A&M's pitching staff poised to succeed under Jason Kelly's direction

Most recently the head coach at Washington, Jason Kelly is now Michael Earley's associate head coach and leading the Texas A&M pitching staff. With a plethora of weapons at his disposal, Kelly & Co. are ready to again dominate on the mound.

Key notes from Jason Kelly interview

• I would like to say not much is different for me because it's pretty much status quo for me, but the vibe you're feeling around here is a little bit different than anything I've ever been a part of.
   
• I'm not a very high or low guy. You're not going to get much out of me at any point or any time. That's one of my attributes. With the amount of press we're getting, it almost feels like we need to get this over with. I mean, let's just get this started. Let's get all the X and the Instagram out of the way. Let's get all that stuff out of the way, and let's just start throwing strikes and hitting home runs.
   
• I know it's the maturity level of the team. We haven’t really had a conversation as a group about that, but there have been little snippets about not reading your press clippings. We haven't sat down and said, "Hey, this is how you handle that.” I think those guys are excited for that, but there's enough of a chip on their shoulder from last year for them to take it with a grain of salt and realize anything can happen. None of that matters. It's all about the end of June and the beginning of February.
   
• You have to have some feel over the entire group and the individuals. That starts with individual meetings. Not necessarily closed-door meetings, but just BS-ing with them and seeing how they respond to a little bit of trash talk so they can see how you coach them. For those two guys in particular, it was more "stay out of the way" but push them forward and make their plans a little bit more dynamic. Ryan Prager wanted to work on getting a bit of velocity, and Justin Lamkin needed to refine the strike zone a little bit to be more competitive in the zone all the time. For the most part, I'm trying to smooth edges and take the young guys to elevate them.
   
• There are five or six guys that aren't getting talked about. It's not that they are not getting respect. They just don't have a track record. They are here for a reason, and that's because they are incredibly talented. Last year, as a freshman, they maybe didn't get a lot of innings because the bullpen was pretty good last year. We had two guys at the end of the game that we were going to go to when we were on the hot seat. It's about experience for them. There's going to be some highs, and these guys are electric. Ty Baker, Isaac Morton, Luke Jackson, Clayton Freshcorn, Weston Moss and all those guys are electric. There's going to be some highs. There's going to be some lows. They need experience. They need innings. They need to get punched in the nose and see how they respond. The negative on them now is that we don't know how they are going to respond. Now, they've responded to every situation we've put them in. They've cleared every hurdle in front of them, so there's no reason to believe that they won't respond. Still, you have to get thrown in the fire. I can't wait to do that.
   
• You make it so that they are comfortable at any moment but that no moment is really a moment. It's easier said than done, but really being focused on what they can control. It's easier said than done, too. It's about dominating the zone and commanding the ball. If they do that, they're going to have success. What they need to realize is that they will still wake up tomorrow if this doesn't go well. With all these fans and all this pressure, you can feel like you are letting everybody down. However, you have to realize that Mariano Rivera blew plenty of saves, too, but he got up off the bench and was ready to pitch. That's more important than the moment, but it's how you respond. If those guys can do that, then by the time we get to conference, we'll have a very dynamic group.
   
• You start at the top, and you've got two left-handed arms that are going to factor in on the weekend, whether it's Friday, Saturday or Sunday. I've got a pretty good feel for how we are going to tackle this. It's about how those guys are going to respond to those roles. We've talked about it with the pitching staff if we can not care who's out there, not care who gets the save, not care who gets the accolades, then this team and the pitching staff in particular are going to be really good.
   
• Part of relievers having success is not pigeonholing them for closing. If that's your closer, and the left-handers are hitting .275 off him, and the right-handers are hitting .139, then they are going to go three straight left-handers. That might not be the best inning for that guy. I've got to make sure that that guy who has closed for us throws the eighth against three straight right-handers, and whoever our best guy against left-handers faces those guys in the ninth. Putting them in positions where they can have success is going to be a big part for us.
   
• Brad Rudis is working through some shoulder stuff, but he's all good. He'll be out of the bullpen when we start the season. It'll be limited appearances. We don't want to finish him off in February. He's going to be a key part of this. He is probably the most reliable guy on paper. He throws the most strikes, and if you know him as a person, he's the guy you'd hand anything to. You can trust that he'll put his best effort in and figure out a way to get it done. He might be a little bit lower on some of the stuff coming out of that bullpen, but he's going to be at the top when it comes to competing, when it comes to strikes and when it comes to experience. You are going to see him in a lot of roles. He can start on Tuesday or come in and finish it. Who knows.
   
• If you want to pitch in the SEC, that freshman year has proven to not give a lot of opportunities. That's not because of talent most of the time. It's about the people in front of you. Coming into a team that played for the national title last year and expecting a lot of innings as a freshman is a little bit unrealistic. Gavin Lyons, Blayne Lyne, Houston Tomlinson and Caden McCoy are getting better. But can they continue to get better throughout the season if those opportunities aren't there on the weekends? Do Tuesdays become important for them? They still have things to prove. We have another weekend to do that, and that will determine where we start the season. They're talented, and we continue to get better so that that fifth game of the regional, of the super, that 14-inning game in a super or Omaha, you get through the loser's bracket. You see those stories pop up. Any of our guys are capable of that.
   
• To be honest with you, we've pitched pretty well. We worry about things getting out of hand at this point of the year because we are running some of those young guys against Caden Sorrell, Jace LaViolette, Wyatt Henseler, Hayden Schott and all those guys, but they've held their own. There have been bumps and coaching opportunities for them to talk about those things. The hardest thing about being a freshman is that they don't see it the same way we see it. They see it strictly as velocity, wins and losses or strikeouts, and that's a very paper-oriented mind frame. When I'm looking at the bench, I'm going to see who throws strikes and competes. I don't care if it's 88 mph or 98 mph. Those guys are going to pitch. They might not catch onto it yet, but they will throughout the season. They'll see that Rudis pitches a lot because he throws a lot of strikes. If I throw more strikes, that could be me.
   
• I knew Michael Earley as a younger coach when he was kind of responsible for just the hitters and the outfielders. There wasn't a lot of interaction with the team, with the pitchers. Seeing him communicate with the entire roster has been really cool. He communicates well, and they listen and respect him. That leadership is the hardest part when you finish an intrasquad; what do you say? Do you lose your mind? Do you go condescending? Do you take it easy on them? How do you handle the ebb and flow of the entire group? I think he has done a really good job of that and communicating at a high level of what we expect from them. Just because there's a coaching change, we are still going to expect the same things that every other coach expects.
   
• We have the best strength coach in the country. Jeremy McMillan is as good as it gets. I've been around some good ones. People had told me he's one of the best in the country and you're always like, "We'll see," but it's true. Our guys love him, and they are getting stronger and more physical.
   
• Kalie Swain, our trainer, is incredible at keeping our guys healthy with arm care. She's obviously really hard on them but loves them, and they really trust that she's making the right decisions.
   
• The analytic group with Jace Hutchins and Jack Mahala has been my best resource. I'm into it. I love the analytics, and it's part of my daily routine. The stuff those guys find in the weeds because they are young and committed to us has changed our program.
   
• You also have Jason Hutchins who's been here for 27 years with the experience. He and I are a little more on the old-school part of it and being from Southern California. He's been in Texas for a long time, but we have a lot of mutual friends and people we've both played for. We have a great rapport.
   
• We have a dynamic pitching group. It's not one voice. It's a lot of voices, and those voices are really good at what they do. You go sit in Mahala's office and talk about the analytical data, and you're going to get the best in the country. If you're talking to Jace Hutchins about grips and some of the ways to manipulate the baseball, you are getting the best in the country. It's been really beneficial for our guys. The way our pitching staff is being run is as good as anyone's in the country.