for college players was released on Friday. I spent some time looking over it today, during normal business hours.
Here is the link, in case you are curious.
Suffice it to say, we are going to see some "dudes" this spring.... That's always the case, but man, there are a lot of opponents on this list.
I thought I'd run down the faces that we're slated to see and give some thoughts on each. I'm going to go in rough order of the schedule. The player rank according to Baseball America is in parenthesis.
LSU
Alex Lange (7) - This will be our second time seeing Lange after he started against us in Athens in 2015. We only played two games against LSU that weekend, due to the weather (forecast - at least for Friday night). Lange was a true freshman that season and sat in the mid 90s with a good fastball. He'll team up with Jared Poche' to give the Tigers an outstanding 1-2 punch. If he stays healthy, we'll see Lange in our first SEC game. That'll be the toughest test for the league opener since Michael Roth in 2011, I'm betting.
Mike Papierski (79) - I don't believe we saw this switch hitting catcher in 2015. I think that Kade Scivique (now in the Braves system, I think) was their guy that season, at least until he took a Sean McLaughlin (also in the Braves system) fastball to his jaw. Seems LSU typically has a catcher whose last name is very hard to pronounce. So that's what we know.
Greg Deichmann (83) - After not playing much as a freshman, this guy exploded last year for LSU as their starting 1B and had an outstanding June. It looks like he'll slide out to RF this season. Here's a guy who, according to his bio, got 10 ABs as a true freshman for LSU, now he's in the college top 100. Heck of a program they have going down there in Baton Rouge.
Auburn
Keegan Thompson (45) - This right handed pitcher is a 4th year junior who missed last season with an elbow injury. We didn't see Thompson at Auburn in 2015. We only scored four runs in that entire series, so you'd think that we would have seen a guy like this somewhere in there. I imagine we'll see Thompson on Friday night when the Tigers come to Athens. He apparently drew some draft interest last year as well, despite not pitching in the spring.
Josh Anthony (61) - Braves fans may recognize this name as he was the draftee to whom the Braves apparently extended an offer, which Anthony apparently indicated that he would accept, only to have the Braves come back with hat and hand, explaining that honoring their offer would put the Braves over the bonus cap and into a penalty. So I guess Anthony's bad luck will be to Auburn's benefit. Anthony should play 3B. I don't know, but I assumed that Anthony's ending up at Auburn after all may have played a role in our getting Tucker Bradley from Auburn at the 11th hour.
Tennessee
Zach Warren (64) - Warren is a big left handed pitcher who started the middle game against us last year, a game that I still get angry thinking about. Warren was in the low 90s as I recall and was Tennessee's innings eater, although I seem to remember us hitting him pretty well last season.
Kyle Serrano (94) - The coach's son, who seems like he's been at Tennessee as long as his dad. Nothing against Kyle Serrano, but he's never impressed me that much. He's had trouble staying healthy, which probably isn't his fault, but when he is on the mound... I just don't see it. He throws really hard. He runs that fastball up there around 95. But it doesn't move a lot and he, at least each time I've seen him, just seems to have trouble throwing strikes. He started against us Sunday in Knoxville in 2015. The day before, Tennessee probably played the worst game that I've ever seen in my life. The Vols had 7 errors that day, and easily could have been charged with 10. Sometimes that funk is contagious, and everyone in orange seemed to have it that Saturday. We clinched the series after a nail biting win on Friday night. So Serrano gets the baseball on Sunday, coming off of that disaster the day before. The very first pitch Serrano throws, Stephen Wrenn blasts over the CF fence for a leadoff home run. That stuck with me. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dave Serrano and continue to believe that he'll win in Knoxville. I'm just not sold on Kyle on as an elite college arm, though I wasn't surprised to see him on this list. Maybe he proves me wrong this spring.
Clemson
Charlie Barnes (82). I don't imagine we'll see this lefty in either of our midweek affairs with Clemson, unless he's getting some spot work in the bullpen. Clemson also has some kid named Beer who has a chance to make this list next season...
Missouri
Tanner Houck (8) - Tanner Houck will make his second trip to Athens this April and we'll probably see him on Thursday night in the opener (I hope so, I'm going to have to miss the Friday game that weekend and would really like to see Houck pitch again). I've said before that I thought that Houck had the best stuff that we saw in 2015, at least in Athens. We were two innings into that game and I remember thinking "this guy is going to be a first rounder in two years." We did a good job with him last season. He started game one on Saturday in Columbia. Nick King lead off the game with something like a 13 pitch AB and drew a walk. We drove Houck's pitch count very high and ran him out of there in, I think, the 5th. At his best, this guy can take the game over. Unlike Faedo or Lange or Kyle Wright, Houck hasn't had the lineup behind him to allow for much room for error... to me, that makes his numbers that much more impressive.
Bryce Montes de Oca (100) - This guy is a 6'7 260lb right handed pitcher. He recorded 1 out last season, then missed the rest of the year with an injury. He didn't pitch much as a freshman and I don't believe we saw him in Athens.
tech
Nobody
Vanderbilt
Jeren Kendall (2) - We'll see Kendall in CF this year. This guy is super athletic. It'll be interesting to see if he hits at top for Vanderbilt again or if they move him down, like they did with Dansby when he was a junior. Kendall is a 5 tool player. He and Seth Beer are likely the best two position players that we'll see this season.
Kyle Wright (5) - Must be nice having two players in the top five.... We saw Wright in the middle game in Nashville last spring and didn't do much with him. Wright has a starter's build and throws a lot of strikes. I assume he'll go on Friday night.
Will Toffey (80) - How has this guy not graduated yet? Toffey should hold down 3B for the Commodores this spring. Toffey was a better hitter than his average may have suggested last season, and is typically a tough out.
Florida
Alex Faedo (1) - Think about it this way... this guy is at the top of the list and was Florida's Sunday starter last year. I'm pretty sure that AJ Puk headed this same list a year ago. Faedo was "steady eddie" in that Sunday spot for the Gators last year after holding down that same spot as a true freshman for a good chunk of the year. Faedo has a good fastball and good slider and goes after hitters. Kevin O'Sullivan does such a good job down there of identifying and developing these guys. I don't know necessarily that I would think that Faedo is the best player that we'll see this year, or the best pitcher. I think he's closer to Logan Shore than AJ Puk though in his approach and his ability to get quick outs.
JJ Schwartz (15) - Schwartz took a bit of step back last season in the power number department, but I think everyone knows that the ability is there following his freshman year. This is a big spring for Schwartz and if he can find those HRs again, he has the chance to make a lot of money in June.
Dalton Guthrie (18) - I really thought this guy was gone already, but he'll back back for another season at SS for the Gators. Plus defender, hard out at the plate. He doesn't receive as much attention as the chronically over-rated Nolan Fontana, but Guthrie is probably better player (I'll never, ever understand the hype around Fontana, even all this time later).
Mike Rivera (28) - We'll see this guy at catcher. He had a lot of words with our dugout last year after Mitchell Webb K'd in the Sunday game.... That's what stood out to me. Typical Florida Gator, in the long tradition of guys like Casey Turgeon and Harrison Bader.
Deacon Liput (90) - I reckon Liput is a draft eligible sophomore... I think this is more of a team selection, frankly, unless Liput took a giant step forward in the summer and fall. He only hit .232 in the league last season... I didn't remember him being one of the more dangerous hitters in that lineup. But he is a tough out and does run well. And he plays a good 2b also.
Kentucky
Evan White (33) - Stricklin mentioned in his radio interview several days ago that Kentucky has the best 1B in the country. I reckon that's Mr. White, who last year lead UK in average (at .376), RBI's and stolen bases... the last of which you don't see very often from a 1B.
Zach Pop (74) - We did not see Pop in the rotation last year and I don't remember if he pitched out of the bullpen for UK, I don't think he did. It looks like he did get some midweek starts last season and I imagine that we'll see him in the rotation this season.
Mississippi State
Jake Mangum (29) - Mangum got two starts against us in Starkville this past spring. I had him confused with Jacob Robson, their CF, in my mind. Mangum was actually a corner guy last year, but I imagine he'll be a candidate to slide over to center this year. Mangum wound up leading the Bizzaro Bulldogs in average last year at .408... He's one of the few returning position players for Miss State.
South Carolina
Wil Crowe (11) - Crowe missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John, but was still drafted. It'll be interesting to see where he goes on the weekend, especially by the time South Carolina rolls around on the schedule. Crowe is a big guy, like Wright at Vanderbilt, and throws a hard, heavy fastball with a good curveball. South Carolina missed him a lot last year, even with their improved record, and you could see it in how long South Carolina had to ride their starters.
Clarke Schmidt (17) - Schmidt exploded onto the scene last year for the Gamecocks and ate up a lot of innings for South Carolina. He doesn't look like a starting pitcher getting off the bus and I didn't think his stuff was THAT great last year, but his numbers overall were very strong. He was a hard guy to square up, as I recall.
Tyler Johnson (35) - I think Johnson was one of their bullpen guys a year ago. We saw him briefly in Athens on Saturday I think.
Alex Destino (86) - Destino split time between DH and the corner OF spots last year and lead the Gamecocks in HRs.
So there you have it.... This took a lot longer than I thought it would as I didn't realize just how many guys there actually were when I started working on this. (Furman has a pitcher listed too, but I assume we won't see him in the midweek).... This is some league for baseball, that's for sure.
Can't wait to get this thing underway!
Here is the link, in case you are curious.
Suffice it to say, we are going to see some "dudes" this spring.... That's always the case, but man, there are a lot of opponents on this list.
I thought I'd run down the faces that we're slated to see and give some thoughts on each. I'm going to go in rough order of the schedule. The player rank according to Baseball America is in parenthesis.
LSU
Alex Lange (7) - This will be our second time seeing Lange after he started against us in Athens in 2015. We only played two games against LSU that weekend, due to the weather (forecast - at least for Friday night). Lange was a true freshman that season and sat in the mid 90s with a good fastball. He'll team up with Jared Poche' to give the Tigers an outstanding 1-2 punch. If he stays healthy, we'll see Lange in our first SEC game. That'll be the toughest test for the league opener since Michael Roth in 2011, I'm betting.
Mike Papierski (79) - I don't believe we saw this switch hitting catcher in 2015. I think that Kade Scivique (now in the Braves system, I think) was their guy that season, at least until he took a Sean McLaughlin (also in the Braves system) fastball to his jaw. Seems LSU typically has a catcher whose last name is very hard to pronounce. So that's what we know.
Greg Deichmann (83) - After not playing much as a freshman, this guy exploded last year for LSU as their starting 1B and had an outstanding June. It looks like he'll slide out to RF this season. Here's a guy who, according to his bio, got 10 ABs as a true freshman for LSU, now he's in the college top 100. Heck of a program they have going down there in Baton Rouge.
Auburn
Keegan Thompson (45) - This right handed pitcher is a 4th year junior who missed last season with an elbow injury. We didn't see Thompson at Auburn in 2015. We only scored four runs in that entire series, so you'd think that we would have seen a guy like this somewhere in there. I imagine we'll see Thompson on Friday night when the Tigers come to Athens. He apparently drew some draft interest last year as well, despite not pitching in the spring.
Josh Anthony (61) - Braves fans may recognize this name as he was the draftee to whom the Braves apparently extended an offer, which Anthony apparently indicated that he would accept, only to have the Braves come back with hat and hand, explaining that honoring their offer would put the Braves over the bonus cap and into a penalty. So I guess Anthony's bad luck will be to Auburn's benefit. Anthony should play 3B. I don't know, but I assumed that Anthony's ending up at Auburn after all may have played a role in our getting Tucker Bradley from Auburn at the 11th hour.
Tennessee
Zach Warren (64) - Warren is a big left handed pitcher who started the middle game against us last year, a game that I still get angry thinking about. Warren was in the low 90s as I recall and was Tennessee's innings eater, although I seem to remember us hitting him pretty well last season.
Kyle Serrano (94) - The coach's son, who seems like he's been at Tennessee as long as his dad. Nothing against Kyle Serrano, but he's never impressed me that much. He's had trouble staying healthy, which probably isn't his fault, but when he is on the mound... I just don't see it. He throws really hard. He runs that fastball up there around 95. But it doesn't move a lot and he, at least each time I've seen him, just seems to have trouble throwing strikes. He started against us Sunday in Knoxville in 2015. The day before, Tennessee probably played the worst game that I've ever seen in my life. The Vols had 7 errors that day, and easily could have been charged with 10. Sometimes that funk is contagious, and everyone in orange seemed to have it that Saturday. We clinched the series after a nail biting win on Friday night. So Serrano gets the baseball on Sunday, coming off of that disaster the day before. The very first pitch Serrano throws, Stephen Wrenn blasts over the CF fence for a leadoff home run. That stuck with me. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dave Serrano and continue to believe that he'll win in Knoxville. I'm just not sold on Kyle on as an elite college arm, though I wasn't surprised to see him on this list. Maybe he proves me wrong this spring.
Clemson
Charlie Barnes (82). I don't imagine we'll see this lefty in either of our midweek affairs with Clemson, unless he's getting some spot work in the bullpen. Clemson also has some kid named Beer who has a chance to make this list next season...
Missouri
Tanner Houck (8) - Tanner Houck will make his second trip to Athens this April and we'll probably see him on Thursday night in the opener (I hope so, I'm going to have to miss the Friday game that weekend and would really like to see Houck pitch again). I've said before that I thought that Houck had the best stuff that we saw in 2015, at least in Athens. We were two innings into that game and I remember thinking "this guy is going to be a first rounder in two years." We did a good job with him last season. He started game one on Saturday in Columbia. Nick King lead off the game with something like a 13 pitch AB and drew a walk. We drove Houck's pitch count very high and ran him out of there in, I think, the 5th. At his best, this guy can take the game over. Unlike Faedo or Lange or Kyle Wright, Houck hasn't had the lineup behind him to allow for much room for error... to me, that makes his numbers that much more impressive.
Bryce Montes de Oca (100) - This guy is a 6'7 260lb right handed pitcher. He recorded 1 out last season, then missed the rest of the year with an injury. He didn't pitch much as a freshman and I don't believe we saw him in Athens.
tech
Nobody
Vanderbilt
Jeren Kendall (2) - We'll see Kendall in CF this year. This guy is super athletic. It'll be interesting to see if he hits at top for Vanderbilt again or if they move him down, like they did with Dansby when he was a junior. Kendall is a 5 tool player. He and Seth Beer are likely the best two position players that we'll see this season.
Kyle Wright (5) - Must be nice having two players in the top five.... We saw Wright in the middle game in Nashville last spring and didn't do much with him. Wright has a starter's build and throws a lot of strikes. I assume he'll go on Friday night.
Will Toffey (80) - How has this guy not graduated yet? Toffey should hold down 3B for the Commodores this spring. Toffey was a better hitter than his average may have suggested last season, and is typically a tough out.
Florida
Alex Faedo (1) - Think about it this way... this guy is at the top of the list and was Florida's Sunday starter last year. I'm pretty sure that AJ Puk headed this same list a year ago. Faedo was "steady eddie" in that Sunday spot for the Gators last year after holding down that same spot as a true freshman for a good chunk of the year. Faedo has a good fastball and good slider and goes after hitters. Kevin O'Sullivan does such a good job down there of identifying and developing these guys. I don't know necessarily that I would think that Faedo is the best player that we'll see this year, or the best pitcher. I think he's closer to Logan Shore than AJ Puk though in his approach and his ability to get quick outs.
JJ Schwartz (15) - Schwartz took a bit of step back last season in the power number department, but I think everyone knows that the ability is there following his freshman year. This is a big spring for Schwartz and if he can find those HRs again, he has the chance to make a lot of money in June.
Dalton Guthrie (18) - I really thought this guy was gone already, but he'll back back for another season at SS for the Gators. Plus defender, hard out at the plate. He doesn't receive as much attention as the chronically over-rated Nolan Fontana, but Guthrie is probably better player (I'll never, ever understand the hype around Fontana, even all this time later).
Mike Rivera (28) - We'll see this guy at catcher. He had a lot of words with our dugout last year after Mitchell Webb K'd in the Sunday game.... That's what stood out to me. Typical Florida Gator, in the long tradition of guys like Casey Turgeon and Harrison Bader.
Deacon Liput (90) - I reckon Liput is a draft eligible sophomore... I think this is more of a team selection, frankly, unless Liput took a giant step forward in the summer and fall. He only hit .232 in the league last season... I didn't remember him being one of the more dangerous hitters in that lineup. But he is a tough out and does run well. And he plays a good 2b also.
Kentucky
Evan White (33) - Stricklin mentioned in his radio interview several days ago that Kentucky has the best 1B in the country. I reckon that's Mr. White, who last year lead UK in average (at .376), RBI's and stolen bases... the last of which you don't see very often from a 1B.
Zach Pop (74) - We did not see Pop in the rotation last year and I don't remember if he pitched out of the bullpen for UK, I don't think he did. It looks like he did get some midweek starts last season and I imagine that we'll see him in the rotation this season.
Mississippi State
Jake Mangum (29) - Mangum got two starts against us in Starkville this past spring. I had him confused with Jacob Robson, their CF, in my mind. Mangum was actually a corner guy last year, but I imagine he'll be a candidate to slide over to center this year. Mangum wound up leading the Bizzaro Bulldogs in average last year at .408... He's one of the few returning position players for Miss State.
South Carolina
Wil Crowe (11) - Crowe missed all of last season recovering from Tommy John, but was still drafted. It'll be interesting to see where he goes on the weekend, especially by the time South Carolina rolls around on the schedule. Crowe is a big guy, like Wright at Vanderbilt, and throws a hard, heavy fastball with a good curveball. South Carolina missed him a lot last year, even with their improved record, and you could see it in how long South Carolina had to ride their starters.
Clarke Schmidt (17) - Schmidt exploded onto the scene last year for the Gamecocks and ate up a lot of innings for South Carolina. He doesn't look like a starting pitcher getting off the bus and I didn't think his stuff was THAT great last year, but his numbers overall were very strong. He was a hard guy to square up, as I recall.
Tyler Johnson (35) - I think Johnson was one of their bullpen guys a year ago. We saw him briefly in Athens on Saturday I think.
Alex Destino (86) - Destino split time between DH and the corner OF spots last year and lead the Gamecocks in HRs.
So there you have it.... This took a lot longer than I thought it would as I didn't realize just how many guys there actually were when I started working on this. (Furman has a pitcher listed too, but I assume we won't see him in the midweek).... This is some league for baseball, that's for sure.
Can't wait to get this thing underway!
