Interview With Assistant Coaches James Ramsey & Danny Borrell
The 2020 college baseball season is just around the corner, with the countdown to first pitch now at 4 days. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets will start the season at Russ Chandler Stadium against the Saint Peter's Peacocks on February 14th, with first pitch slated for 4:00pm EST.
Prior to the start of the season, All Yellow Jackets caught up both hitting coach James Ramsey and pitching coach Danny Borrell. Ramsey is heading into his second season as the hitting coach of the Yellow Jackets, while Borrell is heading into his inaugural season as the pitching coach.
As an outfielder for the Florida State Seminoles form 2009-12, Ramsey was a First Team All-American and ACC Player of the Year under then head coach Mike Martin. He was a first round pick in 2012, played professionally for 5 seasons, and was the FSU hitting coach in 2018 before coming to Georgia Tech.
Borrell has spent the majority of his professional career with the Bronx Bombers. A second round pick in the 2000 MLB Draft, he spent 7 years in the NY Yankees organization as a player (LHP). Post playing career, he was the pitching coach for the Yankees and then later became the pitching coordinator for their farm system.
Assistant/Hitting Coach James Ramsey
On the transition period coming to Georgia Tech as a coach:
Coming in I was new to coaching, just stepping off a pro field. I had to keep the highest leverage things the most important. What is Tech doing well? What could they improve on? What do I think my personality is? Because I'm going to be me: a high up tempo energy guy. I'm going make sure that the guys know I care about them off the field. There was a lot that went into the transition and interview process as far as me researching what we needed. But I just wanted to make sure I was clearly communicating a very simple message. We gotta be tough, we gotta be gritty, we gotta make sure we grind out at-bats. We had to make sure we play good defense and we run the bases well. I took individual plans on different guys and and looked at where they hit the ball and where do they not. I looked at untapped areas of guys, whether they swung really well or they didn't swing enough, or guys that take too much and all that. I had to be on my X's and O's about it. Obviously it was a great year last season, and it was a team that I think they didn't know how good they were. That's the fun part about coaching, and that's my strength just as an encourager. I'm going to let them know how good they are. I'm going to tell them I think they're All-Conference good. I just needed them to believe that. So I think you kind of saw that in the way we played with confidence and went into tough places and won games. They embodied a little bit of that.
On if he expected last season’s team to hit as well as they did:
I have tangible goals but I try to stay away from that. I think we could have a lot better last year. We led in all these categories and we did all things to create runs. I don't know that we thought we were going to score 7.8 runs for a month straight in the ACC. But I thought that if we could stay locked into the process of passing the bat back to the guy behind me and take a quality at-bat, we could do special things. It was a good reward to be named the 3rd national seed in the country because of the resumé we put together with the really tough schedule. But I told us these guys this year that we're not going to surprise anybody. The style of play will not be surprising anyone. Guys are going to play better, just naturally we're going to be circled on more schedules. Are we going to win the same number games? I don't know. Could we win more games? We could. Do I expect us to lead the ACC in offensive categories? Of course. That's always the way I've played. It's always the way that I put that out there. As long as we can grow in the right areas as a young team with good leadership. I think that the program is in a really good place because we're recruiting at a high level and coaching at a high level. It’s really fun to come to work every day
On what he learned from former FSU head coach Mike Martin:
He used a lot of really profound things that he simplifies with his southern drawl. Just watching him or following around, he makes it so simple. But he was creating stressful environments on purpose to make sure that guys were challenging themselves. He's big on a systematic team-first approach. That's one thing that Coach [Danny] Hall has done well too. He also makes sure that we place guys in the MLB that stay there. Mike Martin never set out to win 40 games a year, it just kind of happens. But I think Coach Hall and Martin are on that on the same mindset of being competitive and you want to win. They were great friends, so that's why the transition was kind of easy. Especially because of the foundation: the way they live their life and the way that they treat their players was so similar. I've always tried to be a sponge. I’ve played in five pro organizations over seven years. Whether it's players or coaches, I ask “hey, what good stuff can I find out?” I saw guys ascend to these positions and the work ethic and just the habits they have. They stay focused on how can they be the best. On how can they clearly communicate that to the player. I've sat in there and faced 100 miles an hour. You can't be thinking about your mechanics when that happens. If we just compete every single day, as cliché as that sounds. I think we out competed people last year more times than we were out competed. At our level, emotions play even more so than the major leagues. Because for us, it's Game 7 of the World Series every night. I don't get tired of playing five games in the midweek and traveling. Part of it is because I've done 140 games in 150 days. But it's fun. As we won more games, more fans showed up. We need to do a better job of putting out a great product on the field that people are excited to come out to midtown and see. There's a little more of an intimate feel about coming to a Georgia Tech baseball game.
On the adjustments he can make from Year 1 to Year 2:
I'm always trying to be more organized. I'm a big picture vision guy. I'm very intentional about taking time for one guy, sometimes at the expense of spending time with all 22 hitters at once. I think there's always different ways that you communicate information. This year's roster is so different than last year. We've got a bunch of new guys that I don't take for granted. I ask myself “have they ever been taught to bunt? Have they ever been taught to hit and run the right way?” They've all been taught to hit and run, but a lot of times they give up the at bat and they just groundout to shortstop. We didn't need a hit and run to do that, we can just ground out on our own. Our practice plans now are a little different than they were last spring or even in the fall. We had to make sure we're building instincts. Say I’m out in the outfield and there's two outs and we're up three. It's different than if it's no outs and it's a tie game. Just different positioning that we want them to take accountability for. It's easy for us to whistle and move a guy two steps. But when a guy leaves this program, they’re a better baseball player, a better person, and a better student athlete.
On who has progressed the most in his tenure:
I'm really proud of a lot of guys. It's a process. Getting better is sometimes the biggest enemy, because if you're good and you’ve hit .300, why would I try to hit .350? Or, why would I buy into seeing more pitches or seeing less pitches? Why would I change my steal stance if I've only gotten thrown out twice? Well, because you can steal eight more bags and not get thrown out at all. Now you put more pressure on the pitcher and the guy behind you is gonna see more fastballs. I think Michael Guldberg is one that kind of sits back in the shadows a little bit. I think he gets his due a little bit because of his success on and off the field. But he's redefining his game. [Luke] Waddell I think is always just hungry. People know about these guys, but I've been pushing them to that. They had [Tristin] English, [Kyle] McCann and Joey Bart that played in front of them. They were always lead by example and action guys, which is great. Now that we have Jadyn Jackson playing behind Waddell, Tres Gonzalez playing behind Colin Hall and Guldberg, they make that guy better. That matters to the young guys. I want them to really buy into “every rep matters”. Not from a judgment standpoint, but to take that approach over the course of the season. I think sometimes there is wanting something too much as well. That was something that I think these guys now have learned from. They understand the hurt of last year. But I think that they realize that this is a new opportunity. As much as you outcompete people, you can also want something so much that you kind of get outside of your process.
On how they approached the end of last season:
We really haven't talked about it. I'm “big motivation guy”, but I haven't felt the need to. Part of it being that the guys that returned have been driven. They haven't needed a kick in the butt. I told them the other day that there's a difference between lighting a fire under someone and lighting a fire inside someone. Rarely can we be the ones that light the fire inside of them. That's one that's an internal thing that you have to do. So that's why we haven't needed to do it. We didn't sweep a single ACC opponent last year, and won our division & 9 of the 10 series. That's not a great formula. We'll take it, don't get me wrong, but that's a super stressful formula. It’d be great not to have to win every single Sunday going in. But at the same time, the new guys watched a program that hadn't reached the postseason. You know several of them turned down draft opportunities, because all of a sudden the smell around the program and everything was better.
Assistant/Pitching Coach Danny Borrell
On the decision to leave the NY Yankees:
I'd spent 18 years in pro ball and the last five of it being pitching coordinator. It was 170 days a year that I'm on the road. I'm traveling from New York all the way to the Dominican. Just staying on top of every single one of our nine affiliates. It took a toll, but not a bad way. It's a 24/7 job. I have to be readily available for a phone call. I have to be readily available for any moves that are made in the system. So when this opportunity came up, I was in that spot in my life where was I had been doing this a long time. I have a 13 year old son, been married 18 years and spent a lot of time on the road.
On how many other collegiate opportunities he had:
I've had a lot of opportunities at very big schools and very reputable schools. One of them being Wake Forest, my alma mater. The timing of it over there just wasn't the best time for me. But as I really thought about it, it was like: “If I'm going to go, now's the right time to do it.” I’ve had major league opportunities and I've had several opportunities since I came here to go into a major league team to be their major league pitching coach. But once I made this decision, I wanted to stay.
On his pitching philosophy:
My stance is that everybody is an individual. Before I make a change on anything, I want to be around these guys. I want to have established a relationship, a personal relationship so I can earn their trust. The last thing I wanted to do coming in was just throw the hammer down on my first day and say we're doing it my way. I've been around enough to know that if I try to cookie cut these guys into a certain fashion, then it's not going to work. I've had the luxury of being around the best players in the world. Over my five years, I think we had 40 guys make their major league debut. Seeing the development of these guys from the time they were drafted or signed as a free agent through Latin America, everybody's different. So I have to approach these guys the same way. I can't teach Ben King's mechanics to Zach Maxwell. Everybody's different.
On what his first order of business was when he got to Georgia Tech
I wanted to see how they operated on daily basis. Why they did certain things. There was a lot of give and take. Certain guys like the long toss. And I would ask, well why? Why do you long toss or why don't you long toss? My biggest thing is if you have a reason why you do or don't do something, it better be a good reason. Not just: “well, that's all I've ever done.” As long as you give me a reason, then I'm fine with it.
On who has benefitted the most from having their mechanics adjusted or upgraded:
I think more along the lines of pitch package development and alterations. I changed some mechanical things here and there, but these guys are here for a reason, you know? Same thing in pro ball. It's rare that I just reset a guy's mechanics. It was more along the lines of “how can I make their pitch package better?” That's where the technology comes in that measures spin rates, spin direction, vertical/horizontal movements, all that stuff that I love to look into. High speed cameras that see how their bodies are moving throughout the course of their delivery. That's how I approach each and every single pitcher.
On utilizing technology to improve pitching:
We actually have phase two renovations coming and the development lab we're putting in is going to rival any lab in the country. Not just in college, but in pro ball, The innovation is very high on [Athletic Director Todd Stansbury]’s list. So when I approached him with the technology I wanted to put in this lab, I told him it's gonna be the first of its kind. People will come to us to use this lab man. I think that really hit home with him. We were designing a lab with the Yankees, and I was playing a part in that of what to use and how to use it. I've done that, plus added a lot of different technologies to make this one of the kind.
On figuring out the rotation and bullpen roles for this season:
It’s putting pieces together in the puzzle is what it is. You can't replace what we lost last year. Connor Thomas, Xzavion Curry, Amos Willingham and just all those arms, we were very starter heavy last year. They provided the majority of innings. Now we're going to be young. But we brought in a lot of good kids and good arms. So now it’s just trying to piece those things together to make sure that we have a good chance to win every single game. With Jonathan Hughes & Cort Roedig leading the way, you're talking about two premier arms that I would put up against anyone in the country. Having those two guys at the front of your rotation is a nice little edge that helps.
On who benefitted the most from the offseason:
I would hope the guys would say everyone's benefited from it. If I'm singling out just two, it’s Jonathan Hughes and Cort Roedig. Jonathan Hughes had a pitch package that wasn't really complementing his stuff. So we messed around with some spin efficiencies and movement profiles on fastballs to let his 94-97 play the way it should. He's really benefited from increasing vertical lift on his fastball and adding a curveball to his repertoire. Cort Roedig is now 94-97. He's always had a great arm. But he was throwing his curveball 68-70 miles an hour last year. Change up was in the same range. He's a power pitcher, so I was trying to get into his head to say “Listen, you're a power pitcher. Let's pitch like one.” So you'll see a completely different pitch package from him.
On how difficult it was to get pitchers to change their ways upon his arrival:
With the credentials that I have coming in, there are some benefits to that. I broke through those trust barriers pretty soon when I got here to Georgia Tech, which helped. But as long as you give these guys reasons why we want to change something. I provided them with the analytics, the data behind why I was trying to change things and why it would benefit each pitcher.
On who he thinks is primed for a breakout year:
Andy Archer. Now he's healthy. He's really worked on his craft in the offseason. He's put on good weight. We're going to rely heavily on him. He's a guy that's going to come out of the bullpen and he's going to start. He’s going to get a lot of innings and his stuff has taken a tick upward. He has a really good feel of the strike zone. He can throw it to different quadrants. He has a great change up and we've incorporated a slider as well. So we're going to try to get those different things in to make sure that we complement the fastball.
On who has the best fastball and breaking ball:
*long pause* Yes. It's weird because velocity doesn't tell the whole story. There's those underlying qualities of spin and axis and vertical/horizontal breaks. But for pure power, you're talking Cort Roedig and freshman Zach Maxwell. The best breaking ball is Jonathan Hughes. I would put his breaking ball up with not just anyone in college but anyone in pro ball too. It's that good of a breaking ball. Its spin rates were through the roof. It was at 3200 RPM, and the major league average is 2500, and it’s at 85-86 MPH. Whoever gets him out of the draft is going to be very happy with how the breaking ball works. He'll move pretty quick once he gets to pro ball.
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