Baseball: Veterans providing strong leadership for

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Veterans providing strong leadership for Auburn baseball heading into 2023 season

Jason Caldwell

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama—This time last season both Nate LaRue and Bobby Peirce were hoping for a shot while Kason Howell was back for his fourth year as a starter for the Tigers. Heading into the 2023 Auburn baseball season all three are now building blocks for Coach Butch Thompson’s program as the legacy leaders (captains) for the team as voted on by their teammates.

“As much as we have a good amount of new players, we do have experience,” Auburn assistant Karl Nonemaker said. “Nate is a fourth-year player. Kason is a fifth-year player. Bobby is a fifth-year college player and third year in our program. We’re not young on the field. We have some guys that haven’t played every day at this level, but we also have four or five guys that have.”

With 113 consecutive starts in center field for the Tigers, Howell enters his fifth-year having played in 191 games at Auburn. While he has been productive at the plate with a .276 average, 10 home runs and 99 runs batted in, it’s Howell’s defense and leadership that stands out to Gabe Gross.

“I told him, I think I’m going to leave when he leaves,” Gross said of Howell. “I haven’t had to worry about that in so long. Positioning, I do some stuff during the game, but he is so good at reading swings and knowing approaches and pulling guys with him, he’s the quarterback out there.”

The quarterback on the infield and of the pitching staff is LaRue. Still doubling as a relief pitcher early last season, LaRue jumped into the starting role and never gave it back in 2022 and was a big reason why the Tigers advanced to the College World Series. Gross said the Mobile native has been a huge part of things for the program and shows it every day.

“In terms of leadership we’ve got a guy with a year of experience that was maybe the best defensive catcher in our league in Nate LaRue,” Gross said. “That’s the most important leadership position on the team. He kind of does the same thing. He’s going to call a lot of games. Already Rock relies on him a ton on how to pitch guys. He shuts down running games and he has become the commander of our pitching staff. Those guys really respect them and he can really get their minds right when he needs to.”

Rounding out the trio is Peirce. A player who had a strong freshman season in junior college before a hand injury cut short his sophomore season, the Arizona native played sparingly in his first season at Auburn before undergoing double knee surgery that ended his year.

Not in the mix early last season, Peirce didn’t get his first start until April 1 at LSU and still ended up with 10 home runs, a team-high four triples, and 31 runs batted in. Now coming off a full offseason for the first time and with experience under his belt, Peirce is someone Gross said he believes is ready to take the next step for the Tigers.

“His confidence, his leadership, which we had to have grow on this team losing all the people we lost last year,” Gross said of Peirce. “Part of the greatness of him as a player is that he’s locked in. I don’t know if it shows, but his motor runs very, very hot. He’s another guy that competes very, very hard, but I think he’s learned within that how to control that a little bit better. He’s learned during an at-bat how to have a two-strike approach instead of a swing on a 2-0 count is the same one you’re getting on a 2-2 count. He’s learned how to face different pitchers and what they’re trying to do to you. 

“It’s the maturity that comes with playing and playing at a high level. Not only that, but being in the middle of the lineup. I think him hitting behind Sonny in four-hole is huge dividends this year of what to expect. He’s going to be one of the guys in the lineup that coaches circle and say, ‘Hey, we may not want to let this guy beat us.’ He’s going to have to handle that.”

4COMMENTS

Auburn opens the 2023 season on February 17 against Indiana in the first of three games at Plainsman Park.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

 

Very solid, all three have outstanding toughness and grit without having to outplay their talent level.  If LaRue can step up, look out....