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06-25-2023, 03:20 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-25-2023, 05:23 PM by
CTcard.)
Here is a summary of what I am thinking about next year’s team.
Losses:
Of course we don’t really know yet who will be moving on. Strictly speaking I don’t think anybody has to leave as the seniors have a COVID year option. However, we know most with good draft prospects will go and I would assume seniors as well. The core of this team is juniors, so there could be a very high turnover this year.
Key players who are juniors or seniors are (listed in roughly order of draft prospects):
Seniors: Matthews (p), Cobb (ss), Meier (p), Lopez (p)
Juniors: Troy (3b,2b), Rios (of,c), Park (of), Bruno (p), Bowser (3b,2b), Graham (1b), Dowd (p), Dixon (p), Pancer (p), O’Rourke (p)
The guys in bold I have seen on most top 500 draft boards and am assuming they leave. I have seen Dowd on a couple, but not the other pitchers. Also, Rios fairly high on some lists missing on others, probably depending how much work the list makers did to update during the season.
Hopefully some (several?, all?) of the junior pitchers not bolded will return.
Incoming Frosh:
As noted by Bobbk, there seem to be a Big Three among our incoming recruits. The top two recruits seem to be righty pitchers Volchko and Keenan. I’ve seen Volchko typically in the low 100s in prospect lists for the draft, and Keenan mid-100s. The third is the outfielder Reynolds whom I have seen on some draft lists (300+).
There are lots of roles up for grabs on next years team, so these guys (and others) could be key.
The class as listed in Perfect Game has 10 players: 6 pitchers, 2 outfielders, a catcher and an infielder.
Returning Starters:
Not many. Braden Montgomery (of) and Malcolm Moore © are stars. Jake Sapien was improving as DH until he got hit in the face in the first regional game. Pitching, Scott started out great and faded while Dugan started out rough and came on strong, but I think both can be classified as starters. If Dixon were to return that would be another returning starter, and an important one.
Players we’re looking to step up:
Uber (p) started 10 games as a frosh and had a good season. This year struggled and I heard there were injuries. Has enough of an arm he could be a major contributor.
Becera (ss) and Campbell (of) started most of the final seven games. While I decided that didn’t get them on the list of returning starters, it definitely puts them at the top of the list of guys expected to step up next year. Both hit about 0.320 in the NCAA Tournament.
Haskins (if) – it seems that the coaches were expecting him to take a starting role this past year, but mono and injury set him back.
Nati (3b) – early on kept hearing that the coaches thought he would be a great offensive force, but it never really happened this year (avg 0.114). Maybe next?
So, the team for next year,
Pitching Staff:
Taking the (excessively) positive approach that the non-bolded guys above return, we have …
Potential Starters: Dixon, Scott, Dugan, Volchko, Keenan, Uber.
Bullpen: Dowd as closer, Pancer, O’Rourke, O’Haran, Moore, any one above not starting, someone among the other 4 incoming frosh pitchers.
There’s plenty of potential there but also downside. It’s reasonable to envision 4 starters and a usable bullpen of 8 guys. With good development, this could be an outstanding group. If none of the juniors return, the younger guys don’t develop and the frosh aren’t as good as hoped – then the staff will struggle but those caveats will always hold.
Lineup :
Lots of turnover here. To some extent trying to predict the batting order is impossible, but here is a batting order among guys we know something about:
Campbell, Becerra, Montgomery, Moore, Sapien, Nati, Reynolds (fr), Haskins, TBD
I couldn’t quite get to nine. Power will be much less than the last couple of years barring significant development. The first 5 guys listed have shown at least stretches as productive hitters at Stanford.
Positions:
Outfield: Montgomery, Campbell, Reynolds.
Infield: Sapien (1B), Haskins (2B), Becerra (SS), Nati (3B)
Catcher: Moore
