The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
09.24.2014 | Baseball
Texas returns seven positional starters, 10 pitchers and welcomes in the seventh ranked recruiting class.
AUSTIN, Texas -- The Texas Baseball team held its first day of fall practice Wednesday afternoon at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
The Longhorns, who return seven of eight positional starters from last year's College World Series team, have been doing individual and group work for several weeks. Wednesday marked the start of a four-week team practice period in which the Longhorns will look to ready themselves for the 2015 campaign.
Prior to Wednesday's practice, head coach Augie Garrido, senior pitcher Parker French and senior outfielder Collin Shaw met with the media. Below are quotes from their availability.
HEAD COACH Augie Garrido
Opening statement: Well, I think the first thing to talk about is the recruiting class. We've signed 21 kids in the past two years and 20 of them are on campus. We got all 10 of the players that we signed. It starts there. We saw the value of the freshman class last year as it gained more and more experience as the season went on. It's about the same kind of recruiting class as we had with the other group. It's going to be harder to make the team though for this group of freshmen because the other one was pretty good. So, we're excited about that.
I think that it's really interesting during the summer; it was almost spiritual the way people would respond to the way the team played in the College World Series. We finished third and normally if you finish third around here that's not good enough. I think that they recognized that whether they weren't that much of a baseball fan at all, didn't know a whole lot about baseball, they liked the spirit of the team. I think that's what they admired. I think they recognized the honest effort and they acknowledged that and they were satisfied for the most part with the team and what they did and what they accomplished, so I thought that was pretty significant.
It is a university environment and universities are about changing personalities from year to year. My experience is that no matter how good a team might play in any given season you don't want to take it for granted the next season. They ate a lot of verbal ice cream during the course of the summer. So now, we're going to have to see how willing they are to get back to the hard work that allowed them to have the confidence and to develop into a championship type team. We're starting them off the same way we did last year where attitude is the most important ingredient and we will challenge them physically and mentally to reach their full potential. I hate that word, but we will. They will be challenged. Like I said, it will be harder for this group of freshmen to make the team than it was last year's group because of the advancement of the players. [Bret] Boswell is back and healthy, had a great summer. I think that we'll have a player like C.J. Hinojosa and [Brooks] Marlow in the middle infield. They're coming back and we'll have a player like that at every defensive position. The catching position, we all saw [Tres] Barrera take over that position and he's going to be pushed by [Michael] Cantu and so we've got a highly competitive Division I group of athletes on campus this season.
On how much he brings up last year to the new players: I don't like to influence things like that. I don't want to create a false reality. What we will do is get on with the real issues, most of them mental. The players know how to play baseball, that's why they're here, but they don't know how to be a teammate. Up to this point they've been prospects. They've gone through select baseball, they're trying to get drafted by major league baseball, they're trying to get college scholarships, for the most part they've played for themselves.
This is the point at which they have to start to make the adjustments mentally to play for the team because that's how you get paid in Major League Baseball, being able to help the team win the game. I know agents talk about statistics all the time on an individual basis, but that isn't why the Red Sox won the world championship. It's about teamwork, and that team that emerges unified, and when they take control, like our team did last year, of what's going on. I didn't give an inspirational, motivational type speech for the last five weeks. All I ever said was 'play your game, its good enough. Don't try to go beyond and you can trust all the people around you to do their best.' That's all we had to say, and they did that. Getting back to that, now some guys are draft eligible that weren't, they have to play for the scouts. So that's part of the challenges, all the mental adjustments that need to be made in relation to sacrifice for the team to help the team win the game.
On if he plans on changing his strategy for the team this year: They're the ones that are going to change. They're in the process. A college student is in the process of changing on almost a daily basis but certainly from year to year they're different people. They're not professional athletes, they're not mature enough at this point in time to remain the same person every year, they're very different every year. We're the ones that have to remain the same. Will it work? That's why we're all here, to see if it will. It's always going to be about the first, cornerstone word in the whole thing: trust, and developing the trust in each other to develop the teamwork necessary to win the game. It's about attitude, and attitude is a choice. They played for each other; they really had a military frame of mind. They weren't in the battle to save their own life, they were in the battle to save the lives of the guys to the right and left of them. They really did that.
On if his team had that mentality all season: No, they had to evolve. We started out nowhere, finishing last in our league, and then we started moving forward with confidence. We lost the first game at Cal – nerves. The second game we could have won, just barely lost but played better. Third game we beat them, and the fourth game we were a better team than they were. That kind of was the summary of the entire first part of the season. Then we hit a point at which we were sixth in the country, first in the conference with only four weekends left, three of the four were at home, and we had it made. Then we got our [butt] kicked. It took that fall and that recovery to get to the next level of mental toughness. But that's the whole mantra around here, every day we're working to get better. You hear coaches talk about it all the time; you must get tired of hearing it. But that is the failsafe way to look at things. You learn from the good things that you do, and the winning, and you learn from the negative things. It's always a learning experience. You're learning something that's going to make you better, as a ballplayer, as a teammate, that's what you're learning. Probably the most successful team I've coached was 57-9, but it took three bottom of the ninth inning losses in the same week to get there. That was the final blow. After that they won the last 18 games in a row and the national championship.
On the depth of the team: No question we're deeper. The last five weeks of the season, we had three substitutes on the bench for position players. You didn't see us have a pinch runner, you didn't see us have a pinch hitter, you didn't see us make a defensive adjustment, and we didn't even change the lineup. There was nothing else, that was it. What you saw was what we had. It would be deeper if we had one more guy. We probably have six guys that are going to really push.
On if he's gotten over the Vanderbilt loss: I'm still not over it. I'm not over it. I don't want to get over it. I want to be motivated by it. I'm excited to get it started. Let's go. We got three years, we're going to win. We're going to win again.
On Michael Cantu: He is a prospect at this point. I've really been impressed with his work ethic, his commitment to team, the way he handles and talks to the pitchers is mature beyond most prospects. They're usually very self-centered when they're as talented as he is. He's actually stronger than Barrera. When the ball jumps off his bat it goes farther than Barrera. Now, don't tell Barrera that, but that's true.
SENIOR RHP Parker French
On last season ending a game shy of the CWS finals: It definitely stung and hurt but that's a good thing. Like Coach said, that's going to happen when you work so hard and put so much time and effort and do things the right way. If you deserve something and it doesn't work out in your favor it's going to affect you but the best thing to do is get back to work, which we did all summer, and started this school year and put it in our past, use it as motivation and get started on another year.
On coming back to Texas for his senior year: I talked to a lot of people, former players. I talked to Austin Wood, Cole Green, Nathan Thornhill about their experiences, and it just came down to I love playing with those guys and developed a really close bond throughout the season last year. And I just knew that if I didn't come back and give this another shot at a national championship that I would regret it. I wanted to work on my leadership and come back for this group of guys.
On if he wants to duplicate the senior leadership from last year: I'm not trying to duplicate anything, I'm just trying to be myself and be the best leader that I can be. Lead by example and show some of the younger guys how we do things at Texas. It's not trying to duplicate anything, I'm just trying to be myself and play baseball.
On coming off of the Vanderbilt loss: I don't think there's much of a hangover effect. I think it's more guys who are just hungry. We all have a common goal, we know what that is. We got a little taste of success last year but we're not done. We want more, and I think that's the biggest thing.
On how this preseason is different from last: We had to have a change of mindset. I think when you change your mindset that doesn't just go away, so I think we're starting at a different place. We still have to do the same things to get better each and every day and focus on that. Focus on not the result but the process and just become engulfed in that. It's the same thing we did last year, just a different starting point. We know ourselves a little bit better than we did last year and we know what to expect moving forward.
On how exciting preseason is for the team: I love playing baseball, so it's always fun to get out here, especially with a group of guys that you genuinely love being around. I just like playing baseball with these guys and going out there on the field with them. We get that chance in September which is great. I'm going to cherish it, work hard, and get better each and every day.
On how they treat the newcomers: Honestly, we just have to show them how we work hard, how we do the right thing. We don't walk around thinking that we're better than we are. Just being humble and showing the young guys that's what we do here at The University of Texas. We focus on the process and let the results come.
On if they plan on starting fresh and forgetting last season: Like anything, whether it's failure or success, you can use that for the future. You can learn from anything. So, we'll use those experiences moving forward but you don't dwell on them. It's a new season, new team, a lot of new, different things. The great thing is that the 2015 Longhorn team is going to write our own story and that's what we've got to focus on. We're definitely going to use those experiences, those successes but you can't become complacent with that, you have to keep working hard.
On the pitchers and pitching staff: I think we're in good shape. We have some guys that pitched some big innings last year, especially in the post season coming back. We have the best pitching coach in the nation in Skip [Johnson] and he always puts together a quality pitching staff. If we just stay in the moment and listen to what he preaches to us, being committed to the mitt, there's no reason we can't have success and can't continue to do what we've done.
SENIOR OF Collin Shaw
On if he will be moving around positions in the outfield: That's not really my decision. We're all just coming in here and working hard all fall, and wherever Coach puts us out there is where we'll play.
On excitement this time of year getting back on the field: It's definitely exciting to get back together with all of your teammates and your best friends. The first day is exciting, but there is a lot of hard work to be done and so we're ready to get after it.
On the offseason so far: We're very hungry. We've been getting in the weight room a lot, so far, in the mornings. I've been getting with [strength coach] Lance [Sewell] and [strength coach] Ryan [Ford] and trying to add mass and muscle for next season. Now we're starting the baseball side of things, so that will be fun as well.
On carrying over last season's success to this season in regard to the change in mindset: I think just getting back to square one with the basics and back down to what really helped us do that last year, which was our attitude and our team unity. Just getting back to square one and building that for the 2015 team.
On if they're building from their success last year: We're definitely building off of that from the standpoint of a lot of the older guys have a lot to teach the younger guys because we know what it takes to win. We know what it takes to get the job done. From a team unity standpoint, we just have to get back to square one with all of the new guys too.
On if there is pressure to carry over last season's success: Not particularly, just because Coach is always about sticking with the process and the results will come. If you stick with that approach then the pressure kind of gets taken off of you.
On avoiding a sluggish start to the season after last year's success: I think if you watch practice today, we're probably going to be doing a good amount of conditioning, and that will be a good way to remind us that last year is over and we're getting back to work this year.
