Asked about the process of making changes this time of year
You want to “keep the harmony of the group as much as possible,” so, you don’t want to “alarm” kids
When you do make changes, you have to communicate that well to kids.
When you consider those changes, is it all about what makes sense in terms of baseball strategy? Or is more about changing the feel of the team?
Cited Carter Young moving from 2 to 6, that gives him a chance to watch other hitters first
Sometimes that gives you the result you want and sometimes it doesn’t.
But he doesn’t do things just for the sake of doing them
Leiter, what have you noticed besides his struggling with command of pitches? And is he not operating up in the zone as much with the fastball?
Teams are making more and better adjustments
He’s still a sophomore in nature
Just because he’s potentially leaving after this year, you’re still granted an opportunity to be a sophomore
Said Sonny Gray and David Price had tough sophomore years
Said he’s identified some things with Scott Brown that need to change and you’ll see that moving forward
Sometimes that’s simplifying things
It’s just finding believe in what he’s doing and he’ll find that.
The last three games, is it just a tough schedule or are their long-term concerns?
He’s not concerned
He’s getting guys who are getting back in a rhythm
It’s a tough stretch, especially being on the road against good teams
They just didn’t have much energy in their barrels last night
But they’ll get home and regroup and be okay
It’s happened before and it’s not the worst thing that can happen
Florida was frustrating because they didn’t capitalize on opportunities and they gave some away
And last night was that way too. Louisville hit three balls hard all night and two went for homers
But they also created their own mess with balks and bad defensive decisions in one game.
Not that Vandy isn’t different than other schools but it’s really tough with academics this time of year.
Is Ethan Smith a possibility this weekend?
He’s throwing, he’s just building volume
It’s getting him back to normal
He’s hesitating based on where he’ll be in recovery period
Was Ethan hurt?
Said he was a little sore when he came back
Said that’s the part that would it them at some point with Covid protocols because pitcher build-ups are tricky
You can throw into a mattress in your room but it’s not close to being the same.
But it’s happened other places too.
Hliboki
He’ll have surgery
They found that out Monday
It’ll be elbow surgery, he’s done. (TJ)
Miles Garrett
He’s out for a while but I think he said not for the year.
The MSU series and crowd involvement was good, what’s it mean to be at home again?
It’s always good to play at home
But they’ve played well on the road
It was nice to get home earlier than planned since the game was moved up
Said players were studying on the bus coming and going
A lot of projects are due today
Asked about the draft and the attention that comes with it, does it get fatiguing to have the fixation on Leiter and Rocker?
Said it’s not viewed as a distraction but it presents opportunities to address that ahead of time in the fall
Referenced David Price handling it well; he believed he was coming back for his senior year to the point he signed up for classes for his senior year.
Said he couldn’t come back because of that situation but the point is his mind was wrapped up in the process and the experiences he went through.
Said that Leiter has the opportunity to take extra years if he needs it; he doesn’t want Leiter to be robbed by not enjoying the experience
Said Mike Baxter played pro ball for 13 years, was at Vandy for two years and yet his “talk group” is within 15 Vanderbilt guys. He doesn’t have conversations with pro players like that.
These will be the people in your weddings. Don’t rob yourself by thinking of what could happen down the road. They shouldn’t deal with that now; deal with that down the road.
Asked about how to distinguish between the two in the position as a coach?
He talks about them a lot as people and personalities rather than players
He means that genuinely
Said he really enjoys Kumar; he loves him and how he competes, how he treats his teammates and loves them
Said Kumar is into every pitch
Jack is “an old soul” in how he was raised
He’s calm and is a great “little big brother” to his sisters
Said he just liked to talk about them personally
Tate Kolwyck, can he get his power back?
Said when you don’t have the power you left with then you overcompensate
You start using other resources
Said Tate was doing a good job of hammering the ball to right-center
Said he was using his hands really well
He used to start moving away from the ball because he got pull-happy
He’s starting to get back to moving the ball the other way but that’ll take a while.
But he’ll get there; he hopes the hourglass doesn’t run out
It’s coming; how long he doesn’t know
Hitting balls hard, up the middle
It looked as if Florida emptied a swimming pool around first base for Sunday’s game. What are the rules, written and unwritten, on managing fields?
Said it’s what you choose to do; your first baseman has to stand in it too.
“They gave new meaning to The Swamp”
Enrique got on base the first three at-bats
They water the front of the plate for sinker ball pitchers
“That was very individualized by the school; there was reason they did it and they did and we just move on.”
Asked about Enrique’s jersey coming undone
Said it makes you think about design of uniforms
The tops at Clemson went over the pants and the waistband was the shirt
He did that so kinds could slide headfirst so the pants and shirt aren’t disrupted
Going forward, it makes him think some about shirt design so that doesn’t happen
But their turf does the same thing, making shirts come undone
Sunday starter, who might it be?
It could be McElwain, Schultz, Reilly, but it’s TBA right now.
Is there a time he moved a good hitter down the order and it helped?
Ethan Paul. Said when they moved him to 6-7; he got comfortable and once he did they moved him to 3
Said Bradfield too but he wasn’t the hitter at the start of the season that he is now
You want to “keep the harmony of the group as much as possible,” so, you don’t want to “alarm” kids
When you do make changes, you have to communicate that well to kids.
When you consider those changes, is it all about what makes sense in terms of baseball strategy? Or is more about changing the feel of the team?
Cited Carter Young moving from 2 to 6, that gives him a chance to watch other hitters first
Sometimes that gives you the result you want and sometimes it doesn’t.
But he doesn’t do things just for the sake of doing them
Leiter, what have you noticed besides his struggling with command of pitches? And is he not operating up in the zone as much with the fastball?
Teams are making more and better adjustments
He’s still a sophomore in nature
Just because he’s potentially leaving after this year, you’re still granted an opportunity to be a sophomore
Said Sonny Gray and David Price had tough sophomore years
Said he’s identified some things with Scott Brown that need to change and you’ll see that moving forward
Sometimes that’s simplifying things
It’s just finding believe in what he’s doing and he’ll find that.
The last three games, is it just a tough schedule or are their long-term concerns?
He’s not concerned
He’s getting guys who are getting back in a rhythm
It’s a tough stretch, especially being on the road against good teams
They just didn’t have much energy in their barrels last night
But they’ll get home and regroup and be okay
It’s happened before and it’s not the worst thing that can happen
Florida was frustrating because they didn’t capitalize on opportunities and they gave some away
And last night was that way too. Louisville hit three balls hard all night and two went for homers
But they also created their own mess with balks and bad defensive decisions in one game.
Not that Vandy isn’t different than other schools but it’s really tough with academics this time of year.
Is Ethan Smith a possibility this weekend?
He’s throwing, he’s just building volume
It’s getting him back to normal
He’s hesitating based on where he’ll be in recovery period
Was Ethan hurt?
Said he was a little sore when he came back
Said that’s the part that would it them at some point with Covid protocols because pitcher build-ups are tricky
You can throw into a mattress in your room but it’s not close to being the same.
But it’s happened other places too.
Hliboki
He’ll have surgery
They found that out Monday
It’ll be elbow surgery, he’s done. (TJ)
Miles Garrett
He’s out for a while but I think he said not for the year.
The MSU series and crowd involvement was good, what’s it mean to be at home again?
It’s always good to play at home
But they’ve played well on the road
It was nice to get home earlier than planned since the game was moved up
Said players were studying on the bus coming and going
A lot of projects are due today
Asked about the draft and the attention that comes with it, does it get fatiguing to have the fixation on Leiter and Rocker?
Said it’s not viewed as a distraction but it presents opportunities to address that ahead of time in the fall
Referenced David Price handling it well; he believed he was coming back for his senior year to the point he signed up for classes for his senior year.
Said he couldn’t come back because of that situation but the point is his mind was wrapped up in the process and the experiences he went through.
Said that Leiter has the opportunity to take extra years if he needs it; he doesn’t want Leiter to be robbed by not enjoying the experience
Said Mike Baxter played pro ball for 13 years, was at Vandy for two years and yet his “talk group” is within 15 Vanderbilt guys. He doesn’t have conversations with pro players like that.
These will be the people in your weddings. Don’t rob yourself by thinking of what could happen down the road. They shouldn’t deal with that now; deal with that down the road.
Asked about how to distinguish between the two in the position as a coach?
He talks about them a lot as people and personalities rather than players
He means that genuinely
Said he really enjoys Kumar; he loves him and how he competes, how he treats his teammates and loves them
Said Kumar is into every pitch
Jack is “an old soul” in how he was raised
He’s calm and is a great “little big brother” to his sisters
Said he just liked to talk about them personally
Tate Kolwyck, can he get his power back?
Said when you don’t have the power you left with then you overcompensate
You start using other resources
Said Tate was doing a good job of hammering the ball to right-center
Said he was using his hands really well
He used to start moving away from the ball because he got pull-happy
He’s starting to get back to moving the ball the other way but that’ll take a while.
But he’ll get there; he hopes the hourglass doesn’t run out
It’s coming; how long he doesn’t know
Hitting balls hard, up the middle
It looked as if Florida emptied a swimming pool around first base for Sunday’s game. What are the rules, written and unwritten, on managing fields?
Said it’s what you choose to do; your first baseman has to stand in it too.
“They gave new meaning to The Swamp”
Enrique got on base the first three at-bats
They water the front of the plate for sinker ball pitchers
“That was very individualized by the school; there was reason they did it and they did and we just move on.”
Asked about Enrique’s jersey coming undone
Said it makes you think about design of uniforms
The tops at Clemson went over the pants and the waistband was the shirt
He did that so kinds could slide headfirst so the pants and shirt aren’t disrupted
Going forward, it makes him think some about shirt design so that doesn’t happen
But their turf does the same thing, making shirts come undone
Sunday starter, who might it be?
It could be McElwain, Schultz, Reilly, but it’s TBA right now.
Is there a time he moved a good hitter down the order and it helped?
Ethan Paul. Said when they moved him to 6-7; he got comfortable and once he did they moved him to 3
Said Bradfield too but he wasn’t the hitter at the start of the season that he is now
