Austin Knight talks about a staff that is expected to be led by Trey Yesavage and Zach Root.
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All right coach we talked in the past last year even the year before just about pitchers kind of just getting the ball throwing it um I guess from your perspective how important is it for pitchers to kind of dictate that pace and kind of control what what as much as
They can on the M yeah I think you know within reason is is one of the more important aspects of the game you know I talk to our guys in in the game of baseball they’re the closest thing to you know a quarterback is that they can
Dictate the tempo they can dictate the pace they are in more control than anybody else that’s on the field right because The Hitter is reacting to you the infielders outfielders they’re all reacting to the ball put in play and so the pitcher is able to dictate um a lot
Of that of if they’re pounding the strike zone how quickly they’re working in between pitches how how much do they own that you know 10 seconds in between each pitch you know and so that’s where you know for for us I feel like the 22nd clock when it came into play it didn’t
Have a great effect on us you know except for in the conference tournament this past year um but for us it’s it’s a big part of our philosophy and kind of how we go about our work each day is that we want to make the hitters obviously uncomfortable when they’re in
The Box push the pace and uh fill up the strik Z for sure Zach R he obviously pitched a lot last year but kind of getting into that starter mentality do you think he’s well equipped for that kind of a big game type of pitcher and
How has it been like stretching him out to get ready for that Ro yeah I think that was the really the thing you noticed first about Zach was that he is certainly a guy that’s able to step up in in those situations never really Shi
Away from it you know I think about we brought him in to close out that game on Friday night against North Carolina last year and of course on opening day he’s the first guy of the wpen so he kind of he got kind of got thrown to the Wolves
A little bit there at the beginning but he handled it and you know you start you start watching him and the bigger the moment is the better he is the better his stuff is um and so that you know those are things within a pitcher the intangibles those are the things that
You look for in a great starting pitcher or anything like that um and then of course from then from then till now he’s done an outstanding job of of physically getting stronger uh working his tell off uh we we address some things as far as his off speed pitches breaking ball his
Cutter different things like that to go along with already his fastball and change up which are really good pitches um and so excited to see you know how he how he continues to handle his business over the next several weeks and uh and excited excited for him for
Sure coach how do you with the long grind of the baseball season how do you prepare your pitchers to try to prevent as many injuries as possible yeah I think you just got to be as proactive about it when they as soon as they get to school in August as you possibly can
Um because you’re not a I mean you’re preparing forward in Fall baseball and early in the spring but pitch counts aren’t going to be up as as much because you’re building them up slowly and same with you know relief appearances and throwing them multiple times in a week
And different things like that and so the same stimulus that they feel at the end of a season is not going to be replicated in the fall or the early spring and so I think you just have to Ed educate them to the best of your
Ability and then kind of get in there early and assess so some some weaknesses of theirs what they do well how can we build these weaknesses in the strings whether that’s physically with the way they move or just their their physical strength in general and then get an
Understanding of how they bounce back what does their throwing need to look like in between outings all of those things really uh you know play play a role in figuring those things out and then just working really really hard in the weight room and consistently getting
In to see our trainer Logan who does an outstanding job with our pitches um but just being proactive about everything right no no need is too small or too big right just get in there get to work get the work that you need done uh and and uh just communicate extremely well but
It’s just different for every single pitcher in our in our organization really it’s like everybody responds differently to different things some guys they’re more sore on the second day some guys are sore on the first day some guys don’t get sore at all right and so it’s more about catering they’re
Throwing around each guy instead of just forming it into where everybody is doing the same thing you had describe this bullpen in one word what would it be and why um in one word that’s interesting you know I hope tough right like just tough a bunch of guys who were able to
Take the ball and go finish games and and go uh attack the opponent and things like that but I think what you’re going to look at is you’re going to have some V Variety in the bullpen as well uh where guys look different there’s different arm slots there’s uh different
Pitch mixes um and I think you know with the staff and with the team you’re always wanting that word to be tough right and so if we have a good variety of different mix from the bullpen aspect and you also have a bunch of guys who
Have been in the moment and are tough and can handle the situation I think you look at a a bullpen that can be very successful when you look at making that decision on who the Sunday starter is going to be how do you balance from
Who’s going to be the best guy on Sunday balancing with where you might lose him on Friday or Saturday in a big time situation yeah no and that’s that’s a big piece of it you know we talked about Trey last year is just how good he was
Out of the bullpen moving him into a starting role and so it just depends on on The Supporting Cast around you and who emerges as the as the spring goes on you know and so um you certainly want to have some of your best arms in the
Bullpen to finish games right you don’t want to ever leave that up to chance and so I uh I think that in determining that you just got to figure out if you have enough on the on the back end to go finish game that have experienced and
Have been in those scenarios before in those situations and then dictate if uh if some someone needs to start on Sunday or who needs to start in the midweek or all those things you know and so um that that’s kind of you know we we’ll work through that in the next couple weeks
When it comes to Jay Conor and W lford shinkman and all those guys and really get a good feel on on what the bullpen looks like if this guy is starting versus if this guy is starting you mentioned Trey Savage just obviously an awesome season last year awesome summer
Awesome Po and a lot of expectations on him you know what have you seen out of him as he’s getting ready to kind of kind of grab the number one spot last year so to be that number one guy again yeah I think you know all the positive
Start with Trey just being an awesome human being and a extremely hard worker and very diligent you so it all starts there in that he came back here and he was like a man on the mission and a guy that’s working his ta off and not wanting to leave anything to chance and
He’s bringing his teammates along with him you know and so I think he’s more physically prepared than he’s ever been he’s definitely more mentally prepared um and it’s just been about sharpening up uh the tools in his tool set at this point you know with with all his stuff
And so uh he’s in a really good place right now you threw the ball outstanding this weekend and uh has thrown the ball out standing the whole spring and obviously in the fall as well and so the thing that I’m most proud about him is
That he is a he’s a great teammate he works extremely hard and he makes people around him better and so uh excited excited for him for sure from the bullpen who has turned your head and pleasantly surprised you throughout ball ball yeah you know I don’t know if
Surprise would be the right word you know I I have pretty high expectations for these guys who have been in our program for a while certainly um but you know Wyatt lford shakan looks tremendous up until this point has really it gotten a lot better and just more honed in on
The things they needed to and it’s it’s been outstanding um you know Jake Hunter threw the ball as good as anybody this past weekend um you know the stuff’s better he’s a guy that’s been in the fire a lot uh Jaden witer is another guy no coach mentioned him earlier but you
Know big physical frame some really good stuff to go along with it and he’s gotten a lot better with his secondary pitches as well throws a ton of strikes uh Eric Richie probably has as much swing and Miss potential out of his pitches as anybody on our staff you know
This past B he struck out two guys per inning um and so those guys have certainly taken a step forward I think uh from a transfer uh situation you got guys like Aaron Growler who is a left-hander and you know a low slot mix guy and really fills up the strike Z
Drew Bryan is a guy that I think can come in and and uh and blow it out for one to two innings with some pretty good stuff and so I think like anything a lot of this stuff will emerge as we go uh in the in the spring um but I think there’s
Certainly a lot of a lot of choices a lot of weapons that you have to go and using a lot of different roles couple of ECU hitters told me they see opposing pitchers tip pitches quite often how how do you go about avoiding that with your guys is that something that maybe you
Got to work on more yeah absolutely I mean we practice it’s nearly every day in some capacity you know whether that’s in our throwing programs you I challenge our partners of our throw the guys are throwing with each other just hey just see if you can pick up on anything and
Then we do a lot of just Shadow work where you know guys are getting signs and and working through their grips and doing different things and someone just sitting there watching them to see if they they have any tails and then every every pitch that is thrown whether it’s
In a bullpen or on the field Live is videoed and so it’s things that we can go through and review and just make sure that we’re taking care of the details you know as we tell tell our guys we don’t want the reason that you’re unsuccessful because you’re tipping
Pitches or giving away what you’re throwing and so um it’s something that we just actively build into our practice plans and into our throwing programs to make sure that um that we’re taking care of all the small things in the offseason you you lost a couple veteran guys
Who’ve been here for a while Garrett sailor Carter Spivey just what’s the transition kind of been like not just on the field but off the field in that Bullpen leadership wise who’s kind of stepped up in that place and how you how do you feel without them now yeah I
Think you those guys for a for a program for a team they’re guys that um you know you miss of course right because they’ve been here for five years and they held a a special place in all of our hearts and and did a tremendous job within our
Program and with our players um but luckily you know as we’ve said already is that we have a really good junior class and then you’ve got a guy like Danny Bill who’s a senior has been here for a long time and and uh that junior class in my opinion from a leadership
Perspective is is is one of the best that we’ve had here in quite some time um you know with Trey Savage Wyatt Lunsford shman Jake Hunter Eric Richie Jaden witer obviously already mentioned Danny and those guys just know what it takes and of course they’re very talented but the best thing about them
Is that they care about the people around them and they want them to get better and they’re not so worried about their feelings and so what I mean by that is they’re not so worried about you know correcting somebody or trying to help them get better and someone getting
Sensitive about it right and so uh we’re certainly lucky to have uh guys who have stayed through our program and you know taken value in all the things that coach Godwin has talked about all the things that we have preached over time and they go out and they live it every single day
What do you see in Danny Beal and and how does he fit into that mix that he mentioned yeah I think you you could see Danny in a very similar role as what you saw last year I I think you know he’s the guy maybe the most valuable guy on
Our staff and that he can do a lot of different things for you he can long reli he can close a game he can short relieve he can he start for you if you really need him to right um and so I think with Danny he’s just he’s a guy
That has taken his his success from last year and he has bloomed it into another you know another level so I think he’s just a better version of what he was last year and um you know he’s he’s been a tremendous leader for our young guys
And and he’s he’s a guy that you know guys lean on because he uh he can help guide them through with Danny he was never it wasn’t easy for him early on in his career and so whenever you see freshman who are who are struggling and things like that
Danny’s a guy that can bring him aside and and kind of just help them and help them understand that hey your best days are ahead of you um but you know he’s definitely a a big time vital piece of the bullpen this year moving forward for
Sure coach as far as the midweek is concerned are there guys that stand out uh right now that will start with those g a lot of instate rivalries and stuff whoever the best on available is whoever that might be you know I think that that’s that’s the the piece of it and
And you know as much as I’d love to have five starters who all through eight Innings and we only had to use three or four Bullpen arms the the reality of it is you don’t want to leave you don’t want to lose a game because you don’t
Use your best guy right and that can be on Sunday that can be on Saturday that can be on Friday that can be on Tuesday it can be on Wednesday it doesn’t really matter because they’re all important and so we kind of will assess as we get to
The weekend um and see where we’re at from how guys are feeling and we’ll assess who the best matchup is against the team that’s ahead of us and whoever that is we’ll get the ball and and we’ll we’ll roll with him from there right but
Uh of course you know I don’t think you can ever just say hey this is going to be your midweek starter it evolved last year where Zack rot was that for a little bit and then he went into the weekend rotation then G I mean going
Into last year nobody in this room would have guess that Garrett sailor was going to be our midweek starter at the end of the year one really one of our better starters for the entire season nobody would have guessed that because of uh 22 where he started at the beginning of the
Year and we had to take him out after the second weekend or whatever right and so this is one of those things baseball’s very unpredictable right and that’s the beauty of it and so hopefully you know as we go we’ll let the game give us the answers to those type of
Things anything else coach
