Rob Childress, A&M players talk first day of practice, preview 2018 season

Texas A&M kicked off its spring practice schedule Friday afternoon as the Aggies officially practiced with coaches for the first time in 2018.

Anticipation remains high around the program as the Aggies attempt to build on last year's run to the College World Series.

"We're certainly excited to get things rolling," said head coach Rob Childress. "The guys have worked really hard the last couple of weeks in skill instruction trying to get prepared for today, and our goal is just to get a little bit better each day that we take the field." 

This Aggie team boasts tremendous depth both on the mound and in the field. The return of seniors Kaylor Chafin and Cason Sherrod headlines a pitching staff that consists of a plethora of talented arms, and the offense has powerful hitters littered up and down the lineup.

"I'm definitely glad I'm not the coaches," said sophomore shortstop Braden Shewmake. "We have a lot of depth in the lineup and on defense, so if I was in the coaches' shoes I wouldn't know what to do right now."

The Aggies went through a practice that consisted mostly of defensive fundamental drills, and then played an intrasquad scrimmage. 

Childress will be keeping a close eye on his pitchers leading up to A&M's season opener against Rhode Island on February 16. Even though the Aggies have a ton of arms to choose from, several of them are largely unproven in SEC play.

"Last year we knew we had a Friday night guy in Brigham Hill, this year we don't know who our Friday night guy is," Childress said. "I feel like the collection of arms that we have is as deep as we've had in quite some time, the balance is very good with lefties and righties. The pitching coach's job is to put them in the right places for success, and that's something we can figure out hopefully in these three weeks of practice."

Childress said Chafin was the front-runner to be that Friday night guy coming out of fall practice, but he is still considering all his options to maximize his personnel. 

The Aggies have not been shy about voicing their expectations of getting back to Omaha and winning games there, and Friday was another step in that process. 

"We look at Omaha as a bright point and now we know how to get there," Shewmake said. "We feel like we know what it takes to win big games and we use that as a stepping stool to get back."