The Texas Longhorn baseball team is starting its 2025 campaign this weekend – the first under new head coach Jim Schlossnagle.
There are a lot of unknowns heading into the season about what kind of team Texas will field. But Schloss told @ZachattheDisch that this 2025 squad is already forming an identity.
“Right now the identity is, kind of a blue-collar work ethic, grinder mentality,” Schlossnagle said. “Pretty reflective, on the position player side, of Troy Tulowitzki. Which is one of the main reasons that I really wanted him here.”
Texas hitting coach Troy Tulowitzki is the only holdover from David Pierce’s staff to keep his job after Schlossnagle came in. The two had never worked together before, but from Schloss liked what he saw while sitting in the dugout as Texas A&M’s head coach.
“I felt like from the other dugout, in the years in which Troy had full grasp and control and responsibility and ownership on the hitters and infielders, you could tell,” Schlossnagle said. “It was [Trey] Faltine and [Skyler] Messinger and [Douglas] Hodo. Those were some tough kids, at least that was my perception, and Troy was right in the center of that.”
It turns out, Schlossnagle and Tulowitzki have similar philosophies when it comes to preparation.
“It’s been awesome, him getting an idea of how we like to do things,” Schlossnagle said on the first day of practice. “I think it’s really in tune with who he is; his discipline, his competitiveness, what he believes in in terms of offensive baseball. I’m super excited about it.
“He’s a big believer in the mental game, which I am. Like Coach [Auggie] Garrido, it’s a huge part of what we do. Frankly, I’ve never had a hitting coach – I’ve had some good ones – but I’ve never had one as bought into the mental game as Troy is. That aligns well with me so we’re speaking the same language. I’m really excited about our staff.”
Schlossnagle talked about how the mental game helps players not let the moment get too big.
“You can’t be in control of your performance until you’re in control of yourself. Mental skills are like physical skills, those can be practiced every single day. They can be practiced every day so that when we get to those moments – whether it be Friday night, first SEC series at Mississippi State, if it’s good weather there’s going to be 15,000 people there, you just go have an at-bat and you trust those skills so that when you have those moments you just do what you do. That’s all you can control anyway. So an at-bat here today, an at-bat at Mississippi State, an at-bat at Omaha, is just an at-bat. Sometimes players make a mistake of making it more than what it is - so if you train for that – I do believe it is a difference maker or I wouldn’t do it.”
The players are praising Tulowitzki’s work on the mental approach to the game as well, especially staying in the moment.
“We just take every day and step by step,” said Texas centerfielder Will Gasparino. “No matter who we’re playing it’s just we play to a standard, not just a scoreboard.”
While new left fielder Easton Winfield says Tulowitzki has helped him in a very specific way.
“There’s nobody else that’s better to talk to about failure than him,” said the sophomore transfer from Louisiana-Monroe.
Winfield talked about how even though Tulowitzki had an amazing career in the Majors (a career .290 hitter over 13 MLB seasons), the former pro shortstop still had to learn how to deal with failure in order to last as long as he did. Winfield says Tulo has been passing that knowledge along to him as well and it has made him a better player.
“Just kind of embracing failure and learning from it is where I’ve grown,” Winfield said. “I used to take failure and let it wear and tear on me all night. But now I take failure as a learning moment.”
Nolan Arenado knows a thing or two about failure as well. The St. Louis Cardinals third baseman (for now) is entering his 13th season and is on the trading block as he is not in the Cardinals plans after a couple of disappointing seasons.
Arenado decided to seek out Tulowitzki’s help this winter.
Orangebloods baseball writer @ZachattheDisch has confirmed that Arenado has been working out with Tulowitzki in Austin for several weeks now.
The two first met in Colorado when Tulo was at the end of his career and Arenado was at the start of his.
Even then, Tulowitzki was developing into a coach-type that the other players looked up to, as he explained to ESPN in 2015.
"As a veteran, I never realized how valuable your word can be even if you're playing bad,” Tulowitzki said. “If I pat a young kid on the back and say, 'I liked your swing in [batting practice] today,' that goes a long way. I didn't know that when I was young, but when Todd [Helton] told me something, it stayed with me longer. If he told me to grind out an at-bat, it stuck with me more than everybody else. My grind was there. It made me realize my word meant something."
One of the young players who listened to Tulowitzki more than others was Arenado.
"He shows me the way," Arenado said. "Obviously, you have to be your own player and do your own things. But if this is how the best shortstop in the game does it, there's no reason I shouldn't be doing it."
Arenado, who is a five-time Silver Slugger award winner, three time National League home run leader and two time NL RBI leader, is once again leaning on Tulo again as he gets ready to start another season in the big leagues.
That kind of big league talent hanging around and learning from a coach provides instant credibility to current players or recruits who are looking to learn from the best.
It also bodes well for a Texas team that is looking to make some noise in its first season of SEC play, and continue its run of most Omaha appearances of any school.
TEXAS SPORTS ROUNDUP:
The Texas women's basketball team continues to roll. The Horns went on the road against a top-10 team and easily dispatched the Kentucky Wildcats.
Kyla Oldacre and Maddison Booker led the way with 19 points each while Taylor Jones added 15 on her own.
By the way, I believe Texas found a good one when they hired Vic Schaefer.
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The men's basketball team is at home on Saturday to take on the #15 Kentucky Wildcats.
Just in case you missed it, Kevin Durant continues to be one of the best of all time.
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The number one softball team in the country, the Texas Longhorns, return to work this weekend. They were a perfect 6-0 last weekend and they've got another five games this weekend when they host the "Bevo Classic."
And they’re rolling out a new look this year.
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The men's tennis team is set to compete in the indoor national championships drawing none other than Texas A&M in the first round.
The Horns are hot right now, having beaten the number one seed TCU last weekend.
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Track & Field and Cross Country are participating in two events this weekend as the indoor season is rapidly coming to a close.
The sprinters are in Clemson for the "Tiger Paw Invite," while the distance runners are headed to Boston for a meet at BU over the weekend.
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The women's golf team is going to play in the "Moon Golf Invitational" hosted by Louisville University. But they won't have to worry about the cold with the tournament being played in Melbourne, FL.
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Both the men's and women's swimming and diving teams, who are ranked #1 & #2 in the country, will head to Athens, Georgia where the SEC Championships get underway on Monday.
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Finally, because we can't completely ignore football. I present you with defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski's Broyles Award speech.
