Tech baseball has a long and storied history of developing players into some of the best in the country. Mark Teixeira, Charlie Blackmon, Jason Varitek and many more storied players have graced Mac Nease Baseball Park. Sophomore center fielder Drew Burress looks to add his name to the list of greats that the Jackets have developed. The Technique sat down with Burress to discuss his breakout freshman year, Tech experience and the team’s expectation heading into the season.
The Jackets are led by head coach Danny Hall who has secured 1,140 wins at Tech, making him the winningest coach in Tech athletics history. When choosing to go to Tech, Burress highlighted the importance of his relationships with coach Hall and associate head coach James Ramsey. On top of the top class coaches, Tech’s strong academic reputation made it an attractive choice.
“The coaches here do a great job. … When you are at home in high school, you call your parents when you get in trouble, when something goes wrong and when you need something. In college, you call your coaches; they are kind of responsible for you and they are the ones you call when you need them. Coach Hall, coach Ramsey and all of the staff have been awesome during my time here. … Additionally, [a Tech degree] is one of the best in the country, and it has been awesome to get to learn in the business school,” Burress said. The combination of high quality baseball and academics made the choice an easy one.
Burress has been an active member of the Tech community during his time at the Institute. He has gotten involved with the Georgia Tech Student-Athlete Advisory Board (GTSAAB) in order to make a difference on campus and support his peers.
“GTSAAB is a really cool thing because you kind of get inside information and get to pass it onto your team. …We are trying to help all of the student-athlete body and help them have a better life,” Burress said, when asked why he wanted to be part of the board.
Burress supports his fellow Jackets through more than just GTSAAB; he also supports them from the stands. The game he remembers most was the Jackets’ 28-23 win over the University of Miami Hurricanes at Bobby Dodd Stadium.
“I went to the Miami game this year when we rushed the field. I had a feeling the win was coming. I was pretty sick and was feeling terrible in the stands, but I was not going to leave the game because I could see we were going to win, and to be able to rush the field after the game was really cool,” Burress said, reminiscing over the football team’s upset victory.
The students and faculty of Tech Athletics as a whole push each other forward. Student-athletes are able to connect with each other thanks to the work that they put into their respective sport while also being motivated by the success of their peers.
“It is always cool to see what is going on with the other teams. We are living similar lives, but it is a different schedule. … Hiroshi Tai won the NCAA Championship and is going to the Masters this year, which is really cool. Seeing guys around you succeed pushes you to also want to succeed,” Burress said, specifically mentioning Tai and the golf team, who the baseball team shares a strength and conditioning coach with.
The Jackets season ended in heartbreaking fashion last year, falling to u[sic]GA in extra-innings in the NCAA regionals. Burress and the team look to use the loss as fuel, despite the game still haunting them.
“I mean that was definitely a tough loss. …We like to go back and watch all the games from last year, and I can not get through that one because I know what happens at the end. … It’s a huge motivating factor,” Burress said, the Jackets get their chance at revenge on Apr. 15 at Truist Park and is one of the games that Burress is looking forward to most.
“We get to play Georgia at Truist this year, that’s going to be a really, really fun Tuesday game. And I mean, we get to play Clemson and Virginia, who I think are going to be two of the big dogs in the ACC,” Burress said, relishing the games that Tech gets to play against some of the best teams in college baseball.
Despite being a freshman last year, Burress has transformed into a leader in the clubhouse for Tech going into his sophomore year.
“I gained respect from the guys and began to take on more of a leadership role late last year. Early on in the fall, I noticed that guys were looking to me to make decisions and kind of lead them and that’s something I take pride in. I want to lead by example and and I want to do the things that you’re supposed to do, work hard and bring guys along with me,” Burress said on his newfound leadership role on the team.
Tech baseball has high expectations going into the year, coming ever so close to booking a trip to the college baseball playoffs in Omaha last year. When walking into the locker room, the team adopted Burress’ ritual of writing on the mirror their goals for the year, and the team’s goals were simple.
“We want to win the ACC, be a top eight seed in the country, host a regional and a super regional. And to be honest, the whole college baseball playoffs, there’s not a lot that you can control. … You get two out of three in the Super Regional and the double elimination in the regional, so the best you can do is have a really good regular season and set yourself up to host and and get that home field advantage and get your crowd behind you and that is what we are looking to do,” Burress said on the team’s lofty goals this season.
When asked about his personal goals for the season, he gave a short answer revolving around himself before moving onto more about the team.
“The one thing I want to do this year is run a little bit more, steal more bases. Overall, if we’re playing winning baseball as a team, and we’re accomplishing the goals that we want to accomplish as a team. … Then, I know that the stat goals that I want to accomplish are going to be accomplished,” Burress said, focussing on his team rather than personal goals.
Burress has been collecting awards ever since he stepped on the college baseball field. Freshman player of the year, first-team all-american, Golden Spikes Award semi-finalist and preseason ACC Player of the Year are all awards that he has collected in his short tenure with the Jackets. Despite the plethora of accolades, his mindset has remained constant.
“There’s nobody in the world that can put more pressure on and expect me to do better than I do. They say: ‘I’m the number one sophomore in the country’ and ‘I have a chance to be a really high pick next year.’ I have always known that and always expected to be the best,” Burress said on the unshakeable confidence that he has.
Part of the reason that Burress has become an exceptional baseball player is thanks to his strong relationship with his father. The advice he received is less about pure technique but more about having an unshakeable mindset.
“My dad played professional baseball and he wore number eight, so that was kind of always my number growing up. It’s cool to look at pictures of him wearing number eight and to carry that on. … He taught me almost everything I know about baseball and sometimes less about mechanics and more about being mentally strong and going up and expecting to win and having confidence in yourself. … You can have the worst swing in the world, but if you have a clear plan and believe in yourself you are going to be successful. The hardest part is having the confidence to go up there. If you screw up 70% of your at bats, then you are a pretty freaking good hitter,” Burress said of the lessons that his dad taught him.
Burress continued speaking about the lessons that his dad taught him.
“You are going to be successful in whatever field. … Sometimes I didn’t really want to be at the field and it was one of those things. My dad would say you don’t have to play baseball. We can play golf and you are going to be the best golfer in the country. We can go bass fishing but you are going to do it to the best of your ability. You’re not going to take days off and you’re not going to just go through the motions. And I mean, I think that’s something that really applies to life,” Burress said of the life lessons his dad taught him.
When asked about his favorite baseball memories, Burress had a simple answer, and it always revolves around winning.
“I have had so many. It is not usually hitting the home run. The best memory is usually winning, winning a championship,” Burress said. He and the Jackets will look to make new memories heading into the season.