6th year senior Matt Adams talks his rehab, the upcoming season, and his Little League World Series experience.
Heath: Matt, talk to us a little bit about your rehab and what you’re doing to get reay for the 2025 baseball season?
Matt Adams: I’m feeling great right now. So, I had surgery back in July of ‘23. It’s been a long way, a long process, but I’ve feeling throwing bullpens the last couple of months – feeling stronger and velo’s getting back with the off speed too. I’m ready to jump in with the other guys when we start fall practice.
Heath: Let’s look ahead to next year a little bit. Veterans like Oldham and Mazza are gone, and now it’ll be a lot of young guys coming up – now you’re the veteran. What is gonna be your role on the mound and as a leader to the young guys?
Matt: Well, you know, this is my sixth year. It happens every year it seems like where we lose some maturity on the mound. Same thing we’ve done the last few years – plug and replace. We gotta figure out and win ballgames no matter what.
We’ve got a lot of exciting young pieces that are freshman and, like you said, being an older guy I’m kind of taking them under my wing and showing them how things are done. Chandler Best came in with me. He’s kind of in that same spot. We’re gonna try to lead the way and show those young guys how we do it.
Heath: Some guys see changes in their stuff after surgery – maybe a tick more on the fastball or a little sharper breaking ball. Have you noticed anything different since the surgery?
Matt: I think my shoulder, since surgery, has been in more naturally supinated position. It's been easier to throw my cutter and my breaking ball – change up and fastball are the same. But that preset position help me spin it harder and faster. I’m feeling pretty good with where I’m at with all that.
Heath: Favorite pitch to throw?
Matt: Probably my breaking ball right now. It’s got a little more movement and little harder and sharper. It’s almost like a new pitch. It’s kind of fun just toying with that and seeing what works best. Coach Oz has always liked my change up and I know we’re gonna throw that a lot so I’m getting more comfortable throwing that. I really like throwing everything. It’s really just fun being back out there and being able to manipulate stuff and work on my craft.
Heath: If Coach Oz was a teacher about pitching and he had to pick a certain pitch, what would it be?
Matt: I don’t even know if it’d be a pitch. It would be the art of mentality. That’s what he preaches to us. The mindset is key and that takes precedence over everything. I mean, you could have the best mechanics in the world, but if you don’t have that go get ‘em attitude the hitter will always have the advantage.
He’s huge on the mental side of things. When we buy into that, the pitches and movement seem to tick up a little bit. I’ve learned to buy into that over the years and I’m gonna try to teach that to the freshman and new guys as well.
Heath: Of the current guys on the roster, who’s the toughest guy to pitch to?
Matt: That’s a good question. I didn’t get to pitch to a lot of them last year. If I was pitching last year, I would have Dalton McIntyre. Seems like you’d never strike him out. Dustin Dickerson always gave me trouble and kind of had my number.
Right now though, I’d say Davis Gillespie for me. Even as a freshman two years ago, he’d always put up good at bats against me. He’s so mature – even still being pretty young. He can hit the inside heater and the off speed away. You really have to mix and match to get him out.
Heath: Let’s transition a little bit. The Little League World Series is going on right now in Williamsport. There’s a team from the Southeast, Florida, still in it. You are a veteran of the Little League World Series. What was that experience like?
Matt: It was pretty surreal. We played against a team from Pennsylvania my year. If I remember correctly, there was like 40,000 people at the game. That’s still by far the most people I’ve ever played in front of. To do that at 12 years old is pretty nuts. It takes a lot of composure at that age to play in that kind of crowd. It was awesome and it’s something I wish everybody was able to do.
Heath: What about the perks? The kids seem like they come out of their with a treasure trove of stuff.
Matt: That’s the first thing you do when you get there. We check in and first thing you do the next morning is get Oakleys, helmets, cleats, get to test out new bats, all these wrist bands, all this crazy gear. It’s so much stuff. I still have a lot of it at my house back in Houston – keepsake stuff now. At the time, they try to make you feel at the top of the world. The kids now probably get more stuff than I did, so I can’t even imagine.
Heath: Did you ever get to meet any of those international players while you were there?
Matt: There’s a place where everybody stays called the Grove – like a cafeteria and game room type place all-in-one . So I got to meet a lot of the Australian team. I got to play against the South Koreans. We interacted with everybody. The only team we didn’t see was the team from Japan. They practiced from sun up to sun down, so they were all work no play. We didn’t really get to see them.
Heath: If you have a son one day, would you like to go back out there with him?
Matt: Yeah, I wouldn’t mind that at all. I don’t know if it would be more or less nerve-wracking being on the other side of the fence. I think that would let me enjoy it from a different perspective and have a better appreciation for it. Because, when you’re there, you don’t really understand – you're trying to soak it all in – but there’s so much stuff going on and you’re basically a celebrity. And at such a young age, it’s surreal. If I had a son one day and he was able to do that, it’d be pretty awesome.
