RE: 2021-2022 baseball
Yesterday was tough, but we lost to an excellent team. And while we lose a lot of veteran players next year (and perhaps a lot more; like you I have no idea who will get drafted and who else will leave), the same tantalizing potential we had entering this season when it came to the young talent on the roster looks even better next year, given that our 2021 freshmen/redshirt freshmen will be another year older and continue to develop.
Meanwhile, we will also have another terrific recruiting class behind it (I won't pretend to know what we have in next year's freshmen class, as any predictions I try to make end up way wrong; suffice it to say every freshman class we have has more and more quality talent every year).
I know we talked a lot about the pen and the lack of arms who developed by the end of the season. But we can also look at it like this: 2 freshmen arms carried us in the back end of games this past season. How much better will they be as sophomores? Especially Ethan Chenault, who arrived on campus with 1st round potential and showed no reason to believe he won't be a 1st round prospect when he's draft eligible following the 2022 season.
I imagine there's a chance Chenault ends up in the weekend rotation, given that his first appearance as a Seahawk was in a start. He spent the rest of the year in the pen, and he may well remain there in 2022, but I wouldn't be surprised if he gets a shot at a weekend spot, either. Hodges, meanwhile, struggled at the end of last season, but keep this in mind: In his first 8 outings, he only allowed 1 run, and in that stretch he K'd 23 batters. Later, towards the end of April, he had another stretch of 7 outings where he allowed just 1 run, with 17 K's in that span. After seeing those flashes of dominance, its hard not to get excited about what he can do the rest of his career.
Throw in redshirt freshmen Cole and Cody Benton and that's a quartet of freshmen that could make for an impressive young bullpen core for the next 1-2 seasons.
As I said earlier, I have no idea who get drafted, be back, etc. But when it comes to the weekend rotation, if Adam Smith is back, that's one heck of a Friday arm. But whether we have him or not, losing Roupp especially, plus Gesell, turns the rotation into a big question mark. I would guess Chenault will be in the conversation. As will freshman Jacob Shafer, who Coach Hood handed the ball to in a championship setting. He didn't pitch great in that outing but overall on the season he wasn't bad (3-1, 5.29 ERA, 25 K's, 6 BB's, 32.1 innings, 5 starts). Even though he only had 5 starts, he did log the 5th most innings on the team, so you at least have to start there when looking at options already on the roster. Ryan Calvert started 9 games for us but was less effective IMO, even though his ERA was lower (5.13). He averaged less than 3 innings per start and had a K:BB ratio of 29/16 in his midweek role.
The only other pitcher to receive a start in 2021 was redshirt freshman Carter Holjes, who started 2 games and posted a 5.40 ERA. He wasn't used much late in the season but perhaps will have a bigger role next year. If I had to guess at a dark horse candidate, why not Gage Herring, if he comes back? If he's not considered purely a reliever next year it would be cool to see him jump back into the starter mix. It's been a while, but he did make 21 starts between his freshmen and sophomore years from 2018-19. In his freshman year he went 2-1 with a 2.68 ERA, with 43 K's and 25 BB's in in 50.1 innings of work.
The offense/defense is of the least concern for me, even with the loss of Cole Weiss, and even if we lose more players than we bargain for. Starting a freshman 2B/SS combo meant growing pains in 2021, but by 2022, Croom and Mongero will be seasoned veterans. Lifrieri, who I've talked up all season, is my favorite returning hitter. He kept creeping up in the lineup, finishing the season batting 5th, but I like the idea of him batting in the 2-hole behind the switch hitter Baldwin. With the way Lifrieri loves hitting the ball to the right side, he'll make life difficult for opposing defenses all season in that spot.
As far as the "unknowns" in the lineup, there's a lot of guys I really hope develop over the course of the offseason. I had high hopes for Ron Evans, especially after he slugged .467 in 45 AB's in the shortened 2019 season. But the only position for him appears to be 1B, and that's taken, so it'll likely be another season of him hoping to DH against lefties unless he makes major improvements and starts hitting breaking pitches well. True freshman Jack Howell, who DH'd several times against righties last season, will get his chances to be a big lefty bat we need with Cole's departure. If we don't have anyone we feel confident putting at 3B as the offseason goes on, I'm sure the JUCO route will prove fruitful, if we haven't already added someone already.
Big picture: I think we have a lot of the pieces in place, but so many of the pitching slots are up for grabs and hard to project. I also think we have a solid coaching approach, as per usual, but need to take a close look at how we can improve our pitch-calling. And on offense, we have to play Seahawk baseball, where everybody is playing selfless, willing and able to bunt, etc. It yielded results at the tail end of the season when the "lightbulb went on" and the team seemed like it had bought into the system. Next year, let's try to hit the ground running with that.
We've been to 6 straight CAA title games, so in order for a season to be deemed successful, that's going to be the minimal expectations for this program every year, along with putting together a strong OOC resume.
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