Feb. 12, 2008

ATHENS, Ohio - Question and answer with Assistant Coach/Hitting Coach Scott Malinowski on the upcoming baseball season.

In your first full season as hitting coach last year the team batted .298, second-best in the MAC. Are you expecting that same kind of production from this year's team?
To be honest I expect a lot more. I expect us to be more consistent swinging the bat and producing offensively. I thought last year, although we finished with decent numbers I thought it was a little bit up and down compared to the kind of consistency we need to have to be a championship caliber team. Stats are okay and everything, but we just need to be consistent game in and game out...being a tough lineup one through nine.

Marc Krauss and Matt Stiffler both ranked at the top of numerous league hitting statistical categories in '07. How much of that has to do with talent and how much has to do with your coaching?
It's all them. We hope that we can guide them in certain ways, but they've got to put the time and effort in. They've got to have some intelligence mentally to work smart and then carry over their work into game situations and perform under pressure. So they deserve all the credit for sure.

You were a part of Ohio's 1997 MAC Championship team, what does this team have to do to work its way towards that goal?
Just develop a routine of just being consistent in everything we do. Game preparation, development, a consistent routine of not only performing, but preparing like championship teams do. Just having that mindset that they can outwork and outperform anybody we step on the field with. I think that was kind of one thing that set us (1997 team) apart, is we were really focused in not only on the field but also off the field on whatever it took. We kind of had that inner confidence, although we knew we had to perform and we had to prepare, but we had that inner-confidence that we could compete with anybody. So just kind of getting that...it starts mentally, everything I think starts mentally, you just have to start with the mindset. It's got to be a way of life and it's got to be consistent.

Do you see any similarities between the `08 Bobcats and the '97 squad?
I think we've got capability for the same good leadership. It's getting to that point, it's not there yet, but it can be there. For the upper classmen, kind of leadership wise, I think offensively one through nine we had nine guys that competed in the lineup, so we have the ability and capability to have that same competitive one through nine type lineup. I think the defense is probably the place that needs the most improvement to get to that level we were at in '97. We led the country in fielding percentage that year, so you know defensively when you look at championship teams, they're all solid defensively. Their pitchers are not afraid to stick the ball in there because they're confident in their defense.

How have the incoming freshmen responded to your coaching thus far?
I think they're doing a great job; I'm real excited about this year's freshmen group. A lot of them have the ability to compete for us right away and contribute for us right away. All 12 of the newcomers have the ability to play right away...I'm not saying they're going to, but they've shown through the fall and winter so far that they have the ability and a good work ethic and they're serious about baseball. Pretty much all of them are here for academics and baseball and nothing else and they are really serious about it. You can just tell through their work ethic and the way they go about their business out there.

Hitting is sometimes as much mental as it is anything else, what are some of the things you do to make sure the players keep that part in check?
We talked about routine a lot, developing a consistent mental routine before an at-bat, leading up to an at-bat, during an at-bat and then even after an at-bat. We talk about how to deal with failure, because with hitting you're failing a majority of the time. So if you don't know how to deal with failure as a hitter it's going to take a snowball effect. You begin to beat yourself up mentally and then it gets worse and worse and worse. So you got to be stoic and poised and you got to have that kind of stone-face type of emotion out there, especially in hitting to not let anything get to you too much. So we talk about those things and we spend, especially in the winter, a lot of time working in the cages talking and working on different drills and stuff about your mental approach to hitting. Talk about what pitches and what locations you should be looking in depending on what pitch count you're in during a given at bat. Those are some of the mental things you work on, because I think it is way more important than the physical part of hitting... I really do. It starts mental, especially with hitting more than anything else probably.

What are your overall thoughts on the upcoming season?
Just real excited to get going. I think we have as good of a chance as we've had in a long time to have a good team, a winning team, where we can get to the MAC Tournament and make a run at the MAC Championship. Just the attitude this year has been a lot better all around as a team, and that is encouraging as you approach the season. You work so hard all fall and winter and you got some physical ability and some talent and some ability for good leadership. The work ethic has been great from day one of the fall on, so we are just excited to see how it all turns out when we're playing for real in between the white lines.