Link Jarrett Notebook | 2022 Notre Dame Baseball Preview
Notre Dame baseball coach Link Jarrett previewed the upcoming season that is just eight days away.
On veterans showing the younger players what the expectation is for the program:
"It's huge. I feel like I've coached one full year at Notre Dame, to be honest. I know it's two, but it feels like one long one. The ability of a Jared Miller, (Jack) Brannigan, (John Michael) Bertrand), (Ryan) Cole, (David) LaManna to help the younger and new players adapt to what we're doing, it makes our coaching more efficient. That's big.
"The confidence of the returning guys after what they were able to do last year and how close we felt we were, there's a lot to be said for that too. They walk out with a little more understanding of what we're doing and where it can take us."
On new names impressing:
"In the actual lineup, DM Jefferson is a freshman outfielder and left-handed hitter, who has been a very explosive, dynamic player for us since day one in the fall. He could play any outfield position and you have a DH. I don't look at people as a DH, but at some point, you'll make the lineup out and there is going to be a DH and he's a candidate for that.
"The freshman arms we have - Roman Kimball and Radek Birkholz - we're trying to absorb the loss of (Tanner) Kohlhepp. Kohlhepp was one of, if not the most effective reliever in the country as the season progressed. Somebody is going to have to absorb some of that leverage work. We hope those two guys can contribute.
"Brannigan, we're trying to get a little more out of him on the mound. The stuff is clearly there. It's the repeatability in stuff and giving him a chance to have efficient innings. He's not new, but we need his inning total to be more than it has, so it needs to have a new look when he's on the mound."
On if he has a concern about the mindset of the team after a successful year:
"Mindset, no. You saw what we just did and how hard they work when they're out there. Our time is somewhat limited in here. For them to go to that batting facility and do the work they did and hustle down here and have the practice you saw, the mindset is not a concern to me.
"The execution and the consistency - that's the challenge in this. It doesn't matter how good you were last year and what you have back. You have to go out and execute, perform and play. That is ultimately my concern. That was my concern going into last year and it's still my concern today.
"These are special kids and I don't worry about them feeling invincible or looking beyond the first game of the year when we play Manhattan. That's something with these kids that's very unique. I worry not at all about that. I do worry about our ability to execute and trying to get our pitching in the right frame of mind with the roles."
On where the team needs to be better:
"Our short game. Our bunting game. There's time I would like to use it and I don't feel like it's a weapon. I feel like it's something they understand. I don't feel like we've gotten to the point where we really weaponize it.
"It takes repetition and a little bit of game opportunity to do it. Picking the moments when you want to force it a little bit and let somebody figure it out is a tough coaching piece. If you don't feel confident in the ability to execute it and you're handing away an out or someone fouls something out and pops a ball up - that's a tough pill to swallow. Trying to rep it in practice like we did today before we got down to the indoor facility, that's the way you try to get over it.
"Confidence and pure handling of the bat, you would hope when we come down here and do it in a game against another team, it's a little bit better.
"We have to be able to develop and create those wipe out, punch out pitches. It involves the pitching. It involves how the catcher is set up, how they receive and present it. All of that together, we hope, leads to a better strikeout rate. You can be a really good team without striking people out, but at the end of the day, when the ball is in play, there's a chance something happens.
"Having the weapons that can talent-wise beat people in the ACC and beyond, you saw it last year - that strikeout is a weapon we need to develop. Some of that's the recruitment of arms that have the velocity and breaking pitches that can get it.
"I would say right now, the short game offensively and continuing to appreciate and figure out ways to strike people out."
On having a full and set schedule:
"It's great. What we went through the last two years with these guys was really an unthinkable scenario. The combination of the pandemic and its effect on our schedule and what Major League Baseball did when they reduced the number of minor league teams and the draft - our sport is in a situation and others are probably as well that I don't study as much with the rosters and teams do. It's been a tough grind for a couple of years for anyone in the baseball world. Our guys have put so much time and effort in.
"Looking at a schedule that looks like a normal college baseball schedule is really refreshing."
On grad transfer pitchers:
"Austin Temple looks like he's emerging as a starter. I should have mentioned those guys. I don't feel like they're young guys or even new to me. The grad guys just fit right in.
"Austin Temple is battling to start. Ryan McLinskey - he could go any which way. He could start and has started. He also could be a leverage guy out of the bullpen. Matt Lazzaro is another good lefty.
"You like the mix that we have with lefties and righties. We've seen him really improve. To say we've solidified roles, if we played this weekend, Temple would probably be our Sunday starter, but we've got one more full weekend of scrimmaging and we'll see where we feel we land after this weekend.
"From that point, you have to go with what you think is right for weekend one. Those guys have been impressive. Their maturity when you've had four years of this already, they walk in with a little better understanding of the college game overall and maybe their own capabilities and their own work habits."
On replacing Niko Kavadas' production:
"That guy drove in 60-something runs. What did we play? 50 games? That's a lot. That's in the big leagues driving in 180 runs. He hit 22 home runs.
"It was a threat that everyone was aware of. We were clearly aware of it. Your opponents are aware of it and they have to game plan for that situation and how they want to avoid it and match up to pitch him.
"That explosiveness and everything that surrounds a hitter with that kind of game-changing power, it's tough to replace and absorb that.
"What you hope is everybody with another year of experience, strength and development - you hope the group as a whole can absorb some of that loss.
"I think we'll have to be more balanced top to bottom. You're managing a player on both sides of the field, their dugout and our dugout, I was trying to make sure Kavadas got to the plate with an opportunity to have a good at-bat without being intentionally walked or pitched around. Your opponent is trying to set themselves up to create that scenario, so that cat and mouse is unique and there aren't many hitters in the game that you game plan for and against.
"There were times last year when I may have thought Miller could steal second base, but was that the right thing to do if that opened up a spot with two outs where you walk Kavadas?
"It's definitely interesting. My hope is that maybe being a little more balanced and active throughout the course of the game helps absorb some of the pure production he created by himself."
On catching and pitching advantage with so many veterans:
"Dave (LaManna) knows the returners. The way we structure our practices - Danny Neri has done a great job. (Nick) Juaire has done a great job. We try to mix and match. They have to understand the strengths, tendencies and weaknesses of the guys on the mound.
"When I talk about creating the punch out and how to set up for certain pitches you're calling - a couple of inches here and there. A presentation of what you're doing is really important.
"The depth of the staff is good. The different looks we have on the staff was a strength last year. When you could go from some of the lefties we had to some of the power righties, that's a really good advantage to have when you're making pitching maneuvers. It's tough for your opponent at bat to come off such different looks.
"I think we're set to have a little bit of that again this year. As we've added some depth, it opens your options up. The variety of our depth is the thing I like the most about our depth. It's not the same looking arm."
On what he's looking forward to the most next weekend:
"I feel like these guys play with a little bit of a chip on their shoulder. Quite frankly, that's probably even bigger this year. To go perform the way they performed last year, it may be hard to duplicate from pitch one to the end, but that intensity in the way they go about it, that's what I'm excited for.
"I'm excited for game one. As far as you want your team to go, it starts with game one. That's why the team was successful last year. I don't think the guys ever looked past what was happening in the game that day and even that inning and if you really want to do it right, that pitch.
"I'm looking forward to them getting to go back out to compete. Stetson is a phenomenal venue and a great part of the state where you hope for some warm weather and that's exciting for anyone who wants to play baseball.
"I think they feel they're going to pick up where they left off. That's easier said than done, but that's their mindset and that chip on the shoulder is a good thing for an athlete."
On if the team feels disrespected by the ACC coaches voting Notre Dame to finish No. 3 in the Atlantic Divison:
"I don't really think the guys care about it. When you look at the rankings last year or the year before, we weren't picked to do much of anything at all and look where we ended up. That teaches you all you need to know about looking too far into that stuff.
"I think sometimes it's a reflection of what the team has done in recent history and maybe who is back. The publications and the guys who write the stories and make the polls are very knowledgeable and more knowledgeable than myself about some of the recruits the ACC and SEC teams have landed.
"I'm not taking anything away from the hard work they do. All of you and the people that create these polls work very hard to do it the right way.
"It doesn't equate to how you're team is going to play or even after weekend one, these things change quite a bit."
On rankings being a topic of discussion:
"I have never talked about it and I didn't talk about it when we were ranked whatever we were ranked when we not in this view nationally. It doesn't matter.
"At the end of the year, it has some merit, but right now, it just doesn't. We don't talk about it. I don't really look at it. Those guys may, but I think they don't care. They just want to go play and compete."
On team not focused on the outside noise:
"It's probably the best quality of our team. What we walked into last year, we played the whole regular season with no fans. Then you get into a regional and it's full and you go to the most hostile atmosphere in college baseball and play in front of 45,000 people.
"When we talk about the noise, we try to train to play the game without being able to hear and communicate verbally.
"You talk about blocking out the noise, I think it almost stems from how we try to train to play when you're in that setting. The games that matter the most are going to be in that setting where you have noise. You're talking about a different noise, but I think that training and focus on removing as many distractions and struggle to communicate helps them focus on what matters."
On culture and having so many seniors/grads return or transfer in:
"I do recognize the academic piece and the ability to get a one-year master's degree at Notre Dame is a great niche. It's a great niche for our players who have to graduate in four years. It's a great niche for the grad transfers that come in here and can get a one-year master's at Notre Dame. That's a special diploma to achieve.
"You get to play baseball at this level, so those guys are all very valuable. As tough as today was, I still think they enjoy the work and competition of it. It is very important that they feel this is a home for them and you have other people from the outside that jump in and feel the same way."
On allowing the team to look back at how last year ended and Mississippi State winning the National Title:
"They can look at that. Everybody involved in that probably had a moment they learned from. I don't want them to fester about it, but you need to reflect on what that was like and what it felt like at that moment and how some of those innings, pitches and plays went. There are a couple you'd like to have back.
"The appreciation for every piece of a game of that magnitude is something you do want them to appreciate. When we're hitting those ground balls between innings and those guys are going to make plays and we're asking the catchers to do certain things between innings - that's important. They now understand the value and necessity to complete and do each one of those things at a very high level because you never know which one of those plays or ground balls or pitches is going to get you to Omaha or win a National Championship. It's good for them to hang on to that a little bit."