Michael Earley & Co. host TCU in second fall exhibition on Friday night

Key notes from Michael Earley interview

• In recruiting, we’re just trying to sell A&M, the program and the people involved. You show them our awesome $30 million development facility. I just ran over here to plan some little details. We just sell the people and the baseball part of it. Caleb Longley does an awesome job with it. Those visits take a lot of time and energy. We only have so much manpower in baseball. I just think that people like what we are doing. They like what we’re selling and the vision we’re giving them of what it could be as a student and player. We want to paint that picture for them. You never know until you get them.
   
• At this point in high school and the class we’re recruiting, there’s no one in the country who would have told you that Gavin Grahovac would come to this school. You still recruit him. It’s the same thing for Nico Partida. There are guys we didn’t get at this time that no one said that about. You do not know. You get the players and figure it out later with the draft.
   
• I’ve seen the mock-ups of the new player facility. I have no idea when they’ll go public. We’ve met a ton. In the meeting we just had, we were talking about where to put cabinets. I kind of step back for that. It’s incredible how people can put your words into visuals. I’m not good with space or designing anything. They just let us talk, and then they come back with something close to what we were talking about. It’s going to be massive. It’ll be the biggest and best in the country.
   
• The guys are really talented. I thought that we did really well on the mound against Sam Houston. I thought we pounded the zone. I think the best part of the scrimmage for everyone, and why our fanbase is awesome, is that playing in front of a crowd is a big deal. Sometimes that’s harder than playing against an opponent. You saw a couple of freshman pitchers get sped up a little bit. Same with a couple of guys at the play. I thought we pitched it well. The score wasn’t indicative of how we did. If you look at hitting and scoring runs, we did good. There are some base-hitting things to work on. I thought for the most part. The eye in the sky does not lie, so we’ve got some things to get better at. For the most part, it was fine. It was good. It can be a lot better. We had some balls get through that shouldn’t. I like where we’re at, and now we need to continue to grow.
   
• Fall baseball is really important. We’re practicing really hard. We need to lay a foundation of how we play the game and how we practice the game. How do you do details? When we play, if there is a head-high line drive in the infield, you should see every player work back to the base. In batting practice, I need to see that happen every single time. It’s the little details. You have to learn from other people’s mistakes, and they've done good. You have to continuously teach, and the players are taking to it really, really well.
   
• Cliff Pennington has given us more odds within those math equations with the things he sees that the clock doesn’t necessarily see. Jorian Wilson got smoked in the knee, and that’s the best time to steal a base because nobody thinks you’re going. It’s tough because, when our pitchers are doing it right with how Jason Kelly teaches it, it’s hard to steal on our guys. It’s harder for us to practice that. Pennington has done an awesome job of trying to simulate the game as much as possible. That’s one part of the game where everyone is different.
   
• Zane Becker was awesome, and he has been great since he has been here. You want the newcomers to have success, and there is nothing like getting that first hit or first ground ball at you. I loved being on defense first, and I hoped to have a fly ball hit to me to get settled. It’s good to play against another team and another crowd. Most of the guys who transferred here, other than Becker, have never played in front of a crowd that large, and we get it in October. That’s the best part of the whole thing.
   
• Partida is great. I’m glad he’s here. He committed around this time last year, and he does some things hitting-wise that not a lot of guys do. He’s repeats well. He’s short to the ball. He doesn’t take big swings. As he grows and matures and gets stronger, he can hit another level, and he plays the game with a low heartbeat. He’s not sped up at all, and that’s how he practices. I don’t know how you teach that or recruit that. He has done an awesome job, and we’re going to continue to challenge him. He’s as talented a freshman as I’ve ever had.
   
• The freshmen have a long way to go. We’ve seen a snapshot. Time will tell on all of them. As far as talent and depth of talent on the offensive side, it’s as deep a class as I’ve ever seen. Yes, the best players will play.  Luke Billings is a really good player. Wilson is a really good player. Fall ball can be really deceptive as well, so we need to let them settle in and get their feet under them. Partida and Boston Kellner included. You never quite know until the real games start. I like where it’s at, and it’s better than the alternative. Billings is a ballplayer. You could put him anywhere on the field, and he’ll be awesome in a game.
   
• I sure hope I don’t have to motivate anybody, and there is no greater motivator than the bench. There are a lot of good players, especially in that infield. The hard part, and the great part, is that I don’t know where to put everyone yet. You better have great days. Everyone can hit home runs, but it’s the little things that will get you in the lineup and keep you in the lineup. Ben Royo did a great job when he got in and has had a great week of practice. We’ll see how practice goes today.
   
• Chris Hacopian will not play. He’s not ready to play yet. It’s not fair to him. He’ll be fine. He’ll be more than prepared to play during the season.
   
• Grahovac is not playing defense not because he can’t, but we don’t want him to dive. That shoulder injury happened on a dive or a slide, and while he can, we want to give it four more months of no impact. It’s not fair to tell a guy not to dive or slide, and he’s not allowed to run to second unless it’s a standup double before we get him off the bases. We want to be super smart with that shoulder, and he’ll get five or six at-bats again.
   
• You play every inning like it’s close. We were stealing bases up 19 runs the other day, and so were they. There are no unwritten rules of baseball in exhibitions, and you can pinch-run whoever you want. It’s basically a practice with another opponent out there, which ramps up the crowd. We want to make it as game-like as possible. You’re playing ball with the pitch clock and calling balks and all those things.
   
• I think TCU will be really good tomorrow night. It’s a great program with a great coaching staff. Those guys do a really good job. They have really good players. They’re going to have a good team this year, and we wanted some challenge. As I’ve done a few fall exhibitions, it changes my thought process on what you want out of them. I’m glad they're coming up tonight to practice on the field and hitting in the cage in the morning because they’re treating it like a real game, and so are we. I’m excited. You might see this team down the road, so it’ll be nice to get an early look at them.
   
• We wanted to get to 12 innings, and it depended on where guys were. There were three guys we would’ve stretched to two innings, but you have to be careful because you have a certain number of guys you want to pitch. Aiden Sims looked great. He has impressed me, and he’s going to continue to impress. Not that the Trackman and the metrics mean everything, but when you see guys getting guys out and add the metrics, it tells you it could be something. Sims’ metrics are good. If you get guys out, I don’t care.
   
• Weston Moss will start on Friday. We like to keep Moss in that routine, and not knowing with Shane Sdao out or who our third guy is going to be, it’s good to keep him in that role. We’ll keep him to one inning. Moss is in a great spot, so we want to make sure we keep him healthy. We’ve tossed around a couple of other guys to throw first, but we feel good with Moss starting.
   
• Hunter Vincent struggled a little bit against Sam Houston, and he hadn’t struggled in practice at all. Kelly wanted him to face a lefty in a pressure situation, and he struggled a guy out. Juan Vargas looked great. Overall, pitching has looked great, and we don’t have a lot of guys throwing right now. Don’t forget about Josh Stewart, Caden McCoy and Sdao. Adding those guys in will help the depth of our pitching staff.