Jim Schlossnagle & Co. to get the big league experience this weekend

For the first time since 2019, No. 15 Texas A&M will play at Minute Maid Park as the Shriners Children's College Classic begins on Friday. Ahead of the weekend trip to the Bayou City, head coach Jim Schlossnagle joined TexAgs Radio to share his expectations and more.

Key notes from Jim Schlossnagle interview

• With Tuesday's performance, I think obviously we were given a lot of free bases, but we also put a lot of good swings on balls. You can see the guys' shoulders relaxing. Our veteran hitters, I don’t care who you are playing, you still have to square it up. Overall, at the end of Sunday and then Tuesday night, I think it was a positive.
   
• There were two really great pitching performances from Brandyn Garcia and Will Johnston on Tuesday night. We have to figure out our bullpen though. I keep saying I’m looking out for right-handers, but maybe it's these left-handers.
   
• With guys like Austin Bost and Trevor Wrener, you trust who you are as a player. If you are lucky, you will get to experience this many more times over the decade. It happens to every hitter though. Every hitter wants to get off to a good start, and we talk about having an Opening Day mentally. A clean slate, but as soon as you have a negative result, you start to doubt yourself. The best players I've ever coached are players like Alex Bregman. I coached him for a summer, and he always thinks he can crush any guy, regardless if he’s 0-for-100. He is always confident no matter what happens, and that's not normal.
   
• You know these guys care so much and work so hard. If everyone knew that, you would never see any fans be critical. They have to trust who they are as a hitter and play the game, pitch to pitch.
   
• I think some of the veterans are used to a big-league stadium environment, but I think A&M had pulled out of the Shriners Children’s College Classic in 2021. Some of the veterans have never played in this tournament before. We have some younger players and some guys who have been through big showcases. They played in the big league parks. I've never been a part of this as an Aggie and having that crowd, having the 12th Man show up in Houston, we are excited about it. I don’t think that ever gets old to walk into a big league stadium though.
   
• Nathan Dettmer has been throwing some good breaking balls, and he’s been going in and out of the strike zone. Some of his pitches weren’t as effective for him earlier on in the season, but I think he's trusting his fastball more. He's in a better mental state. You know the ace has to think like an ace. He should walk into every room knowing he's the best pitcher in the room, and I think he's getting better at that. He has a big test with this Louisville team. They are some kind of ball team. He is taking a big step and definitely has a challenge ahead of him.
   
• It's a great weekend, not just for fans of college baseball but for baseball fans in general. There are going to be a lot of future MLB players on the field from all the teams. Texas Tech is playing awesome. Rice is much improved. They beat Sam Houston, and that was a team that put it on us in the fall. It’s fun to know you're going to get the games in with the roof, and it should be an awesome weekend for college baseball.
   
• I used to sit behind home plate and watch every pitch until my team played, but now everything is on some level of streaming or television. You can get a lot more done from a scouting standpoint just by watching on TV.
   
• For this weekend's game, I have a friend of mine, Todd Whitting, at the University of Houston who is allowing us to use his cage, so we will get the guys up in the morning and practice a little before we play at night.
   
• Scouting-wise, more than likely I’ll have a lot of work to do, but I'm not going to look at Rice until Saturday morning.
   
• There isn't a team in the country anywhere that isn't going to go through something. You have to get out of your comfort zone to get better. Look at Tennessee. Last year, they hit their rough moment at the worst possible time, but what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. The beauty of what we are going through is that none of the guys are taking anything for granted. It’s guys wanting to do so well and please everyone. I'm glad we have confidence this week, and maybe we can take that into this weekend. The story of our season is being written right now, and I'm hoping it will be a positive one.
   
• I am excited about the basketball game this weekend. It’s awesome. I'll be sitting in my room watching the game for sure and rooting like crazy. I'm so excited for Buzz Williams and them. Not that we needed it, but they are such a great example of perseverance and playing for each other and not getting emotional with results but just getting better throughout the season.