Hogs' Dave Van Horn on Facing Auburn

  • 7 months ago
Arkansas Razorbacks coach Dave Van Horn's complete press conference Tuesday morning ahead of leaving for first SEC road trip of the year at Auburn after opening league play with a sweep of the Missouri Tigers.
Transcript
00:00 >> Hey, I know you guys obviously are off to a great start, but
00:03 this is gonna be your first true road series.
00:05 I know you played in Arlington, those were neutral side games.
00:08 How do you feel about going on the road for the first time?
00:11 >> I think our guys are excited, I'm fine.
00:13 I like playing on the road.
00:15 I think it kind of bonds the team a little bit.
00:19 The routine's pretty, it's just easy.
00:24 Not as many outside distractions, honestly.
00:28 We work out on Wednesday evening and we feed them, get up and
00:35 feed them again and go over things during the day.
00:38 And then you go to the field and play and same thing on Friday.
00:42 And then obviously, with Friday being a Saturday, a day game, it's a quick turnaround.
00:48 And I know it's just a lot of thinking about baseball for
00:53 70 hours or whatever it is, but I'm looking forward to it.
00:58 I really feel like the team's looking forward to it.
01:00 And no matter how it goes, I think it'll be, if it goes great, great.
01:06 If it doesn't go good, I don't think it's because we're on the road as much as that.
01:11 We just didn't play good or Auburn played really good, so looking forward to it.
01:16 >> Well, Auburn got roughed up pretty good at Vandy, but
01:18 a lot of teams are probably gonna lose at Vanderbilt.
01:22 Cata, what's your take on Auburn after getting to study up on them a little bit
01:26 and what they did in their opening SEC series?
01:29 >> Yeah, a very offensive team, they hit home runs, they can score,
01:33 their lineup's deep.
01:34 Like you said, it's hard to judge anything really this early in SEC play.
01:43 I mean, you have a bad weekend, a bad day or two, and
01:45 your numbers don't look right, and they'll even up.
01:50 But Vanderbilt is tough at home, playing on that turf, no foul territory.
01:55 It's a totally different environment.
01:57 It's just a different game.
02:02 Auburn's really good at home, you look at their home record.
02:06 They've done a nice job over there with their, I guess,
02:12 accommodations for fans.
02:14 And now they go around right field and
02:16 they built another section almost in center field, right center.
02:20 And it can be loud there now, and they get after you pretty good.
02:24 So we're gonna have to pitch and field again, so
02:27 we don't give up big innings, cuz those guys can score.
02:31 Thanks.
02:33 >> Go ahead.
02:34 >> Hey Dave, I assume you're sticking with the same starting rotation.
02:39 >> Yeah, unless something happens between now and
02:42 tomorrow when I think I have to announce it.
02:44 I'm not even sure since we played Thursday, but yeah, we won't change anything.
02:50 And unless after some bullpens today, some guys don't feel right,
02:56 but I don't anticipate that.
02:57 >> Are there any, with this being a Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
03:00 are there any limitations for those guys?
03:02 >> No, no, not if they, one last day, the weather looks good Thursday,
03:09 Friday doesn't look very good, Saturday looks a little better.
03:14 Just unless we ran into super cold weather or something,
03:20 but that's one reason we let the guys go a little bit longer this weekend,
03:24 pitch count wise, just continually building it up.
03:27 So they can go 90 to 100 if they need to, and just cuz it's one day shorter.
03:33 We don't feel like it's gonna be an issue unless they tell us they're tired or
03:38 they're not feeling right.
03:39 >> I wanna ask you about one of your bullpen arms, Cooper Dossett.
03:43 I mean, this is a guy that was pretty highly regarded out of high school,
03:46 didn't pitch a whole lot.
03:47 And this era, you think maybe a guy like that might enter the transfer portal, but
03:50 he stuck it out.
03:51 Just kind of what's that say about him and
03:53 what have you thought about his growth from last year to this year?
03:56 >> Well, he's gotten a lot better, obviously.
03:59 And when we did pitch him last year in 23,
04:02 we were seeing a little bit of what we saw now in our practices and scrimmages.
04:09 But when we put him in the game last year, it didn't go real well, and
04:13 then opportunity didn't happen after that.
04:16 We discussed that with him and felt bad that he didn't pitch a little bit more.
04:22 But at the same time, some guys were pitching well, and
04:25 it gave him a chance to work out, develop.
04:28 He had arm injuries in high school, and he didn't pitch a whole lot,
04:31 because his arm bothered him.
04:33 He didn't pitch the fall of his freshman year either because of his arm.
04:36 So he was just behind, and now his stuff's good.
04:41 And you look at what he's done so far,
04:44 I don't know if he's walked anybody, I think he's pitched,
04:47 struck out seven or whatever he's done.
04:49 And it's been good, that's why we had him on the roster.
04:52 And there were some guys left off, the 27 man last year that he got in front of.
04:56 And we put him in the game, it's an SEC game, and yeah, we were ahead.
05:00 But we put him in ahead of some other guys who wanna see him pitch, and
05:04 he backed it up pretty good.
05:06 I don't know how many strikeouts he has.
05:08 He got three outs on seven pitches the other day,
05:10 which is about as good as it can get.
05:13 So what does it say about him?
05:15 It says he wanted to be here, and he's a tough kid, we're glad he's here.
05:20 [BLANK_AUDIO]
05:22 >> Dudley, you obviously gave great starting pitching.
05:26 Did you get enough innings out of the other guys last weekend,
05:30 or was it a either or thing there?
05:32 >> Well, honestly, there were some guys that we kinda wanted to rest a little bit.
05:38 And even Gackle, we almost didn't pitch him an inning, but
05:44 we thought, well, let's throw him one inning.
05:47 And if we needed him to win a game, we were gonna use him.
05:51 But obviously, that game was in hand.
05:54 The Saturday game, it was in hand as well, obviously.
05:58 But it was good to only throw him one inning.
06:01 So really, in our opinion, except for maybe Parker Coyle or
06:06 someone like that that needed to get out there and pitch a little bit.
06:13 Cuz he's been working on a couple new things, and
06:16 we would have liked to have seen him pitch.
06:19 But I feel good about the rest.
06:22 And guys are throwing bullpens yesterday, today, and
06:26 getting ready for the weekend.
06:29 They're light, light bullpens.
06:31 I think it was a good time to let guys just maybe get ready for
06:35 an offensive Auburn on the road in front of their crowd.
06:40 Probably gonna need more guys, and hopefully we'll be strong.
06:44 >> Appreciate it.
06:45 Tom?
06:47 >> Yeah, a couple times you've mentioned how offensive Auburn is.
06:50 What is it specifically?
06:51 What are they good at, and who are their guys?
06:55 >> Well, I can't go over the list of all their guys, but
06:58 I can tell you that the middle of their order, they swing at strikes.
07:01 They make you throw it over the plate.
07:03 They use the whole field.
07:08 And some teams are a little pull happy.
07:10 You can get them out with off speed stuff, lighten the count.
07:14 Auburn makes some really good adjustments.
07:16 They stay through the middle of the field.
07:18 They go the other way.
07:19 And yeah, I mean, they just, the numbers back it up.
07:25 They've been behind in a lot of games this year where they've come back and
07:28 scored five, six, seven, eight runs in the last few innings to win.
07:31 So even if you get a lead on them, you just feel like no lead is safe.
07:37 You've really got to bear down, throw it over the plate, and make them earn it.
07:43 And that's what we've done a good job of is throwing strikes.
07:47 I think this is gonna be a really good series.
07:51 We're gonna have to play well.
07:52 >> Okay, hey, looking at your weekend starters and areas of improvement,
07:56 are they hit by pitches by Tigard?
07:58 And maybe the pitch count from Molina, just something you just live with?
08:02 Or I mean, can they be significantly better there?
08:05 >> Yeah, you know, think about Tigard hitting people.
08:07 It's been with breaking balls, curveball sliders.
08:10 Yeah, I mean, it's still early.
08:15 Molina, well, he had a couple of good innings, but
08:17 he had a couple innings where he had to throw 20 plus pitches.
08:20 And if they're hitting you and things happen, you understand that.
08:26 If he could just get that pitch count down a little bit, yeah, it's concerning.
08:31 But it's not like it's been a major problem as far as winning and
08:36 losing because he's found a way to give us usually four to five innings.
08:40 But there's seven in there.
08:41 There's seven innings in there if he'll just throw wasting pitches.
08:48 Borderline strikes, those are good.
08:51 You throw an elevated fastball with an O2 count,
08:54 trying to get him to chase it, that's a great pitch.
08:57 The pitches that aren't good are the ones that are just way off the plate or
09:01 way up right out of the hand.
09:02 There's no chance you're gonna swing at it.
09:05 Because Molina has, is a knack for getting them to swing at that elevated pitch.
09:11 Cuz out of hand, it looks pretty good, but it stays up.
09:13 But you can't throw it too high.
09:15 And, but he's been really good.
09:17 It's been fun watching those guys pitch.
09:19 And again, we only played four weeks.
09:21 We got a lot more to go.
09:22 And as time goes on, weather warms up, these guys are gonna heat up as well on
09:27 some of their control, I feel like.
09:30 >> Yeah, my last thing is, you started to say something about on Hagan on Friday,
09:35 about the fans, do the fans really know what they're seeing?
09:38 And then you gave your background on how long you've been.
09:41 So what is it specifically maybe that Hagan has really honed in on that now,
09:45 he's better, his pitch counts are lower.
09:48 Why is he so better right now?
09:50 >> Well, it's a lot of things.
09:54 It's, like I said, he's just 20 years old.
09:57 And he'll be 20 years old when the season's over.
10:00 Even if we play in the last game of the season,
10:02 he's still gonna be 20 years old, he's young.
10:06 And, but he's gotten physically stronger.
10:09 I think what he can really do is, he can really repeat his delivery.
10:13 He stays balanced, he doesn't get out of whack much, and
10:17 that's why there's not those bad misses.
10:20 And when he does miss, they're pretty good pitches.
10:23 And some are just right there, ball off, and that's what you want.
10:27 Just the development with Coach Hobbs and growing up, practice.
10:36 I mean, everything combined is just making him the guy we thought he could be,
10:42 and even more honestly.
10:43 I mean, who could project that, how good he is right now,
10:48 when he walked in the door here, we knew he had a really good arm.
10:54 We knew he was a great kid and he wanted to get better.
10:56 But probably to me though, ever since the season ended last year, and
11:01 it didn't go good, his last outing.
11:05 And that guy has worked incredibly hard.
11:08 And this is a guy that's almost unanimous pick for captain, and
11:11 he doesn't talk a whole lot.
11:13 And they picked him because they just see that guy working every day.
11:16 And probably as a young pitcher, you're probably going,
11:20 how am I gonna keep up with this guy?
11:22 And they respect him a lot, and then you watch him on the field, and
11:26 it's been incredible.
11:28 And he's not worried about all the other stuff.
11:31 He's not worried about the draft.
11:33 He's not worried about where he's gonna go and all that stuff.
11:36 He's just playing, he's just pitching, he's playing for the team, and
11:39 he knows it's gonna be fine.
11:41 And that's one thing that we as coaches really appreciated about him,
11:46 is just the way he is off the field and as a person and the way he leads.
11:51 >> Yeah, and without those first three batters of the season,
11:55 the windblown home run after the other two, I mean, his ERA is unreal.
12:00 >> Yeah. >> Without those three.
12:01 >> Yeah, and he just comes at you, man, he just comes at you.
12:04 And as a hitter, I mean, it's just like every time, first pitch of every game,
12:10 the hitter's swinging, and they're trying to hit the first pitch as hard and
12:14 as far as they can.
12:15 And cuz they know they're gonna get about 97 right over the plate.
12:19 And it's been amazing, because they know he's just coming at them.
12:23 >> Thanks.
12:26 >> Daniel.
12:26 >> Hey, Coach.
12:29 This one's a little bit different.
12:31 There was a piece in The Athletic about a week ago about how the evolving of
12:35 pitching over time and people are kind of prioritizing stuff over pitchability now.
12:42 Have you seen that trickle down to the college level at all?
12:45 Like are kids chasing stuff more than they used to be and
12:48 kind of how that's evolved over time?
12:50 >> Well, I think maybe on the professional ranks,
12:56 they're looking for guys with, I mean, stuff, stuff, stuff is good.
13:02 They're talking about velocity.
13:04 Velocity is great, but I got a couple guys on the team that throw in the upper 90s.
13:07 They haven't been on the mound yet, and they've been injured a little bit.
13:10 But you gotta be able to pitch.
13:13 And you think about a guy like Colin Fisher is gonna pitch 88 to 92.
13:20 And except for the other day, he's been getting everybody out.
13:22 And Tiger's not trying to blow people away.
13:25 He's pitching at 90, 92.
13:26 And he can throw 94, 95 if you just say, hey, go do it.
13:30 But it's pitchability.
13:31 It's mixing and keeping guys off balance.
13:35 You think about Missouri's lefty the other day, topped out at 90, 91.
13:38 But he got us out for five innings.
13:39 And maybe nationally, that's what a lot of people are looking for.
13:45 But when we're out recruiting, we're looking for guys that can pitch.
13:49 Example, if we see a right-handed pitcher that's a junior in high school,
13:54 and he's throwing 88 miles an hour, that's okay.
14:00 But that's not what everybody's looking for.
14:02 But if he has a really good breaking ball or he can spin the baseball,
14:06 we're gonna recruit that kid.
14:08 Cuz we know that he's gonna throw 91, 92 one day, and
14:10 that might be where he lives.
14:12 But he's got that secondary pitch.
14:14 So I don't buy all of that.
14:16 And I think that maybe a different level they're looking for that.
14:22 And velocity's great, because you gotta make decisions quicker as a hitter.
14:26 But, well, you gotta back it up with some command and
14:29 location, cuz kids, once they get used to hitting 96, 97,
14:32 if you don't have something else, they're gonna hit it, and
14:35 they're gonna hit it hard.
14:37 >> I guess for the kids that can throw 96 and 97,
14:41 have the coaches gotten better at, I guess, taking care of the arms?
14:47 And keeping the arms healthy and less volatile?
14:51 >> Well, I mean, that's a tough question.
14:52 I feel like it's probably program to program.
14:56 A lot of times the problem is, you got the high school and the summer league.
15:00 And the summer league pitcher's throwing once a weekend,
15:04 he's not around the team.
15:06 He shows up, he pitches, he goes home, drives back 500 miles or
15:09 whatever they do, and they just try to blow and go.
15:12 And that's where a lot of guys are getting hurt.
15:14 Then you got these end of July and
15:16 August showcases that the pro people put on.
15:19 That's where a ton of kids get hurt.
15:21 And they're not in great shape.
15:24 Here, we monitor everything they do, almost every pitch that they throw,
15:28 we keep an eye on it.
15:30 We know how many pitches they throw in every bullpen,
15:34 how hard they threw them, how they were spinning.
15:37 I mean, yeah, it's program to program.
15:42 I feel like we did a good job of monitoring it.
15:47 But sometimes we get some of these kids and they're already hurt.
15:51 And we have a couple in here now that we took that were already hurt,
15:54 whether they had surgery or they came in hurt.
15:57 And you try to rehab and get them right.
15:59 But yeah, that's just too broad of a question.
16:03 I think it's just different everywhere.
16:05 >> Thanks, coach.
16:07 >> Jacob.
16:08 >> Hey, coach, I wanted to ask about Peyton Stovall,
16:12 obviously a guy that you have a ton of confidence in.
16:15 But we're seven games in and there hasn't really been a sign of any rust.
16:19 Just how pleasantly surprised have you been with the way that he's jumped back in,
16:23 hitting the field, everything so far?
16:25 >> Well, I didn't know how it was gonna go, obviously, a month ago.
16:30 But the last week, I guess it was,
16:36 maybe it was the week before that on like a Thursday, we had some guys that hadn't
16:40 thrown, maybe even some redshirt guys that throw live on a mound to the hitters.
16:49 And we were coming up to the weekend series and we were thinking,
16:54 we're gonna play Peyton maybe the next Tuesday against ORU.
16:59 But he had four bats and he hit four missiles, excuse me, three missiles.
17:05 I mean, and by our track man that was seeing how far they hit it and
17:11 how fast it exited the barrel and all that other stuff.
17:13 I mean, he had like two doubles and a homer.
17:17 And we're like, wow, he's ready now.
17:19 And our trainers, doctors were there, one of the trainers there.
17:23 And they told me, they said, if he feels okay Friday,
17:28 maybe you can DH him, cuz I asked.
17:31 I'd really like to get him some at bats, talked to Peyton about it, and
17:35 that's how that went.
17:36 So after I saw him do that, it doesn't surprise me at
17:41 all where he's at on the offensive end.
17:45 I was more worried about the running, the fielding, he can really field.
17:49 And he's been able to take ground balls, stay in shape there.
17:53 I was a little concerned about his arm, cuz he had shoulder surgery.
17:58 I mentioned that the other day, a lot of people forget about that.
18:00 This guy has some things in there now that weren't in there a year ago that are
18:04 holding that together and it's healed.
18:05 And it's gonna be better than ever when it's done, but it's not 100%.
18:09 He has to really take care of it.
18:10 We limit his throws and what he does.
18:15 But the bat's been amazing.
18:16 I've been concerned about his running.
18:17 And the other day, we had a pitcher that was throwing slow to the plate, and
18:21 I stole him.
18:23 He got there and I told him, I said, I just wanna see what you could do.
18:26 And he said, keep doing it.
18:28 And then he had to score from first on a double, he did it.
18:31 I'm watching him run, seeing if he's gonna start limping.
18:34 And I think he's good now, but it's been amazing.
18:39 It would have surprised me, but that one day last,
18:43 about a week and a half ago when he did what he did, we were like, wow.
18:47 This guy's ready to hit pitching, cuz the stuff we were throwing at him was 92,
18:50 93 left hand, right hand pitching, and he handled it real easy.
18:55 >> And I remember you talking a couple of weeks ago about how he was always around
18:58 the team and really good spirits while he was recovering from that.
19:01 Just how impressed were you with his leadership throughout that process, and
19:05 then obviously coming back the way he is?
19:07 >> Yeah, we talked to him last year about it, after he had the surgery,
19:11 cuz he was so bummed out and down about it.
19:15 And we'd had so many injuries and we were still winning.
19:19 And we just told him, hey man, you gotta keep your head up,
19:22 cuz everybody's looking at you, and it's just the way it is.
19:25 And I told him, I said, a lot of guys, they couldn't handle this, but
19:29 you're tough enough to handle it, and you're gonna be fine.
19:31 And let's get healthy for your junior year, and let's have a great 24.
19:36 And a couple other people talked with him, cuz the first few days after,
19:41 he found out he was gonna have his surgery on his shoulder, he was really down.
19:46 But then about a week later, he flipped it.
19:49 And then in the fall, I think the guys saw him working out,
19:54 how hard he was working out.
19:56 I mean, his lower half is so much stronger.
19:59 And that's really, I mean, that ball hit down the right field line the other day,
20:03 past the first base.
20:04 That ball was hit over 110 miles an hour, and it wasn't elevated.
20:08 And there's no way he could have done that last year.
20:10 It's just, he's stronger, he's quicker, swings beautiful right now.
20:15 And timing still not 100%, but when it is, when it's linked up,
20:19 he's as good as anybody in the country.
20:22 So, but the players, they watched him, and they respected him.
20:25 And they voted this guy, one of our captains, and
20:28 he didn't take it bad all fall.
20:31 And we have a lot of new players, so that was pretty impressive.
20:35 >> Thanks, Coach.
20:36 >> Yeah. >> Bob.
20:38 >> Yeah, Dave, you got me wondering, you said he hit two doubles in a home run in
20:42 those four at-bats, what did he do in the other at-bat?
20:45 >> He hit it somewhere, he didn't strike out, I remember that.
20:48 And again, we were inside, and it's not as easy to hit inside as it is out.
20:53 And I mean, the lighting's good, but it's still different.
20:56 And that's what was so impressive.
20:58 He hit two balls to left field, opposite field, that were crushed.
21:02 And he also pulled one in the gap or something.
21:05 And I don't know, he flew out, hit the ball pretty good, but it was nice.
21:11 And it was against the lefties and righties, probably had two of each, so yeah.
21:16 >> I would say rosters change year to year, but
21:20 you guys have a pretty good record against Auburn.
21:23 I think it was 18 and 5 since 2016.
21:27 And they've had a couple World Series teams, at least one in there.
21:30 I know you guys beat them in Omaha.
21:32 And you won three of the last four series at Auburn,
21:35 including the last time you learned two years ago.
21:37 Just kind of what do you think about the way you guys have done in that series and
21:41 especially winning at Auburn?
21:43 You got some guys on the team now that won that series there a couple years ago.
21:47 >> Yeah, I mean, I don't keep up with all those stats.
21:50 I couldn't tell you any of that stuff.
21:52 I do know that we won the series there a couple years ago.
21:56 They're always hard fought, and
21:59 it just seems like there's a little bit of drama,
22:04 because there's some runs being scored.
22:09 Now, I don't know which way the wind's gonna blow or if it's gonna blow, but
22:13 we've had some nice days over there when the ball was carrying and
22:16 a lot of things going on.
22:19 Like I said, you never know in this league how it's gonna go.
22:24 But we've done well in league play for a while now, and
22:29 that's a credit to the coaches doing a great job with our players and
22:33 our players playing hard every day.
22:34 And there's so much turnover with professional baseball graduation,
22:41 other things that you just have to kind of train your players from day one.
22:46 The guys that come back, they're talking and you gotta be ready.
22:50 When you go on the road, you gotta be ready,
22:52 cuz it's a different situation than at home a lot, but it's all mental.
22:57 It's how you see it, perceive it, and you just have to go into it.
23:01 With maybe a little bit different attitude,
23:07 it's gotta be a little more intense.
23:09 At home, you're more comfortable on the road, you gotta find a little edge.