Just finished the book. Here are my thoughts:
-Thanks to Heath for writing this. It's the kind of thing I never expected to exist, but something I was definitely very interested in having. Heath thanks the coaches and players for allowing him this level of access, and I think it's cool that the author, coaches, and team all combined to let us behind the scenes on what goes on during a college baseball season
-The book is very flattering for Coach Childress. Very. I'm sure some of the people that are tired of his tenure might flinch at this, but I think Heath wrote about what he saw. If he'd traveled with the team and ended up hating the staff because they were jerks and saw that most of the players were miserable, I don't think the book has anywhere near the same tone.
-There is a brief area of the book about the lack of success in Omaha....that Childress knows it's the goal of the program and that the fan base expects to take that next step. Gabe steps in to reiterate the Texags conference/money/location argument.
-Apparently you can shake off Coach Childress on the pitches he calls...but you better hope it works or face a "conversation". I think Doxakis and Kalich shake him off in a few interactions. There was also an interesting part about the coaches getting together and persuading Childress to make a move to the bullpen a batter earlier.
-I'd heard from internet rumors that Childress also steps in to influence the offense, but the book seemed to say that Bolt and Seely are pretty much given the reigns for operating on that side. The introduction of Coach Caillat is mentioned briefly.....maybe worth noting, Childress knows him as well, claiming their relationship goes back 15-20 years. A few players are interviewed as well mentioning they're excited to try new methods with a new instructor after how the offense went last year.
-The offensive woes are a consistent subject. How could they not be? The staff preaches through the book that they'll eventually hit their stride, but when they don't, there's a portion where Bolt admits he decided to play for any runs in an inning and hoping they beat the opponent to 4 runs instead of protecting the possibility of a big inning since he had a season's worth of evidence showing him that big innings weren't going to consistently be our thing. Controversial possibly, but interesting. Also shortly following that we hear about the high scoring West Virginia game so who knows.
-Heath traveled to almost all the games with the team, and chronicles some moments of the season I'd forgotten. I forgot we beat Arkansas 2 out of 3 to end the regular season. The crazy back and forth Game 1 in the SEC Tournament with Florida. Lacy in the Alabama series etc.
-I thought it was interesting that in Lacy's ejection the coaches were mad he wasn't given any kind of warning. The book says Lacy yelled "you're terrible"....and that the response from the staff was that they agreed with that assessment.
-There are a few mentions of Texags. By the sounds of it, Childress is oblivious to all our great ideas and tells the team to shut it out, but some of the players end up dropping in to see the special brand of encouragement.
-Shewmake comes off as a good guy. He gave Heath a lot of interviews and was clearly a tough competitor. The Doxakis segments are interesting as well, he's clearly a guy that wishes he could be on the mound all the time.
-I think the main thing I took away from the book were things I'd assumed before, but had illustrated by reading this. Being part of a college athletics team is a ton of work....they have a boot camp, practices, "optional" practices, weight training, meetings with nutritionists, meals, travel, games, and being in college stacked on top of all of that. They put a ton of time and effort into being on the baseball team, and take their lumps along the way (injuries to Hunter Coleman, J. Childress, Frizzell, Hoehner, Blaum, Roa and others are mentioned). And they're doing so on partial scholarships, many because they love the game and a lot of others because they really wanted to play for the name on the front of the jersey as well. So I figured it was a lot, but it was even more than I expected.
There's a lot I left out (the book does cover about a calendar year with the team), and I can't imagine anyone who likes Aggie baseball wouldn't find something to like about this book.
