University of Tennessee Athletics
Coach Rod Delmonico's Fall Practice Quotes
October 13, 2004 | Baseball
Oct. 13, 2004
Head Coach Rod Delmonico | Pitching Coach Mike Bell
On the 2003-04 season:
" Anytime you make an NCAA regional, that's like going to a major bowl game. When you get to a regional or you get to the SEC tournament, in my opinion you've had a great year. Of course, for us, we weren't happy because we would have liked to have gotten to a super regional and of course we wanted to go to Omaha. So we didn't get our last two steps, but when you look at it, we were four wins from going to Omaha. You win four more games and you're in Omaha, and that's pretty darn close. We were a No. 2 seed (in the Kinston Regional) so last year was a good year for us, especially with (Luke) Hochevar and (Derek) Tharpe being out for 44 out of the 56 regular-season games. Anytime you lose your No. 1 and No. 2 pitchers that much and have the kind of year we did, you had a heck of a year."
On positions up for grabs in the fall:
" We bring back a lot of guys. We've just got to battle it out at a couple spots. We're probably battling for corner positions, a DH, an outfielder, and then we'll set our rotation. So in the next three weeks, we'll get a lot of our team stuff set."
On the health of the squad:
" Well that's one of the reasons why we pushed [fall practice] back so far instead of starting two weeks ago. We would have gone two weeks without a shortstop and one of our pitchers because they had pulled hamstrings, so we wanted to get healthy. We knew we still had good weather to work with in the fall, so we'll go for the next three weeks. But right now we're pretty healthy."
On the weather conditions for fall practice:
" We're fortunate up here that fall is probably the best time of the year. Fortunately for us, when the weather starts getting a little cooler in November, we'll be off the field. The weather really doesn't affect us. It doesn't really get cold until around Thanksgiving."
On his players' participation in summer leagues:
" We're very fortunate. We got a lot of our guys to go play summer baseball. Kelly Edmundson went up to the [Valley Baseball League] and had a great summer. Craig Cobb continued to pitch well up in the New England League along with Eli Iorg, who played with him as well and had a great summer. Joey Andrews went to Alaska and played, and their team went to the championship in Wichita, Kan., and I think finished second. So they had a tremendous year. It was good to get our guys out. And we like to try to place as many guys as we possibly can. Martin Evans, our third-string catcher, was able to go out and get some playing time up in New Jersey. (Mike) Kerfeld played in Canada. So a lot of guys did get a chance to go play."
On his team's offensive potential for 2004-05:
" We return nine hitters that hit a lot for us. We're going to return seven or eight guys who played everyday for us. Those guys are predominantly juniors and seniors and have been in the league one or two or three years and should be ready to go. We have a lot of guys who are now juniors and have been in this league for two years and are seasoned. They've been through a lot of big games and big wars, and that should make them a lot better for this year."
On his team's progress over the summer and early fall:
Right now we're happy that everybody's healthy and progressing and getting stronger and working out in our weight program. (Strength and conditioning coach) Brian Garrity has done a fantastic job of getting these guys to start eating what they should eat, not eat what they shouldn't eat and get them back in the weight room and conditioned. We've really worked hard. (Trainer Jeff Wood) has been working overtime to get these guys back on the field so that we can start fall practice, and right now we're healthy."
On the addition of new pitching coach Mike Bell:
" [Departed pitching coach Fred Corral] and I got to be very, very close professionally and personally. I just think the world of him and miss him. But, it was very fortunate that we got Mike Bell. We lost a great pitching coach, but I think we got a guy who's very similar to the way Fred was when he came in here two years ago. Nobody knew who Fred was, and he got some accolades here. He did a very fine job for us, was young, energetic and worked really hard for us. I think Mike's going to be the same kind of person. He's a very hard worker. He's the first one to the office he's usually here at 7:30 or 8:00 in the morning. I think he's going to log some hours on the recruiting trail for us and help us gain some ground on some of the people we're trying to catch or some of the people we're trying to stay in front of. He knows how to recruit and did a great job down at Florida Southern. He played at Florida State and pitched in two College World Series in '94 and '95. So he knows where we want to go. He knows what it's like to play in Omaha, so he'll do a fine job for us.
"I think for a guy that played at Florida State, Mike's well versed. A key for him is that not only did he start, but he was a closer and middle guy in pro ball with the Expos and the Orioles and did the same thing at Florida State. He was an All-American at Florida State, so I think he's got enough accolades under his belt that [our players] will understand that this guy knows how to win. And that's another thing he'll bring to the table; he'll teach these guys how to win. "
On the coaching staff's goals for fall practice:
" We've got to lock down our starting lineup. We've got to lock down our rotation. We need to find out who are going to be our middle guys? Who's our left-hand guy out of the bullpen? Who's our right-hander out of the pen, and who do we think will be our Tuesday-Wednesday starter? Because we play a couple more Tuesday-Wednesday starts (this year). And then really the battles will be at a few key positions at first and third and behind the plate. In the outfield we've got five guys and you can only play three. Who's going to be our DH? We might end up platooning at DH. Again, it's going to be one of those years where we're going to have 12 or 13 or 14 pretty good players and you can only play nine. But as you saw last year, injuries have a way of working those things out, or a guy goes into a slump, so it's competitive."
