Get to Know ... A&M catcher Michael Barash

On getting to know the team this year…

“It’s a lot of fun. I didn’t really know what to expect being from Florida. This Texas atmosphere is a little different than from where I am from. It’s a lot of fun getting to know the guys. The fall was a long process getting to know the pitchers and getting to know to system we were going to work with as an offense. Its been great. The upperclassmen have really taken me in on their own and teaching the younger guys what it’s like to play here at A&M and to enjoy every bit of this SEC grind.”

On why he graduated early to play baseball in college…

“I did a lot of great things in high school and I won everything I wanted to win. I won a state championship my sophomore year which was awesome, I caught a first rounder, I played with another 11th rounder shortstop and I hit .500 as a junior. I didn’t think I was going to get much better stats in high school and I wanted to give myself a bigger challenge. I talked to Coach Mainieri at LSU and kind of brought that upon him April of my junior year. He told me no at first and told me that he wanted me to enjoy my life and enjoy high school but I was kind of over it.

"I just kept playing hard and he came and visited my family at my house during the summer going into my senior year and I convinced him to say yes and proved it with my play. I’m easy going and I always want to challenge myself however I can. Things didn’t work out there and I’m blessed enough where I got to go back home and play at Palm Beach State where we played great there and I was lucky enough to get a call from Coach Seely and it was a done deal once I saw this place and I knew this was where I wanted to play.”

On choosing to play at A&M…

“I came here my freshman year and played here against A&M and I didn’t get to play but I was here and got to witness the atmosphere and was taken aback by the whole War Hymn thing. I was a stupid freshman, supposed to be in high school so I was just taken aback by how everything was working back then. One night I told my parents that this place was big time and this is a place where the fans are great, the education is unbelievable and I know I will get a great degree from here.

"I convinced my parents to take a trip out to Texas and we heard “Deep in the Heart of Texas” in the eighth and my parents looked at me and said ‘I don’t know what you are trying to get into but we are in.' That Sunday after my official visit, I gave Coach Childress a call said I was going to come here and help win a National Championship. He couldn’t have been happier to have me here and I’m blessed to play under him and the coaching staff. It’s a blessing to just be a part of this place.”

On his favorite part about the atmosphere during a home game…

“Definitely the War Hymn. I know when Mark [Ecker] comes in the game in the ninth, I get the chills hearing it. I try not to look back because I don’t want to get nervous but I try to just enjoy it and take it all in because this season has been special and we have a lot of key parts where we can make a deep postseason run. It’s just about enjoying the process and enjoying the time we have together. We blinked and we have played almost 50 games and that’s incredible. Being at the point in the season we are with how many wins we have is seriously a lot of fun and we love coming out everyday and grinding hard for each other and just enjoying our time together.”

On going back to Alex Box Stadium a few weeks ago…

“When I got there for the Wednesday night practice, because it was a Thursday through Saturday series, I knew what to expect. I knew how the field played and it was funny because all the guys were kind of giving me jokes about being back. I like Olsen Field over Alex Box any day of the week. We got there, we enjoyed the process just taking it all in. We knew it was going to be a cool atmosphere because it was one and two in the country, our team against their team, our pitching against their pitching.

"The tale of the tape was just something special and it was a hard fought series. I think it could have gone either way where a call goes our way or we make a big play. You know, the two games we lost they made the big plays and we didn’t which we take full responsibility for that. I mean we bounced back this past weekend against Tennessee and made the big plays when they needed to be made and we grinded hard that entire series. It was a lot of fun.”
 
“Right after we do the prayer as a team I go in the bullpen. I don’t catch a lot because I’ve caught over 100 pitches from these guys or thousands of pitches it feels like and I just try to get a feel for how they are feeling that day and what to adjust when the game time comes. I just kind of tweak things here and there with them. For me, I’m really superstitious and I do my own routine. Going down to the bullpen, I like to mess around with our bullpen guys and our grad assistant Ryan and just kind of mess around and just catch. I go out there put the gear on and hop the ball hits my glove right.”

On funny conversation with umpires…

“Yeah, Coach Childress likes to get on the umpires when they make a bad call and my favorite one was actually this past weekend in Tennessee. There was a strike where it was a strike and I gave him my 'I think that was a strike' call and Coach Childress was yelling at him saying “Hey man, this is going to be a four hour game if you don’t get that right arm going.' The umpire kind of looked down at me and said 'Dude, is he talking to me?' I said, 'I mean he ain’t talking to me so ...' and I said, 'I mean, I’m just here catching.' You know, these umpires have done a great job for us all year and they are human and are going to make mistakes. When mistakes are made that happens but we are the type of team where we don’t need their help. We are going to go out and overcome any obstacle that comes our way.”