Post by SCCat66 on Jan 6, 2017 23:07:27 GMT -5
12 new names/faces on the 2017 Baseball Roster; seven (7) of them are JUCO's. Five (5) are natural Freshmen.
Six (6) Catchers shown on the roster. Wow! Never known us to carry 6 Catchers. Guess there will be a lot of competition to replace Danny Bermudez. Maybe one of them might end up playing a little 1B or OF for us. (?) Maybe the main DH will come out of this group. (?)
Nineteen (19) Pitchers shown on the roster. (A few of them are shown as Pitcher + some other position). Seven (7) of the 19 are new this year; five (5) of the new folks are JUCO's.
My assessment, based simply upon a look at the roster, is that Coach Mo is serious about maintaining or improving our second place finish in the regular season and defending our Tournament Championship.
OUTFIELD - We should be solid in the starting OF with Bowman returning. Matt Koehler has a solid second half as a Freshman in 2015 before missing all last season with injury. Reports from the Fall were that he is back and healthy. Have brought in a JUCO OF from Florida named Tyler Leonard. (If he is any kin to Frank Leonard, he will be great! ;-). Not a lot of depth in the OF. Matt Smith would be able to return to the OF, if Andrew Bullock is ready to take 1B from a defensive point of view. (Bullock's bat is not a question; it's an exclamation point!) FR Andrew Robinson (OF + RHP) could help with the depth. Lack of depth might be a problem if injuries hit our Outfielders.
INFIELD - Solid with depth. Brett Pope, Nobu Suzuki, JD Long & Caleb Robinson all return with experience at 2B-SS-3B. Natural Freshman Bo Fricks comes with great credentials + one of the JUCO pitchers is also shown as an INF. Smith or Bullock will hold down 1B, as previously noted. Someone else might come out of the woodwork to challenge at 1B.
CATCHER - Gotta figure that Spencer Holcomb will be the frontrunner to replace Bermudez since he got more playing time than Pierce Suttles last year. But maybe Suttles has developed defensively. He will be a strong challenger for DH, if he is not getting time behind the plate. FR Justin Sparks was redshirted last year and was highly regarded out of Hendersonville High. Natural FR Luke Robinson was committed to the Tar Holes before changing his commitment to WCU in order to make a great trio of brothers along with Andrew and Caleb. (What a great family!) A Soph JUCO and a natural FR have also been added to the roster. Should be some good competition for playing time.
PITCHERS - All three (3) weekend starting pitchers from last year return. Bryan Sammons, Brendan Nail and Tristan Baker. But Baker missed the last month or so due to an arm injury. (Hope he is healthy.) Last year's Closer, B J Nobles also returns. Corey Sikes, Korey Anderson, Chad Mabini, Dylan Biumi and Dillon Bray all pitched effectively at times last year and return to challenge for starting roles (weekend or mid-week). We never really settled on mid-week starters last year. Mid-week games were usually "Pitcher by Committee". Jake Moebius and Michael Davis did some mop-up work last year as Freshmen. Hopefully, they will have developed so as to contribute in a great way this season. Five (5) JUCO pitchers have been added, along with two (2) Freshmen. Those seven (7) folks are the huge unknown for this team. If a significant number of them contribute in a great way, we could win the SoCon regular season going away.
Looking forward to going down to Horry County Feb. 17-19. (That means Myrtle Beach & Conway for you folks not as familiar with South Carolina geography as James and I; and the county name is pronounced "oar-E".) Will you be there to back the Cats?
Six (6) Catchers shown on the roster. Wow! Never known us to carry 6 Catchers. Guess there will be a lot of competition to replace Danny Bermudez. Maybe one of them might end up playing a little 1B or OF for us. (?) Maybe the main DH will come out of this group. (?)
Nineteen (19) Pitchers shown on the roster. (A few of them are shown as Pitcher + some other position). Seven (7) of the 19 are new this year; five (5) of the new folks are JUCO's.
My assessment, based simply upon a look at the roster, is that Coach Mo is serious about maintaining or improving our second place finish in the regular season and defending our Tournament Championship.
OUTFIELD - We should be solid in the starting OF with Bowman returning. Matt Koehler has a solid second half as a Freshman in 2015 before missing all last season with injury. Reports from the Fall were that he is back and healthy. Have brought in a JUCO OF from Florida named Tyler Leonard. (If he is any kin to Frank Leonard, he will be great! ;-). Not a lot of depth in the OF. Matt Smith would be able to return to the OF, if Andrew Bullock is ready to take 1B from a defensive point of view. (Bullock's bat is not a question; it's an exclamation point!) FR Andrew Robinson (OF + RHP) could help with the depth. Lack of depth might be a problem if injuries hit our Outfielders.
INFIELD - Solid with depth. Brett Pope, Nobu Suzuki, JD Long & Caleb Robinson all return with experience at 2B-SS-3B. Natural Freshman Bo Fricks comes with great credentials + one of the JUCO pitchers is also shown as an INF. Smith or Bullock will hold down 1B, as previously noted. Someone else might come out of the woodwork to challenge at 1B.
CATCHER - Gotta figure that Spencer Holcomb will be the frontrunner to replace Bermudez since he got more playing time than Pierce Suttles last year. But maybe Suttles has developed defensively. He will be a strong challenger for DH, if he is not getting time behind the plate. FR Justin Sparks was redshirted last year and was highly regarded out of Hendersonville High. Natural FR Luke Robinson was committed to the Tar Holes before changing his commitment to WCU in order to make a great trio of brothers along with Andrew and Caleb. (What a great family!) A Soph JUCO and a natural FR have also been added to the roster. Should be some good competition for playing time.
PITCHERS - All three (3) weekend starting pitchers from last year return. Bryan Sammons, Brendan Nail and Tristan Baker. But Baker missed the last month or so due to an arm injury. (Hope he is healthy.) Last year's Closer, B J Nobles also returns. Corey Sikes, Korey Anderson, Chad Mabini, Dylan Biumi and Dillon Bray all pitched effectively at times last year and return to challenge for starting roles (weekend or mid-week). We never really settled on mid-week starters last year. Mid-week games were usually "Pitcher by Committee". Jake Moebius and Michael Davis did some mop-up work last year as Freshmen. Hopefully, they will have developed so as to contribute in a great way this season. Five (5) JUCO pitchers have been added, along with two (2) Freshmen. Those seven (7) folks are the huge unknown for this team. If a significant number of them contribute in a great way, we could win the SoCon regular season going away.
Looking forward to going down to Horry County Feb. 17-19. (That means Myrtle Beach & Conway for you folks not as familiar with South Carolina geography as James and I; and the county name is pronounced "oar-E".) Will you be there to back the Cats?
