Who do you see as starters in the field at each position and what will our pitching look for next year? Thanks
We had a fantastic year and one true fans should be proud of. It is very hard to win the whole thing at Omaha. Florida State has been 16 times and has yet to win it all. We have nothing to be ashamed of!
I’ll give this some thought on my long drive home today. Off the top of my head, though, I would say some possibilities are:
C - Casey Opitz
1B - Jordan McFarland or Bryson Lierle
2B - Casey Martin or Jacob Nesbit or Hunter Wilson
SS - Jack Kenley or Jacob Nesbit
3B - Casey Martin or Jack Kenley
LF - Heston Kjerstad
CF - Dominic Fletcher
RF - Matt Goodheart or Cole Turney
There is the possibility that I might be leaving someone out.
Isaiah Campbell is probably returning and other top-line pitchers should include Matt Cronin, Kole Ramage, Kevin Kopps, Bryce Bonnin and Cody Scroggins.
one good thing that came out of the last 2 nights was the pitching of Ramage
I really loved watching Martin play this year. I see you have him at 2nd or 3rd but not short?
Also heard Cole Tourney was the best freshmen we had in fall and would have been in the lineup but he had surgery? Is this true?
I can’t wait for next year. This team should be real good. Probably not as good as this year but who knows who might make a Benetendi like jump.
What are you hearing about Dillon Lilifrie(sp) OF from Conn.I heard he’s supposed to be really good!
I also think Opitz has a chance to really good! think he will hit as good or better ave. wise than Koch and I think he has power and is a incredible athlete behind the plate and awesome arm.
any chance kjerstad moves to first. mcfarland just doesn’t do it for me. kenley steady at short but little to no bat. wilson the same. we need some contact guys that put the bat on the ball that are capable of hitting a homer or three.
catcher scares me. our reserve opitz this year was adequate behind the plate but anemic hitting the ball. if wilson and kenley are in starting lineup this will be a small ball team for sure. lots of stealing, bunting, squeezes etc. those guys last night were great contact hitters capable of bunting, moving runners over, etc. plus they had power hitters that performed when needed. very impressed. its no wonder they’ve won 2 nc’s.
how high was our recruiting class ranked?
I think Martin is a natural second baseman. I haven’t talked to the coaches about their plans for him next year, but I wonder if there could be some though to leaving him at third because he played the position well at the end of the year and it is a tough position to play. Otherwise, I think he’ll be at second base.
Turney did not practice in the fall because of the shoulder surgery. He was considered one of the top hitters in the country coming out of high school. I think he would have found his way into the lineup some had he been healthy.
The only thing I know about Lifrieri is that he was committed to South Carolina before the coaching change last year. Opitz will probably be the catcher next year. He receives the ball well, which is the No. 1 thing you want from the catcher.
I think there will be some contributors in 2019 who were freshmen this year but did not play much. Opitz and Turney have been mentioned. It doesn’t matter how Opitz hits as long as he can play the position well, but it should be noted that he had a good batting average in high school. There was a big first baseman named Derek Ripp who showed some power in the fall but redshirted.
Kenley is probably going to make the lineup because he can play defense. I think improved a lot offensively from his first to second year, and will be interested to see if he can do the same from his sophomore to junior seasons.