Given the weather from recent days, it is difficult to believe that high school baseball season has arrived. Along with track and field, softball, and women’s soccer, Avery baseball has already begun to take the field and prepare for its respective season and quest for a Western Highlands Conference championship.The Avery Journal-Times recently caught up on the practice field with veteran Avery head baseball coach Benny Wellborn to discuss his team’s recent scrimmage at McDowell and about his squad’s preparations going into the 2009 baseball season.
AJ-T: You’ve had the chance to get a scrimmage in thus far. I know it’s the early going, but how does the team look at this juncture and how did it help as your team gets ready for the regular season starting next week?
BW: There are several great things about a scrimmage. We were able to get our pitchers some work, as all but one of our guys got to throw. Our pitchers also have the opportunity to throw against live batting, and our batters got to see live pitching for the first time. That is one of the main things about a scrimmage that helps us. We gave our pitchers the ability get their arms ready, allowing them to throw some innings and some bullpens against live competition. Also our hitters got to see live arms instead of pitching machines all the time. We were also able to work on game situations.
AJ-T: Was last week’s scrimmage structured as an exhibition game, or was your team able to do some situational play to work on specific scenarios and strategies which may come up during a game?
BW: The scrimmage was ten innings, and we only played nine. Coach Smith and I decided going into the scrimmage that offensively if we wanted to put runners in a certain situation and they weren’t on base, then we would do that to work on things. We worked with the other coach if they wanted to do something defensively, or if we needed to for that matter, telling each other if we wanted to work on specific scenarios such as a hit-and-run or a first and third steal. It was a very loose scrimmage, so it was good in that sense.
AJ-T: Based on your early practices and what you saw in your scrimmages, are there areas you’ve seen that you would consider strengths, and are there facets of your team that you can definitively determine are areas that will need improvement?
BW: Thus far, especially in the scrimmage, I feel we’ve done a good job particularly with bunting situations. We were able to execute sacrifice and squeeze bunts the way we need to. Defensively I believe we’re going to be pretty strong. There may be a glitch here or there which we’ll need to figure out, but we will need to work on being aggressive, which is something we’re currently working on in practice. We are working with our infielders on being aggressive toward the ball, to play the ball rather than letting it play us.
I honestly believe in the conference we play, we have one really good arm and several other guys who threw well in the scrimmage, with one that we hope will come back to help us.
Our biggest area where we struggled, most recently in the scrimmage, was with our hitting. Everything that looked so promising in the cage so far this season, we kind of got away from. We are working on that as well with helping guys one-on-one. There are holes everywhere at this point of the season of course, but that’s the good thing about having the recent scrimmage and these early practices. We can meet as a coaching staff and discuss what we’ve seen and work on those areas.
AJ-T: Given your team’s chemistry and the makeup of the players you have on the field, how do you see your team’s identity shaping from an offensive standpoint? Do you see your team playing “small ball” using base hits and moving runners, or utilizing a power game, or perhaps a combination or another strategy?
BW: We have three or four guys who can run, and we’re going to take advantage of that. It’s early and I can see a couple of guys stepping up offensively and driving in runs, but we have to get guys on, which will be key. I told our guys if they aren’t going to hit the baseball, they had better be ready to bunt. If you can bunt the ball right, it’s hard to defend. So if things aren’t going the way I’d like, we may look to get on that way.
AJ-T: Are there players, perhaps some upperclassmen or even younger players, who you see as assuming roles of leadership on and off the field for the Vikings this season?
BW: During our off-season workouts, we had a lot of underclassmen and a lot of juniors who really worked hard. Whether or not they will step up verbally is yet to be seen. A lot of these guys have put in hard work from September and back in the fall and carrying on through the winter to now. Their hard work and dedication have influenced other guys, and I hope that will continue throughout the season.
AJ-T: You relied heavily on all-conference starter Seth Phillips to anchor last season’s pitching staff. With his graduation, who do you hope can help to provide innings on the mound to help the team win games in 2009?
BW: On the mound we’ll be looking to Brooks Oakley to be our go-to guy, there’s no secret about that. He’s throwing the ball well, and we’re ahead of the curve as far as bullpen sessions for all our pitchers. Chris Childress will look to be another of our primary pitchers, but he’s had some injuries and is just coming back from them.
I had a game plan coming in with those two guys and one other pitcher to anchor the staff, but with the injuries, we may have to change that a bit.
Adam Pate came back to play for us this year and he threw some at the scrimmage. He looked like he’s getting into the flow defensive and offensively. It’s like he hasn’t missed a beat in the cage. Daniel Huff is another guy who throws well. Sutton Stanley, Jared Clark can go out there. I’m looking at five or six guys who I feel pretty confident I can put out there on the mound to throw strikes. We didn’t do that as well in our scrimmage, but that’s what practice games are for.
AJ-T: The weather has not always been cooperative in the past with getting early practices in, but I have seen the team implement the artificial surface on the football field that also seems to have been added to a lesser degree in the batting cages as well. How have those improvements translated into positives for your team going into this season?
BW: The football field is great. I can’t express how much it has meant to our program this early. We’ve missed only one practice taking ground balls thanks to it. We’ve never been able to do that before. Having it gives our infielders and outfielders the chance to field 100 ground balls a day.
Back in the summer we were able to take some of the excess turf from the project with some gravel and install it in our cages and it has allowed us get in there earlier, hit off the tee and get work in. From years past, we are well ahead of schedule with fielding, hitting, and throwing bullpens, and that has been due in large part to the turf.
People think the turf is only beneficial for football, but is isn’t. One day last week we had women’s soccer, baseball, and track all out there on the turf. Without it, I doubt if any of us would have been practicing, and it has been vital to us.AJ-T: How do you expect to see the Western Highlands Conference teams breaking down this season?
BW: I think the conference is going to be tight. Currently, Polk is the preseason favorite. They lost basically two kids and had a transfer come in to replace one of them. Their JV was strong and has athletes. Owen always seems to have one good arm and is always fundamentally sound. Hendersonville will have a lot of experience and a good pitcher in Walgenbach. I see them playing well and being in the mix.
I honestly see our team also being able to contend in the upper half of the conference as well, if we are able to play to our potential. We have the players with the talent to beat any team on any given night.
Madison may surprise some people this year, and there’s always something for us about having to play at Heritage. Last year was the first time I was able to go there and get a win. Polk and Owen will be top teams, and I feel we’re right there with Hendersonville and those guys. But we’re all bunched up there together and I believe this conference is going to be tighter and also a lot better than many people think it will.
AJ-T: Discuss the coaches who are helping as members of the coaching staff and how they will be assisting you and your players this season.
BW: Daniel Jimenez is back with us this season and has helped us the past two seasons. He’s worked with our junior varsity and he is working with our outfielders. Samuel Phillips has come onto our staff this season and he is helping me specifically in working with our pitchers. His knowledge of the game is great and we’re talking as a staff and shooting around ideas. We haven’t done that as much in years past, and that has been helping out. I’m able to tell Coach Phillips to take the pitchers off and do what he needs to do.
Having three guys in Coach Phillips, Coach Jimenez, and Coach Smith who have been able to help out with hitting fungo and working with the kids really makes our staff better and helps the players improve too.
