Niemann finally making name for self in majors

2/18/10 6:00pm

The newest Owl to make his mark in the majors is right-handed pitcher Jeff Niemann, the former ace of the 2003 Owls' vaunted pitching staff that led the team to a national championship. In his rookie year with the Tampa Bay Rays last season, Niemann compiled an impressive 13-6 record and finished fourth in the American League Rookie of the Year voting. The Thresher's Yan Digilov spoke with the hurler about his thoughts on Rice, Rays and rain. Rice Thresher: I know that you got to hang out with some of the guys the other week in the alumni game, but how often do you get to come back to Rice these days?

Jeff Niemann: I am at Rice quite a bit, meeting with the coaches and [Head] Coach [Wayne] Graham. We maintain a great relationship throughout the year. I like to work out with the guys and be there so they can bounce questions off me. I help where I can.

RT: How about the other members of that star pitching staff that won the College World Series in 2003 - Wade Townsend, who was drafted eighth, and Philip Humber, who was drafted third?

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JN: We stay in pretty close contact. We all got drafted and we were pretty naive to what the professional baseball world was all about. We thought we were going to have a nice cakewalk in, but we have all had our various bumps along the way. It has taken us a lot of hard work for us to get where we are.

RT: Rice is always able to field a great team, and you had a few years of being with some phenomenal talent. But was there a point in that championship year that you felt like something special could happen?

JN: It was a special group of guys. It was our second year of being together. We had made it to the College World Series the year before, and we went two-and-out. It was a good experience for us to grow as a team, but then we had our sights set on getting back to Omaha. No one could have guessed how it played out.

RT: Baseball is a game of many numbers and many factors, but no matter what, it seems like Coach Graham is always able to field a competitive team. How do you think he does it?

JN: It is tough to do, but somehow, some way, he seems to find a way each year, no matter what group he has. Whether they are strong hitters, pitchers or fielders, he finds a way to put a winning team on the field. Baseball is the kind of game that has a lot of factors, and it is pretty amazing to see him be as consistent as he has been throughout the years.

RT: Is it about the connection Graham makes with the players? How is he able to convey such wise words about every topic?

JN: I think over the course of his life, he has been through the good and the bad in baseball and off the field. He has a pretty good big-picture approach to things. For us young kids coming in to things, we are pretty narrow-minded in life. He has just got the experience on his side, but you also can't forget about Asisstant Coach [Mike] Taylor, [David] Pierce and [Pat] Hallmark. It is just a great place to be. It is a friendly place where you just get better at baseball.

RT: What do you think were some of the biggest lessons you learned in your time at Rice?

JN: It is hard to point to one thing that has helped me turn the corner. Some of the things he said made sense to me then. Some of the things I heard him say five years ago are just starting to make sense now. It is just being able to keep your ears open and listening to what they have to say.

RT: How have you developed as a player since leaving Rice?

JN: When I came into Rice, I wasn't a very high recruit. I basically had two choices: Rice or Baylor [University]. I think I made the right decision. As a pitcher, there are stepping blocks along the way. When you are 10 years old, you throw a strike. Then, you throw a ball right where you want to. There is a long building process, compiling all my experiences and trying to harness them every day. It has been a long road, but I am happy where I am at now. The thing is that you have got to be able to adapt and constantly be changing.

RT: Getting to the Major Leagues is something you have been dreaming of for so long. How does it feel now that you finally made it and can call yourself a ballplayer?

JN: It can be very tough. You are used to doing something a certain way for 15-20 years and all of the sudden something changes and it doesn't feel the same. You really don't know what to do or what to go to, and you are just naked up there in unmarked territory. The biggest thing is being ever-adaptable. It is about being calm in the scene of chaos. Whatever you can do to be yourself, control what you can control and try to ignore other factors that can get into your head."

RT: When it comes to the Rice baseball squad, there never appears to be a shortage of funny stories about Coach Graham. What is your favorite?

JN: We all have our memories. Probably the funniest of mine is when we were playing Texas State University. At the time, it was 40 degrees and raining in a double-header. Coach called everyone in to the locker room, and gives this whole speech about how he doesn't want to hear one thing about the weather. This is just how he likes it, and this is how he wants to play. So I was pitching and things aren't going very well. Coach Graham starts to walk out, and the catcher gets to me beforehand to say, "Whatever you do, do not tell him you are too cold."

So Coach comes out and asks me if I am hurt, because I wasn't throwing very hard. So I said, "Coach it's cold and raining out here." He kind of gave me this look, took the ball from me, and sends me back to the dugout. As soon as he got back to the dugout, he calls me a whale, and tells me that I have the most body fat on the team, so how can I be cold out there.

RT: Do you have time these days to just put your feet on the ground and think about where you have come from?

JN: It is crazy. It is something that as a kid you always dream about doing. My dad was pretty real, though. He always kept me focused, and made sure that I went to school. It was just one of those things where, once I got to Rice, it became a lot more clear. I realized that I actually had a chance at this. There are small building blocks along the way, building your confidence and reacting to the way that people are playing around you. To be here today is great. I am very lucky, and I am definitely not taking a second of this for granted.

RT: Who is your favorite player on the Rice team this year?

JN: Well, I am a Lamar/Rice first-round pick, so I have got to stick with our third baseman - Anthony Rendon. He just won the home run derby the other week. I have got to go with him.

RT: With a little less pitching than usual, do you think the squad will be able to put together another epic season this year?

JN: Coach will find a way to put a winning team out there. You may not have anyone throwing 95, but they got guys that can pitch. They'll put the ball where they want to put it, and I think we have a great chance.

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