Baseball Media Day Transcript
2/1/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. ?? The University of Alabama baseball team opened preseason practice on Friday with a three-hour workout at Sewell-Thomas Stadium under sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 40s.
The Crimson Tide will hold its first preseason scrimmages Saturday and Sunday, with each pitcher throwing a maximum of three innings each. The team will practice on Saturday, February 2, at 10 a.m., followed by a 12-inning scrimmage at 11 a.m. The Tide will practice on Sunday, Feb. 3, at 1 p.m., followed by a 12-inning scrimmage at 2 p.m. All practices and scrimmages are open to the public.
Coach Jim Wells met with members of the media on Friday at the team’s annual media day. Below are some of his comments:
Opening statement:
“We’ve been working since January 9 getting ready for today. We’ve been doing individual work which means you can have all your players out there, not just four at a time, but it’s the hours that are different. We could have two hours of baseball, plus weights and conditioning. Now, we can go 20 hours, which will be 16 hours of baseball plus weights. How that affects everything the whole year is normally in the fall we work three weeks of team. This year we worked seven weeks. A week is six days with one day off. So we got 40 days of practice in the fall as opposed to 18. That was really good.
“We came of out of the fall pretty much knowing what we have as a team. There is always a surprise and hopefully the guys are doing well and will continue to do well and you have more of an idea of what you have as a team coming out of the fall than in years past. We played more games to find out what we really have. The individual work is good, the bullpens are good and they are all necessary, but there are a lot of guys you need to see on the playing field to see what they can do.”
What kind of team do you have?
“What does our team have? We have a lot of guys back with (Alex) Avila, (Brandon) May, Jake Smith, Kent Matthes, (Ryan) Rhoden and Del Howell. We have a lot of guys that have been in the program three of four years and they are good role players. We have added some recruits. I think Josh Rutledge, Ross Wilson, Jimmy Nelson and Nathan Kilcrease, there are many others, but those guys come to mind because they are going to be asked to do more, earlier. It was a good recruiting class. We have a lot of guys back. There is not a front-line pitcher. There is no Wade LeBlanc, (Lance) Cormier or anyone like that you’d write into the Friday night slot. We do have more depth and we’ve had some guys put themselves in position to pitch on that day. (Josh) Copeland has been here forever and it’s good to have him back. They are all better.”
How do you prevent over-using pitchers with that many days in the fall and five games each week in the season?
“We are very careful with those guys. They are on a pitch count. We went to a Major League-type rotation, where you can get in more scrimmages, which later on we went to a five-day rotation. For the most part, they were throwing two innings or three innings and the relief pitchers were throwing one inning. They are the lifeblood of the staff.”
Who are some candidates on the mound?
“Coming out of the fall we had a freshman, you tend to hesitate when you say freshman, but he did exceptionally well during the fall. Jimmy Nelson is a big kid. He is 6-6. He has a good sinker and pretty good slider. Coming out of the fall we said ??if that guy’s mental makeup can handle it, he can pitch on Friday night.’ Will Stroup is back and he could be a Saturday guy. A guy that has really come on and pitched really well at the end of the fall and in these last three weeks is Robert Phares, from Shelton State Community College and Paul W. Bryant High School (in Tuscaloosa).
“Out of the pen is Austin Hyatt, who could be a spot-starter. Nathan Kilcrease, who we have talked about. Josh Copeland, who pitched a lot last year. Another guy that has been here forever and has gotten better and can eat up innings is Casey Kebodeaux. Austin Graham is coming back. He had surgery a year-plus ago and did not pitch much last year, and he is better. Miers Quigley is back. So there are several names back from last year, plus the new guys. We have 16 pitchers and I think out of those there are 10 to 12 that really have a chance to pitch, which you are going to need. Back to the original question with Tuesdays and Wednesdays that’s an extra nine innings we have to fill this year, so someone is going to have to run out there and more than one, so we are going to need three extra arms per week and not use up guys.
“Now years ago that’s the way the schedule used to be. It wasn’t that you started later, but the season ended sooner. So our first few years here and at Northwestern State, we played every Tuesday and Wednesday. Like we did with (Joel) Colgrove and those guys, the guys that pitched on Friday would come back and close on Tuesday and the guy that pitched on Saturday would close on Wednesday. Not thinking in those terms, but that’s always an option. We would like to use more of the staff, but that is the way it was a long time ago.”
Where do you see Ross Wilson playing this year?
“Ross Wilson has played shortstop, second base and he has worked in left field. He will play somewhere. He is a very good athlete. He is a fast and very aggressive kid. He can hit the ball out of the park. I don’t see him taking third strikes. He swings the bat. Right now we have had an injury with Matt Bentley (shoulder injury and is out two weeks), so Wilson will work at second base and move May to first base some. We want Wilson in the lineup so bad that is why he is working those three positions. Regardless of the nine, Ross is in the mix with any lineup we put out there. He is a good player.”
Where does May fit in this year?
“May has a lot of discipline and he is real good. He is a blue-collar, hard-working player. He is one of those guys out there every day, whether his name is on the list or not. He has made himself into a better second baseman. With Bentley getting hurt Wednesday, we will work him at first a little bit. May and Avila are our best two hitters, so they have to be in there, and I don’t necessarily want him to be the DH. He played third in high school and that’s probably his best position, but Jake Smith is there and he is pretty good. If everybody was healthy, we’d have May at second base, Rutledge and Texada at short, Bentley at first and Smith at third.
Who would be the catcher?
“Avila would be the catcher. The next three weeks are huge, especially the early part when we get some scrimmages in and become more game-like with balls in the dirt by the pitchers. In the fall, we just tried to establish a strike zone. Now, we are working on blocking balls with a runner on third, winning run or tying run. He has worked really hard. He still has a ways to go, but I feel he will be OK. We have some other guys. I don’t see Alex catching 56 games. We are trying to find a guy that can help in the middle of the week. I don’t think he’ll be Matt Frick, Jeremy Brown or Dax Norris and catch 70 games, but he might. We’d rather he did not, especially with him being a really good hitter, and DH some when he can. We tell guys, the better you are, and sometimes they don’t see that, the better you can be. That makes us all better.”
What is the status of Justin Woodall?
“We followed up with Justin closely and Justin decided to just play football. He feels like he has a chance to start, so that is all I know about it. This has all happened since we got back (from Christmas break). We made some inquiries into his intentions and it seemed like after he talked to Coach Saban that he wanted to just play football. That’s really all I know about it.”
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