The new look of college baseball fits the mold of Auburn University baseball coach Link Jarrett.
The focus has shifted from a home-run oriented offense to a multi-faceted attack that can bunt, steal and manufacture runs.
As the starting shortstop on three College World Series teams at Florida State University, Jarrett wasn't the biggest or strongest player on the team, but he knew his role.
"We ran the bases aggressively," Jarrett said. "We bunted and we were always good defensive teams, and that's what really got me into the lineup there. I could play defense and I had a good feel for what was going on in the game. That's how we played, and it worked."
After graduating and leaving his hometown of Tallahassee, Fla., Jarrett was drafted by the Colorado Rockies organization in 1994. A shortstop at FSU, Jarrett played many games at second base, third base, a few in the outfield and even one at first in the minor leagues.
Jarrett said the rigorous schedule the minors put on the players took the most getting used to.
"It's just every single day you play a game," Jarrett said. "In Double-A we played 40 consecutive nights. The whole lifestyle when you have to travel and you have to play so much, physically and mentally it really tests you. I know playing baseball isn't playing a football game, but over the course of 30-40 nights in a row of traveling and buses, it really makes you appreciate how good the guys are who play in the big leagues because their schedule is very similar to that."
Jarrett began his career with the Bend Rockies Single-A in 1994 and continued his defensive prowess, winning the Most Spectacular Defensive Player Award in his first season.
In 1996, Jarrett moved up to Double-A. He said the jump was the biggest talent gap he had witnessed in his career.
"From A to AA was the biggest jump for me--more than from high school to college, even college to the lower levels of the minors leagues," Jarrett said.
He said it was intensified because of the constant travel up and down the East Coast.
"We'd play a game, get on a bus, drive all night, get off at your next stop at 6 a.m., unload, sleep for a little and then go to the field--nine to 10 hour bus trips sometimes," Jarrett said. "When you do that month after month, it's more of a physical strain. It wears you down. You've just got to adapt and find a way to stay strong through that five-month season. It's a grind."
The schedule became more challenging once Jarrett married his wife, Jennifer, and only intensified after the birth of their first son, J.T.
Jarrett looked to the college coaching ranks to get his name out in the coaching world.
"I was married and my first child was already born, so all the traveling and relocating in pro ball wasn't for me," he said. "I enjoyed college and thought it was a good environment for my family. I probably knew in high school that I wanted to coach. As soon as I realized my playing days were over, I went and searched for a place to start coaching."
Jarrett found that place in St. Augustine, Fla., at Flagler College.
Dave Barnett, baseball coach and athletic director, hired Jarrett as recruiting coordinator straight out of the minor leagues in 1999, and Jarrett took full advantage.
"You've got to get your foot in the door, and I was able to stick it in there," Jarrett said.
Jarrett's minor league travels allowed him to work with baseball greats such as Don Zimmer, Don Baylor and Art Howe. At Florida State, Jarrett was coached by Mike Martin, who is entering his 33rd season with the Seminoles.
"I just soaked it in," Jarrett said. "You pull bits and pieces from everyone around. (Martin's) overall desire to see the guys go out and do what they needed to do to win games was something that was ingrained in me early on when I got to college, and I think his game management style and the way he plays the game (was too). Coming along that was my role model."
Sophomore outfielder Ryan Tella said Jarrett's enthusiasm and experience keeps the team from getting discouraged.
"He's always up; I've never seen him down," Tella said. "He's always positive. He also knows what a winning team is like, and that's what he wants from us."
After Flagler, Jarrett made stops at Florida State, Mercer and East Carolina before his hiring in 2010 as Auburn's director of player development.
Tella said Jarrett has helped him with specifics with his hitting.
"I never really had a chance to bunt or learn the proper way to bunt before coach Jarrett," Tella said. "He also helped me with the mechanics of hitting the inside pitch."
Junior outfielder Cullen Wacker said Jarrett uses his experiences to provide all of the players insight.
"He's got a lot of stories from his career that he brings up where he might have messed up, and he doesn't want us to make the same mistake," Wacker said. "That's really beneficial to all of us."
Jarrett, two-time SEBaseball.com Assistant Coach of the Year, won the award in back-to-back seasons: first with East Carolina in 2009 and with Auburn in 2010.
Auburn hit a school-record 131 home runs and had a team batting average of .348--another Auburn record--in Jarrett's first year.
"That lineup, if you look back at the history of college baseball, was one of the top lineups that's ever been," Jarrett said. "And those guys were at that point where they were ready to click. And some of the things we worked on when we got here helped them get over that hump and propelled them into professional baseball. That whole group, they all bought in to what we were doing and they took off. It was a lot of fun."
But the Auburn offense of 2010 is a distant memory after the NCAA implemented a new rule in 2011 that reduced the trampoline effect of the aluminum bats used.
"It changed the game of college baseball," Jarrett said. "The power numbers in college baseball fell off so dramatically. As you realize what they game is coming to, we tried to adjust our recruiting efforts to really find guys that can run, bunt and put the ball in play. The raw power doesn't play like it used to play."
Jarrett fits into the changing college game and will be an asset in recruiting those types of players to Auburn.
"I think the fact that I was a player who had to bunt, had to hit and run, had to do those things--I think that helps me teach it," Jarrett said.
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