Longley shares how in-house competition has improved A&M's offense

After three seasons in Austin, Michael Earley hired Caleb Longley this summer to serve as Texas A&M's recruiting coordinator and hitting coach. With Opening Day fast approaching, Longley sat down to provide some offensive insight to the 2025 Fightin' Texas Aggies.

Key notes from Caleb Longley interview

• I would say the nerves are low. I feel like our guys are prepared. I would say the nerves are low, but I'm excited to get going.
   
• Well, with a lot of teams, you have to worry, "Are the guys going to put the work in, or are they going continue to stay in the cage?" With this team, that really wasn't the worry. All the guys kind of know what we have in front of us this season, so I wasn't really worried about them putting the work in. Staying in communication, making sure they're in the weight room, and staying healthy so we can pick right up where we left off in the fall.
   
• Well, it's fun. The kids are competing against each other. There's always a little bit of competition going on. Guys are always trying to stay on the barrel. You've got me, coach Will Fox and coach Michael Earley. Troy Claunch is in there flipping, doing some stuff. It's just a good group of guys to be around. Yes, they're getting better. Yes, they're putting a lot of work in, but I think they're having fun doing it.
   
• Well, I think the main thing is how coach Earley carries himself in front of big groups of people. You've always seen it kind of behind closed doors and in the cage with just the hitters. But now, doing that same thing, having that same type of leadership role with the whole team, with a group of donors, with the media on the outside, it's been fun to watch him grow.
   
• Kaeden Kent's obsessed with it. He loves to hit. He loves a little intricacy. He's behind the game. He loves to work. He wants to hang out in the cage even when he's done hitting. He wants to be around and see what everybody else is talking about. He just wants to talk the game, and it's been to watch him improve over these last few months.
   
• Kent's definitely an intense competitor. I think he got a little bit of that from his dad. When a lot of people try to pull him back, I encourage him. I let him go, and I think that's what kind of had us hit it off early.
   
• We obviously have a lot of really good players, top to bottom, but the good thing about our players that can make them great in the future is they still want to be coached. Jace LaViolette, Gavin Grahovac and all those guys early on were, "Hey, what do you see?" "How can you help me get better?" And when your best guys are those types of guys, it makes it easier all the way down the line to be able to throw a suggestion out, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else. But those guys early on wanting to get just that 1 percent better, it's made it fun for me.
   
• I think Caden Sorrell has a unique way of always getting a swing off at the plate. There are a lot of times in a game if this guy can get three swings off in a game, he's going to be alright for us. Sorrell has a unique ability. He's very good at getting his best swing off very consistently. And in the outfield, he's a hard worker. He continues to get better. I've seen the highlight reels from last year. He's probably going to move over to right field this year. A little bit different angle. But, he's been putting the work in and his arms continued to get better as well.
   
• We knew when we were bringing Gavin Kash in that he didn't have much experience in the outfield, but we also knew his work ethic. We knew he'd put the time in order to get better and all that work is starting to pay off now. The way he's been swinging it, it's been pretty special.
   
• Coach Earley has done great with him as far as the swing decision stuff. He sat him down early and said, "Hey, this is where we really think we really can see some improvement with your game." He's also covered up a lot of holes in the zone, so I think if you look at his spray charts and his hot and cold zones from last year, I think there's going to be a huge difference this year, even in his contact.
   
• We were just talking about the lineup in the office this morning. I think we know who our two-hole is. Other than that, there might be a lot of moving around, and it's one of those lineups where when you're hitting eighth in this lineup, you don't need to feel disrespected because you might be fourth the next week. It's that. It can go either way. We get creative with matchups and right and left stuff. We've got a good variety of both sides. It's a good problem to have.
   
• Both first basemen homered in our last intrasquad game, so that's still an ongoing competition. I think both of those guys will really help us if either one of them is in the lineup, so feel good for those guys.
   
• As far as the catchers, it's not like we need a guy to step up and win it. It’s, “We've got three really good ones. What's the best way to roll them out on a weekend?” They're all three a little different as far as offensively and handling different types of pitchers. It's a unique situation to have three that are very similar in ability but very different skillsets.
   
• I think the two that have really jumped out of late would be Terrence Kiel II and Sawyer Farr on the offensive side. Both those guys have really continued to make strides in their game. You can tell that they're starting to get comfortable playing. Adjusting to the level of pitching and it's been fun to watch. Both those guys are very tooled up, so the more they're comfortable, the more those tools have been able to come out.
   
• I think Kiel and Farr will get in there a ton just because they can do multiple things. Both of those guys can really run. Both of those guys can really defend. Sawyer's a switch hitter. Kiel can handle the bat and do some different things with the speed, so I definitely think both of those guys are going to get a lot of games under their belt this year.
   
• I'm excited for the 12th Man being on my side for sure. So that's definitely going to be nice to put that pressure on the opposing pitcher as opposed to having it on your own pitcher.
   
• I'll be right beside coach Earley in the dugout. I'll be between coach Earley and the hitter that's in the hole, so going over playing, going over the scouting report. What's the guy doing to previous left-handed hitters in the lineup? Whatever the situation is... Just being that voice in the middle. Letting guys bounce things off. Letting coach Earley bounce things off situations. I'll be there for both of them.
   
• I think the main thing with the offield staff, what Jace Hutchins, Jack Mahala and Jason Hutchins... They're on the pitching side, right? So they're another voice for Jason Kelly, and if you look at the improvement from some of these pitchers' arsenals and strikes from the fall until now, it's insanely impressive.
   
• A kid, Clayton Freshcorn, who I'm sure is going to be talked a lot about early this year, has been electric for us early this spring. When he came here, I think the first time he pitched, he gave up a couple of homers. His stuff was just okay. He was a good strike thrower, and now his arsenal's really taken on a new level. Kelly and those other pitching guys deserve a lot of credit for that.
   
• On the offensive side, too, we have a guy, Jack Hardgrove, who is a student here. Mahala is helping with scouting reports. Those guys are making our jobs a lot easier. So instead of watching four to five hours of video, now we're looking at one to two. That saves me a lot of time.