Saluki Baseball Conversation | Ken Henderson - Southern Illinois University Athletics

Saluki Baseball Conversation | Ken Henderson

10/01/2017 | 2:22:00 | Baseball

Head coach Ken Henderson is entering his eighth year at the helm of the Saluki Baseball program and will surpass 200 career wins this year. We sat down with him to discuss the 2018 season expectations, exciting newcomers, expanding the running game and much more.

How has the summer gone?

Summer was very good. It's been normal—recruiting, trying to get the pieces in place for this year and the following years. We're coming off a year in which we fell short of our goals and expectations, so there was plenty of motivation and excitement to get the fall started. We're excited about the guys we have coming back, and I think we've put a great group of newcomers with them. It's a solid group of guys with a great deal of talent and we're exciting to get moving forward.

Four players were taken in the MLB Draft. How will that affect this year's team?

The draft was an interesting week for us. It's bittersweet. In the long run, we came out of it better than I thought. I'm always excited for our guys when they get a chance to play professional baseball. Everybody in our clubhouse has aspirations of doing that at some point. First of all, I'm really happy for Chad Whitmer and Joey Marciano. Those two seniors certainly deserved and earned that opportunity. We knew we had a chance to lose some juniors. We could have lost four, maybe five guys, but we only lost two. Those two were pretty special players. Greg Lambert and Nick Hutchins had really good careers for us. We will miss Lambert's bat in the middle of the lineup and Nick's defense, controlling the pitching staff and the running game. The sweet side is that we held on to Michael Baird and Connor Kopach. We didn't know, going into the draft, how that would work out. Eventually, we were able to hold on to them and both had great summers. They worked extremely hard. We're about halfway through the fall, and both of them are having the best falls of their careers. In some ways, I think they put a lot of pressure on themselves last year. Now that they're back, the pressure is off. They have taken the mindset to relax and give it their best efforts, and I think that's paying off on the field.

The core of the team was essentially the same for three seasons. What's it like now with a new group of players?

Obviously, you don't recruit kids unless you like them, but I don't know that I've ever had a recruiting class that came in so much better than our expectations. They're far ahead of where they were when we saw them. Again, we liked them when we saw them, but they are much better than I even anticipated. We don't typically recruit a lot of junior college kids, but we felt we needed some immediate help. We brought in six junior college guys, and I could not be more pleased with them. They will all be immediate impact guys, as you hope junior college guys will be. Physically, they're better than I thought; and in terms of make-up, they're off the charts. Nikola Vasic and Alex Lyon on the infield are perfect fits for us. They're blue collar guys. They're throw-backs in terms of how they approach the game and with their work ethic. Kenton Crawford is extremely talented. We were very fortunate to get Austin Ulick after we lost Nick Hutchins in the MLB Draft. He has three years left and is a really good catch-and-throw guy. We had some question marks with starting pitcher, and Mason Hiser and Dylan Givens are both capable of being starters for us. As I said, I couldn't be more pleased with the junior college guys. We were really careful to recruit the right kids—people we felt would fit in. All six seem as if they've been here forever.

What have you seen from the incoming freshmen?

Recruiting is so crazy anymore. You start recruiting kids so early in their high school careers. You see them and like them, but it's amazing to see the strides they make by the time they get here. Grey Epps and J.T. Weber are guys that physically are far ahead of where we thought they would be coming in as freshmen. On the mound, Noah Farmer has looked as good as anyone.Trey McDaniel and Nolan Johnson are everything we thought they would be in terms of make-up—perfect fits for us and what we're trying to do with the program in terms of tough, hard-nosed kids who grind it out every day. Bradley Hudson, Stephen Mogged and Michael Bieterman have all done what we expect them to do. I'm really pleased with all of those guys. Several of the freshmen will make an immediate impact.

Michael Baird said he was excited about the sophomores taking a leap this year. What have you seen?

Typically, college players make the biggest jump between their freshmen and sophomore years. Part of that is the natural maturation, and part of it is they have spent an entire year focusing on baseball. After their freshmen years, they go out and play summer ball, and it's amazing to see the progress they make when they come back as sophomores. When they leave in June, you don't notice a difference; but when they come back in August, they look like men. That has certainly been the case with a lot of those guys. Addison Fugitt is a guy we have to count on in the outfield. He could always run but is now much bigger and stronger. Mitch Fairfield and Jared Kengott are both bigger and stronger. On the mound, that's a group that we have to count on heavily. Brad Harrison, Alex Gutermuth, Henry Boeckmann and Justin Yeager all got a ton of innings last year; but at times, they threw like freshmen. So far this fall, they have made a big jump. They look like they belong in college, not only physically, but also mentally. That sophomore class is a huge class for us. They have to produce and be impact guys for us to have success.

What are the expectations for 2018?

For me, the expectation is always to win the league. We haven't talked a lot about that. We're going out every day and working our rear ends off to be the best we can be, to improve all phases of the game. The guys have done everything we have asked them to do. If we take care of things on a daily basis and play the game like we're capable of, the end result will take care of itself. The goal is to be at the top of the league. It will be interesting because we have so many new guys. Fifteen new guys is basically half the club. Nobody really knows what to expect, and I think we're going to surprise a lot of people. The pieces are in place.

Are there areas that you're particularly focused on this year?

We have been good on defense. We need to continue that. Defensively, we will have a lot more depth. We can move people around. Excluding first base, we have five infielders that can all really play. We're going to run better than we have ever run. We had a lot of stolen bases last year, but I truly believe this is the fastest team I've been involved with in 34 years of coaching Division I baseball. However, the two areas that are getting the most attention are throwing strikes and grinding out at bats. We have to do a better job of throwing strikes on the bump. We have guys who are capable of that. Coach Finigan is doing a great job, and guys are buying in. Our stuff is good enough; we just walked too many guys last year. Trust your stuff and pound the zone. Offensively, we needed to get back to what we do. We play in a huge yard, and the ball doesn't carry. We're built on speed, so we're getting back to hitting the ball where it's pitched and using both sides of the field. We're not beating the ball into the ground, but we're certainly not hitting lazy fly balls because it won't carry out of the park. We have a few guys who can hit the ball out of the park, especially Logan Blackfan sitting in the middle, and we have guys who can drive in some runs. However, to be successful, we have to get back to being a club that doesn't strike out much and grinds out ABs. We'll put a lot of pressure on the defense. Guys have bought into that with our speed. If we can continue to do those things and continue to make strides, we can have a really good offensive club.

You put in a new running game last year and stole 100 bases. What will that look like going forward?

First and foremost, the credit goes to our assistant coaches. Coach Strain, who was here last year, and Coach LaRue implemented a different philosophy in our running game. We made it a priority and spent a great deal of time on it. It was a huge weapon for us last year, not only the stolen bases but also the pressure we put on other teams. We hope to be even better at that. It was new for us last year, and we had a great deal of success. That was a club that was just OK in terms of speed; and like I said earlier, this club runs much better. If we can continue to do those things with more guys in the lineup—I think we can put six or seven guys in the lineup who can steal a base anytime they want—we can expand on it. It's not just stealing bases. It's turning singles into doubles and double into triples. Our park has big gaps, so we can get a lot of extra base hits. Those things put pressure on a defense. We have several guys who can bunt for a hit at any given time. That puts pressure on the infield. We have continued this fall to build that kind of ball club. It's somewhat reminiscent of the old Whitey ball with the St. Louis Cardinals. Whitey built his club for his park and his personnel, and I think we've done the same thing. It's fun and it's exciting. Our kids like flying around the yard. This park necessitates that we be that kind of club. And it's not just on the bases. We have speed in the outfield. We have range on the infield. We can put pressure on the bases, and we can run it down on defense. To me, that's a recipe for a lot of wins. The three components are throwing strikes, grinding out ABs and making routine plays. This is a club that should do those three things well.

P.J. Finigan is in his eighth year as pitching coach. What value do you get with that continuity?

He has a great deal of passion for Saluki Baseball. He played here for Coach Cal and I. He had a great career here. He returned and has remained here because of his passion for Saluki Baseball. There's something to be said for continuity. He does a great job in recruiting. He has developed great recruiting ties around the midwest. Our players like to work for him. They know what is expected. It's been huge to be able to keep him on staff. We were very fortunate to have Coach Strain for seven years. He got a great opportunity to be a head coach back in Denver. We'll move forward from that and hopefully find that same continuity, as Coach LaRue returns on the offensive side of things. We're also very fortunate to have Cody Forsythe back helping us out. He's one of the best pitchers that we've had since I've been here. He could flat-out pitch, was brilliant on the mound and frustrated the heck out of opponents. He's back finishing up his degree, and he has already brought a lot of knowledge on how to win in college baseball back to our guys. He's been a great asset.