Preseason Coaches' Poll

East
Coastal Carolina – 69 (10)
South Alabama – 51 (1)
Georgia Southern - 51 (1)
Troy - 44
App State – 21
Georgia State - 16

West
Texas State – 65 (6)
UTA – 58 (4)
Louisiana - 52 (2)
Little Rock - 33
ULM - 27
Arkansas State - 13

Preseason All-Sun Belt Team
Starting Pitcher - Aaron Funk, Little Rock
Starting Pitcher - Jordan Jackson, Ga. Southern
Starting Pitcher - Conor Angel, Louisiana
Relief Pitcher - Wyatt Divis, UTA
Relief Pitcher - Lance Johnson, Troy
Catcher - Caleb Bartolero, Troy
First Base - William Sullivan, Troy
Second Base - Luke Drumheller, App State
Shortstop - Drew Frederic, Troy
Third Base - Cooper Weiss, Coastal Carolina
Outfielder - Ethan Wilson, South Alabama
Outfielder - Parker Chavers, Coastal Carolina
Outfielder - Rigsby Mosley, Troy
Utility - Andrew Beesley, ULM
Designated Hitter - Elian Merejo, Georgia State

Preseason Player of the Year
Ethan Wilson, South Alabama

Preseason Pitcher of the Year
Aaron Funk, Little Rock

All Conference Players by Team:

Troy - 5
Coastal Carolina - 2
Louisiana - 1
Georgia Southern - 1
Little Rock - 1
UTA - 1
South Alabama - 1
App State - 1
ULM - 1
Georgia State - 1

At least we didn't pick ourselves to finish last....

Troy must not have a lot of pitching depth.

Picked to win the West and no players on first team all conference. That has to be some sort of record.

(02-15-2021 01:32 PM)EigenEagle Wrote:  Troy must not have a lot of pitching depth.

There is depth. It's unproven depth though.

We lost our Friday starter to the MLB Draft (Levi Thomas).

We still have our Saturday and Sunday starters though, plus all of our relief pitchers. We also have the best closer in the SBC back (Lance Johnson).

Troy picked up a Florida State transfer in Ryan Pettys, who is a lefty pitcher that was a highly-rated recruit. Plus some JUCO transfer pitchers. That's where the unproven depth lies. I'm guessing Pettys will be a starter.

We also have Judson Hershiser.... if that last name sounds familiar, he's the nephew of MLB great Orel Hershiser. He was a hot-shot pitching recruit until he got injured during his junior/senior years of high school, and all the P5's pulled their offers. Troy is hoping he'll turn out to be a big get.