The reigning baseball National Champions had their first practice together as a team when Virginia opened its spring sessions last week. The Cavaliers expressed excitement and anticipation as they kick off the 2016 season, but ‘repeat’ was not on their minds this early.
As proud as the Hoos are to hold the national title, coach Brian O’Connor said that their focus moving forward is to try to maximize each players’ ability, work on getting better as a team, and work on consistency with each player. That’s the mantra every spring as Coach O’Connor has built one of the country’s most consistent baseball programs.
Connor Jones, a junior right-handed pitcher, said a sense of togetherness with everyone playing for each other led to last year’s success and this has given the team a good perspective heading into the 2016 season. Before the start of the first practice , I managed to grab Jones for a few quick questions in the pressroom. Here’s the Quick Take as the Wahoos get started on the diamond.
Caroline: What was it like over the summer and in summer leagues?
Jones: “Summer leagues were cool. You know, some of the better memories I have from college baseball, just being with kids from other teams I can think back to kids making fun of the UVA squat when the pitchers bend their knees or whatever and not realizing I was on Virginia, kids from other teams. So you know jokes like that. It’s a lot of fun playing with kids from other teams, so I thought it was a really good experience.”
Caroline: Did people back home talk to you about the College World Series or did the players on your summer league team say things like “we need to hit CWS boy”?
Jones: “Yeah I think definitely thinking back … when we came in, you know, knowing that this kid just came from the College World Series, it adds knowing there’s a little chip on their shoulder to try and hit you. But other than that I really enjoyed talking to people back home. The number one thing I heard from everybody was that people were complaining that we kept them up so late at night with all of our late games. So I thought that was funny, but I like talking to people back home about it.”
Caroline: You’ve had a chance to watch the new players and transfers in the fall, how are they adapting to the college game and fitting in with the UVA baseball culture?
Jones: “I think really well. It’s not easy. I mean, I think back to freshman year and the game is so much faster than it was in high school, and all the information coaches throw at you. But I think with all the help that the veterans can give to you and help you realize how things are done here, it can help a lot because it’s not easy with all the information that’s thrown at you and the expectations.”
Caroline: Who or what stood out to you in the fall about this 2016 team?
Jones: ”I mean obviously the amount of rookies that we had. I mean it was half upperclassman and half rookies with 18 of them coming in so that was different than past years, so there was some different challenges with that. But I think just the qualities of these players. I think back to my recruiting class and I don’t think we’re anywhere near as good as some of these kids now, so its been very impressive to watch them play.”
Caroline: What are your thoughts on all of this snow for the opening day of “spring” camp and how are you adjusting to it?
Jones: “Fortunately I’ve been able to throw outside for all of my outings, so that hasn’t really impacted that too much. But this is the most snow I can remember obviously, coming from Virginia Beach, this is the most snow I can remember being in, as far as my life is concerned. So pretty eventful, but I’m ready for the warm weather to come this weekend and to get that snow out of here.”
Caroline: You have another large freshman class this season – overall, what are strengths of this class and do you see them fitting in?
Jones: “I think we have a ton of position players and hitters. I think last year we were obviously really thin on guys, and taking guys off the club team. I don’t think that’s an issue this year at all. So I think hitting and defense is our biggest strength, and it’ll be a question of whether some of these rookies will step up on the mound or not.”
