Texas A&M's 2023 baseball came to a close on Monday night in Northern California with a loss to Stanford. On Thursday morning, Jim Schlossnagle spoke to TexAgs Radio about his plans for the offseason as he continues to work tirelessly to make Texas A&M a national title contender.
Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview
- I'm alright. I wish we were still playing. Never feels good to not be playing when somebody else is. We had an up-and-down year, but we came together towards the end. We put ourselves in a good position at Stanford, but we didn't play well. They played great. We're having exit meetings now, talking about recruiting and the transfer portal. I'm excited about the future but bummed that we're not playing.
- Personally, I always give every ounce of myself to a team. For our coaching staff, the amount of effort put in to try and win a ballgame was very high because our pitching staff wasn't there. We had great starts from Troy Wansing and Justin Lamkin in the conference tournament. It was a great run, and we hoped we would carry it into the regional. Nathan Dettmer was outstanding, but in the other starts, we got a total of 15 outs. That was an uphill battle. On one hand, we got the most out of them. On the other, you hoped you had gotten more. It's the same coaches coaching Austin Bost. I wouldn't want to hear it if I were a fan, but like Ron Washington said, that's the way baseball go. We played our way into a regional, but it wasn't enough.
- Dettmer is a pretty strong guy in his faith and doesn't let baseball define him. When he gets in those moments, he's more relaxed than most. He's talented. He did a great job. He kept us in the ballgame, and we couldn't get the two-out hit or the timely hit.
- Jace LaViolette is the headliner of our young group, and I'm proud of how he handled him this season. Where would we be without Max Kaufer? He handled the pitching staff well. If you could see the analytics of how they grade catchers, he was fantastic. His average wasn't great, but he had nice at-bats. Lamkin and Shane Sdao were outstanding. Sdao took a huge jump and became a big part of our bullpen. Stanford hadn't seen Sdao yet, so I felt good about our plan going into that game. I think Lamkin and Sdao are going to be really good starting pitchers for us. Kaeden Kent gave us some good at-bats throughout the season, and so did Kasen Wells. It's a good core to build around, but we have some work to do. We have a good class coming in, and we'll have some work to do to make sure we're set up well with the draft coming up.
- I never know what to say to a team at the end of the season because I've never been part of winning it all. The tears are always the same, whether it's in Omaha or in Stanford. There's nothing other to say other than "thank you." I told those guys that they're part of changing a program, and a lot of them were here when it wasn't so great. Trevor Werner, Brett Minnich, Bost, Will Johnston and Dettmer stuck at A&M and continued to believe in what we were doing. They were great role models and leaders, and we'll miss them. We can replace the baseball, but to replace that character is not easy.
- If I start talking about Bost, I'll start crying. You're battling Monday night, and then 36 hours, he's walking out of my office following his exit meeting. He’ll be back as a Former Student for sure. He's everything I viewed an Aggie baseball player to be. He's everything that A&M is. We're really going to miss him. He was never an infielder but said he could play second base, and that changed our season last year. He could've gone to play professional baseball but came back. He didn't regret it. That's how much it meant to him to be an Aggie. He'll be rewarded for that, and we're going to work like crazy to help him continue his baseball career.
- This time of the year, you're emotional after a loss and want to plug and play through the transfer portal. There are some situations where we have guys from Ivy League schools that have known they're coming since before their season even started. That’s good because we at least get to know them, The challenge will be once the big-name guys hit the portal. How can we get to know them when their decisions will be made so fast? In a very short time, you try to find out if they're built the same way we are. That's tough.
- We need more Hunter Haas, and the beauty of him is through Michael Earley. I remember him telling us that Haas was a perfect fit culturally and that guys would love him. He then came and had a great season. It was a great story for Hunter and the portal, and those are the guys we need to find.
- Evan Aschenbeck is my all-time pitcher, like in whiffle ball. He was the most valuable pitcher on our team. He had some incredible moments throughout the season, including a strikeout of Dylan Crews. He's going to stay around this summer and try to transform his body and his value.
- The microscope is today in the portal, but the telescope is that I think Texas A&M deserves the best of the best. There are other schools that are ahead of us right now, and it's crazy that some of them have better stuff than Texas A&M. It would never happen in football. Why should it happen in baseball? I want to build the best and brightest ballpark in college baseball that will last for a very long time. That's not just for me because I won't always be the coach here. It's for the players and the 12th Man. It sounds like we will stay on-site, so we're somewhat limited. The university has told us that we can go as high as we want. The player development stuff will be a phase, and then the stadium upgrades will be another. The playing surface is 17 years old, so that needs to be redone as well. After next season is the goal to be moving dirt and renovating. Nothing has been decided, but it will probably be the player development stuff first before we focus on the seating.
- We met with everybody yesterday. We could not have better synergy on a coaching staff than this coaching staff. I want coaches that are upwardly mobile. I just want them to be the head coach at the right place. Nate Yeskie and Michael Earley aren't leaving unless it's the right job. Right now, we're rebuilding our roster. Aggies want to win every year, and so do I. We're focused 1,000 percent on this roster so we can have the best chance to get to Omaha.
