Steve Sabins press conference summary: 5-11
West Virginia head coach Steve Sabins addressed the media Monday afternoon and here is a summary of what was said.
–Sabins said it was a really good weekend and players have been playing well in the month of May. Thought they came down to Kansas and were really clear and confident. They pitched well and had good at-bats across the board and guys had fun playing. School ended and it was a good feeling to put that behind them and focus on baseball and play good baseball.
–Sabins said statistically they are probably evening out a little bit as they were last in the Big 12 in home runs when it comes to home runs of late. Some of it has to do with ballpark factors, cold, being on the road, swings and approach but the reality is they’re probably averaging out because it didn’t make sense because they had guys that were leading the country in barrels with not a lot of home runs. So if you hit enough balls hard and in the air it will likely lead to home runs. There is some experience in getting comfort and Sean Smith is learning how to pull the ball in the air. Gavin Kelly is starting to understand in certain situations to get the bat head out and take that risk of jumping a pitch. There are guys evolving but there is some balancing of those stats.
–Sabins said that this is the best defense he has coached here in 11 seasons. You have the fastest player in the country playing first base so ground balls in the four hole that are hits that are taken away. There are diving plays in center field. There’s a catcher playing left that throws 100 miles per hour. Gavin Kelly is throwing out a lot of runners. Brodie Kresser is playing out of his mind, Matt Ineich has been a rock, Tyrus Hall is the best third-baseman he’s ever coached bar none. They have some really good defenders on the bench as well. Evaluating defense is so much harder because you can’t watch it unfolds as much when you watch games. Sabins gave a ton of credit for the position coaches because they have prioritized defense.
–Sabins had an idea with the athleticism, they would be good on defense but he didn’t know Tyrus Hall would do what he has done. He felt confident in what Kresser has done. He has not seen a college third-baseman play like Hall has played. If you watch a game, you get to see a Hall highlight film.
–This is the most balanced team that Sabins has had. There is a lot of ways they can win the game and they’ve won games a lot of different ways. He’s never loved the identity question but this one would be the hardest to answer just because of the ways they’ve been able to win games. They’ve had a lot of different players step up in big moments and win games.
–The confidence that Max Yehl is feeling and is good and healthy, allowing him to pitch as many innings as he did this weekend. He felt better every inning than the one before but he’s done that all season. Even if a couple guys get on base with no outs, the likelihood is that they won’t score because they haven’t done it throughout the season. He is in a really good headspace and healthy and he made some adjustments. Sabins said they are treating him like a big leaguer and he has dove into taking care of himself and his body to prepare like a big leaguer would. He should pitch for the next 15-years because he’s that good.
–Sabins said you try to avoid all the talk about the NCAA’s because the swings are so great to try to capture what you’re playing for. You’re playing to get better, play clean baseball. Every week there is some scenario that you’re playing for so they’ve been through this a lot and seen all the swings and emotions. It’s about showing up and playing really good baseball and trying to execute. With a week left to go, being in this situation you would sign up for this every year of your career. You’re trying to put yourself in good situations and that’s certainly what we’re in.
–It starts with the staff, you’ve got a bunch of adults and you see how the young people respond each day. They talked a lot about it in the fall to prepare for the swings. They showed the players from the beginning to the end of the season social media comments to show the swings. But when you play this many games, there are just ups and downs. They talked about it and tried to make this group understand you can get fixated on the failure or adversity or keep moving. He is excited that people care enough to live in the moment.
–Sabins said there aren’t any differences after sweeping Kansas because you put yourself in good situations. The narrative switches but the TCU series is only more important because it hasn’t happened yet. You have to keep rolling and get the guys in a good spot.
–Sabins said once you get into the conversation, you’d better have the defense or you’re going to get beat. Pitching can get you to a serviceable floor but you can’t have an elite season without that defense. But you can’t recruit defense first because if you can’t pitch or hit you’re going to get beat, too. It is the separator between the good and the great.
–It’s insane to shut a team out but they’ve been doing it a lot. The amount of 14-9 games or 9-6 games are so common across college baseball. The margins of victory feel like they’re 6-1 or 7-4, but they’ve done an incredible job. They can’t celebrate our pitching staff, pitching coaches and biometrics staff enough. It’s a game plan that is executed to perfection so the pitchers have to do it. It takes the full team and he doesn’t think he’s been part of that with holding teams to shutouts or one run.
–Even good pitches get hit or good game plans get hit so good preparation, good pitches and good luck are required to have success. Sabins said they call pitches super aggressively and they do attack and pitch in a ton. He trusts in the pitchers and their stuff and try to attack with the best stuff.
–To start this season, Sabins was a little bit nervous because he hadn’t had a two-man team behind the plate or interchanged a middle in-fielder like he has with Kresser and Kelly. Schoenfeld took that job at centerfield. Matt Ineich is so consistent. To be able to interchange and stay strong up the middle has been key.
–Sabins asked Armani Guzman if he could play third base last year. He said he could play there. He showed he could play and then he asked him if he could play first and he said of course he could. He is a great first baseman and has played exceptionally well and it might be his best position.
–Sabins said he needs to dive into TCU a little more because they got back from Kansas at 3 a.m. last night. The Horned Frogs are playing good baseball but he doesn’t have a ton of specifics just yet.
–Reese Bassinger needed five scoreless frames. He is almost at the point of his career where the results matter but you’re putting the person in there to have success. When he is going bad, his pitches are up, but when it’s going good, the hitters have to make a decision to swing on every pitch. Sabins thought he made a good adjustment in his second inning of work and then cruised.
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