Earlier this afternoon, Greg Lovelady conducted a postseason/draft review with the three media members who regularly cover baseball (myself, Brian Murphy, Trace Trylko).
It's quite extensive, nearly 30 minutes long, so I'll highlight the key points. The full video is above.
On UCF not making the NCAA Regionals:
"I tried to stay positive, hoping for the best. But I also followed very closely from the couch on Sunday and unfortunately was hoping for a couple schools to lose and it didn't happen. I felt less comfortable Monday morning than I did Sunday morning. I left the tournament with a good feeling, but it got worse obviously as Sunday kept coming moving along. I was still hopeful when I saw Baseball America still puts us in and they've had 63 of 64 teams right the last three years. We've got a fighting chance. I felt better about this year than last year, even though some of our metrics last year were better. I knew it was going to come down to one of the last two teams in or the last two teams out."
I asked about just being in position to make the NCAA postseason, which was remarkable considering the pitching injuries and some of the early losses within the conference.
"I was really proud of the kids. Probably everyone outside of our team probably thought we weren't going to have a great year. We kept competing. The guys never gave up. They said, 'Let's go out today, do what we can and do the same tomorrow.' You can't control other teams, but give your best effort, prepare and work hard. That's what we tried to do. We knew we had the ability. We had some huge wins early and got some momentum. To see where we came from, that was a huge accomplishment for our guys."
Lovelady spoke of the growth of the young pitching staff, saying how much different than it is from high school.
I asked whether he feels the American gets the respect they deserve.
"Not even close. I think our league is severely disrespected and underestimated. I think with the amount of success we've had. Our league, top to bottom, I think is the second-toughest league in the entire country in terms of top to bottom. There's no off weekends. You don't get to go and have a weekend where it's like, 'Alright, we can breathe a little bit and get other guys some work and not push the starters.' There's other leagues like that. Some of those leagues ahead of us are more top heavy, whether it's blue bloods or talent, but when you look at one through nine, there's not many leagues that can see one through nine can win two out of three every weekend. Probably only the SEC. It's a grind every week. The amount of talent that we put out - I saw a tweet about draft picks per team. We're up there. We have the talent. We have amazing ability. Just the number of first-round picks we've had since I've been here. That's unbelievable.
"I just don't think that we get the respect we deserve. I think in the baseball community we do a little bit. Other coaches. Some of those Power Five coaches that understand. They don't want to play us. I don't think people understand how difficult our league is and how difficult it is week in and week out. We should be more represented in the NCAA Tournament."
Lovelady spoke about the three players drafted.
Pitcher Jordan Spicer:
"I'm really proud of Jordan. Just the growth. He always had the ability. He's shown flashes of it, but you've got to be consistent with it. He just really grew. He graduated and I think that took a load off his shoulders. This last month he looked like a top-five round pick. I'm excited for him. He deserves this. He works really hard. He cares. I'm excited to follow him this summer and in pro ball.
Pitcher Garrett Westberg:
"Same thing. He's had an unbelievable career here. Got off to a rough start his first fall. I remember throwing him out there against Florida, like who's next? We were running out of guys and all of a sudden it was like a light switch went off. He was like a player I'd never seen. His numbers weren't as good, but a lot of that had to do with putting him out there 30 times. Any time we needed an out, where's Garrett? He was our go-to guy. We knew he'd show up every day, be there and be ready. Happy he went to the Mariners. I know he's a big Mariners fan. Hometown team. I think that meant more to him."
Tyler Osik:
"This is something he's wanted his entire life. Living under his dad's shadow, I think the pressure he put on himself because of that. There's some positive and negative thoughts people had about him - 'Oh, you only got this because of your dad. You got drafted by the Pirates because of your dad.' He didn't get a chance to go D1, went to JUCO, then got hurt, overcoming that and got his opportunity here. Just a professional hitter. If the game is on the line and we need a big hit, he's one of those guys that you want out there. He really worked on his defense. He was a guy that we thought DH or third base maybe. We threw him out in left field last year with no experience and he was a great left fielder. Put him at first base this year, back and forth. Never complained. Did a great job. He's got a chance to win a Gold Glove. Barely made any errors. That's remarkable for somebody who hasn't played there his entire life.
"I'm happy it's not the Pirates. He showed everybody he earned this. It's not a legacy pick. It's something he earned and deserves. I'm proud of him. We've butted heads with some of the things he's done, but he's grown up a lot. We're fine. We butt heads, but he cares and I know he wants to win. I'm glad this happened and I'm excited to watch all those guys. He's proven he can hit in high school, NAIA, JUCO and this level. He'll prove he can hit at the next level too. It's something that means a lot to him."
Regarding the UCF players not drafted, Lovelady said he heard a bunch of teams had Ray Alejo really, really high, so he's unsure of what happened in that case. He mentioned Tyler Osik getting snubbed last year. While it's disappointing for guys like Alejo and Dallas Beaver, Lovelady said those guys still can come back and play. He's more upset for the seniors that didn't drafted, particularly Chris Williams, Grant Schuermann and Kyle Kemp.
Regarding roster management, seeing that UCF didn't have any underclassmen drafted and only two high school signees were drafted in a low round (LHP Keegan Pulford-Thorpe, 33rd round; LHP Hunter Patteson, 35th round), Lovelady expects to have a much clearer idea of who will be here next season. It seems like he's expecting both of the drafted HS signees to enroll.
"I'll never feel comfortable until the (deadline), but I feel really good about those guys. They've said the right things. They tell me they're coming. But I've heard that before from other guys and two weeks later they signed. I know there's still a chance, so I won't feel 100 percent comfortable. We are in a good spot.
"This is our first real recruiting class high school wise where we got to build relationships with the kids. We weren't the last to the table. The way recruiting goes in baseball, when we got here three years ago, all the kids who were sophomores in high school were already committed. You had to find diamonds in the rough, guys who were under-recruited, late developers and that kind of stuff. This was our first freshman class we really were competing for... This is really the first class to set the tone for the future."
Lovelady then mentioned some of the freshmen from this past season, calling catcher Ben McCabe a "centerpiece" and also saying positive things about Ben Rushing, who redshirted. Pitching wise, he mentioned Zack Hunsicker and Noah Lepkoske. Those players, plus the incoming recruiting class, will be the future.
"Now we're talking about building something special with players who will be here for years to come. The draft worked in our favor this year."
Lovelady was asked specifically about Ray Alejo and Dallas Beaver returning next season. He believes so, but said he didn't know if there were any free agent opportunity and whether they might take it. I later confirmed that Alejo has not graduated as he is lacking two credits, so being a grad transfer elsewhere would not be an immediate option. Dallas Beaver has already graduated.
I asked about Joe Sheridan and Trevor Holloway potentially anchoring the weekend rotation next year, assuming both are healthy.
"I'm excited to get Joe back. He's been chomping at the bit, wanting to get back to 100 percent. Obviously Trevor the same away. He's throwing now and getting back. What I saw from Trevor was unreal and knowing Joe and how good he was a freshman and early in his sophomore year before his shoulder started to both him, those are two aces. Two Friday night guys. You're definitely excited.
"We've got a couple JUCO kids coming in who have a chance to anchor the Sunday and Tuesday roles. We might be in the market for grad transfers again. We obviously had a lot of success with Grant Schuermann and Kyle Kemp. Hopefully people look at that, see how well they pitched and see how their numbers improved. Going to a tougher league and got better. Those guys will be good salesmen for us. If we have spots, we could add more depth if we want to. We want to make sure we have more depth than we had last year."
Again, speaking about the offense next year, he reiterated that Dalton Wingo and Ben McCabe would be key factors, hopefully Ben Rushing, Beaver, Alejo and a "couple signees" expected to play immediately.
I asked about next year's schedule.
"We've got Siena, Auburn (road). I think we've got Cal State Northridge coming in for four games. Yale, Butler. We've got midweeks home-and-home with Miami, obviously FAU which will be good. Florida State is supposed to come for two games in the midweek. I still haven't filled out our (conference) bye week. I might do the same thing. It's hard. We get our bye week so late, the options are limited. That might be another bye week for us. Another challenging schedule. Obviously the same conference schedule, flipped home and away. I think the order is different, but same teams. We've just to got to win more games."
Trace asked about the state of the program in relation to Lovelady's goals, three years in:
"I think year four, especially with the recruiting, knowing that this was going to be the year when we start to get the younger guys in here. This is when we'll start to build how we want to build with youth, high school kids. The first year was crazy, winning the league and doing that. That definitely raised the bar and set a high standard for the guys. The last two years, we were right where I thought we were going to be, but I was hoping we'd be on the other side of the bubble. I think we're right on track. I think the youth movement is going to start hitting us now as long as keep doing a good job recruiting and keeping the guys coming to school. The draft is a huge question mark every year. We've lost some high school and JUCO kids the last couple years. That's part of the game. You've got to plan for that. I think the youth movement is going to start. The small freshman class we had will be building blocks and this incoming freshman class should have guys who could be three, four-year starters and guys who can help early in their careers."
