Jonathan Moroney reflects on his time at Texas A&M
Key quotes from Jonathan Moroney interview
“I’ve had a week to relax and look at what I want to do with my life a little bit. I decided I wasn’t going to take on a professional baseball career because I just loved the way I ended my career here so much and there was just no other way I would have wanted to end it. It has been a lot of fun, coming in as a freshman, being a fifth generation Aggie, being told that I really wasn’t going to play here, it was a coin toss. They told me I could come in here and play my junior season or I could go to Blinn and start in the outfield. I followed my heart and came to Texas A&M. I had a rough freshman year, but that paid off for me in the long run.”
“It was a blessing to come here. I found myself in the starting lineup opening day my freshman year. That was awesome. My whole family was here. I had my grandparents here, they got so excited that they bought a house in College Station just so they could come up for every single game. I don’t think they missed a weekend series or a mid-week series since my freshman year. Both my parents and my grandparents were always there. My parents missed one series this year, and that was at Florida. That was impressive and I was very blessed to have them there.”
“It was really tough on me, and was even tougher on my parents. They saw me struggling and knew how much I wanted to be in there. They always gave me motivation and helped me keep my head up straight. They always told me that I was going to get my opportunity that I was going to get my shot. I was sitting there and thinking that there was no way and that my season was over. Then all of the sudden senior night rolls around and I’m in the starting lineup. I had that whole Wednesday to think about it being a Thursday, Friday, Saturday series. I started those three games and it just went off from there. They were super excited I hit that homerun on Saturday night. My parents were sitting there in the stands, and just getting to see the excitement on their faces was awesome.”
“In a sense it felt like it was all worth it there at the end. There is no better way, in my opinion, to go out your senior year. After sitting the entire year and not knowing if you are going to get your shot, and finally they gave me one chance and I tried to make the most of it. I wasn’t trying to be a ‘me’ guy, I just wanted to go out there and have fun and make sure I wasn’t going to bring the team down. I wanted to be a guy that people looked up to and that could build off of my energy. I just went out there and tried to play my best.”
“Writing you own name in the lineup is so true. Look at Austin Homan, he sat on the bench waiting for his opportunity for a third of the season. Once he got his name called he wasn’t going to let that spot go because he knew what he could do. Hunter Melton his freshman year sat half of the season. He comes in during the first week of SEC play and ends up hitting eight homeruns on the year. He was the homerun leader that year. That was incredible to watch. Look at J.B. Moss. He hardly played his freshman and sophomore year and got his shot his junior and senior year he made the most of it. He went in the seventh round of the draft. You never know what could happen. We have so much potential on the bench; that is why it is so hard to get your name called. We are so good and have so much depth, whenever your time is, that is when it is going to be.”
“The super regional loss hasn’t gotten much easier to deal with. The first four or five days I wasn’t really getting much sleep. The first day it happened, me, Vinson, Melton, Corbin Martin and some other guys just hung out at the field. For some reason the lights were still on until about 2 AM we were just sitting there listening to music. It took the seniors four years to actually get out there and have a little hangout on the field. That just made that night a little bit easier. We all just were hanging out with each other on the field. We didn’t know what to do because we knew we had the potential to win the entire thing. We still think that. It is just something for the team to grow on next year. It is definitely something to motivate them.”
“I don’t think there will be another team like this one just because of the way that we got along with each other. We were as close to family as you could possibly get. Everyone on that team loved each other. We had our ups and downs. No matter what, we had each other’s backs. I don’t know how to explain it really. The way we played together, along with how we were off of the field, it was just unbelievable.”
“A hit that I will never forget is definitely going to be from my freshman year at Arkansas. I was playing everyday and then I sat a little bit. My dad and my uncle decided they were going to come watch the series at Arkansas. In the eighth inning they called my name, and it was freezing cold out there. I felt like it was freezing sitting on the bench in my big jacket. They called my name and Arkansas had a lefty on the mound. As soon as I came in they switched and put a righty. That was the first pitching I had seen in about two weeks and on the fastball I got in the eighth I hit a grand slam. A pinch-hit grand slam. My dad and my uncle were there. That was just a hit that I will never forget.”
“I grew up an Astros fan. I used to watch Lance Berkman in the outfield and always loved the way he played. I got to Minute Maid and all I was thinking about was the 2005 Astros and the World Series they made it to. I went off in that tournament. It was like I was seeing beach balls up there at bat. I hit my first career homerun at the College Classic in Minute Maid. That was the best possible way I could have imagined hitting my first homerun.”
“My freshman year, me and Coach Childress didn’t really hit it off. We didn’t have a really strong relationship. I was late to everything, not turning anything in, and they kicked me out of the locker room and put me in the visitor’s locker room for the first two months of my freshman year. I went in there and was all by myself. I had my own TV, training table, and showers, all of it. I walked in there and they moved the stuff out of my locker and set it up in a locker in the visitor’s locker room. I thought it was awesome. They tried to get some maturity out of me and it worked. I got back into the home field locker room and everyone was laughing at me.”
“During practice, we were taking batting practice and I was leaning up against the back of the cage with my face up against the net and he fouled one more off and it squared me up in the side of my nose. I just backed off and heard this ringing in my head and blood was dripping down my nose. Coach Sawyers looked at me and said, ‘Are you going to get in there and hit or are you going to cry about your nose?’. I looked at him and wanted to prove him wrong and hit. That was probably some of the best batting practice of my life. I don’t know if it was because I was mad or I had a concussion. One of the two. After I finished, I got out and went to the training room. I walked in the training room, got x-rayed and found out that I had a crack on the right side of my nose. I walked back into practice. I had two black eyes from where the ball hit me. Coach Sawyers looked at me and said, ‘Well, I guess you are pretty tough, aren’t you?’. I honestly wanted to cry.”
“I asked the coaches how close I was to getting cut back then, recently. They said I had so much potential. They said that I wasn’t that close to being cut but there were some questionable moments during my time there but they said they were glad they kept me on.”
“The week after I broke my nose I decided I was actually going to study for something. I left my books in my truck at the apartment. So I go outside to get them, barefoot, and I walk through the grass and step on a nail. This nail was at least a half-inch into my heel. Just stuck there. The nail had some sort or corkscrew in it, so I had Logan Taylor take me to the hospital. I was there until about 2 AM waiting to see if they could take the nail out. I get to the field and the coaches are all looking at me like I was a mess.”
“I would drive around town at night and I couldn’t see the street signs. They said on the SEC Network that I was getting lost in the city streets and missing turns. That wasn’t completely true. I wasn’t missing turns but I was really squinting hard to see stuff. So I decided to finally go get my eyes checked and they said I was nearsighted. I had a really light prescription but they told me I could wear contacts and would be alright. So I put the contacts in and it was so different to me. We had a Wednesday game and I think I got three hits that day. I really thought I could hit with the glasses on. The glasses thing, I was really trying to be stylish out t here, and trying to make a statement on the field. I told my mom that I wanted to get some glasses. The next time my parents come into town we went and got some glasses. My first game wearing them was the George Bush game.”
“I don’t think there is anything different that the coaches and players could have done this season. It isn’t always about the best team. It is about who is playing the best that game. We came out and you could tell there were a lot of nerves and emotions between both TCU and us. We were both good enough to get to the College World Series and that is just the way that the game goes. We didn’t show up that day and we knew we were the better team. We had a lot of things that we left out there that could have been done differently. Not pressing as much at the plate and relaxing on defense. We didn’t play the game how we knew how to play. I don’t think there is anything different that we could have done to get to the College World Series.”
“I couldn’t thank this University, the coaching staff, and the 12th Man enough for what they have given me. Along with my family, too. I cannot thank my family enough. They came out and went above and beyond. The sacrifices that they made and all the traveling and motivation that they gave me; I cant thank them enough. They are always there for me. The coaching staff molded me into a better person and they prepared me for the real world. It was a great start for me.”
