BLACKSBURG - The Virginia Tech baseball fall competitive season is complete and 2020 Opening Day is less than 90 days away. During the next few weeks of November, while Tech is wrapping up individual workouts and the student-athletes are getting ready for final exams before the semester break, the Hokies' coaching staff will reflect on its third fall in Blacksburg with a couple of Q&A's. First up is assistant coach Kurt Elbin.
Q: For you, how was the fall?
KE: "This fall was interesting to say the least. We had an even group of newcomers and returners which made it run rather smooth. The progress they made as a group was good to see. We battled through some injuries but fortunately none of them are too serious. Every time you go through the fall you want to get your offensive systems in place along with developing your approach in the box and I feel we did a pretty good job addressing those things.
"We got to play against a couple outside teams and the guys did a fairly decent job competing in those settings. Our overall expectations as a coaching staff for the hitters going into the fall were that they learned how to work and learned our offensive systems. I believe we accomplished those things."
Q: What did you see that you really liked from the team?
KE: "I liked the group's versatility and athleticism as a whole. We have several players that will be able to fill multiple roles defensively which will help as we experience injuries or slumps throughout the spring. That was really good to see from a depth perspective. Some of our young guys seem to be prepared at an early age to compete in this league and that was promising to see."
Q: Do you like the makeup of your lineup team right now?
KE: "If we stay healthy, I really like our lineup. We have three key returners in Kevin Madden, Nick Biddison and Carson Taylor that will anchor the middle along with some older experienced seniors in Tanner Thomas and Reagan Teegarden. We've added some power and speed in the form of some transfer and high school guys that will fit in quite well. As long as they continue to work and develop, we should be in a good spot."
Q: In addition to the new guys, what has Kyle Sarazin (Director of Player Development) brought to the program?
KE: "Kyle has been a huge part of our hitter's development so far. We have a lot of data that sometimes can be unusable because you don't have a way to decipher the information and get it to your players. Kyle has bridged the gap from information to application when it comes to all this new technology. For example, every week our hitters get an updated Hot/Cold zone report for what hitting zones they excel/struggle in. He gets that data from some of our resources and compiles it for our players. He basically gives our players a visual of what the coaches are preaching to them. That's just a small sample of some of the things that he's done. So, from a development perspective, Kyle has been awesome for the guys."
Q: Who, if anyone, has surprised you this fall?
KE: "The two biggest surprises would be Fritz Genther and Gavin Cross - both freshmen. They had very impressive falls on both sides of the ball. Fritz played shortstop at a very high level and showed that he has the ability to take really good at bats. Gavin is a true two-way player for us. He had some good outings on the mound and he also played several positions defensively. His biggest surprise was what he did offensively. He showed the ability to slug and take really good at bats. Also worth noting, Carson Taylor had the most impressive offensive fall that I've seen in my years as a hitting coach. He hit near .600 and caught every inning of all of our intersquad. Not that that's surprising but certainly worth mentioning."
Q: You played several exhibition games? What did you see in those competitions, that was good or that you see needs improving?
KE: "Those games were good to get our team on one side of the field and in one dugout. We need to continue to work to get better in a lot of areas but I thought we played very good defense and pitched well. We also scored a lot of runs in all those games but we will need to keep working to get better at our craft for sure."