Moss: Difference between Aggies & Vols was 'a hair' in MCWS Finals

Former Texas A&M outfielder J.B. Moss was in Omaha as the Aggies fell just short on their quest to win the 2024 national championship. On Tuesday morning, Moss joined TexAgs Radio to look back on the championship series, an incredible 2024 campaign and more.

Key notes from J.B. Moss interview

• It definitely is harder the closer you get. It’s a mixed bag of emotions waking up this morning. The disappointment of defeat and being so close, but also just a tremendous sense of pride for getting to the national championship final. What a successful and fun season.
   
• Why did it not go A&M’s way? That’s a tough question to answer. I think it’s splitting hairs. I think the issue is A&M played the best college baseball team in the country. I certainly think A&M was the second-best. It doesn’t always happen this way, but I do think that the best team won the Men’s College World Series. I think that Tennessee was just a hair more talented, and I mean a hair. I think they were also a hair deeper, especially in their pitching. Moving forward, if there’s one area where I think A&M can improve, I think the quantity of elite arms. A&M still has a bit to go.
   
• No, you’re certainly right. You talk about Jackson Appel, Hayden Schott, Ali Camarillo and, really, you can go up the entire roster. It’s a great collection of guys. I’m not in the clubhouse, and I’m not behind the curtain. I haven’t heard one issue as far as a character problem on the team. You can see it in the way the guys play, the way the guys smile and interact with each other. They have great camaraderie. They’re great people, and I think that’s something that Jim Schlossnagle and Nolan Cain have done such a great job of not only accumulating talent but accumulating the right guys in the clubhouse. Like I said, you can see it on the field and the way they interact with the fans. We’re going to remember these personalities, as well as this talent, for a very long time.
   
• I think Appel was giving Schott a run for his money, but I think Schott is close up there in batting average. Some of the time, the class clown cannot be as productive as you would like, but absolutely not the case with Schott. I think that his maturity has a lot to do with it. He’s battle-tested, and he doesn’t get enough credit for how talented he is. His ability to use the whole field to hit, and he has a beautiful swing. He was a key part in the season, there’s no doubt about it. That’s a special combination of being the team character, if you will, but also being uber-talented. A&M was lucky to have him, and he was very fun to watch and get to know this year.
   
• We definitely are going to think about Kaeden Kent forever. I certainly hope that he remains in Aggieland, and if he does, he’s going to play a huge role on next year’s team. As fun as it was to watch his success on the field, getting to know him in the press conference setting and his answers to some of these questions was just remarkable. You kind of get a feel that may be the case with his dad and him growing up in a big-league park and around big-leaguers. Him talking about the process and stacking days on days, I just think that he’s one of the hardest workers on the team. In my opinion, he’s not the most talented, but I think he’s certainly a kid of high character. He works super hard. I think if he just continues to do that, he’s going to play a huge role in Maroon & White moving forward.
   
• You’re 100 percent right in that you had to bring Evan Aschenbeck in when they did. It’s kind of what I was referring to about the depth of pitching. I remember talking to Brauny earlier in the year... I’m splitting hairs here, and maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. I just feel like maybe two or three more quality arms would have made the difference on the year. Still, you had to bring Aschenbeck in that spot because you had no one else. The guys that threw were running on fumes because you lost Shane Sdao, and there were only five or six guys they were going to roll with. I would like to see that number be a little deeper. I think Schlossnagle would tell you that as well. He is trying to implement the University of Florida, and one thing they have at Florida is arm after arm after arm running out of that bullpen. I saw it firsthand when I played at A&M.
   
• Schlossnagle made the right decision. It was Aschenbeck’s game, and if you’re going to go down, you’re going to go down with your best arms. It just didn’t fall our way, but Aschenbeck still did a spectacular job. I was pleased with his performance as well.
   
• It’s amazing the growth and trajectory of the freshmen. One thing that Cain and Schlossnagle have done such a great job of is up-ticking the position player talent at Texas A&M. Don’t get me wrong, we’ve had some: Braden Shewmake as a first-rounder. We just haven’t had a ton of quantity high-level, first-round position player draft picks. You think of Tyler Naquin and Shewmake, but getting guys like Caden Sorrell, Gavin Grahovac and Jace LaViolette to school has done wonders in this position player haul for A&M. I’m so excited to see it continue. I know A&M has a great position player high school class coming in, and if they can get those guys to campus, you’re going to see more and more production like you’re seeing from Grahovac and LaViolette. I’m really excited about where the program is, and I’m so excited to see it continue to evolve because I do think there can even be more room for improvement. That’s really exciting today.
   
• LaViolette certainly did battle. We don’t get a peek behind the curtain to really see what was going on. We don’t know how bad the injury really was, but I think it’s a credit to the support staff, the trainers, the doctors and all the people who are there to support A&M baseball. You could see the way LaViolette was moving. Every single game, every single day, he started moving better and better. He did look a little uncomfortable in the box when he first injured it, but then he kind of got his feet back under him and hit a home run. Testament to the kid. I’m sure he was working his butt off to be as healthy as possible, and look, he’s a supreme talent. He’s so fun to watch. You cannot say enough great things about LaViolette — another high-character guy. You don’t hear anything negative about him, and he’s certainly a nice young man. I’m so excited to see his development and his growth and what I think is absolutely feasible in him being the first overall pick in the 2025 draft. It’s going to be fun to see him next year.
   
• “What does heartache look like at the end of a season?” The answer is it’s incredibly individualized. A lot of it is up to the coaching staff, to be honest with you. Guys that are banged up and guys that had 200-250 at-bats: they’re not going to race those guys to get out the door and head to summer ball. The guys that they feel lreally need to get experience that didn’t play a whole lot and didn’t get as many at-bats, they’re going to get those guys out pretty quick. When I was at A&M, they would kind of give you a week to get your feet under you, and then they’d ship you off to summer ball because they wanted you to get better. Guys like LaViolette and Grahovac who have USA invites, that’s a whole different animal, and they’re going to have to assess where those guys are at physically. It’s incredibly individualized. The guys that played a lot, the guys that are banged up, you may see those guys hang around College Station and trying to get healthy. The super young guys like the Jack Bells that they have a lot of hope for, those guys need to go play. They’ve got to develop because they spent a large majority of the season not getting real game reps so those guys got to get out there and get better.
   
• The first thing I would tell you is to go look at Schlossnagle’s and Cain’s resumes because those resumes are not going to tell you that this is one-and-done. We have incredible leadership at Texas A&M right now. I understood why Richard Zane asked the question last night. It’s very important for us to keep the coaching talent intact that we have in Aggieland. I think they’ve done an incredible job getting talent to campus. It’s one thing to get it to campus, but it’s another thing to develop it. I think Micheal Earley has done a fantastic job developing these guys. Max Weiner, what an incredible job. A complete overhaul in production on the pitching mound. I think we have an incredible staff.
   
• With the new stadium, the brightest days of Texas A&M baseball are ahead. I think everybody just needs to continue to love on these players and continue to support them emotionally and financially because I think this is just the beginning of what a true powerhouse baseball program can look like.