KSU Baseball 2020 should be a great team with the depth of quality pitching and in the outfield they have this year, which will be better than last year.
The following players will have a huge impact on the mound this year for KSU:
Collin Romel
Ryan Kircher
Peyton Deats
Jack Zimmerman
Max Rippl
Tyler Drabick
Trevor Pittman
Ryan Lane
Luke Albright
Most, if not all will be drafted once eligible. There are 7 freshmen pitchers, who I am not sure on the impact they will have or if they will redshirt?
The infield will have a whole new look, as they graduated Pavin Parks, Josh Hollander, Kian O'Brien, & Pete Schuler, all of whom played a ton of innings for Duncan the last few years. Michael Turner will lead the way, whether that is at catcher, 3rd base, or both. It will be interesting to see the starting 5 of the infield this season, with all of the losses to graduation and Turner as well as 2 power hitters returning (Ronnebaum & Ferguson). Not sure if Grant Vera & Devan Nail will be starters or Ronnebaum or Ferguson or some of the incoming freshmen (Ethan Moore, Jake Reifsnyder, Josh Mrozek, Mack Timbrook, or Tyler Bischke)?
The outfield is loaded with depth/experience, so it will be a battle for at bats/playing time. Ben Carew, Came Touchette, Nick Elsen, Justin Kirby, & Collin Mathews are all returning and have had great seasons/stats for Duncan.
I am interested to see if Duncan/Birkbeck can sign another top 25 recruiting class, like they did last season. Signing day is 11/13/19, so we will find out in 2 days. Derek Simmons (hitting coach/recruiting coordinator) left KSU for Indiana in the late summer/early fall.
http://www.kentstatesports.com doesn't show that Simmons has been replaced, so I don't know if that is true or if the sports information department is just a little behind with some of the vacancies that they have had over the spring, summer, & fall?
Last, Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball just announced that there could be some huge changes coming that will affect high school seniors/college baseball players. (all depends on the 2020 new PBA.....the negotiations have already been described as "contentious") I have outlined a few of these changes and a link to 1 of the stories that covered them.
-MLB draft moved from June to August and # of draft rounds lowered down to 20-25 from the current # of rounds that is 40.
-42 minor league teams will be eliminated.
-Minor league teams will be realigned into closer geographic areas, to lower the amount of travel
-Minor league stadiums/facilities will be upgraded/improved to give a better place of training/playing to the players/coaches as well as compensation.
-MLB teams will have their 40 man roster (no change), but the # of total players in the minor leagues will go down to 150-200 (still to be decided), whereas today some teams have 230-285 total players in the minor leagues.
It seem by pure #s, that the college teams would get better quality of players just from a #s standpoint, but that is just my view/guess.
Link to the story =
https://www.baseballamerica.com/stories/...gue-teams/