Rogers: Texas A&M's program in a good spot following draft, new hires

It was a big week for Jim Schlossnagle & Co. with changes to the coaching staff and a handful of Aggies getting selected in the 2023 MLB Draft. With a busy few days in the rearview, D1Baseball's Kendall Rogers joined TexAgs Radio to discuss the state of Texas A&M baseball.

Key notes from Kendall Rogers interview

• Max Weiner is a different coach than Nate Yeskie, and there is no “right” or “wrong” formula. Yeskie is one of the best pitching coaches in college baseball, and Weiner is a different flavor. I’ve dug into him throughout this process, and people say he’s an analytics and biomechanics guy. When you look at the formula that has helped teams over the last couple of years, most recently Wake Forest, they’re focused on biomechanics and pitching labs. Weiner is one of those guys that is big into that. He’s a younger guy that relates well to the players.
   
• There are a lot of people that I talked to, whether it be scouts or front office people, that are excited and say it’s a phenomenal hire. In that realm, if they don’t think you’re making a good hire, they won’t say those things. Going from professional baseball to the college ranks, they can be more critical of those moves. Everything I’m being told about Weiner is very positive, but obviously, he’ll have to go out there and prove it in college baseball and the SEC. Everything points to this being a very, very good hire.
   
• The biggest thing in college baseball for these coaches that aren’t managers in the professional level, you’re making more money in college baseball than in pro ball. People just assume guys are giving up money to come to college, but it’s the opposite. Other than that, it’s about what guys want their career to be. If you’re a minor league pitching coordinator, what does the future look like? Does he want to be a big league manager or a big league pitching coach? Or does he want to be a college head coach? That will happen if he does a good job at Texas A&M. This is a guy that wants to get into college baseball and the SEC, and if he can take A&M to new heights, which would be a national championship, he’d open the door to any opportunity he could ever want in college baseball.
   
• Biomechanics are big now. I sat with Corey Muscara, the pitching coach at Wake Forest, for about three hours, and if anybody knows anything about Wake Forest, they can really pitch. Muscara went over every single aspect of a guy like Rhett Lowder’s arm motion and the torque he gets. It’s one thing to use weighted balls to throw harder, but it’s another to break down everything element of the motion from the rotation of the arm to the back. That’s stuff that people like Weiner are using. It’s high-level technological tools. He leaves no stone unturned, and to win at a high level in the SEC, that’s what you have to do.
   
• I’m curious to see what happens with Nathan Dettmer. He is a first-round talent but really struggled pretty much the whole season with his slider command. He’s a good kid with good makeup and good stuff. He’s a pitcher that could excel at the next level. He’s going to get into a professional pitching lab and a professional environment. He’ll succeed in that. Keep an eye on him. This season might have left a sour taste in his mouth, but you could look up in two years and see him in the big leagues.
   
• Hunter Haas is a steady-eddy guy. If you’re looking for flashy shortstops that make incredible plays and hit tanks left and right, he’s not your guy. But if you’re looking for a guy that is going to make every routine play, some tough plays and have a consistent bat at the plate, he is your guy. At the professional ranks, people are always enamored with power numbers and flashiness, but sometimes, there is a lot of value in someone that you know what you’re getting every single time they go to the ballpark.
   
• Will Johnston is an interesting one. It seems like teams weren’t placing a lot of value on him at the next level, but I really like him. He’s an older, hard-nosed left-hander that can come in and be a typical back-end of the bullpen guy. He could be a guy that is up to 95-96 out of the bullpen, and the slider is a really good pitch at times. His role will be limited because he’s a reliever, but if the fastball velocity can increase a couple of ticks, his slider will play up as well.
   
• Trevor Werner to Kansas City might be the most interesting selection out of all the Aggies. What are we going to get out of him at the next level? I hope they get a lot because he’s a great kid, and I love the tools. Strong arm. Makes most of the plays. Has a cannon and massive power. At the end of the year, he was going down and getting some balls and having good at-bats. If he can continue that trajectory at the next level, he could make it through the system pretty fast. He’s a guy that will walk out there at spring training either next year or the year after, and he looks the part. He looks like a big leaguer. He needs the tools to come together, but it is all there. If I had to draw up a prospect, they would look like Werner.
   
• Losing Jack Moss is the only thing that stung for A&M. Obviously, Jim Schlossnagle & Co. are happy for all their guys that got drafted, but had Moss not gone in the top 12 rounds, he could have very well ended up at school in the NIL era. He has indicated that he will likely sign. I don’t know what position he plays at the next level. It’s not a strong arm, and the defense is just OK. I love the bat. There is more power generation in that swing. I love the overall approach. A&M fans call him a professional hitter, and that’s truly what he is. The power and where you put him on the field hold him back.
   
• I hope both Brett Minnich and Austin Bost find free-agent opportunities. Bost has to be pretty frustrated. He would have had an opportunity last year but decided to come back to school, and the season just didn’t go as planned. I would think he’d be given a chance, given his track record. Minnich is an odd one, and I like him as a prospect. When healthy, he has big-time power. Look at his frame. There is even more room for strength and power. Somebody is going to get a steal in Minnich. I think he could end up in the big leagues.
   
• Having this many players drafted says a lot about the program and the caliber of players that Schlossnagle inherited. It shows where this program is aiming. Looking at A&M as a whole, you’re also getting Caden Sorrell and Gavin Grahovac, who is a kid that kind of has some of the same hallmarks and hype as Jace LaViolette did last year out of high school. You’re getting some kids out of the portal and Chris Cortez back. I think he could flourish. You’re getting Troy Wansing and Justin Lamkin back. Ryan Prager will be back from injury. If they can get the offense figured out, I feel like A&M is set up to have a pretty good rotation next year. We’ll see how the bullpen comes together. I like where this program is at. They make strong hires. They elevated Nolan Cain. The big thing now is continuity. Weiner will not be looking to leave in 12 months, and that’s big.
   
• I was not surprised to see Paul Skenes and Dylan Crews go 1-2 in the MLB Draft. Wyatt Langford from Florida was rumored to possibly go first overall as a bonus-saving thing. Looking at college baseball this year, nobody made a larger impact than Skenes. Think about Chase Dollander. He was a high first-round pick by Colorado, but what was his ERA in the SEC? Like 4.80 or near 5.00. In a year when everyone on the mound was lit up, Skenes was the exception. I thought Pittsburgh did the right thing in taking him. Crews also might be the best player ever at LSU, too.
   
• When you compare the SEC’s 76 draft picks, it says a lot when you compare it to the Big 12, which might have had 11 or something like that. It gives you an idea of how good this league is and how patient you have to be. People in Texas’ program have the expectation of going to Omaha every year. When they come into the SEC, they have got to tweak that expectation. In this league, think about Ole Miss and how many guys they had drafted in the top ten rounds. They didn’t even make the SEC Tournament. It goes to show how good and deep this league is. You might not be a bad team and still not make the conference tournament. As a fan, you have to keep perspective from year to year in this league.