Baseball Pre Season Top 25

[Mr. Baseball]

Projected lineup:

1. Dieter 2B
2. Robinson CF
3. Tawa SS
4. Bellafronto 3B
5. Brueser 1B
6. Molfetta C
7. Hinkelman lF
8. Gargus DH
9. Burton RF

*I think sooner rather than later you'll see Tawa move to CF, Robinson to left and Crampton take over at short. Probably will push Burton out.

Pitching

Beck
Palisch
Parthsarathy
Williams will be the mid-week guy
Jensen the closer with Grech the setup.

You should let us know if you are just spitballing or have gleanings from inside the program so that the rest of us know if we'll sound silly to suggest anything different. But with that risk, here goes ...

- I think Tawa to CF will be sooner, as the official site already lists him as an outfielder and there seems to be more need there.
- I would guess Dieter as the first starter at SS, but he won't stay there if his bat isn't better.
- Otherwise the frosh Cobb would seem a good bet - as I think he is the guy Bobk was referring to as our top recruit.
- Would like to know why you chose Burton for OF, reviews leaking out? But my guess is an outfield of Tawa-Robinson-Hinkelman. I gave Hinkelman the nod as a top rated incoming frosh OF, but that's shaky ground. It's really Tawa-Robinson-Somebody.
- C is another place I might imagine a frosh starter. Kody Huff was drafted by the Rays, so he presumably has shown some promise. Would he be ready to start?

Pitchers.
- I'd think Williams would move up to being a weekend starter after a strong frosh season as the midweek guy. And of course his heroic complete game win vs Sac St in the regional sticks in my mind.
- I had imagined Palisch and Weiermiller battling for the third starter/midweek starter positions, but ...
- Parthsarathy (our grad transfer from Rice) is an interesting addition. He started his frosh year on fire (2016), got injured after only 6 appearances, came back late 2017 and seems to have been gradually improving since. He pitched a lot for Rice last year as their third starter. I can imagine a wide range of possible contribution.
- If I am keeping folks straight, Jensen seemed to have a pretty lively arm and is a good choice to get the closer role keeping Grech as setup. Jensen had a nice outing in the Supers vs MSU.

Spitballing. I have a kid on the team but we NEVER talk about this. I want him focused on being the best version of himself he can be, whether that's as a front line starter or cheering his ass off from the dugout.