NOTEBOOK: Skip Talk
10/6/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Entering his 20th season at the helm of the University of Pittsburgh baseball team, head coach Joe Jordano is the winningest coach in program history. Hear the skipper chat about what he sees from his team on the field as well as his thoughts on the MLB playoffs.
On hosting Scout Day on Wednesday…
“It was a great day. Not only did we have the opportunity to showcase our upperclassmen, we followed Scout Day with a very productive practice! Over my 30 years in the game I believe I have developed a very strong relationship with the pro community. We are scout friendly and have created an environment for them to do their jobs in an efficient and professional manner, while minimizing distractions for our potential draft picks. I feel confident that we have done a great job developing players that are capable of not only becoming professional ball players but having a great deal of success at that level.”
On what some of the expected draft picks bring to the squad…
“On the mound, I believe Josh Falk, Josh Mitchell and Isaac Mattson will draw the most attention, while Matt Pidich has proven he can pitch at a very competitive level. For the position players, Manny Pazos, Jacob Wright, P.J. DeMeo and Frank Maldonado all have skill sets that may play at the next level. I believe all of our juniors and seniors can bring something that a particular organization may be interested in.”
On how fast fall ball has been flying by…
“I revamped our fall approach this year. With input from my staff, we have been very focused on executing our basic team principals and competition. We are putting our players into many more ‘live’ situations to simulate the speed of the game in the spring. It is certainly going by quickly. The weather has been fantastic and it has been very efficient. We are making progress.”
On the conclusion of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ season and the upcoming MLB playoffs…
“I was disappointed that the Bucs did not make the playoffs, as I am sure the Pirates organization does as well. There are so many moving parts in a season that some people don’t see or understand that can have a trickledown effect on the rest of the team. The Buccos have had an impressive run and I am sure will be back in postseason play next year. I have good friends in the rest of the organizations that are remaining so I would say I’m looking forward to watching some exciting playoff baseball.”
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