Former 1B John Scheschuk weighs in on Texas A&M's 25-3 record

Former Texas Aggie first baseman John Scheschuk joined Monday's edition of TexAgs Radio to offer his thoughts on Jim Schlossnagle's 2024 team. Scheschuk discussed A&M's success through SEC play, Braden Montgomery and much more.

Key notes from John Scheschuk interview

• My thoughts are: I'm not surprised. I sound like a broken record whether it’s on a broadcast or with you, but I spent time with this team in the fall. To me, it starts at the top with coach Jim Schlossnagle. He’s competitive. He’s a leader, and he’s organized.

• Max Weiner coming in and some of the carryover from last year. When you get into the individual players like Braden Montgomery, that’s a major league baseball player playing college baseball. None of it surprises me. Their staff is aligned. Their roster is stacked, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this continued into late June.

• You have to keep fighting. Things are going to happen. A&M needs to take it a game at a time. A&M has that “Opening Day” mentality for every game. All the signs show them being a formidable club and a club that can continue to play for a really long time this season.

• They have positioned themselves to get a national seed. There’s a lot of baseball to be played, but they are in that conversation without a doubt. You go back to their main players, and they're doing what they do. Braden is leading the charge, and Evan Aschenbeck has just been nails on the mound. They are well positioned for that national seed. They’re on track for 20 wins in the SEC, and if they do that, they should be positioned for a national seed and should be positioned to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament

• I think for Braden, his talent, mentality and work ethic all align. You have to have your star players be trendsetters, and he’s going to put his money where his mouth is. When you match that attitude with that level of talent, great things happen.

• It’s exciting for me to see him exceed expectations, as high as they were. He’s on an SEC player of the Year type of trajectory, and that’s incredible for Texas A&M. When you look at that outfield with Caden Sorrell, Jace LaViolette and Braden Montgomery, those are MLB-type guys that are roaming around in the Texas A&M outfield.

• I hope the MLB Draft dwindles down in its round numbers, and I hope NIL continues to grow for college baseball. To see those types of players on one team is really incredible, and fans should soak that up because it’s a lot of fun to watch them.

• The SEC is a little bit different because this league really cares about baseball, but what you’re seeing now is these teams making money at it. It’s become more of a business and you’re starting to get these higher-level players which helps the product and the brand of the sport overall.

• I played in the first Super Regional ever, I believe, against Clemson and to my knowledge, that game wasn’t even on TV. Now you fast forward 25 years, and most of these games are on some sort of broadcast, which is awesome for the sport. The sport on the whole is on the rise. It’s driven by our league. 

• Gavin Grahovac surprises me a little bit, not because of the talent level and the lineage but just coming in and doing it as a freshman. We even saw Jace last year spend some time to get his mojo going. Once he got his mojo going, his talent just took over, and Gavin has just come in and crushed it from Day 1. 

• I was talking to Michael Earley a couple of weeks ago, and the sentiment is not only are his physical tools there, but his mental approach as a freshman is off the charts. These kids that are playing high-level tournament baseball from the time they were eight or nine until now, are just so much more seasoned and cultured when it comes to the mental side of the sport. They’re so much more prepared, and much like Braden, when you get a guy like Gavin who’s got the talent and can align the mental skills and the work ethic skills all in one, you get what you get, which is huge production from a 19-year-old freshman.

• I think Ted Burton has got a lot more pop in the bat. I know he does, so I’m excited to see him get on a power run as the weather warms up. We’ve talked about Olsen Field and how the wind change can affect offenses either positively or negatively, so as it warms up and he gets some southwind days, there’s no doubt Teddy is going to hit some bombs.

• Our team needs that. We need that power production as we get into that fifth and sixth spot in the order. He’s an All-Conference player. He’s a seasoned player. He’s been through a lot as a college baseball player. He’s got a very level head on him, and he’s going to do big things for the Aggies in the second half of the season.

• I think the Aschenbeck comparison to Tom Glavine is a great one but for me, I always talk about Matt Ward. Evan probably throws harder than both of those guys. Matt was a strike thrower and was going to battle you even though he wasn’t throwing 95. Evan kind of reminds me of that.

• I talked to him before one of the games, and I just told him I appreciated what he was doing. His consistency as a young person is impressive. He’s just a professional. It’s exciting because he nails when he gets out there, and A&M is lucky to have him.

• At the end of the day, playoff baseball comes down to who delivers in clutch moments on both sides of the ball, offense or defense. When you’re on defense, you’ve got to get off the field when there are two outs and runners in scoring position.

• When you’re on offense, you have got to get those hits when there are two outs and runners in scoring position. Of course, you have to play defense, pitch well and be complete in all phases of the game, but when it comes down to it in playoff baseball, you have to execute when it’s the most pressure-packed situations.

• You always have to be ready for these Tuesday games against any of these schools around A&M. A lot of these kids at Texas State would have loved to play for A&M, so they have that chip on their shoulder, and they make it a big deal as it should be.

• I remember back in my day, we would struggle in some of these games. Now, I think it’s more important as you’re chasing that national seed. You do have to be ready to go because Texas State is going to be ready.

• As you get into the South Carolina series, it’s obvious you’re going into a tradition-rich program that won a lot. They are going to have a big crowd, and they have a solid club. They are going to have their hands full, I know the Aggies are up to the test and you gotta find a way to sneak one game out of there and two is just an absolute bonus. That’s what the Aggies are facing this week, so a tough, tough week of baseball ahead of them, but the team is positioned pretty well.