SE: Changes in K-State Baseball Add Up to Excitement for Players, Coaches
Oct 03, 2018 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
Stand in K-State baseball's dugout this fall during a practice and one word will immediately come to mind: Change. It's abundant in almost every area.
The Wildcats are under completely different leadership, led by first-year head coach Pete Hughes. His staff includes mostly new faces as well, from pitching game coordinator Cord "Buck" Taylor to assistant Austin Wates and director of baseball operations Ryan Connolly.
K-State's roster includes more newcomers — freshmen and transfers — than it does returners.
To top it off, K-State's Tointon Family Stadium received a large number of significant upgrades this summer.
All of these changes, junior outfielder Will Brennan said Monday before batting practice, has made it an "exciting" time to be in the program.
"That's about the only way I can describe it. You have the whole new staff in here, they're bringing new ideas, and you have got basically a whole new team and then you have this," he said, pointing all around the stadium. "It makes coming to the field every day pretty easy. You want to work hard and prepare for the spring."
This summer, K-State's infield received new turf that included covering the mound. The outfield wall was rebuilt with padding. The bullpens increased significantly in size and moved to behind the left and right field walls. Like most Major League Baseball stadiums, players also have the ability to still watch the game from the bullpens through mesh fencing. The former visiting bullpen area was padded with concrete for future fan experience opportunities. The fencing along the first and third base lines were redone with limestone with a padded interior. The dugouts also were updated.
"I love it," Hughes said of the facility improvements. "The way I gauge facilities is, 'Is it a recruitable presentation?' That's the only way I gauge it. It's a beautiful presentation when you get (recruits) down here. The dugouts are done first class. The bullpens are as good as it gets in the country. All of it was done in a first-class manner.
"It's exciting. I like to get the vantage point of the guys who played here last year and the year before, and they can't believe how nice it looks. It really turned the appearance of the stadium around. It's a major college baseball facility now."
And it's only going to get better. These upgrades were all part of Phase 1 of the $15 million baseball-soccer project. Phase 2, for baseball, will begin after the 2019 season and include of another wave of major enhancements.
"When the stadium's done it will be one of the top fields that we'll play at in the Big 12," Brennan said. "It's an exciting time for Kansas State baseball."
Brennan said this excitement within the team truly started to build the first day it met with Hughes this fall. The message conveyed to the team left the 2018 First Team All-Big 12 outfielder with a "surreal" feeling.
"It was, 'Hey, there's new guys, it's a new staff and we don't really care. We're not looking to rebuild. We're looking to just win out of the gate,'" Brennan recalled. "This is not a rebuild. It's a new college baseball team that wants to win."
Conversely, Hughes said that's the number one observation he's made so far in fall practices.
"These kids want to be good in baseball," he said. "They come to the park every day with a great attitude and their willingness to want to get better. As long as kids want to get better, then I'm all in, 100 percent, and this group does want to get better and they care about their craft and the preparation it takes to be successful at this level."
For him, he said it started with getting to know the players on a personal level. This business, the 20-plus year coach said, has always been about building strong relationships, first and foremost.
"I'm around them all the time. I'm not one of those watchtower coaches. That's not my style," Hughes said. "The only way to get to know these guys is to be present with them, whether it's in the weight room or you call them into your office or you hang out with them in the dugout. I address the team every single day, so as long as they keep hearing my voice and seeing my face, they get more and more comfortable around me, then you establish relationships."
Brennan said he's noticed a different vibe at practices this fall, expected because of all the changes but largely a product of the culture Hughes and his staff have started to establish.
"Coach Hughes is always on everybody in a positive way. He wants to get you better. You can tell he wants to turn this program around, back to what it was when (volunteer assistant coach) Shane (Conlon) was playing here," Brennan said, as K-State opens its fall schedule with a home game against Cowley County Community College on Thursday at 3 p.m. "The rest of the coaching staff, they're players' coaches and they're really looking out for you. They want you to succeed."
Stand in K-State baseball's dugout this fall during a practice and one word will immediately come to mind: Change. It's abundant in almost every area.
The Wildcats are under completely different leadership, led by first-year head coach Pete Hughes. His staff includes mostly new faces as well, from pitching game coordinator Cord "Buck" Taylor to assistant Austin Wates and director of baseball operations Ryan Connolly.
K-State's roster includes more newcomers — freshmen and transfers — than it does returners.
To top it off, K-State's Tointon Family Stadium received a large number of significant upgrades this summer.
All of these changes, junior outfielder Will Brennan said Monday before batting practice, has made it an "exciting" time to be in the program.
"That's about the only way I can describe it. You have the whole new staff in here, they're bringing new ideas, and you have got basically a whole new team and then you have this," he said, pointing all around the stadium. "It makes coming to the field every day pretty easy. You want to work hard and prepare for the spring."
This summer, K-State's infield received new turf that included covering the mound. The outfield wall was rebuilt with padding. The bullpens increased significantly in size and moved to behind the left and right field walls. Like most Major League Baseball stadiums, players also have the ability to still watch the game from the bullpens through mesh fencing. The former visiting bullpen area was padded with concrete for future fan experience opportunities. The fencing along the first and third base lines were redone with limestone with a padded interior. The dugouts also were updated.
"I love it," Hughes said of the facility improvements. "The way I gauge facilities is, 'Is it a recruitable presentation?' That's the only way I gauge it. It's a beautiful presentation when you get (recruits) down here. The dugouts are done first class. The bullpens are as good as it gets in the country. All of it was done in a first-class manner.
"It's exciting. I like to get the vantage point of the guys who played here last year and the year before, and they can't believe how nice it looks. It really turned the appearance of the stadium around. It's a major college baseball facility now."
And it's only going to get better. These upgrades were all part of Phase 1 of the $15 million baseball-soccer project. Phase 2, for baseball, will begin after the 2019 season and include of another wave of major enhancements.
"When the stadium's done it will be one of the top fields that we'll play at in the Big 12," Brennan said. "It's an exciting time for Kansas State baseball."
Brennan said this excitement within the team truly started to build the first day it met with Hughes this fall. The message conveyed to the team left the 2018 First Team All-Big 12 outfielder with a "surreal" feeling.
"It was, 'Hey, there's new guys, it's a new staff and we don't really care. We're not looking to rebuild. We're looking to just win out of the gate,'" Brennan recalled. "This is not a rebuild. It's a new college baseball team that wants to win."
Conversely, Hughes said that's the number one observation he's made so far in fall practices.
"These kids want to be good in baseball," he said. "They come to the park every day with a great attitude and their willingness to want to get better. As long as kids want to get better, then I'm all in, 100 percent, and this group does want to get better and they care about their craft and the preparation it takes to be successful at this level."
For him, he said it started with getting to know the players on a personal level. This business, the 20-plus year coach said, has always been about building strong relationships, first and foremost.
"I'm around them all the time. I'm not one of those watchtower coaches. That's not my style," Hughes said. "The only way to get to know these guys is to be present with them, whether it's in the weight room or you call them into your office or you hang out with them in the dugout. I address the team every single day, so as long as they keep hearing my voice and seeing my face, they get more and more comfortable around me, then you establish relationships."
Brennan said he's noticed a different vibe at practices this fall, expected because of all the changes but largely a product of the culture Hughes and his staff have started to establish.
"Coach Hughes is always on everybody in a positive way. He wants to get you better. You can tell he wants to turn this program around, back to what it was when (volunteer assistant coach) Shane (Conlon) was playing here," Brennan said, as K-State opens its fall schedule with a home game against Cowley County Community College on Thursday at 3 p.m. "The rest of the coaching staff, they're players' coaches and they're really looking out for you. They want you to succeed."
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