Everything Mark Kingston said previewing Arkansas series
Before South Carolina begins its three-game series with No. 2 Arkansas this weekend, head coach Mark Kingston met with the media on Thursday to preview the series. Here’s what he had to say.
Opening statement
“Big Weekend, obviously. They all feel big now, being in the SEC, being in a good spot. So we’ve got a great team coming in. I feel like we’re pretty darn good as well. Anxious to see hopefully a full Founders Park rocking and rolling and seeing us play great baseball.”
On his weekend rotation plans
“We’re going to go Kimball, Jones, TBA this weekend.”
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On thought process behind starting Eli Jones on Saturday as opposed to Friday
“We’ve been talking about this for a few weeks now. Eli has been the pitcher that gives us the most length on the weekends of all our starters. And genuinely, you would like to have that in the middle game so that your bullpen can be really good on Friday, have a day off and then go on Sunday. So it’s something we’ve been talking about. We have a lot of respect for Hagen Smith. But that’s not why this decision was made. We made it because we think it’s the best use of our resources that hopefully will help us win the most amount of games.”
On starting Roman Kimball on Friday night
“We considered a lot of guys, a lot of guys have shown us bursts that they can do it. But we also have a lot of guys statistically that had been much more successful out of the bullpen. And so we’re just trying to find the best roles for the most amount of guys. Roman gets the nod because he has a .169 opponents batting average, which is the best on our team. He’s been the hardest guy to hit on our team. And his last four outings have been very good. So we’re going with him because we think he gives us a chance to win.”
On if this can be the weekend the rotation gets solidified or if he’ll keep tweaking and shifting moving forward
“Yeah, at the end of the day, what’s most important is we have all this figured out by the end of the season when the games are win or go home. And so we’re going to continue to experiment until we feel like we have it 100 percent. I just don’t feel like we’re there yet. So instead of being scared to staying tied to one thing, we’re going to try things and see if we can find the best version of ourselves. And again, that’s looking at statistics. Some guys, just for whatever reason, are better as starters than relievers and vice versa. And so we’ll continue to evaluate ourselves. We’re 37 games in, so we have a better idea of who we are. But we don’t have a full picture yet of what the best version of us is. So we’re going to continue to try things until we really feel like we have it exactly where we want it.”
On facing Hagen Smith on Friday and the challenges that presents
“I think last weekend showed what we’re capable of, we scored 28 runs on the road at Florida. So I think that shows what we’re capable of. Hagen Smith probably will be the first picture off the board in this year’s Major League draft. I look at that as a tremendous challenge. And I think our guys do as well. Paul Skenes came in here last year with all the same notoriety. So I think it’s a great challenge. That’s why the SEC is so exciting because you get opportunities to play against the best. He clearly is one of the best. And I think our guys will be excited for the challenge.”
On this year’s Arkansas team
“Statistically, their stats and our stats are pretty close, pretty similar. So I think it’s just going to be a matter of who gets the big hit, and obviously, we’ve had moments where we do, we’ve had moments where we don’t. And that’s why it’s going to be so important to have an electric environment this weekend. And I think we will. So it’s two really good teams. Again, we’ve had really good teams come in here. We’ve played good teams all year, we’ve played as many top 25 teams as anybody in the country. Our strength of schedule is as hard as anybody in the country. So we are battle tested already at this point in the season. So it’s just another chance to play great baseball in a great conference.”
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On Dalton Reeves’ emergence
“He’s just improved a lot since he got here. He came in, we thought he might be a nice role player and that’s what he was for the first half of our season. But because of an injury, he got an opportunity and he’s run with it. His defense has improved incredibly. He hit 12 homers last year but it was more of a is it going to translate to the SEC play? And he’s just really cleaned up his swing. He’s stronger than I think he’s ever been. He’s just a good player. And he’s a guy that’s going to help us win games. He’s helped us win games already. And he’s going to continue in the future. He’s a guy that his teammates root for, because he was a great teammate, even when he wasn’t playing. He worked extremely hard, even when he wasn’t playing. So he’s one of those great stories that you see that if guys just have a great attitude and they keep working, good things can happen for him.”
On Garrett Gainey’s performance this year, what his outlook is for the rest of the year
“Like a lot of the guys on our staff, he’s done both. got a lot of pictures on our staff that have started but also have been out of the bullpen. So again, the key with those guys is you have to figure out when are they at their best. Some guys are great for 30 pitches, some guys can be great for 60 pitches, some guys can be great for 100 pitches. And so that’s where you try to figure out what’s the best way to use guys. Because you don’t want guys having a great 60 pitches, and then all of a sudden, it looks like a bad outing because of how they pitched after that. So we’re still trying to get a feel for what each guy is best at and how much gas they have in the tank for each guy. So with him again, he’s been a very important guy for us. I think he’s among the leaders in our league and saves. So he’s been a he’s done a nice job for most of the year, did a great job the other night. And there’s nothing saying at some point we will look at him as a potential a potential starter, just to see if that’s a better look, because he’s done it in the past. So we’ll continue to try anything that we think gives us the best chance to go to Omaha.”
On evaluation process for who starts in the TBA slot on Sunday
“Well, the first thing is who have you not used? We have a lot of resources, the Good’s, the Becker’s, those types of guys. Do you need them to win a game on Friday or Saturday? And if you do, you use them. And if you don’t, then they become a candidate to start on Sunday. Pitzer is in that category as well. We’ve got a lot of swing guys that can do both. So you decide if the game is of the balance and you want to use one of your best guys, then you do it. And you just know that means somebody else will have to start on Sunday.”
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On the vibe of the locker room
“I think the biggest thing is we’ve been fairly consistent in terms of how we go about our business. The vibe in the locker room has been the same all year. We come to work really hard, but we also try to keep it fun so the guys want to come to the ballpark every day. And I don’t think that’s changed. Whether we won a lot of games or whether we lost a few games, I think that’s been pretty consistent. That’s what we want. That’s what we continue to strive to have. So I think that part, the guys have been in a pretty good place all year. We’ve had a good year so far. And we’re just looking to take it to that next level to have an elite year.”
On why it’s possible for the guys to stay even keel
“Well, I think the game demands that number one. And so I think that comes from the leadership of coaches, of your leaders on your team. It starts in the the first day of the fall, when we take them out to Fort Jackson, we just say hey, here’s what it takes. There’s going to be ups and downs, you have to educate them on the fact that the SEC is a league where you’re going to have success and failure. And we need to be able to approach both of them pretty similar, so that you don’t get trapped into into that abyss that you could you can have in this league. We’re seeing national champions really struggle for multiple years now because the league is so tough. So I think consistency has to start on day one. And you have to try to maintain that as much as you possibly can.”
