Top-ranked Texas A&M hits the road this weekend for Baton Rouge as the Maroon & White will battle the LSU Tigers at Alex Box Stadium. Ahead of another important SEC series, Jim Schlossnagle joined TexAgs Radio on Thursday to preview the three-game set in Red Stick.
Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview
- I thought we played OK against Tarleton. I thought Brad Rudis was a key point in the game. He got us out of the inning without giving up another run. Then Jace LaViolette hits his homer, and that’s the turning point of the game. Kaiden Wilson had a positive outing, so we hope he can be at that level moving forward. He’s the extra bullpen arm that we’ve been looking for. What more can you say about our lineup? It doesn’t rely on just one person. There will be days when we miss against a good pitcher. There aren’t that many opportunities for opposing pitchers to come up for air in our lineup if we can stay healthy.
- Gavin Grahovac is sitting six rows behind me on the bus. He was pretty much full speed in the cages and ran the bases a little bit yesterday. He took some ground balls, but nothing too tough. Our trainers have been rehabbing him. He’s been sore from the rehab, but I think he’ll be available this weekend. I have yet to see him go all out on the field. Hopefully, it won’t be raining in Baton Rouge, which would allow us to see him moving around in practice. He’s definitely in much better shape now than he was on Tuesday night. If there’s any doubt, I’m not playing him. It’s not worth it to potentially worsen the injury.
- Kaeden Kent is exactly who he has been. He’s a winning player. On this team, there are some guys with elite tools. Ali Camarillo is an elite defender and has come on as an offensive player. And we’ve got a very rare freshman third baseman. Kent would be starting on any other team at one of those spots. He’s played great, but it’s hard to start on this team. I’m trying to keep that next-up position player engaged and excited. It’s about handling not playing the right way, and he has handled it the right way. What a luxury it is to have Kent if somebody goes down. We think the world of Kent, and he has a bright future in college baseball.
- All Wilson has to do moving forward is continue to throw strikes, and he has done that. He has a good arm and a good fastball. I think he’s an eventual starting pitcher. I don’t know if it’s this year. We knew he was special when we signed him. If we can keep him healthy, that’s a left-handed arm that can get some outs that Evan Aschenbeck and Shane Sdao don’t have to get. Wilson is a freshman with a bright future.
- Isaac Morton and Weston Moss are still so talented. Freshman pitchers in this league have such a difference between their first and second years. Morton got three outs on seven pitches, but then it got away from him. That’s a mental challenge. We’re asking a lot of Moss, but he’s a freshman. They show you flashes of brilliance. The reason we spend so much time on the mental game is exactly that. You can’t control your performance if you can’t control yourself. What’s going to separate you is the ability to get back in the strike zone, handle an error or give up a homer. We give them all the mental skills in practice to do that, but you have to experience it in a game. I think there are great days ahead for those kids this year, and they are fully in our plans for the future of this program.
- Ted Burton’s skill set has always been there. He hit 30-40 homers at Michigan. If you ask our staff who has the most gas in the tank heading down the stretch, they will say it’s definitely Burton. He has worked hard with Michael Earley to get into a better position. Burton has more walks than strikeouts. When you have that, you’re normally a guy who can get in deep counts and get your pitch when the pitcher makes a mistake. The transfers who come here get better, whether because of the coaches, the weight room or all those things combined. Hunter Haas, Jack Moss, Dylan Rock and Troy Claunch. They all get better here.
- LSU has a different crowd. I’ve been called tiger bait as much as most people. I’ve been there a lot when I coached at Tulane. Nolan Cain has played and coached there. But we don’t play the game, our players do. That excites our players. Having the opportunity to play in front of the 12th Man is incredible. Going on the road, you’re looking for your guy to have a huge pitch or a homer, and the most beautiful sound is when it gets quiet. LSU is a good team. They can catch fire at the end. We’ll face some good starting pitchers and a lineup centered around some strong right-handed hitters. It will be another tough SEC dogfight.
- That’s what makes it fun. I don’t know if LSU has a hand sign, but the one finger that the fan gave me might’ve been it. That’s what makes playing in this league is awesome. As a player, this is the big leagues of college baseball. It’s like being a Yankee going into Fenway Park or a Red Sox player going into Yankee Stadium. It’s why you do it. It’s fun. At the end of the day, this is the best of the best in college baseball, and if you can’t handle it, don’t come here.
- Derek Jeter once said they were always desperate to win. We need to be as desperate to win. You’re always on the bubble for something, so we can’t and don’t look at our record. All we talk about is the next day. Both teams will be ready to play, so we’ve got the play well. You revert to your training and let the results take care of themselves.
- This weekend, we’re throwing Ryan Prager, Justin Lamkin and then decide what we’ll do with the third game. Lamkin will throw the second game, and then, more than likely, Tanner Jones in the third. We wanted to do something in the bullpen with Jones in the midweek. We’ll just make sure he feels great, and most likely, he’ll start the third game.
- LSU has veteran superstars. Hayden Travinski, Tommy White, Jared Jones. That’s big right-handed power. It’s going to be an offensive game. The most important part of pitching to those stars is to get the guys out around them. Limit the damage. Charlie Condon is a great hitter, and I thought we pitched to him well. Lamkin struck him out. Aschenbeck struck him out. When he wasn’t hitting a homer, he was getting out. He’s human. They’re all human, but you have to respect them.
