feels, how
30:09 he's throwing the baseball and uh you know, hopefully he'll do that. But he's
30:15 he's feeling good. He's just got to keep building up and you're able to
30:20 keep your staff intact. That's not always easy when you have success. A
30:23 lot of times teams, teams, poach your staff and I know you probably have to
30:27 fight off probably sec teams maybe. Um just how good is that that you're
30:32 going back in the staff's been together for a while.
30:35 Yeah, we're very fortunate to keep our staff together. I think we all know
30:40 each other. We all know how we act in the game and handle the game. And you
30:45 know, when you have new staff, you have to meet all the time and go over
30:48 everything. When you have guys you trust and you know that they know what
30:53 you expect. Uh you don't have to do that as much. And uh I think they
30:59 appreciate that so they can spend their time with doing what they like to do.
31:03 And that's coach pitching and hitting and other things. But uh
31:07 you know, there were a lot of teams coming after our coaches, you know,
31:12 professional teams and other college teams, other division one teams, other
31:17 teams in the league. You know, it's uh it's a yearly thing. It's a good
31:21 problem to have. And I think that uh the players see that we have a lot of
31:27 camaraderie amongst the coaches. We all get along. Um we all respect each
31:32 other. Um there's not, there's not a lot of ego going on with our staff.
31:37 It's all about, let's let's win what's in front of us today and let's try to
31:42 get to the big dance at the end of the year and do some damage.
31:45 Yeah, I think I'm good. You go into the basketball game saturday. I'm not
31:51 sure yet why you want to sit with me. You have a better seat than I do. I'm
31:55 sure I don't but I don't think so. Maybe not get some good seats but
32:01 they're not mine. So I have to make a call or you know I have to work on it
32:05 a little bit.
32:06 Okay, I'm good. Thanks. Okay. Thank you guys.
32:11 [BLANK_AUDIO]