Oct. 23, 2007
ORLANDO, Fla. (www.ucfathletics.com) - Over 40 scouts made the trek to Jay Bergman Field Tuesday for the annual UCF baseball scout day. The Knights opened with some stretching and wind sprints, took batting practice and played a full game in an afternoon that lasted approximately four hours.
Afterwards, members of the UCF baseball coaching staff sat down with www.UCFAthletics.com to discuss their thoughts on scout day, as well as the entire fall camp.
Craig Cozart - Associate Head Coach - Pitching Coach
On playing in front of major league scouts after a few weeks of practice with no one in the stands...
"Coach Bryan Peters brought it up to the hitters that he wanted them to take the same type of batting practice and stay with the philosophy even though there are guys in the stands wanting to see them hit with power. It's the same thing defensively and on the mound. We encourage pitchers to not try and overthrow, and to locate pitches, change speeds and move planes. Getting guys out that way will be more impressive than lighting up the radar gun."
On senior starting pitcher Jaager Good...
"He looked very good. He's only thrown two innings because of the amount of innings he logged last spring and what he did last summer. So we've delayed him about four or five weeks. And he threw one inning at the end of last week and looked very sharp, then had a good clean inning today. He got a couple of strikeouts and threw all three pitches for strikes. He looked like our No. 1. We haven't handed that to anybody, but he did look like one of our top guys."
On junior relief pitcher Justin Weiss, and if the coaching staff is weary that the pitchers might get nervous since they are gaining a lot of attention...
"I'm not afraid of that at all because (Justin and Jaager) have both had to bide their time as freshmen. And Jaager had to wait for his time as a sophomore as well. For them to do what they did last year in what were basically their first full years, I don't think there is anything that I'm concerned about. There are no signs of them pressing to do more than what they are capable of and being overconfident. So I think what we are seeing from both of those guys is that they could be the anchors to this entire pitching staff."
On the two southpaws, redshirt sophomore Mitch Houck and junior Mitch Herold, and his feelings towards pitchers who have transferred into the program...
"Mitch Houck and Mitch Herold threw very well today. Both threw strikes, pitched aggressively and showed pretty good upper level velocity for lefthanders. I think when you look at Paul Cinder and Caleb Graham, out of the respect for the returners, obviously when you have new pitchers come in they are probably going to have to prove themselves in a middle relief role and if they are successful then their role enhances. If the rotation looks like it's open, then they will have that opportunity as well."
Bryan Peters - Assistant Coach - Hitting Coach
On his hitters playing in front of a large collection of scouts, and if there have been any surprises so far through fall camp...
"I can't say there have been many surprises. It's just been very pleasant to see the overall development and maturity for most of our guys, especially the returning players. It's not that it's shocking, but Dwayne Bailey's progress has probably been the most obvious right now. He's just physically stronger and more comfortable. And his senior leadership is great. He's going about his business the right way. Overall, though, we are pretty much pleased with everyone's development. That's kind of what we talked about yesterday in preparation for scout day was to just take this as another day of our development and let's not get out of our routine just because there are a lot of people in the stands. From the scouts' perspective, no one will make or break themselves on this one day. This just kind of gives the scouts a taste of what we have and they will be forced to come back in the spring time."
On Kiko Vazquez and his transition into being a junior in 2008...
"The attention that Kiko will get will be deserved. I don't think that our thing with Kiko and the draft is his numbers as much as it is his development in terms of his body composition and what he's done physically. He's done a really good job at changing his body and if he can just repeat his numbers from last year, or keep them close, most of the people will love to see that he's tightened up his body, lost some weight and is physically stronger. So far in the fall it's done nothing but help him. It's hard to use the word quietly because he hit three homers in a game recently, but he's quietly putting up awesome numbers in the fall. I think he has a hit in every game so far and just one strikeout. He's an obvious force in the lineup."
On the reasons that some of the hitters did not have breakout stats during the summer leagues...
"From our perspective, those guys were working on specific things. Chris Duffy was working on his defense and his agility. He had some things that he wanted to do in terms of improving his speed and quickness, which he did. Kiko really needed to focus on changing his body composition and getting physically stronger and quicker. That's what their focus was. If our focus was to just go out and put out good numbers, then we might have some things to think about. But as far as we're concerned, we had great summers because those things got accomplished. From a scout's perspective, they want to see numbers and they will have to come back in the spring when we are trying to win games."
On the middle of the order in 2008...
"If there is one mystery to our spring, that is going to be it. Most of the positions are set right now. The biggest question will be how we are going to handle Kiko in the middle of the lineup and who is going to protect him in front and behind in the order."
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