2015 Preview: Outfielders

Jake Vickerson, Senior: Will be in the OF rotation. Bats left and has a great arm. Maybe can play center in 2015?
Jacob Robson, Sophomore RS: Injured his elbow early in the 2014 season. Should redshirt. Should be in the OF rotation, depending on left/right match ups. Needs to have a break out 2015.
Cody Brown, Sophomore RS: Started most of the 2014 campaign in left or right field. Will be in the OF rotation in 2015.
Joey Swinarski, Freshman RS: Enrolled a year early last year. So even though he will be 18, he is a redshirt freshman. Brings great hitting ability to the OF. I do expect him to play a lot, either in corner OF or DH.
Brent Rooker, Freshman RS: Rooker is a good hitter. But where does he play? Is listed as a 1B/OF. Looking forward to the fall to see what he can do after being redshirted.

2014 Losses: C.T. Bradford, Demarcus Henderson, Derrick Armstrong

Signees

Michael Smith, Junior JC Transfer: Speedy OF. Hit .331 and stole 29 bases in 2014.
Taylor Stafford, Freshman: Talented youngster from Columbus. Can also pitch. Bats and throws left.
Cole Gordon, Freshman: Can play the corner OF. He is a big guy at 6-6, 240. Can pitch also. I think he will be used as a pinch hitter/DH his first year. Bats left.

* I do expect at least one more signee before the fall. Probably a JC transfer. (AND I was right)
**OF rotation meaning 5 players who can start/pinch hit, etc depending on match up with right/left handed pitcher.

2015 Preview: First Base

Wes Rea, Senior RS: Rea has been here 5 years, so he brings a ton of experience. A very good defender at 1B. He struggled at the plate in 2014. Can he put it all together in his final year? He will start at 1B but there is lots of competition and that will push him.
Daniel Garner, Sophomore RS: Switched from catcher in 2014. When he connects his bat to the baseball, it can go a long way. Will compete at 1B.
Reid Humphreys, Sophomore: A star in the making. His older brother plays 1B in MLB. He will push for playing time at both corner spots.
Dylan Ingram, Freshman RS: So far in summer ball, has shown he can hit. Will compete for playing time.
Brent Rooker, Freshman RS: Another redshirt that will compete for playing time. He can play corner OF also.

2014 Losses: Alex Detz

Signees

Trent Waddell, Junior-JC Transfer: He had an arm problem this past year but still hit. He will get the chance at 1B and at pitcher. He bats and throws left. I can't wait to see him in the fall. He could be a diamond in the rough.
Cole Gordon, Freshman: He bats left, throws right. Another one that will play 1B and pitch. He can really mash the ball from the left side. Has a chance to DH in 2015.

**I expect major competition at this position for starter and backup.

2015 Preview: Middle Infield

Seth Heck, Senior: He is about a solid as a ballplayer as you can get. He rarely makes mistakes in the field and he rarely has a bad at bat. Plus, he had a 4.0 in the classroom. Another All-SEC/American candidate. He will start in the middle infield all year.

2014 Losses: Brett Pirtle, Kyle Hann, signee Dale Burdock to MLB draft.

Signees

John Holland, Junior-JC Transfer: Originally signed with Florida State. He was the POY in junior college in 2014. He is very talented. Should step in right away in either MIF spot.
Ryan Gridley, Freshman: I think he is a lot like Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox. Which is fine with me, this kid can play. I look for him to play a lot in 2015.

2015 Preview: Third Basemen

Matthew Britton, Senior: Mr. Highlight reel. He made some sparkling plays once he settled in at 3B after playing SS to begin the season. If he could be a consistent hitter, he would have been drafted in 2014. But he is in the Cape trying to become a better hitter. Expect stellar defense from him in 2015. He will start a lot in 2015.
Reid Humphreys, Sophomore: Played and started a few games at 3B in 2014. Will play 1B in 2015 also. Hit in the DH spot in 2014 with flashes of smokablility (like that word). In 2015, he will be in the lineup everyday, somewhere, 3B or 1B or DH. Must have his bat. All-SEC/American capability.

2014 Losses: Alex Detz, Kyle Hann

Signees

True freshmen signees Dale Burdick or Ryan Gridley may get some reps here.

2015 Preview: Catchers

Gavin Collins, Sophomore: Should be no surprise, he is the star of this group. He steadily got better during 2014. He should be a lot better in all phases of the game come February 2015. He will start and bat 3rd or 4th in 2015. Collins is an All-SEC/American candidate.

Cody Walker, Senior: Started a couple of games and backed up more as the 2014 progressed. Will compete for the back up role.

Zach Randolph, Senior RS: Randolph started some early on, then mainly a backup to Collins. Will compete for the back up role.

2014 Losses:  Signee Chase Vallot to MLB draft

Signees

Josh Lovelady, Junior-JC Transfer: As long as John Cohen is coach, expect this most every year. Cohen will bring in JC catcher's to add depth and experience to a very important position. Lovelady will compete for a back up role. 

**Note: one position that we may have another signee before school starts. 

2015 Preview (Summer of 2014 Edition)

I know this is a bit early but lots of you want to know what to expect in 2015. I will do my best to explain it. First and foremost, I do expect more signees before school starts and I may not know about them. For instance, in 2013 I didn't know about Seth Heck until school started and look what he did! He is All-SEC. So expect another preview during the fall (maybe) but definitely after fall ball.

A few notes: July 1 is the first day schools can offer players officially. So for 2015 signees and beyond, there will be some commits coming for those years. The 2013 CWS run still has an affect on recruiting. July 18th is the last day players can sign with the MLB club that drafted him. We only have one that is unaccounted for, SS Dale Burdick who is unsigned and as of this writing hasn't said publicly what is intentions are.

So the following posts, I will break down per position.

2014 Season--What happened?

Whenever you have such a successful season like we did in 2013, the next season puts even more expectations on the team. We lost a few players but they were big contributors in so many ways. We returned 3 of 5 infielders, all the OF's and most of the pitching staff. We could not duplicate what we lost, a consistent starting pitcher who pitched past the 7 inning (Graveman), a hitting machine who got on base when no one else did (Frazier) and someone who struck fear into the opposing pitcher when he hit (Renfroe). We are not to the point where our recruiting just churns out great players like these guys. We are almost there.

The preseason as I put it (non-conference games) started off bad. We were supposed to play a lesser team in Hofstra but played Western Carolina and lost our first game. We lost to Memphis who was seemingly good at the time but they tanked later on. Then we lose 2 games to Holy Cross. These 4 losses have a theme, lack of hitting with runners in scoring position. Then we buckle down and win 7 straight.

Our first road trip of the year didn't go well at all. We lost 3 of 4 games in Arizona. At this point we are 13-7 and we lose 1 game to weather (snow), and didn't make it up. This affects RPI along with losing to Holy Cross, etc. I could tell at this time, we were behind in regional hosting scenerio. The only way we could host is by doing really well in the SEC.

And we did do well in conference play winning 18 games but came in 2nd in the West. We were swept by our biggest rival in LSU. And on the biggest weekend of the year, Ole Miss came in and won 2 of 3. We lost another very winnable non-conference game to Jacksonville State again by leaving too many runners on base.

We finish the season 35-20. Again, at this point those non-conference losses loom big. A 40-15 record looks better to the committee handing out regionals. And those five more wins, would have bumped up the RPI. This is why every season we need to win 20 non-conference games out of 26. We finished 17-8 with one not made up.

Entering the spring, I knew we needed a SEC starter that would pitch 7 innings on the weekend. I was hoping it would be JC transfer Paul Young but his elbow never did feel right and he surgery. Then the domino affect set in and Will Cox and John Marc Shelley went down as well. Losing Kyle Hann and Jacob Robson hurt also. These guys would have added depth and maybe gotten better by the end of the season.

One of the things, that did shock me this season is some hitters never got hot at the plate. Usually with 9 guys batting you will have 3 batters consistently hit well, then they cool off, 3 other guys get hot. This is what eventually led to our season being ended so early, we could not get the big hit in key situations.

In 2014, we did win 18 SEC games, go to another SEC tournament and play in a NCAA regional tournament. We were expected to do better but yet with the lack of hitting, injuries and still lack of dominating starting pitching, we did rather well under the circumstances.

I will post what I expect to happen in 2015. I can't wait until next year.