A&M ace Ryan Prager: 'Everybody on this team wants to be here'

After a stellar performance in Omaha, 2024 All-American Ryan Prager joined Wednesday's edition of TexAgs Radio to speak on what has been an up-and-down 72 hours. Prager focused on the historic season and the ongoing support of the 12th Man.

Key notes from Ryan Prager interview

• It’s been a long 72 hours. I mean, just getting back from Omaha, trying to balance celebrating all of what we accomplished and all of our guys, and also, the weird thing about college baseball is you get home, and within two days of a normal season, guys are sometimes going all over the place.
   
• We’ve got some guys that are up in New York for some MLB Draft stuff and then some guys that have already gone to play summer ball, so it was balancing being with those guys and getting in your goodbyes. Then, also hearing some news that puts everyone in a holding pattern for the next days.
   
• I think during the MCWS, it was awesome hearing the 12th Man there. Getting the win and winning both games was what was really important and really cool because we got to do something that no Texas A&M team has ever done before. 
   
• I think that’s what’s been really special. It stuck with a lot of these guys in this time of just uncertainty, chaos and everything. We’ve been able to rally around each other and be like, “Hey, we still had a really, really good year. We did something really special.”
   
• A few of us, a few of the pitchers, me, Brad Rudis, Justin Lamkin, and Shane Sdao, went to eat as soon as we got back, and everything was starting to go on. It’s cool going to go sit at some restaurant here in College Station, and you have people coming up to you while you’re just eating and saying, “Thank you. Thank you for a great season, and it was a joy to watch.”
   
• When people go out of their way to do that, just back here… like I get it in Omaha, like you’re kind of the star there, but for that to happen here on just a normal day, that shows how much impact we have and how special it was. They come up and show their appreciation, and we’re just glad that they were there to be with us.
   
• After the Kentucky start, we were like, “Hey, we plan on being here for a while, so take care of what you need with the trainer or just throwing-wise to be ready to go on Saturday,” and I kind of just say, “OK, I’ll make it work.” So, I handled the first few days as normal and threw a little light bullpen a day early and was feeling good, felt all right, and at that point you almost just do it.
   
• You’re not going to say no to a start in Omaha in the Finals, so it felt good. Once we got going, adrenaline took over for the most part, and then it was really just give it all I had. It was the last one of the year, barring something random happening in that Game 3, but it was one of those like, “It’s a finals game in Omaha.” You could feel at 20 percent, and you’re going to go throw.
   
• We had talked before, and if we tied it up there in the ninth inning of Game 3, I would have walked down, and then I think we would have gone to Evan Aschenbeck back out. If we needed to get out of an inning or out of a jam, it wouldn’t have been extended, but there would have been a few bullets down there.
   
• I mean there’s always a belief. It was funny, like we went and threw before the game, and it was like, “Who was your pick to click?” For the whole week, mine was Ted Burton because he had been absolutely barrels all week. He came up, and I was like, “Alright, cool. We’re going to keep playing here in 10 minutes.”

• That’s kind of the culture of the group we had this year. We were never out of anything. Whether it was really good or really bad, we were the same group of guys. It was no different if we were down 6-1 or up 6-1. It’s like the same group, and that's what is really special.

• I got some texts from Dylan Rock, Kole Kaler, Trevor Werner, Troy Claunch, and all of those guys, and it was really cool. In my texts with Kole, he congratulated us on a great season, and I told him we were going to bring it home and that they were a part of it. I think they thought it, but for us to actually tell them that, it was really cool. They were bought in.

• One thing that people need to know is that everybody on this team wants to be here. I think it's tough sometimes when you're asking 19 and 20-year-olds to make a decision when they have a career beyond college and baseball. Sometimes, they need to do what’s best for them. 

• For me, I want to be here. If professional baseball and that dream doesn't come at this point, Texas A&M is the place where I want to be. I think in three years, being an Aggie and seeing how much Texas A&M has done for me, I don’t want to give that up. 

• I think with everything that the guys have said, there's so much uncertainty right now, and there's so much that can happen in the next 48 hours with everything. I know everyone’s “Plan A” right now is Texas A&M. It's on the forefront of everyone's mind because of what the school has done for everybody and because of the fans. I think everybody feels what this place is all about, and it aligns with what all of our guys are about.

• I was shocked and at a loss for words. I think through the year, guys speculated that the Texas job would probably come open and the first name that would come to mind would probably be coach Schlossnagle. When you are speculating, it never really hits you, but when it's real, it's like, “Wow.”

• Some of the guys that have been here have gone through three coaching changes. From Rob Childress to Schlossnagle. Then you had Nate Yeskie to Max Weiner. Then that whole staff is TBD. That’s been kind of the hard part. There's been so much turnover over the last couple of years. I think it gets easier each time, but it's like, “Why does this keep happening?”

• I didn’t see distractions in the coaches, at least on the pitching side. I thought Max was bought in with us all the time. We didn't really interact with Schlossnagle as much, so nothing stood out to me. I think when you're in Omaha, and the rumors are going around, it can definitely cloud somebody’s mind. I don’t know if it would've changed anything, but it’s still cool to know that we accomplished that, and that's a take on the players.

• Some of the guys were talking about this. Everybody that's here is an Aggie. If you leave, “Maybe you're still an Aggie, but depending on what happens, does that get thrown away?” and nobody wants to throw that away. If you’re an Aggie for one year or an Aggie for two years, you want to be an Aggie for life. That’s what is really special about Aggie athletics and Texas A&M in general.

• I was with Josh Stewart when he made that Instagram post. He told me what he was going to say in his caption, and I was like, “Alright. That’s sick.” and then he posted it. 30 minutes later, he was like, “Okay, this has 10,000 likes,” and “I’ve gained 5,000 followers in three hours.” It’s like, “Wow.” Then to see Shane Sdao do it was awesome, and I was with Brad Rudis last night when he did it. It was really special.

• I think the rivalry is there. I think this just added fuel to the fire. It’s going to be really exciting. I think a lot of people are looking forward to that series already. I knew they were looking toward the football game, but now they're looking forward to the baseball series a ton.

• My last game at home wasn’t really that great. That was against Oregon so I didn't really take that one in that great. Both of the ones in Omaha were really cool. What our fans did there made it feel like a home game. Walking off of that field felt like a home game because of how many fans were there and because of how great they were.

• After Kentucky, I looked around after the no-hitter ended, and I think that was the loudest any of my own fans had cheered for me to give up a hit. I definitely did a good job of taking in Omaha. You're in a bigger stadium on a bigger stage, and it makes it kind of hard to enjoy it.

• One memory at home is the Vanderbilt weekend. The crowd was awesome, and we played really well, but also, Hayden Schott started the Rattlin’ Bog, and that created a new jolt of fun in the program. It was like, “Okay, this is going to be one of the best years of your life.”

• We talked to Trev Alberts the other day and he wanted to just let us know that he was working his tail off and was on the search to find the best guy for A&M baseball. He wasn't going to try to get the flashiest guy, but he was going to get the right fit for Aggie baseball. A&M has a persona that it needs, and it's not just anybody.

• When somebody comes in, it's definitely a meeting to see where everybody’s head is at. Whether you have position players who are thinking about doing something else or pitchers who don't really know what to do, there has to be transparency.

• From there, we got 15 freshmen who are supposed to be here on July 1. It’s a lot of figuring that stuff out and where some of the older guys come in to help. Now, it's finding position coaches and all the logistics side of that.

• I think if the right guy comes, a bulk of the team is going to stay. I think its hard for some of the guys that think they need somebody to help them get to where they want to go, and that’s fair.

• I think if the right guy is here with the right people around him, I think a lot of the Aggies want to be Aggies.

• Jason Hutchins is a Swiss army knife over there. He does it all. To be the only guy out there with an office right now and still be trekking away, I texted him if he needed help at camp to just let me know, but he won’t tell me if he needs help. He just does it.

• He might be angry and might complain on the side, but if you look at Hutchin, you'll never be able to tell. He loves it, and he loves this place. He really loves camp and helping out the kids. He does it all and he deserves to be commended on a lot of what he does here.