Nov. 10, 2016

Opening Statement:
“I appreciate you guys being here. It’s pretty neat for me to sit up here and talk baseball in November. As we have wrapped up our fall team practice I’m certainly encouraged by what I got to see and what we got a chance to observe over the course of the fall. We certainly have a lot of areas to work on and we’ve got improvements to be made. Certainly these couple months we have ahead of us our critical to how we start our season in February. The fall was productive in my eyes. We did have some injuries, we had some of our guys banged up, but we got some of our new guys play a little more than what I would normally get to see them play because of the injuries and that was good for me. Our pitchers were extremely impressive and for the most part they stayed healthy. Most of our injuries were guys that played in the positions. Our pitchers threw extremely well and from a team standpoint I’m excited as I could possibly be about our team because they are fun to be around, they work extremely hard, they are good kids, they got great character and I know they are going to make the investment to have a successful season both individually and as a team. It’s been a joy to be around these guys this far and we’re anxious to get started in January on the 2017 season.”

On what players have impressed Coach Holbrook:
“Chris Cullen, his elbow was a little tender and he was a little banged up, but offensively he stood out. He led our team in hitting. He swung his bat at a high level and led our team in extra base hits. He’s much more physical strong, mature, confident all those impressive words he’s much improved in those areas. We thought when we recruited him he had a chance to be special. Other coaches said that kid is going to play in the big leagues and he showed me this fall that he certainly has the ability to do that and he’s really made some strides. (Cullen stood out), along with (Madison) Stokes and Matt (Williams) and T.J. (Hopkins) – we had some other guys play well too, but those guys kind of stood out as far as the imprint they left on the fall and the way they played. You also judge them a little bit on how they played last year and how they’ve played previously and the improvement was at a pretty high level.”

Update on the injured players:
“Justin Row, obviously one of our shortstops and middle infielders from California, he had his knee cleaned out about midway through the fall, he’s healthy and ready to go now. If we played him in a game today he could play so he’ll probably go out with us today in a small setting but we’re excited about Justin. Cullen and (John) Jones had their knees cleaned out – minor knee arthroscopic surgeries, just a wear and tear at those positions brought those injuries along. We were lucky to get through the fall if I’m being honest with you because our catchers were banged up pretty good. Cullen and Johnny Jones obviously with his knee getting cleaned out and Hunter Taylor pulled his hamstring at the end of the fall in the (Garnet & Black) World Series. Those guys are on the mend they are going to be all back and ready to go come January. Riley Hogan had a broken hamate bone, he missed a lot of the fall but he’s back now swinging the bat now and playing and he certainly participated in the (Garnet & Black) World Series. Right now those are the guys banged up, Tyler Haswell had an off the field injury in which we separated his shoulder his left shoulder not his right. He’s been banged up and hasn’t been able to pitch a large portion of the fall. Outside of that, those are the guys that have been banged up but all the good news is I expect them all to be 100 percent healthy and ready to go in January.”

On Opening Day starter:
“I’ll have to make it the week of Opening Day. The good thing is I don’t have to search very hard to find one. I got two pretty good ones right there (Crowe & Schmidt), but Adam Hill wants to be in that conversation too and he, certainly, outside of one inning all fall he might have had the cleanest 12 or 13 innings we may have had on any of our pitchers, so he’s improved it a great deal. Clarke and obviously Wil and Adam are going to be in that conversation. Obviously with the experience of Wil and Clarke they are certainly going to be one of those two will probably throw Friday opening day this year. It’s going to be a tough call this year on my part; I wish I could throw them both. It’s a nice problem to have though, I’m not going to lose much sleep over that decision.”

On John Jones’ progression this fall:
“He’s worked hard in the weight room he did have a nice fall swing in the bat his strike outs were down which was a concern of mine last year and he hit for a pretty good average he hit over .300 if you’re going to go at bat for at bat. He did some good things. I love Johnny Jones, I love his makeup, he’s a team guys, he works extremely hard and he’s going to be healthy. He wasn’t healthy much he was always banged up last year. He had a back issue he dealt with from a stress factor that he just played through, the fall he played through a knee injury so I look forward to having him healthy in February and that will be the first time really on campus that he’s been 100 percent healthy. That’s exciting for me and that’s exciting for Johnny. I expect big things out of him. I love his maturity and I love the fact that I can play him in the middle of the lineup. He’s been through the ringer of this league and he know what its all about. He’s a big part of our team as we start in February.”

On what to expect from Tyler Johnson:
“I didn’t mention Tyler (when discussing Opening Day starter), I guess I could throw him (on Friday) too. He’s the model that all of our young pitchers should watch. From the way that he works, from his preparation, from the way that he is in the weight room, how committed he is to being the best pitcher he can be. And it’s not just pitcher, he’s committed to being the best kid, personal, human being he can be. We felt it was important to slow him down a little bit this fall. He threw a lot for us last spring and he threw a little for team USA. We did ramp up his bullpens he did throw this fall he just didn’t throw to hitters in the competitive situation. Now we are kind of letting his arm take it easy here in the rest of November and the first of December. He’s in phenomenal shape and his arm is in great shape and if we played tomorrow he would certainly be ready to close the game. We will see how that unfolds. Everybody asks me if he is our closer, but he was our closer last year. I would suspect as we head into January that’s kind of where my thought process is as we go into this year. But injury here injury there and you can’t get to him you have to look at other avenues but I think we the depth of our pitching staff to get to Tyler with some leads and I like that that combination. I like the way Reed Scott’s throwing and I love the way Josh Reagan’s thrown the new guys have had a chance to contribute but I love the fact that the back of our bull pen is very old, mature veteran leadership type guys that know what it’s like to get the final outs of the game. I hope with Tyler leading the way that will be one of the strong points of our team.”

On Brandon McIlwain and the season:
“I actually spoke to Brandon today and he’s preparing to be with us and he’s excited about playing baseball here. I’ve had some conversations with Coach Muschamp as well and Coach is committed and they have allowed him to be a big part of our baseball program as well. He needs to get over here in January once football is over and we’ll try to catch him up from what he missed in the fall and see if he can get in the conversation and get in there and play. He has the talent and ability to play and be a big factor on our team. It’s difficult to play this sport if you’re not involved in it each and every day in some capacity. It’s a hard enough task to hit a baseball when you’re here everyday, but when you’re not getting some work because of time constraints or academic work or all the time that’s pulling at Brandon, it’s very difficult to stay at that high level baseball wise because its no easy task. He has the talent to do it, but we’ve got to catch him up first then see if he’s in that conversation to play. If he’s in that conversation to play then things change for Brandon. Last year he was on the outside looking in so he should have focused on football. We are going to go into it probably with the same type of agreement and if he’s involved in baseball and he’s playing we will certainly look at getting him over here a lot more. If he’s a reserve then I certainly don’t want to take him away from Coach Muschamp or from football. Brandon is excited, he’s a good kid, he’s smiling and I know he’s excited about contributing to our team in the spring.”

On progress of Wil Crowe from the summer up until this point:
“It has been a pretty long road for him since he got hurt back in 2015 at Florida. Will wants the ball in his hand each and every game; he wants the ball in his hand on Friday night that’s just his mentality. When you have that injury it is a significant one so it takes a lot of time not only to recover from the surgery, but the rehabilitation that those kids go through is very difficult, but also he has done it extremely well. I think in the summer his velocity was back, but he maybe lacked some command and his offspeed pitches weren’t quite as sharp, but that’s normal when you come off of a surgery like that. It was important to get him mound time this summer just to get back out over the rubber, facing some hitters, remembering what it was like to compete and to pitch in some meaningful games because it’s been awhile it has been over a year. He got to do that this summer and that much better prepared him for this fall. He was terrific all fall, his velocity was off the chart, breaking ball was much improved. He had a little inconsistency over the fall with his changeup but that’s historically one of his better pitches. He will continue to work on that, as we get closer to Opening Day. He has a chance to be a special pitcher for us and he’s put himself in that position because of how hard he has worked. It has been neat to watch him go from being down in the dumps, worrying about if his career at South Carolina was over to now I’m in the conversation of a Friday night guy or All-SEC guy or high draft pick. He’s put himself in that position and it is a testament to his talent, work ethic and to the type of kid he is, but he was great for us this fall.”

On difference in motivation from last year to this year:
“Each year is the same in regards to preparation. I just want this team like I did last year’s team to just play up to their ability and be the best team they can possibly be. I had that attitude last year and I had it the year before. I think we are as motivated as we have ever been. We were very highly motivated last season because we felt like we had to get a bad taste out of our mouth. I think this group is very motivated as well because they want to achieve some things that they didn’t achieve last year. So in that regard I don’t think it’s too much difference. They are ready to go they are ready to play I think they feel good about themselves, I think they think that we have a chance to be a good team. I also know they’ve worked extremely hard so they understand that we have a lot to work on. We’ve got some question marks. Mooney is not back and with the way Stokes and Tolbert played, does it give us some optimism? Sure, but that is an important position. Who are we going to catch every day? Who is going to play second? DC isn’t here. There are a lot of different things. There is going to be some new players out there. With that being said I think they realize we have some talented kids and at South Carolina the expectations are always high it’s going to be very high for this group. I don’t want them to read too much about all the expectations about how good people think they are. I want them to just try to be the best they can be and work extremely hard each and every day to get to that point. If they just kind of stay in the moment and work hard every day we have a chance. If they start believing everything they read and they don’t work at it each and every day, we’ll be very disappointed. We are going to try and keep the hammer down on them and work hard and keep them focused and hopefully they can put themselves in a position to be one of the better teams in the country.”

On the Win Anyway Foundation event this weekend:
“It’s a very meaningful day for our family, and for a lot of kids that we know have battled pediatric cancer and other diseases. It’s a meaningful day. It’s a meaningful event to Jenn and I, Reece and Cooper and we are just so thrilled that so many former players and great athletes from across the country, so many great musicians have joined forces with us. We have a community here that is amazing we have fans of our university and baseball program that are amazing. We’ve had to turn people away this year because it’s sold out and that in itself is truly humbling. There are some more important things in life than the sport of baseball and kids with cancer is one of those things in my book. Being able to contribute and bring awareness to that unfair, unfortunate, underfunded disease is a great thrill for our family. Reese has been awfully lucky and there are other kids who haven’t been as lucky. Until we can get this thing figured out the Holbrook family and the players I have been lucky enough to coach are going to continue to fight this battle and that is a neat thing to be a part of. It’s a lot bigger thing than thing than just Chad Holbrook or Jennifer Holbrook or Reese Holbrook it’s an unfair unfortunate and underfunded thing and our family is just happy to contribute in a small way to it and that’s why that night is so special.”

On Alex Destino and where he will play:
“We’ve had him in left field and we are going to DH him and play him in left field. We haven’t had him at first much this fall. I went into the fall thinking I would put him at first some to see if he could get comfortable there. After sifting through it and watching him a little bit earlier this fall I want him to be as comfortable as he can be so he can focus all of his attention on being in the batters box and swinging the bat. I think it would put too many burdens on Alex if I have him play first base. I just want him to relax and hit. Right now I think the best spot for him on this years team is playing left field and DH. I’ve got some other guys over there that can play first and play it at a high level. That is a very important position; we realized that with Kyle Martin and how he was picking everything out of the dirt known to mankind. The first basemen handles the ball more so than any other player on the field except for the pitcher and catcher. We need to make sure we are sure handed over there and I’ve got some guys that are pretty sure handed. I don’t know which one that will be it might platoon over there a little bit early. I’m going to put Alex in the outfield and let him swing that bat and I will DH him as well because I’ve got some other players out there who can play left.”

On the uncertainty of some positions particularly first:
Well I know who is going to play those positions. It is new for us because the faces are new. There are a couple of guys right now that they don’t even know that I’m going to have play in some different positions. I’ve got some athletic guys that I’m going to move around that I want in the lineup from time to time. They may not play the position they think they are going to play. We did that last year with Stokes and LT and they did fine. This year Matt Williams has really shown that he can do it. Jacob Olson is a Junior College player that I want in the lineup and he is athletic he can play short second third and he can play first. Riley Hogan is going to have a great future here. Whether that will happen right out of the gate Opening Day or not I don’t know. Those are three pretty great options in my book. We’ve had Stokes who has experience at first; I can put Cullen there and feel great. If it’s Jones’s day to catch and I want to put another DH out there I can put Cullen at first. It’s shaping up to be a pretty versatile team, that doesn’t guarantee us success; it just means we have some versatility. I just have to make sure I don’t move too many guys around too many spots and don’t play at a high level, you have to try to keep it consistent but Cullen is certainly another option over there. Until we get into the swing of things and get a rhythm going in our season it might be a different first basemen every other game or so.”