Meetings are as much a part of life for Wichita State pitchers as respecting coach Brent Kemnitz’s nap routine and throwing three pitches for a strike.
Wednesday, I sat in on the meeting, which took place 15 minutes before practice. Kemnitz gathers his flock with the signal words “flow, flow, flow, flow, flow,” which is Kemnitz speak for talk, chatter, babble, whatever. The pitchers meet in the Eck Stadium team room.
- They arranged the schedule for the next few days. Anthony Capra, recovering from an appendectomy Saturday, will throw a “legit” bullpen Thursday in Long Beach. If he doesn’t throw Sunday against the Dirtbags, Tim Kelley is on. Some pitchers are to throw in Wednesday’s scrimmage, mostly those who did not throw or throw much in the first three games. Those who didn’t throw in games are expected to take the scrimmages seriously. It is their chance to make an impression.
- Each pitcher gives a status report on his arm. Everybody, if I remember correctly, reports “sweet” except for freshman Cameron Maldonado. The right-hander is on the shelf with a shoulder impingement. Kemnitz does not expect the injury to sideline him for long.
- Kemnitz hands out duties for the scrimmage. Senior Andy Womack gets the soft drink run to Sonic.
- Kemnitz gives the staff around a B-plus for its first three games. The Shockers have a 1.00 ERA and allowed seven runs, so that seems reasonable. Two pitchers who struggled - senior Khol Nanney and sophomore Clint McKeever - discuss their issues. Nanney rushed his pitches in his relief outing against Fordham. He threw two wild ones that let in two runs. WSU’s defense let McKeever down, but then he added to his own problems against Emporia State by giving up two two-out hits and a two-out walk. McKeever realized he tried to throw too hard when he got in a jam. Kemnitz tells him to “muscle down” instead of “muscling up” to preserve the heavy sink on his ball. When McKeever throws too hard, his ball flattens out and hitters prosper.
- The weekend rotation will be Rob Musgrave, Aaron Shafer and TBA.
- Junior Logan Hoch got the pitchers out of running with baseball advice on savvy. “Savvy” means knowing the game, and knowing what you don’t know about the game. Hoch’s advice is to pick the brains of the older players. Kemnitz liked it, and absolved the staff of burnouts.