Jim Schlossnagle interview interrupted by David Mershon home run in SEC Baseball Tournament
As is the case for SEC Baseball Tournament games, Jim Schlossnagle was having his usual chat with Tom Hart and Kyle Peterson. The Texas A&M head coach spoke with the SEC Network duo at the top of the third inning of Wednesday’s game against Mississippi State about a variety of topics.
That is, until David Mershon stepped to the plate.
Hart was preparing to ask another question when Mershon got a hold of one and sent it over the left field fence for a two-run home run. It’s not the first time Schlossnagle watched an opposing home run during an interview – it felt like it happened every time last year – but it wound up being a good time to set the headset down.
Try Fubo for FREE today and don’t miss any of the action!
Appropriately, Hart and Peterson asked Schlossnagle about his offensive approach prior to the interruption. Hart was wondering about Texas A&M’s patience and ability to work the count, and the coach cited something the great Ted Williams used to say when it came to discipline at the plate.
“I think the first thing you’ve got to do, in my opinion, is you can’t panic about strikeouts,” Schlossnagle said. “If you’re gonna yell at a guy for striking out, then he’s just gonna start swinging early in the count and put the ball in play. Page one, sentence one of Ted Williams Science of Hitting is, get your pitch to hit. Get a good pitch to hit, whether that be the first pitch or the 11th pitch.
“Obviously, a runner at third base, less than two outs is a different at-bat. But swing at strikes, take balls and don’t be in a hurry to hit.”
Peterson then followed up by wondering if it’s tough to get the team to buy in to that philosophy because the goal, obviously, is to avoid strikeouts. Schlossnagle admitted it’s a different mentality, but he cited evidence from the Major League level to prove his point.
“It is, because they see striking out as a bad thing,” he said. “And nobody likes it, but at the same time, I think when you look at the numbers, most of the best hitters – even in the big leagues – they swing the least, but do the most damage. The teams that can control the strike zone and then, when they do swing, impact the baseball.
“I think we’ve hit five balls over 100 miles an hour tonight already. We’ll take that every time.”