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Lifelong Frog
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Baseball Practice Starts Friday
Frogs gearing up for 2011 season
FORT WORTH, Texas - The 2011 TCU baseball season gets started Friday as the Horned Frogs will open spring practice in preparation for opening day on Feb. 18. The team will hit the field at 2:15 for their first team practice. Gofrogs.com caught up with head coach Jim Schlossnagle to get his thoughts on the upcoming season.
What do you look for in the first week or so of practice?
In the first week of practice, we try to review all of the team teaching that we put in in the fall and make sure everyone is on the same page. Beyond that, it is time to get ready for the season and that usually means a ton of repetition offensively and defensively while mainly playing a lot of intrasquad games. Our job as a staff is to make sure our team never faces something in a game that we haven't prepared them for, so that is what we really focus on during preseason practice.
How do you temper the emotions of the team that come with all the preseason hype?
We try to never talk about all of those external things. Our philosophy is to take care of getting 1% better today since that is all we can control. If we can do that daily, then, hopefully, we will reach our potential as a team. We can't control other's expectations. We can only control our preparation for the season and competing against the game.
There are going to be a few new kinks in-game that fans will get to see with the advent of the pitch clock. Will you practice using that and how will that change the game?
We have always been a team and program that plays at a very high pace with energy so the between pitch rule (20 seconds with no one on base) will not be a problem for us at all. What will be a challenge for all teams is 90 seconds between innings. We have been working on that throughout the fall, including having umpires at our intrasquad games so we should be well prepared.
I think the pitch and between inning clock along with the new bats are really going to shorten the times of our games. It remains to be seen how our fans will like the changes.
Does preseason spring practice differ at all from fall practice?
Fall practices is all about sitting back and watching as a staff. Evaluating the progress returning players have made and getting a feel for what the new guys can do at this level. At the same time, you have to get in a lot of team teaching and some individual skill work.
After fall practice, we spend time working on the individual skills of each player and try to improve on their areas of concern.
In the spring, it's all about preparation for the season and competition. As I said earlier, my job is to prepare our team for everything the season may bring, so we really try to challenge them and make practice and the intrasquad games tough.
Are there any positional battles you are looking forward to?
I would like to think that we have some very versatile players who can do a variety of things so there is competition at almost every position. Certainly, we return 7 of 9 position player starters from last year but the past never equals the future in baseball so there will always be positions to win.
I think we have some really good competition in the outfield. We return all 3 or 4 guys that played there for us last year, but Kyle Von Tungeln and Zach Jordan are really playing well and are talented players so they are really pushing Schultz and Rivera for outfield spots and DH opportunities.
The same is true behind the plate. Jimmie Pharr and Josh Elander each bring different tools to the table and both will get significant playing time.
The key is that our guys stay committed to the team concept. Compete against each other, but understand that it is a long season and only nine or 10 guys can play at once. This isn't football or basketball where we can have open substitution...our biggest challenge will be pulling for each other and being ready when your time comes.
Baseball Practice Starts Friday
Frogs gearing up for 2011 season
FORT WORTH, Texas - The 2011 TCU baseball season gets started Friday as the Horned Frogs will open spring practice in preparation for opening day on Feb. 18. The team will hit the field at 2:15 for their first team practice. Gofrogs.com caught up with head coach Jim Schlossnagle to get his thoughts on the upcoming season.
What do you look for in the first week or so of practice?
In the first week of practice, we try to review all of the team teaching that we put in in the fall and make sure everyone is on the same page. Beyond that, it is time to get ready for the season and that usually means a ton of repetition offensively and defensively while mainly playing a lot of intrasquad games. Our job as a staff is to make sure our team never faces something in a game that we haven't prepared them for, so that is what we really focus on during preseason practice.
How do you temper the emotions of the team that come with all the preseason hype?
We try to never talk about all of those external things. Our philosophy is to take care of getting 1% better today since that is all we can control. If we can do that daily, then, hopefully, we will reach our potential as a team. We can't control other's expectations. We can only control our preparation for the season and competing against the game.
There are going to be a few new kinks in-game that fans will get to see with the advent of the pitch clock. Will you practice using that and how will that change the game?
We have always been a team and program that plays at a very high pace with energy so the between pitch rule (20 seconds with no one on base) will not be a problem for us at all. What will be a challenge for all teams is 90 seconds between innings. We have been working on that throughout the fall, including having umpires at our intrasquad games so we should be well prepared.
I think the pitch and between inning clock along with the new bats are really going to shorten the times of our games. It remains to be seen how our fans will like the changes.
Does preseason spring practice differ at all from fall practice?
Fall practices is all about sitting back and watching as a staff. Evaluating the progress returning players have made and getting a feel for what the new guys can do at this level. At the same time, you have to get in a lot of team teaching and some individual skill work.
After fall practice, we spend time working on the individual skills of each player and try to improve on their areas of concern.
In the spring, it's all about preparation for the season and competition. As I said earlier, my job is to prepare our team for everything the season may bring, so we really try to challenge them and make practice and the intrasquad games tough.
Are there any positional battles you are looking forward to?
I would like to think that we have some very versatile players who can do a variety of things so there is competition at almost every position. Certainly, we return 7 of 9 position player starters from last year but the past never equals the future in baseball so there will always be positions to win.
I think we have some really good competition in the outfield. We return all 3 or 4 guys that played there for us last year, but Kyle Von Tungeln and Zach Jordan are really playing well and are talented players so they are really pushing Schultz and Rivera for outfield spots and DH opportunities.
The same is true behind the plate. Jimmie Pharr and Josh Elander each bring different tools to the table and both will get significant playing time.
The key is that our guys stay committed to the team concept. Compete against each other, but understand that it is a long season and only nine or 10 guys can play at once. This isn't football or basketball where we can have open substitution...our biggest challenge will be pulling for each other and being ready when your time comes.
