Projecting Auburn baseball’s starting lineup for the 2024 season

[aubiefifty 16,807]

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Projecting Auburn baseball’s starting lineup for the 2024 season

Published: Feb. 15, 2024, 6:20 a.m.

7–9 minutes

Baseball season is back, with Auburn’s dubbed Opening Day on the Plains set for a 6 p.m. first pitch Friday night at Plainsman Park against Eastern Kentucky.

Coming into his ninth season with Auburn, head coach Butch Thompson is taking an Auburn team that hosted an NCAA regional last year and dealing with a significant amount of turnover.

It’s a lineup with several new faces and some familiar faces in new places. Here’s a look at how we think Auburn’s starting lineup will shake out to begin the 2024 season.

Starting Pitchers

Joseph Gonzalez, redshirt junior; Chase Allsup, junior; Carson Myers, junior

Auburn has already announced its starting rotation for the opening weekend. So we’ll stick with that here.

The biggest news is the return of Joseph Gonzalez. Gonzalez was the best pitcher on a 2022 Auburn team that made it all the way to Omaha. He went 7-4 with a 3.22 ERA. And then he only pitched one game in 2023 due to a shoulder injury.

He’s still working back up to full strength and will be the Saturday starter to open the 2024 season. Chase Allsup will start Friday. Allsup started eight games last season out of his 20 total appearances and Auburn is expecting him to take a step forward this season.

Allsup had a 5.47 ERA last season and allowed a .273 batting average against him. Allsup’s velocity has been up during the preseason and new pitching coach Everett Teaford is confident in the junior now in his third season with Auburn.

Carson Myers will debut with Auburn as the Sunday starter, coming as a transfer from UAB. Myers struck out 70 batters last season in 71.2 innings and started 13 games. He will get the first crack to make an early impression with his new team.

Redshirt senior Christian Herberholz is another name to watch as a potential midweek starter or another possible weekend starter option.

Catcher

Ike Irish, sophomore

Auburn’s best player. Simple as that. Irish was a consensus freshman All-American last year after hitting .361 with 50 RBIs and 24 doubles. He had a .546 slugging percentage.

Irish is the star of this year’s team and is Auburn’s lone preseason first-team All-SEC selection.

First base

Cooper McMurray, redshirt junior

McMurray is the leading returning home run hitter for Auburn with 14 home runs in 2023, finishing second to the departed Bryson Ware’s 24.

McMurray started 41 games last year and is one of several potential options to be at first base. He could also project as a designated hitter. Auburn has tried other options in the preseason like sophomore Gavin Miller at first base, but Thompson will want McMurray’s bat in the lineup however he can get it.

Second base

Caden Green, senior

A senior entering his second season with Auburn after transferring from junior college, Green has played both second and third base during the preseason, flipping around with Deric Fabian. Here, we’ll place him at second base.

Green started 48 games last year and didn’t produce much as a hitter — batting .211 — but was a reliable defender with only three errors in 183 opportunities.

Third base

Deric Fabian, junior

The younger brother of former Florida star and current Baltimore Orioles prospect Jud Fabian, Deric Fabian arrived at Auburn this summer as a transfer from Florida.

As a freshman, Fabian started 43 games and played in 46. He had a .218 batting average. His playing time decreased as a sophomore to only playing in 22 games and starting 10.

Fabian plays both second and third base and will likely play both this season. He’ll slot in here as a third baseman at Auburn where he’ll see a big increase in playing time. A former top-200 high school recruit, Auburn is betting on the talented Fabian taking a big leap forward.

There are big shoes to fill taking over the spot from Bryson Ware who was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies.

Shortstop

Cooper Weiss, graduate student

Another position with big shoes to fill that may end up going to a transfer. Weiss may be in line to take over at shortstop from Cole Foster, who like Ware, left Auburn after he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants.

Weiss comes to Auburn from Miami (OH) where he was the MAC defensive player of the year last season. Weiss also led his team with a .303 average last season and hit 12 home runs along with 46 RBIs.

Auburn is Weiss’ third stop after beginning his college career at Coastal Carolina. He started off his career strong there as a 2020 freshman All-American. But he struggled over the next two seasons before transferring to Miami (OH). After a bounce-back season, he’s back at the top level of college baseball.

Left field

Mason Maners, senior

Maners is another transfer who could be making an immediate impact at Auburn. With Chris Stanfield moving to center field (more on that below), the left field spot is open and several Auburn coaches and players have talked excitedly about Maners during the preseason. Based on Auburn’s scrimmages, he looks set to start.

A Vestavia Hills native, Maners spent the last three years at Jacksonville State. He started every game last season and has had a batting average above .330 each of the last two years. Last year, Maners had 75 hits including 12 home runs. He drove in 45 runs and scored 63 runs himself.

Center field

Chris Stanfield, sophomore

One of the most talented young players on this field, Stanfield will move from left field to center field after Kason Howell’s graduation.

Last year as a freshman, Stanfield played in 50 games and started 40 of them. He had 46 hits, 22 RBIs, three home runs and two triples in his first SEC season along with a team-high nine steals.

His speed is one of his best assets, and could be Auburn’s leadoff hitter this year just as he did last year.

Right field

Bobby Peirce, graduate student

Coming off his best season as a Tiger, Peirce is now one of Auburn’s most experienced leaders. Peirce had a career-best .343 batting average and .411 on-base percentage last season. He also started a career-high 45 games.

“To be able to know that guys really respect my opinion and just kind of respect me in general, of what I do and just how I go about my day and carry myself, it means a lot,” Peirce said in early February. “It’s something that I’ve dreamed of, and something that I don’t take for granted, that’s for sure.”

Peirce received a preseason All-SEC second-team selection.

Designated hitter

Javon Hernandez, senior

Auburn didn’t bring in the high-average hitter as a transfer to not put him in the starting lineup. The Connecticut native hit .373 as a freshman in junior college at UConn Avery Point. As a sophomore there, Hernandez hit .462. He transferred up to Division I playing with Jacksonville State and continued to hit, leading the Atlantic Sun Conference with a .397 average.

Hernandez projects as a second baseman with Auburn and he will likely see time there. He played there during Auburn’s preseason team scrimmages. But it seems like Green will be the starter in the field, leaving Hernandez to hit near the top of Auburn’s lineup as a designated hitter.

Matt Cohen covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @Matt_Cohen_ or email him at mcohen@al.com

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[SaltyTiger 7,816]

Allsup with the Friday start good to see. Been told that he has been really good pre season. 

[SaltyTiger 7,816]

https://oanow.com/sports/college/auburn/auburn-baseball-2024-javon-hernandez-deric-fabian-cooper-weiss/article_80856c5e-cb78-11ee-ae81-ab6007e171c3.html

[aubiefifty 16,807]

what are baseball game prices?

[Big Fat Barner 140]

I didn’t expect to see Caden Green getting the start at second base. I thought Javon would get start at 2B and Christian Hall or Kaleb Freeman would start at DH. 

[SaltyTiger 7,816]

2 hours ago, aubiefifty said:

what are baseball game prices?

Looks like single game tickets are non conference at $12 and conference $15 this year. Used to be that you were allowed in free after 3 or 4 innings when seating was available. I had season tickets for years and let them slide when we moved to Florida for a while. Have never had a problem seeing any game I wanted to attend. Parking deck is free to watch from if you like to drink beer with the college students.

https://auburntigers.com/news/2024/1/9/baseball-auburn-baseball-goes-on-sale-with-single-game-mini-plan-tickets.aspx

Edited February 15 by SaltyTiger