Hogs pitchers warm up fast to new coach

Arkansas' Dominic Taccolini warms up Friday, Sept. 9, 2016, as pitching coach Wes Johnson observes during practice at Baum Stadium in Fayetteville.

— Dominic Taccolini may have returned to Arkansas no matter how the search for a new pitching coach turned out.

“In my heart, I figured I was about 95 percent certain I'd come back for my senior year,” Taccolini said. “But I will say that when I went to the Blue Jays (in the 16th round), I was wrestling with it.”

Then, Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn hired pitching coach Wes Johnson away from Mississippi State and there was nothing to think about for Taccolini.

“I got fired up,” Taccolini said. “I knew I was coming back then and I'm so glad I came back.”

Taccolini is one of many on the Arkansas pitching staff fired up. They love everything about their new coach.

“We loved Coach (Dave) Jorn, but we love Coach Johnson,” Taccolini said. “Coach Johnson makes you want to take on the world.”

A fresh approach can always help, but Johnson is more than a fresh approach. He's a breath of fresh air for a pitching staff that was worked over by SEC hitters last season as the Hogs stumbled home with a 26-29 record and 13 straight losses to end the year. The Hogs were ranked at the bottom of most SEC pitching stats, including a team ERA of 6.07 in league games.

“Coach Johnson is about positivity,” Taccolini said. “He's going to tell you what you do wrong and fix those things, but he doesn't harp on negativity.”

Johnson said that's his approach throughout his coaching career, but pointed out there was a need for a boost in confidence in this staff.

“They got beat up pretty good last year,” Johnson said. “I'm big on building confidence. I've always done that.

“Everyone here was good or they wouldn't have been recruited to come here. I want them to walk around thinking they are good.”

There is a new approach to being good. There's a lot of mental work, but the physical work has changed, too.

“They worked here,” Johnson said. “The culture was good. I know Dave Jorn. I'm following a legend and that's never easy. I just have given them a few new things.”

One specific change was work with weighted baseballs in a revamped Pitching Development Center. There is also a lot of heavy leg work with weighted sleds.

“I told them right away that to be great, it's very boring,” Johnson said. “You just have to continue to work the process. Not a lot of guys get fired up to come in early to push a sled. You have to give up a lot of things that people like to do in college.

“A lot of people think the weighted balls are about adding velocity. It's really more about health. It does you no good if you throw 95 but you are sitting down in the dugout hurt. I think what we do with the weighted baseball is about helping recovery and you do that by developing strength.”

Taccolini knows the weighted ball has helped velocity.

“I came back three weeks early for the start of school to get started on that,” Taccolini said. “There are six different balls with different weights. What we do helps strength, but it also corrects arm paths and strengthens the shoulder.

“The results have been outstanding. Everyone has gained some velocity, throwing a lot harder. I'm up and I know other guys are, too. Blaine Knight and Isaiah Campbell are in the mid 90s. I was up, around 92-93 in my second outing of the fall. Kevin Kopps went from the mid 80s to the 90s and his off speed got better.

“It isn't just our velocity that's up. Our breaking pitches are all better. Keaton McKinney never really had much of a curve ball. He does now.”

Taccolini, who was 5-5 last year with a 5.75 ERA while working as a mostly Friday starter, said he's developed more pitches, but the key has been how to utilize them in the strike zone.

“Coach Johnson has simplified our approach,” Taccolini said. “He studies the visual part of pitching. And that's the key to everything we do.

“My curve is better and I have confidence in it. He's big on the golf analogies as far as the mental part. You hear that golfers visualize shots. We visualize our pitches, especially the curve ball. We've learned where our strengths are and how to use them."

Taccolini said Arkansas' pitchers are throwing more strikes and focusing on keeping their arsenal to two or three pitches.

“He's taught us focus," Taccolini said. "Like I said, he talks about golf. He said what we had to do was change our focus.

“He explained to us that there are different levels of pro golfers. There are those on the PGA Tour, some on the next tour and some on the mini tours. The difference is the level of focus. The guys on some tours, they aim at the tree. The guys on the PGA Tour, they aim at a leaf.”

The PDC has a circuit that's more than just sleds.

“We have medicine balls, sleds, hurdles and it's a circuit that takes about 25 minutes every day,” Taccolini said. “It gets us warmed up for the practice. You come on the field ready to go. You are 100 percent warm for your first throw.”

There is fun with the hard work.

“He does make it fun to come out to practice,” Taccolini said. “He gave everyone nicknames.”

Johnson said he's always done that.

“It's about creating an identity,” Johnson said. “Like for Dominic, he's big and strong, so he's Diesel Truck.”

Taccolini said, “I love it. We all do.”

Johnson said it was about self confidence.

“I just think that's part of making them think they are good,” Johnson said. “Everyone wants to have a nickname.

“Some of them are pretty corny, but I do think they like them.

“Isaiah wears those glasses, so he's The Professor. He teaches the young ones.

“Barrett Loeske is Drill Bit. He is drilling holes in bats.

“I know Josh Alberius is the Cockroach. They told me that and it makes sense because he's been here forever. But I call him Big Al because he's been big man on campus for a long time. Cockroach is pretty good, though.

“Kevin Kopps is The Policeman. When he gets on the mound, he lays down the law.

“Some guys don't have one yet. I haven't figured out one for Keaton McKinney. It just hasn't hit me yet and he keeps asking. I told him I'm getting close.”

Nicknames may be the easy thing to figure out. The key is figuring out roles. Taccolini was the Friday starter last year, but doesn't mind going to the bullpen, middle or late.

“It doesn't matter where I pitch,” Taccolini said. “We've talked about different roles and what they decide is fine with me. I just want to help us win.”

Johnson said it could be that Taccolini fills a similar role as last year.

“It could be as a weekend SEC starter,” Johnson said. “He's that good.

“We've made a few adjustments with him, but mainly we wanted to get his command back on that two-seamer. We have seen a little more velocity and he's got a good curve now. I think his change is better than he thinks, too.

“I think the main thing, we had to get his confidence up. I think there were times last year that he thought all he had was that two-seamer. I told him he's got a lot of other good pitches.”

Johnson said he's excited about what he's seen from Taccolini. Many others are doing impressive stuff, too.

“It's early and it's a long process to get to February, but I am excited,” Johnson said. “We've got a lot of guys making jumps. We have a great attitude.

“We measure everything we do, so when I say there are jumps, we have it on paper and can see it.

“But the main thing we wanted to do was establish a culture of what we do. We come in and we go to work. That's the big positive.”

Johnson didn't have a hard time coming up with bright spots on his new staff.

“I really like what I've seen from Blaine Knight,” Johnson said. “Isaiah Campbell has been phenomenal. Obviously, Dominic has done well. Anthony Dahl and Kevin Kopps have been good. Those guys get me excited.

“Cobb has worked his rear off. He's had tremendous success on the field.”

Taccolini sees success with his curve ball.

“It's sharper,” Taccolini said. “I was throwing it too soft. So far, it's been really good. I think I was probably trying to baby it for a strike. I think a lot of us are throwing our curve harder.

“But it's about visualizing it, how it's going to break and where I'm going to spot it. That's a big part of what I've learned with Coach Johnson.”

There's a goal for everything.

“Coach Johnson told us he came here because he thought this is a place he can win a national championship,” Taccolini said. “That's his goal.”

Johnson said it was one of the reasons.

“Obviously, there are some other places in the SEC you can win a national championship, but this is definitely one of the two or three,” Johnson said. “They have everything you would want and there is a great head coach. Coach Van Horn has been to the College World Series more than anyone else in our league.

“I love the town. It's a great college town. It's one of the best places to live. U.S. News & World Report rates it third best in the country. So for recruiting, you couldn't have it any better.”

Clearly, Johnson knows Arkansas. He grew up in Sylvan Hills and knows plenty about the Razorbacks. He has stories about one of the Arkansas legends, former Razorback outfielder Kevin McReynolds.

“My high school coach was Kevin's coach,” Johnson said. “We played some games at Fort Roots. There are not fences. There are some bleachers out in left field. We'd go up there and we'd be shown places Kevin hit balls. You wouldn't believe it, but of course it's true.”

Taccolini said Johnson seems at home in his home state.

“I think he was from the first day he got here,” Taccolini said. “He told us it was his dream job because he knew it was a place where he could win a national title.”

The first step was getting the Hogs to believing they could be good again. So far, so good.