Preseason Q and A With Coach Mahan
1/19/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Jan. 19, 2001
East Lansing, Mich. - Q: Can you talk about last season and what happened? The team finished off the season strong against tough teams like Ohio State, Minnesota and Michigan. What are you looking to do this season to correct the problems the team had last year?
A: We started off slowly last year but had two positives- beating Miami, the defending national champions, and winning five of our last eight conference games. We played very well in those last eight to ten games against some very good teams in Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State. I think it gave our team confidence and something to build on for the 2001 season. We played a lot of young guys the last few weeks, young infielders and outfielders, and they performed very well after getting their feet wet and struggling earlier in the year. Based on what we did the last part of the year and taking that experience into this year, I can say we are happy with where we are today and confident going into the season.
Q: What was the fall like with the new freshman coming into the program? Was it a good transition from last season heading into this season?
A: We had a real solid fall, the weather was outstanding and we got a lot of work done. We have a very good recruiting class coming in and have a couple of very good position players in James Moreno and Scott Koerber and some good outfielders in Jim Deliz and David Miller, who we think are going to be very good college players and perhaps are going to play quite a bit as freshman. With them coming in and the returning veterans that we have, there will be a lot of competition and a lot of depth on the mound and in the field. We had a real competitive fall amongst our team because of that depth and it has made our team stronger. We have now added a junior college transfer, infielder Jarred Koutnik, which has really added to our depth, and competition which is making our team work harder on a daily basis.
Q: Can you comment on Bob Malek and some of the expectations you have for him this season?
A: Bob had a great freshman year, being named All-Big Ten and a freshman All-American. I think he has improved somewhat and I think his base-running has definitely improved. He is more aggressive on the bases and I think he will be able to steal bases for us. I think he will still drive in a lot of runs for us and hit for average, hit for power and I think this year he is even better defensively in the outfield. He has made progress from his freshman year, which was an outstanding year. If his numbers are close to the same, he will have another great year. It is difficult to better those numbers because they were so good, but if he goes out about his business and keeps working hard, I think he can accomplish that too. We are fortunate to have him and he is a guy that can definitely lead us in the middle of our lineup. He does a lot of things for us.
Q: What has the attitude been like for the team over the winter during the workouts, since you are in somewhat of a lull after the fall practice and before the start of the season? Has anyone stepped up as a leader?
A: We have three seniors, Rick Court, Scott Brandell and Troy Bergman. All have done a great done a great job after being selected as captains in the fall. They have worked extremely hard in trying to make their teammates better by pushing themselves and their teammates to get in as good as possible of shape we can be in to start the season. We are in very good shape right now, they team has worked hard in the offseason, running and lifting and are continuing to do that as we begin to do some baseball things this time of year. Our attitude is outstanding right now and we are very confident heading into the season. We need to maintain no matter what happens early in the season. We are not going to come out of the blocks early in the season against Southern teams and win 60-70% of our games. We think we can be competitive with some of them but we need to try and get better each day in practice and get used to playing outside and just try to get better leading up to our trip to Illinois late in March.
We have a good positive attitude, which has come from our hard work and our experience. Also, having more than half our team juniors and seniors, we have a lot of guys who have been around and played a lot which is why we have more confidence than we have had in years past.
Q: What are you and the team looking to accomplish on your trip to Florida?
A: Well, going to Troy, Ala. (to face Troy State) first will be a good test for us since they will have played some games already. They definitely have an advantage on us from a weather standpoint since they can be outside practicing. The Alabama trip, along with the trips to Florida and Ohio are for us to get a lot of at-bats and a lot of innings and find out who are best guys are going into conference play. We are looking forward to those trips so we can find out about our team and how we are in game situations, since they are so much different than the fall. When the games start is when you really find out who can and who can't make the plays, who can and who can't get guys out and who can get the big hits for your team.
Q: Are the early season games a trial and error period for your team to see what is going to work for the season?
A: It will be, especially this year. Some years you know there are six or seven guys that are going to play every day. This year we believe we have eight or ten guys with equal ability pitching-wise. In the infield, we have almost a guy or two at each position and then we have some good young outfielders too. We will play a lot of different guys to find out what combination gives us the best chance to win. If the guys take advantage of their opportunities they will play more.
