Baseball opens full-squad practices on Friday

[aubiefifty 16,822]

 

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More comfortable Bauman ready for bigger things in Year 2 for Auburn baseball

Jason Caldwell

4–5 minutes

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AUBURN, Alabama—A junior college transfer originally from Jacksonville, Florida, 6-foot-5 left-hander Tanner Bauman came to Auburn last season and immediately made a huge impact for Butch Thompson’s Tigers on the mound. Tied for second on the team with 22 appearances, Bauman was 4-1 with a 5.77 ERA in 53 innings last season while becoming a key bullpen arm for the Tigers. Now heading into year number two on the Plains, Bauman said he feels much more prepared and confident after going through a season in the Southeastern Conference.

“It’s definitely a lot more comfortable knowing what you’re going to expect,” Bauman tells Auburnundercover. “Knowing that the SEC is a different league. Having a year under my belt, you can understand that you belong and now you can just go out there and play baseball. You can’t let the big names in college baseball take away your strengths or your confidence. Just go out there every day and play your game.”

During the fall, Thompson and the staff called on the players to decide who the leaders would be for this year’s team. Bauman was one of the four guys called on to lead the Legacy Group for the Tigers along with Bobby Pierce, Joseph Gonzalez and Cooper McMurray. 

He didn’t just get selected for the group, when it came time for the players to give their thoughts on their teammates in the categories of character, trustworthiness and integrity, Bauman received a perfect score from every single player on the roster. 

“That’s a big statement to me because of the character of like a Keegan Thompson, a Casey Mize, a Tanner Burns, a Ryan Bliss,” Thompson said. “I’m not talking about great players, I’m talking about great people. Tanner Bauman, this fall, was the first time in our end of the fall reviews that scored a perfect 5 on everything. It looks like you would make one player mad at you. For every player in the organization to give you a perfect five is incredible. He got his feet wet last year.

“I think he’s developing and growing. He’s going to play a bigger impact on our pitching staff, but I want everyone in the world to know that every player in the organization holds him in the highest regard. It hadn’t happened before. What a great platform Tanner has to lead us.”

That starts for Bauman with improving his play on the mound for the Tigers. Expected to continue his role as primarily a bullpen piece for the Tigers, he said there are some things he wanted to get better at heading into this season.

“For me the biggest thing was consistency,” he said. “I think as a whole team last year it was consistency, especially from the pitching side of things. Going out there and being yourself every weekend and not being a different person, being able to go out there and know what’s expected from you and your teammates is the biggest thing we tried to work on this fall.”

Something they have done to help with that consistency has been a constant training program under first-year pitching coach Everett Teaford. With a background in professional baseball, he has Auburn’s pitchers ramping up earlier so they’re prepared for day one and not having to ease into the year.

“He’s awesome,” Bauman said. “I feel like we have been in the swing of things for a long time already. We’re getting a lot more innings under our belts and a lot more strength on our arms a little earlier. He’s just been awesome. He’s been a sunshine for us and helped us in so many ways.”

Expected to be on the back end of games along with Will Cannon, John Armstrong and true freshman Cam Tilly, Bauman said he’s excited to see what this bullpen can do to help the Tigers win games in 2024.

“We have a good problem,” Bauman said. “We’ve got a lot of guys that can finish games this year. We’ve got a lot of guys that can do a lot of things in the back-half of the bullpen. We’re going to plug that in and depending on who’s at bat, we’ll play it by ear.”

Auburn opens full-squad practices on Friday at Plainsman Park. The season opener is scheduled for Friday, February 16 against Eastern Kentucky.

[aubiefifty 16,822]

 

247sports.com

 

From The Dugout Plainsman Park update Tigers ready for full squad practices

Jason Caldwell

8–10 minutes

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Auburn baseball's home, Plainsman Park, continues to get an upgrade heading into the 2024 season.

Stadium update

This week Auburn baseball opened up the new Hall of Fame Club for single-game tickets for the 2024 season and the response has been incredible to this point. In less than one week, they have sold all but around 900 of the reserved seats for the season. Those are individual tickets for the entire year, meaning that’s just an average of less than 30 seats available per game for the 32 scheduled home games. With the option to purchase standing-room drink rail tickets as well in the section, there are still options left for fans to check out the new area behind home plate this season. This is the only season they will be made available for individual game purchases. After giving Auburn fans an opportunity to see what it’s all about, beginning next year those seats will be sold on a yearly basis just like season tickets. The netting behind the plate has been moved to the front of the new section, opening up the grandstand at Plainsman Park.

Speaking of home plate, the new wall that has been constructed in front of the seating area is just around 40 feet from home plate. It’s going to make passed ball decisions very interesting this year because it’s such a short distance and the possibility of a bounce back. Auburn has added new field turf in front of both dugouts that features the Auburn baseball script logo. 

Something that has been added to the construction is a platform area for students in right field that will put them right next to and actually looking into the visitor bullpen at Plainsman Park. It will be constructed like a large deck with composite flooring and different levels to allow for better viewing for the students. The height of the new deck will allow them to make the outfield wall solid again in that area. Next year the plans are to continue construction and take the area all the way to the batter’s eye. They can’t do that until the construction is done down the first base line.

Pitchers ahead of schedule

It’s still three weeks until the season opener and three days until the first full team practice on Friday, but coach Butch Thompson believes the pitching staff is ahead of where it has been in the past because of the training regimen brought in by first-year coach Everett Teaford. Taking less time off over the holidays and ramping up quicker, Auburn already has more live pitching and at-bats than in the past. That’s something the coaching staff believes will pay big dividends as they get into the schedule. 

Projected No. 1 starter Joseph Gonzalez is still on target to be ready to go when the Tigers open against Eastern Kentucky on February 16. His velocity has been strong in the preseason and the next step will be pitching simulated innings when the team gets together later this week.

McMurray back and ready to roll

One of the keys to success for Auburn last season was the addition of first baseman Cooper McMurray from Kansas. Coming in and earning the role of everyday first baseman for the Tigers, the big lefty batted .272 with 14 home runs and 49 runs batted in last season while playing in just 43 games with 41 starts. 

Missing part of the fall after having knee surgery, McMurray returned late in 2023 and is full speed as the Tigers get ready for full team practices. He should be a big part of the Auburn offensive attack this season and is one of the leaders for the Tigers in 2024.

Spring look

A talented baseball player in high school, Auburn freshman defensive back Colton Hood is working with the Tigers as an outfielder. He’s someone that could have a chance to make an impact for this team down the road, but the question is going to be how much time he’ll have when spring football practices open in just over a month. He’s probably not a player that would be ready to get into the playing rotation just yet for baseball, but he’s expected to challenge for extensive playing time as a defensive back following the losses of starters D.J. James and Nehemiah Pritchett at cornerback. It’s tough to play two sports and Hood is talented enough to help on the diamond down the road, but it’s extremely tough to overlap nowadays and that will be the challenge for him if he decides to try to do both.

 

[SumterAubie 3,031]

Hot damn. Only 3 weeks til opening day. Life is good

[aubiefifty 16,822]

16 hours ago, SumterAubie said:

Hot damn. Only 3 weeks til opening day. Life is good

are baseball games expensive and can you park close? thanx for humoring me.

[Big Fat Barner 143]

If anyone went today can tell me how the guys looked, would be much appreciated!

[SumterAubie 3,031]

5 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

are baseball games expensive and can you park close? thanx for humoring me.

I've no idea. The last Auburn game I attended was about 5 years ago. In Mobile. The last game I attended in Auburn I watched some kid named Bo Jackson play.

[gr82be 14,441]

On 1/25/2024 at 11:56 AM, aubiefifty said:

That’s a big statement to me because of the character of like a Keegan Thompson, a Casey Mize, a Tanner Burns, a Ryan Bliss,” Thompson said. “I’m not talking about great players, I’m talking about great people. Tanner Bauman, this fall, was the first time in our end of the fall reviews that scored a perfect 5 on everything. It looks like you would make one player mad at you. For every player in the organization to give you a perfect five is incredible. He got his feet wet last year.

Being elected by your peers in that manner is impressive and special. It’s one thing to have the talent but it’s a whole different thing for other to see the qualities beyond that and have respect for you. A lot of talented jerks play ball and receive accolades but this probably means more to him than any award he’s ever received.