Troy baseball recap/look ahead
May 26, 2009
As you know, Troy finished with a 33-23 record and didn’t make an NCAA regional for the second straight year after playing in two straight. I recently had a long conversation with assistant Mark Smartt about the state of the program, what was good, what wasn’t good, what the future holds, etc. Head coach Bobby Pierce is in Grand Junction, Colo., watching his son Logan play in the JUCO World Series for Shelton State CC.
So, here are some things to look at
***Freshman pitcher Tyler Ray went 7-3 with a 4.60 ERA, winning the SBC Freshman of the Year award. The ERA went up late in the year because he had never pitched that much in a season. That usually happens with freshmen, but Ray’s year was remarkable and he’s going to be a fixture in the weekend rotation for years to come. “His background and the way he introduced himself to our program suggested that he would be a major contributor right away,“ Smartt said.
What can Ray improve on? Adding weight, Smartt said. Ray is a wiry kid, and needs to be in the 180-pound range next year and probably 190 if he wants to pitch at the next level. Athletes take different forms of poundings and need the added weight for support.
***The team ERA was 6.32, which wasn’t good. The offense was decent enough, but not like the 06 team that could carry it by itself. Ray, Jason Walls, Travis Burge and Chris Sorce did their parts, but others either couldn’t rebound fully from injuries or didn’t perform like their JUCO numbers suggested, or struggled throwing strikes.
“It was a combination of two things - poor performances and injury factors,“ Smartt said. “I think the schedule hurt us. We didn’t have a complete game all year which is kind of rare, but it does tax your bullpen. We had three guys with over 20 appearances and nine guys were above 10 appearances (from the bullpen). We had two or three games that got away from us, giving up 26 to Auburn, 22 to Alabama. You take those games away and our ERA would be like everybody else in the country.“
Coaches expect Tim Wheeler and Andrew Dickinson to be even better next year. Both struggled coming off labrum surgery last offseason and both will be fifth-year seniors. Sophomore A.J. Howard, a lefty who was counted on out of the pen, redshirted following labrum surgery. Senior Josh Storm broke his hand before last fall and missed most of the fall. He fractured the same part of his hand (throwing) during the year and never could regain his command and be an all-conference performer like last year. He did all the right things for the team, but it just didn’t work out for him this year. Robby Loew wasn’t hurt, but struggled early. He got better at the end and should help next year.
“We expect guys like Tyler, Jason Walls and Chris Sorce to be close to this year if not better,“ Smartt said. “We’re excited about A.J’s return. We’ve got some wild cards. Drew Hull should be able to help us win games but at times he struggled to throw strikes.
“The offense was decent, but wasn’t good enough to win by itself,“ Smartt said. “We’ve got to get better on the mound if we want to be in one of the top two spots in the league.“
***Troy signed four pitchers last fall, though one in Joey Delgado won’t be here because of grades. Freshmen lefties Turner Lee and Shane McCain will compete for bullpen innings next year as they develop. The player coaches really like is JUCO transfer Chase Whitley, who started on the mound and started at third base for Southern Union JC. Coaches think he could be a starter at 3B and top reliever with Chris Sorce, but if he isn’t able to make the transition to this level with the bat, he’s got a chance to be a weekend starter. Recruiting efforts are being made this summer to bring in three or four more pitchers, because Walls has a chance to get drafted and sign.
***Hopes are high for good offensive production, though the team loses its No. 2, 3 and 5 spots in the order at the end of the year. Usually, JUCO transfers are much better offensively in their second years (think Bryan Miller, who hit .404 in 2008). So, that bodes well for outfielders Chad Watson, Steven Rosado, Miles Hoyle and infielders Ryan Ditthardt and J.R. Myers, all of whom have potential to put up numbers. Rosado and Myers will have chances to get back in the everyday mix. Senior Daryl Otwell is a guy to watch—all he did was hit when he got a chance. Catcher Steven Felix, who could also play outfield, returns, though he could get drafted based on his raw ability. He’ll have to get better than his .268 average, though. If a guy like Zack Martin, who barely played this year, has a preseason and regular season like Kevin Weidlich did in 2007, that could be a difference-maker. Infielder Adam Bryant really turned it on late in the year after a slow start and he’ll be a starter somewhere. Shortstop Bart Pettus and catchers Blake Martz and Jake Sullivan return.
***Not much will be put into finding offensive threats in this class, since so much comes back. Troy signed catcher Todd McCrae from Southern Union JC and he’s already there defensively but they’ll have to see how his bat is at this level. He’ll definitely help next year, though. Wallace-Dothan infielder T.J. Rivera is also in the mix.
***Two players with eligibility left won’t return. Left-handed pitcher Jason Howell has elected to not play baseball any more and lefty Fred Lewis is academically ineligible - which explains why he wasn’t on the postseason roster.
***The NCAA added a week to the college schedule, which is great. But, Troy (and the rest of the country) are looking for opening weekend opponents. The bad news is that Alabama decided to drop Troy from its schedule next year, and no one at Troy can get a straight answer on why. They’re certainly not required to play Troy, but the Trojans will have a better RPI year in and year out than other state opponents and are closer than other state opponents from Tuscaloosa (like South Alabama, which isn’t a fun one-day trip to Mobile from Tuscaloosa). Troy will be playing Auburn home-and-home and other schools. The headliner weekend is at Arkansas, which is the return trip from when Arkansas came in 2007. Troy will host Brown University in a four-game weekend series during the Sun Belt bye weekend (since the SBC has an odd number of baseball teams) and that’ll be played Sat-Mon. Troy also will host Bethune-Cookman in a weekend set, which will be a good series because Bethune-Cookman has been a fixture in regionals the past few years.
