The Season So Far...

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

Here we are. We're a little under a month and a half into the season, and three weeks into SEC play. We've showed flashes of brilliance, and moments of pure terror. Right now, we're a team searching for its identity; a good team, but not a great team yet. With that said, here's where the team currently sits.

Overall, we're a solid team. But solid will not cut it in the SEC this year. Offensively, we've been streaky, but lately we've been making better contact, which I hope is a sign of improvement. Defense is better than last year, but still not where it needs to be. I love CMac, but he CANNOT play 2nd. KP really needs to work on his pickoff catch and tag. It's like watching him in slow motion. There was at least one attempt today, when TC threw back to 1st after the pitch, where even I could've gotten him. Lately, Coach JP has been tweaking the lineup quite a bit, and testing out a few different guys. For me, here's what the lineup and defensive positions would be:

1. Justin Fradejas - CF. Justin has been very solid in the field, and pretty good at the plate. In the outfield, he's played both CF and RF, but I prefer to stick him in center myself, but I'm happy either way. His arm is just as good as last year, having halted quite a few tag attempts so far this season. He also holds the lead for the fewest errors at 2, tied with fellow outfielder Creede Simpson and KP. At the plate, he's a solid contact hitter, and an excellent bunter. He's currently boasting an average of .301, which is pretty high. He lacks power though, hitting only one HR this season, but that can be mostly attributed to the new bats. He also only has 8 RBI's so far, but as a leadoff guy, he won't be in very many opportunities for them. Overall, Justin has been a reliable player defensively and offensively, and one shouldn't expect that to change.

2. Justin Hargett - 2nd. Justin H., like Justin F. has been solid both in the field and at the plate. On the field, he's a reliable second baseman who has good range. Also of note, he has started all but 3 or 4 games there, which shows what the coaches think of him. He's committed 3 errors, but that's not very worrisome. At the plate, he started out the year on fire, caring a double digit hit streak for a while, but has recently cooled down. Currently he's hitting .301 (Exactly the same as Justin F.) with no homers and 16 RBI's. He doesn't come with much power, but he's a great 2 spot hitter who's fairly good at getting on base

3. Casey McElroy - 3rd. Of one, if not the best, hitter on the team. Period. He's hit in the 3 hole just about the whole season I believe, while playing mostly short and 3rd with a little 2nd thrown in. He's not the best fielder, but decent at short and 3rd. He's just not a 2nd baseman though. I personally believe he's best at 3rd. He has committed a whopping 7 errors, but offensively he's too big of an asset to take out. At the plate, he's been a force to be reckoned with. He currently leads the team in batting average (.362), home runs (5), RBIs (25) and doubles (10). He has also won an SEC Player of the Week award for his amazing weekend against Arkansas.

4. Tony Caldwell - C. Tony is an absolute stud. End of story. In the field, he's been spectacular. He rarely gives up past balls. And I dare you to try to steal on him. He didn't give up a steal all weekend against Vanderbilt. As a whole, he's the most reliable player in the field for us. At the plate, he's been very good, but he could be even better. He's by far a power hitter, and he probably has the most power on the team behind Kevin Patterson. But he makes contact more often than KP. Currently he's hitting .263, which is a tad low, but ok for a pure power guy like he is. He's hit 3 HRs with 18 RBI's, but also missed some time due to a sore shoulder. I expect these number to rise quickly.

5. Dan Gamache - DH. I really like Danny. He's just a solid baseball player. He boasts a very high average of .340, good for second on the team. He's also second in RBIs with 20. There's really not much I can say except for, if you need someone to get a clutch hit, you call on Dan. As a side note, his cheer when he comes to bat is AUsome. "Oh my gosh, it's Dan Gamache".

6. Wes Gilmer - 1st. Yes, Gilmer over Patterson. There's a few reasons for this. While both are solid in the field, I give the nod to Gilmer. He's been fantastic at 1st. While KP might have more of a reach due to his size, I feel safer with Wes manning the bag. And at the plate there's no comparison. Gilmer - .333. KP - .236. And there's your ballgame. Gilmer is also a leader of the team, and a captain.

7. Creede Simpson - RF. "Fastball driven. Deep left center field. That ball is... Gone! It's gone! It's gone!...." I'll never forget that call, or that hit. Anyways, Creede has been a reliable outfielder, but hasn't really played out at the plate as well as he could. He's got a cannon for an arm, and is just a solid outfielder. But at the plate he's only hitting .266 with 8 RBI's. That leaves a lot to be desired. He hit a bad slump near the second week of the season, but has started to come out of it. Expect these number to rise.

8. Zach Alvord - SS. So far this season, Zach hasn't been a starter. This is mainly due to talent and experience in from of him. The usual lineup has KP at 1st with Gilmer at 3rd and CMac at short, which doesn't leave a spot for Z. But as I stated earlier, I think we'll be seeing more and more of Gilmer at 1st, which opens up a spot for the highly talented freshman. He's got the best arm in the infield, and good range, while his throws can make it hard on KP or Wes sometimes, but not enough to cause alarm. In limited plate appearances (only 33 compared to an average of about 100 for the rest of the starting lineup), he's hitting .282 with 7 RBIs and one homer. But this weekend, in which he started both Saturday and Sunday, he went 3 for 6 with a homer and one ball of the monster that was just ripped. And that was one heck of a homer. Right at the scoreboard, and if there wasn't a net in front of it, he would have hit it dead center. It was the hardest hit ball by any of our guys this season. I think he deserves a starting role, and I expect him to get more and more starts.

9. Cullen Wacker/Brooks Beisner - LF. These guys are filling in for who would have been our everyday left fielder, and our closer, in Justin Bryant. Unfortunately, he went down to Tommy John Surgery very early in the season. So that leaves these two guys to platoon the position. Both guys play solid defense and our consistent at the plate, but nothing spectacular. Both are hitting close to the same average (Cullen a .300 and Brooks a .289), but right now, neither are hitting bombs or driving in many runs. Still, the are playing very solid, and I have no complaints for either.

And the bench:

Kevin Patterson: If only we had the bats of last year. Instead of on the bench, KP would be in the record books. But unfortunately, here we are. While playing solid defense outside of his pickoff moves (which appear to be in slow motion), at the plate, he just isn't what he used to be. He's hitting only .236 with 3 bombs. In 89 ABs, he's been fanned a whopping 25 times, which is just way too high. And if there's a southpaw on the mound, don't expect anything good to happen. While I love the guy as a person and a leader (another team captain), he just is too inconsistent at the plate.

Bobby Andrews: The team's pinch runner, Bobby has done as much as can be expected of him. He fills in in the outfield on occasion, and sometimes gets a start. He's actually been very good at the plate so far. He's hitting .461, but has no RBIs, and only has 17 appearances. He's a solid replacement and a speedy guy who can run the bases.

Jay Gonzales: Another freshman who has made an impact this year is Jay. He's our usual utility/pinch hitter. He's just a solid player overall. No huge drawbacks in the field, and at the plate, he swings with a good bit of power. He's still young, and I expect good things to follow for this freshy.

Blake Austin/Caleb Bowen: There are your backup catchers. While not at Tony's level yet, both have played solid defense. At the plate however, they have lots of room for improvement. Both are hitting below .100 right now, and I don't expect that to change much this year. They are still young though, and they will improve.

Now onto the pitching. Some might disagree, but I think pitching is our best area. Specifically starting pitching. We have four very solid guys who we can send out there, and one who, when on, can be effective. Right now, only one guy is guaranteed a weekend start. There are multiple options for the other two, and the weekday starter. Here's the guys who have started games for us, and where I think they end up.

Corey Luckie LHP (1-1, 5.29 ERA) - Bullpen, maybe weekday when we have two games instead of one. Corey, Corey, Corey... What went wrong. To date, he's had one good start, and numerous bad ones. Of all of our starters, I think he's the weakest. When he can locate his pitches, he's fantastic. But when he can't. all hell breaks loose. He's just that kind of pitcher. Low velocity, good movement when he's on, and great control, WHEN HE'S ON. When he's off, his low velocity allows for batters to crush his mistake pitches, which are his downfall.

Slade Smith RHP (1-0 8.00 ERA) - Bullpen. Slade has been decent, but not great. He's a good pitcher, but he seems to run out of gas fast, which is why his ERA is so high. Fortunately, I think he's just what the bullpen needs; someone who can eat up the 5th/6th/7th innings and keep up in the game, and then turn it over to Wallen. He pitched well recently out of the pen, and I'm hoping it's a sign of things to come.

Will Irvin RHP (4-1 5.67 ERA) - Weekday starter. This is the hardest decision for me to make. Both him and John Luke have pitched well enough to earn a weekend starting role, but just from how they have pitched recently, I would give the nod to John Luke. I'm a big fan of Irvin, and he's a great asset to the team.

John Luke Jacobs RHP (1-2 2.55 ERA) - Saturday starter. Before this week, this would have surprised a lot of people, including myself. Especially since, before then, he's made two appearances, and was ok, but not that great. After his start against Bethune Cookman a few weeks ago, he had a minor injury, which is why we haven't seen him take the mound. But then came Tuesday, and a beautiful, perfect 3 innings pitched against a ranked Troy team. And then came Saturday, where he went over 5 innings, and only gave up three runs to the #1 team in the nation, all while having worked 3 innings on Tuesday. And it wasn't just his stats that impressed me. He was dominant. Unless something changes, I give him the nod over Irvin for the Saturday spot

Andrew Morris RHP (1-2 5.03 ERA) - Friday starter. The word for this kid is Potential. And he's full of it. While his start Friday left a bit to be desired, giving up 3 runs on 9 hits while fanning 2 in 3 innings, I think he's a solid weekend starter. He pitched beautifully against Jacksonville St. a week ago, and has looked sharp coming out of the pen. His only problem is his control. If he gets that pinned down, I honestly think he becomes our ace. He's got that much potential.

Derek Varnadore RHP (3-1 3.38 ERA) - Sunday starter. Anyone who follows Auburn baseball knows who this is. He's the ace of the staff. If I could describe him in one word, it would be dominant. He reminds me a lot of Roy Halladay. He controls the game, and doesn't let anything rattle him. He's thrown the most innings by far for any of our pitchers (45, with Luckie being the closest with 32). He's struck out an amazing 46 batters so far this season. He's got a complete game shutout in which he struck out 13 batters. He didn't give up an earned run until his third start, which was against a top 20 school. If you could only make it down for one game for the year, make it a Sunday trip. You won't be disappointed, I promise.

Now for the team's biggest weakness. The bullpen. We have to face it, we don't have a solid bullpen, and it has, and will probably continue, to cost us games. Its been worse recently, but there is hope for this year to be salvaged. I think with the addition of Slade, and the increased use of Ortman, our bullpen can be improved. But our veterans have just plain got to get better. Here's what I think of each guy:

Zach Blatt RHP (1-2 7.04 ERA 2 saves): A one word description would be inconsistent. After Bryant went down, he was slated to be our closer. Unfortunately, he's just too inconsistent (just an fyi, I'm gonna use that word for a lot of our relievers). He's got above average stuff when he's on, unfortunately you won't know when he's on until he hits the mound, and by that time it's too late. If he can become more consistent, he will be a huge asset, and can split the closer role with Ethan. Until then, he's holding us back.

Sean Ray LHP (1-1 6.08 ERA 1 save): This senior southpaw started out the year strong, but has recently hit a mini-slump. He's also been inconsistent. Overall I think he's a solid arm, and one of the few who has performed somewhat decently lately, although I still think this team leader is better than he's performed.

Dillon Ortman RHP (0-0 5.28 ERA): Most people won't know this freshman's name, but I bet by the end of the year many, many will. Talk about talented. He shut down Vandy this weekend, and outside of Wallen, has been the most reliable arm we have lately. Until things change, I feel safer giving the ball to him than our veteran arms. I expect great things out of this kid.

Bradley Hendrix RHP (1-0 3.75 ERA): Bradley is a solid arm and can eat up innings. He's not dominant, but he is fairly consistent in the long run. But lately, he's been very hittable. Unlike most pitchers on our team, I think his ERA is about where it will be at the end of the season.

Ethan Wallen RHP (1-3 3.08 ERA 4 saves): If you want to see sidearm pitching perfection, you need to watch him. He's got one of the purest sidearm deliveries I've ever seen. He is baffling. He's not your typical fire-throwing closer, but he has the ability to come in and shut a team down. He's been the workhorse and the bright spot of the bullpen, and I don't expect that to change. I honestly could go on and on and on about this guy, but I'll leave it here.

So far this season has been slightly disappointing, but I expect that outlook to change. We've already played the best teams on our schedule, and came out with some good wins. Right now, I expect this team to make the SEC tournament as the 3rd seed in the West and make a regional. If we can get our bullpen into shape, we've got the potential to make a run in the SEC tourney, host a regional, and make it to a super regional.

Don't give up on this team. I think our best ball is yet to come. War Eagle!

[augolf1716 21,268]

Thanks fish but damn do you ever sleep? 1:00 AM

[telling tiger 156]

Nice, Fish, very nice.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

Fish that was great.

I'm hoping things get turned around ASAP. I still have faith! WDE!

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

Thanks everyone. Golf, that's the problem. I couldn't sleep, so I decided to write this, and now I'm dead.

I don't mean to toot my own horn, but I think I got my starter predictions right. Irvin has been announced as the starter for tomorrow, which makes me think that the rotation we saw last week is the one we will stick with.

Also, I've heard some bad news. There's some stuff going on in the dugout that needs to be handled. Specifically some veteran players getting upset when they are pulled from a game or aren't starting.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

I hate to hear that Fish. This team seems a little frustrated....

[AuburnTigers1 0]

Fish, am I missing something? You keep saying CMac @ 2nd. I've been to 5 games this year and CMac played all of them at short. Not arguing with what you said. I know you've been to way more games than me, but that has me confused. I have thought before that he needed to play 2nd or 3rd but wondered why he never had. Maybe I'm missing something....

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

Fish, am I missing something? You keep saying CMac @ 2nd. I've been to 5 games this year and CMac played all of them at short. Not arguing with what you said. I know you've been to way more games than me, but that has me confused. I have thought before that he needed to play 2nd or 3rd but wondered why he never had. Maybe I'm missing something....

He's started at 2nd whenever Justin Hargett is out of the lineup. He started there on Sunday and had 2 errors there. He's only recently been playing there though, as Justin started about 20 games in a row there. I think he's best at 3rd where he doesn't have to move around too much and can utilize his arm

[28Auburn27 0]

Good work fish. I agree with about all of that.

[SumterAubie 3,031]

Dang. Nice post. I love me some Auburn baseball and this who's who will be very handy down the road.

[Ronald McDonald 0]

Thanks for posting this fish.. Dillon Ortman has been a huge surprise. We faced him many times last year. Usually beat him and I didn't expect much out of him (at least this year). He's gonna be a good one if he continues to improve.

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

Good post.  Great win for Auburn last night.  I was disappointed at Morris getting banged up so early, but Blatt was a nice surprise.  I like what we're doing with Bobby Andrews leading off and playing left.  I really wonder if Gilmer of Gamache could play right.  Caldwell played some last year and didn't stuggle too much. CJP also tried Patterson out in RF that wasn't as successful. I know that might look ugly, but LF and CF are where were struggling to receive the most production, so if Fradejas moved to CF, thatd open up RF for a better hitter.  I don't think this will happen but if we can dream this is what I'd do.

1. Andrews LF

2  Hargett 2B

3  McElroy 3B

4  Caldwell 1B

5  Gamache DH

6  Gilmer RF

7  Patterson 1B

8  Alvord SS

9  CF Fradejas

KP has gotten going the past 2 games, I hope that can continue.  I think our biggest problem is the lack of run producers in our lineup.  Casey is basically carrying the team.  Whereas last year we had Morris, Mummey, Jenkins, and Calwell and Gamache were hitting better too.  We have solid guys like Fradejas, Hargett, Gilmer and Andrews who are all hitting over 300 but we don't have any guys that are driving them in.

I thought at the beginning of the season Patterson, Caldwell, Gamache, and McElroy would be our run producers.  McElroy and Gamache have been, now we just need to get the other 2 going.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

What has heppen to this team? there were so many high hopes going into this season.

[AuburnTigers1 0]

1. Andrews LF

2  Hargett 2B

3  McElroy 3B

4  Caldwell 1B

5  Gamache DH

6  Gilmer RF

7  Patterson 1B

8  Alvord SS

9  CF Fradejas

It's going to be tough to win many games without a catcher!!

[kbtiger151345162906 0]

Good catch.  The gametracker simulated the batter's interference last night as Caldwell running down the stealing baserunner at 2nd.  So I'm assuming he is athletic enough to play 1B and C at the same time.

[AuburnTigers1 0]

Haha! That may very well be true then!!!

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Rather we win todays game or not, we've won back to back series. First UK and now LSU. 5-1 in the last 6 games it's bad at all. Hope we can keep it going the rest of the way.

[Tigerbelle 5,299]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^6

Me too! 

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Who do we play this weekend? I've been out of the loop for a few days.

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

at South Carolina

[auburn4ever 1,266]

It's been a long season.

[auburn4ever 1,266]

Last year we were 43-21 overall and 21-12 in conference play. So far this year, we've gone 23-20 overall and 9-11 in conference play. What has happened from last year to this year?

[AUAeroEngineer 0]

Um, well, we lost over half of the team, including three of our best hitters, and our ace. The whole time this has been a rebuilding year.

[28Auburn27 0]

Last year we were 43-21 overall and 21-12 in conference play. So far this year, we've gone 23-20 overall and 9-11 in conference play. What has happened from last year to this year?

Losing your 2-3-4 hitters from the previous year, as strange as it may seem, is a tough loss

[Ronald McDonald 0]

Last year we were 43-21 overall and 21-12 in conference play. So far this year, we've gone 23-20 overall and 9-11 in conference play. What has happened from last year to this year?

Losing your 2-3-4 hitters from the previous year, as strange as it may seem, is a tough loss

Along with Grant Dayton on the mound. That hurt as well.