Early Look at 2019 Baseball rotation

[SCTiger2011 1,277]

I know this thread will probably get buried down the order as both baseball/softball seasons are still ongoing, but I didn't want to pollute a game thread with it.  I've mentioned before that for the past several years, Auburn has always had a "king" and an "heir" guy (a Keegan/Casey combo that's now become a Casey/Burns combo).  Next year with Casey making lots of money for the Detroit Tigers, there hasn't been a potential number 2 guy for next year come in and showcase potentially dominant stuff.  Some promising freshman arm signees coming in for next year, but none with the fanfare or raw talent Burns brought in this year (no disrespect to any of them, CBT just pulled the steal of the century getting Burns to come to college)

Early guess would be Tanner as a sophomore Friday night starter in the SEC next year, and moving Greenhill to a weekend rotation spot, but as good of potential as those guys have shown, that's definitely going to be a Top 2 of growing pains as ace/number 2 guy of an SEC schedule.  Really hope Davis Daniel is just a late bloomer and kills it in summer ball this offseason with his development, otherwise the dreaded "rebuilding" year comes to mind.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,225]

All four of the arms coming in will be low 90's when they get here.  I assume the lefty (Wade) will be the most advanced when/if he gets here...we will finally have a left handed power arm (93-94).  There are still some very good arms in the current group and I'm believing that the light will eventually come on for Davis Daniel.

[boomstick 1,315]

Based on the current roster, these are the arms we return next year that we've used a good amount/relied upon somewhat heavily:

Burns - starter

Greenhill - possible starter/closer

Daniel - not really sure

Jack Owen - midweek starter

Anderson - reliever

Malczewski - reliever

We have several pitchers we haven't seen much or any of this year that will return (RHP: Hoerter, Watson, Fetner, Luttrell, Bowen/ LHP: Glavine, Schilleci).

These are the current pitcher signees/commitments:

LHP: Bailey Horn, Garrett Wade, Brooks Fuller, Carson Skipper, Dawson Sweatt

RHP: Blake Rivera, Will Morrison, Richard Fitts

 

My guess is Burns and Greenhill will be our 1/2 next year. IMO Daniel is an unknown as to how we will try to use him next year. If we get Blake Rivera (JUCO RHP at Wallace-Dothan) on campus, I think he will factor into the rotation. But he's pretty highly thought of in JUCO right now. Bailey Horn is a JUCO lefty that is also well thought of and might factor into the rotation. If we can get away with it, I'd love to leave Greenhill in the backend of the bullpen to give us someone with some experience at that role back there. Of the freshmen coming in, Garrett Wade and Carson Skipper might have the best shots to get into the rotation. And I've heard good things about Will Morrison. 

All that to say, right now, I think we only have one definite weekend starter (Burns), a second possible weekend starter in Greenhill, and then there's a whole lot of ???? after that. We will have a lot of talented arms, but we will lose a good amount of experience. So it might be a baptism by fire next year for some of these guys. For the short-term, that might suck a bit, but long-term, I think this helps set up the program tremendously.

[tigerbrotha12 2,362]

I believe Burns is the heir apparent, and will live up to that name. Should we expect Casey Mize-esque numbers from him? Probably not, but with a year under Smith and Thompson, I think Burns can be another early round draft choice by his junior year. He’ll be a great starter. I’ve got to think Davis Daniel also finds a way into the rotation somehow. In fact, if we find out one of these JUCO guys is a pretty dern good closer, I’d say run Burns, Greenhill, and Daniel out there in that order. Not sure if Greenhull could give you 6+ innings, but he’s thrown 70 pitches at time this year and done very well. 

Hopefully we make good use of Casey Mize this year and win us a regional and a super. That’d be something special to send that guy out on. 

[boomstick 1,315]

7 hours ago, tigerbrotha12 said:

I believe Burns is the heir apparent, and will live up to that name. Should we expect Casey Mize-esque numbers from him? Probably not, but with a year under Smith and Thompson, I think Burns can be another early round draft choice by his junior year. He’ll be a great starter. I’ve got to think Davis Daniel also finds a way into the rotation somehow. In fact, if we find out one of these JUCO guys is a pretty dern good closer, I’d say run Burns, Greenhill, and Daniel out there in that order. Not sure if Greenhull could give you 6+ innings, but he’s thrown 70 pitches at time this year and done very well. 

Hopefully we make good use of Casey Mize this year and win us a regional and a super. That’d be something special to send that guy out on. 

I think Greenhill could move into a starting role fairly easily. He threw 81 pitches in 5 innings of work against Florida this past Friday. I think the biggest thing for him is finding a third pitch to go along with that heavy sinker and his curveball. Really needs a third reliable pitch because these SEC teams can get a bead on you after a couple times through the lineup. The thing with Greenhill that has been so impressive and would make me reluctant to take him out of the closer role is his aggressiveness and confidence. It's hard to find guys, especially at his age, to come in and go right after hitters and pound the zone and throw a lot of strikes. He does that and has that closer mentality. There's no guarantee the guys we bring in have or can develop that mindset. So, it might be most beneficial to leave him in that role and find some starters and middle relief to fill in around him.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

On 4/29/2018 at 8:45 PM, PowerOfDixieland said:

All four of the arms coming in will be low 90's when they get here.  I assume the lefty (Wade) will be the most advanced when/if he gets here...we will finally have a left handed power arm (93-94).  There are still some very good arms in the current group and I'm believing that the light will eventually come on for Davis Daniel.

I believe the same thing about DD.  He'll get there. 

[mustache eagle 2,388]

I know I've posted this a couple times before ... IMO, DD had the single best game pitched by our starters last year.  He has shown some really good glimpses this year, but when things go south ... they go south in a hurry.  Everything for this kid is between his ears.  When he learns how to relax and lets himself pitch, he could be a great one.  I am going to continue to be hopeful that he gets it together, or the coaches figure out how to use him despite his hiccups.  For one, don't put him in as a reliever with the bases loaded ...

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

3 hours ago, mustache eagle said:

I know I've posted this a couple times before ... IMO, DD had the single best game pitched by our starters last year.  He has shown some really good glimpses this year, but when things go south ... they go south in a hurry.  Everything for this kid is between his ears.  When he learns how to relax and lets himself pitch, he could be a great one.  I am going to continue to be hopeful that he gets it together, or the coaches figure out how to use him despite his hiccups.  For one, don't put him in as a reliever with the bases loaded ...

He does not handle stress all that well but I really do think he'll outgrow that. He has tremendous talent. But to be a successful reliever a pitcher has to be able to come in with runners on base and shut down the other team and get out of the inning.. That's just part of it. It's not often that a reliever gets to come in to a clean slate. That also won't help his long term career if the situation has to be cherry-picked for him.  DD just has to learn how to over-ride his panic button. I'm sure they're working on it every day.