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« on: February 10, 2018, 01:02:16 PM »
We're less than a week away from the start of baseball season and so I'll give my season preview and Ill do my best to keep everyone updated through out the season. I strongly suggest people try to attend ball games though, the team always needs your support. This year's baseball team has been picked to finish last in the Big 12 in the pre-season rankings, yes that sucks, that being said nothing irritates me more than people who do not follow the team making blanket statements like "we suck" "were shitty" I do not mind criticism but at least give intelligent criticism. I say this because I'm not going to bother posting about the team if that is the only response anyone has, I'd rather have no response at all. This is the final year of Brad Hill's contract, while 2014 to the present has certainly not met anyone's expectations, he did lead us to the best years in K-State baseball history from 2009-2013. I do not know if there is a magic number of wins that will keep his job, so we will see how the season plays out.
We lost a lot of seniors from last years team that was better than their 29-26 record indicated and this team is much younger than last years team. In addition we lost catcher Josh Rollette to the MLB draft who signed for a bag of peanuts, all kidding aside Rollette was not the greatest defender and struggled at the plate for much of last season but had a great freshman campaign and great last month as a wildcat, being a draft eligible sophomore I believe he should've returned for his junior year but he decided to begin his pro career. During the off season we lost talented wildcat Bryce Ward who made the all big 12 freshman team in 2015 but dealt with injuries throughout the course of his career and decided to hang it up. This team is led by the sophomore class, all three team captains are sophomores.
Lets start with position players, some of the positions have not been cemented and competition will continue during non-conference season to see who become mainstays in the lineup.
The catcher position appears to be heading into the season with competition still ongoing between RS Junior TK Mcwhertor and sophomore Connor Rule. Mcwhertor red shirted last season after under going tommy john surgery and is a juco transfer from California, he appears to be in the lead heading into the season and will get the first opportunity, Mcwhertor has the better arm of the two while Rule is more athletic. Rule played a decent amount last season and was the superior defensive catcher on the team over Rollette. McWhertor hit .303 in the JUCO ranks but I don't know what he can do at the plate yet at the Big 12 level. Connor hit .222 last season in only 45 at bats, I heard that he had a really good fall at the plate and that number should improve.
First base loses two year starter Jake Scudder to graduation and the Washington Nationals organization. Another position where competition will rage on into the season between Freshman John Sorenson and Senior Trent McMaster with McMaster looking to get the first shot. McMaster hit .238 last season in only 42 at bats but had a nice summer in the Prospect league batting .318, originally from Topeka he transferred in from Coffeyville CC. John Sorenson comes from Fort Collins Colorado where he was named 5A player of the year last season has never had a college at bat obviously but has played well enough to challenge the senior.
Second base appears to be one of the few infield positions that is locked down with Oklahoma freshman Brett Owen, don't let his lack of size fool you 5'9 170, this kid was a high school all American last year as he hit .571 and had 17 homeruns, coaches are expecting similar results from Owen as they did from last years freshman Will Brennan and Cam Thompson who were freshman all americans.
Speaking of Cam Thompson, he makes the switch from center field to his more natural position in the middle infield as the starting short stop, perfect game named him pre-season all conference as a short stop. Thompson hit .314 last season and started every game for the cats. He played his summer ball in Alaska where he had some struggles but was named team MVP for the fall. Cats look to rely heavily on Thompson, a team captain.
Third base is another battle between Manhattan native and Fort Scott transfer Jake Biller and Arizona JUCO by way of Tulane transfer Rainer Ausmus Rainer, a Texas native batted .381 in Juco last season and played summer ball in Alaska appears to be in second as of now to Biller who reminds me a lot of Josh Eithier from last years squad, Biller batted .222 but only had 18 at bats last season for the Cats but was told he had a strong summer in Colorado summer league.
Outfield seems pretty set to start the season, Will Brennan returns to leftfield where he batted .350 last season with a .453 OBP. Will returns to be the leadoff man for this team as we was most of last season. Will along with Thompson won a ton of awards for his performance last season 2nd team all big 12, freshman all big 12, freshman all American. Brennan does not hit for power but is great at getting on base and has wheels on the base pass once he does, he has a great eye for the baseball as he drew 34 walks last season in 49 games to go along with his 64 hits. Played summer ball in Alaska where he was named an all star, also a team captain.
rounding out the outfield will be seniors Kyle Barfield and Hanz Harker, both of which were part time starters last season as juco transfers. Barfield appeared in 40 games with 20 starts last season and hit .291 and had a nice summer the Jayhawk league, he should take over the full time duties in right field, where he nearly taken over completely at the end of last season.
Harker should be the everyday centerfielder, he will be unavailable the first weekend of the season but should be back after that. Harker appeared in 51 games and batted .246 with 34 starts a season ago. I expect both Harker and Barfields numbers to increase after getting a season in the big 12 under their belts and becoming everyday players.
Drew Mount, a juco transfer from California started his college career on the San Jose State football team will start the season as our centerfielder in place of Harker but should be our everyday DH. Mount is an athletic specimen that hit .333 and 9 hrs last season in the california juco ranks will provide much needed power to our lineup.
Other freshman that should see some playtime are Jordan Maxon and Dylan Watts. Maxon was the Kansas 4A player of the year last season but will be hurt by being a catcher with 2 older talented catchers ahead of him, he should also get some play time in the outfield. Watts, a DFW area recruit, was a Texas All State 6A player can play almost anywhere on the field and should get some opportunities at some point.
I did a full break down of the pitchers as well but some reason that didn't load and I lost it. Don't feel like re writing it today but will before the season starts.