Talked to some of the played and David Pierce yesterday and got some information
1) This isn't for public consumption because Pierce told me he wanted me to wait for an official word from the doctor, but J.P. France probably is done for the year. He had a setback with his injured elbow Sunday. Before practice on baseball media day, France told me he had a problem with a nerve in the elbow and that the injury happened in the summer. It aggravated him for a while before shutting him down, forcing him to miss fall practice and limiting him to an inning here or there this preseason.
France looked terrific in shutting out Arkansas Pine Bluff is his freshman debut last year as an opening-day starter, but he never pitched well again and lost his spot in the rotation after his next two starts, finishing with an ERA near 6.00.
2) Ian Gibaut will not start against Pepperdine this weekend unless Pierce changes his mind. Corey Merrill, who had a solid freshman season despite going winless (0-5) because of Tulane's inept hitting, will pitch in the opener, with junior Alex Massey (who I incorrectly listed as a senior in my Advocate story that ran today) going Saturday and Tim Yandel likely starting Sunday.
Yandel is a surprise. He came to Tulane as a hitter, starting 35 games as a freshman. Last year he spent most of his time as a pitcher, appearing in 13 games as a reliever and pitching 18 effective innings.
3) Unlike Rick Jones, Pierce does not like rigid roles for his pitchers, so he is not wedded to the idea of Gibaut being a closer. His actual quote on Gibaut was this: "We'll use him. We don't really look at him as a closer. We look at him much more as a stopper. If the game's on the line in the seventh inning and we have a chance to win, he'll be in the game."
4) Stephen Alemais led his summer league in stolen bases after stealing only 11 (in 12 attempts) for Tulane last year, but don't look for him to run willy nilly under Pierce, who pointed out at that A) Alemais needs to get on base more often to have a chance to steal and B) pitchers in college baseball are much more attuned to the running game than they are in summer ball, which is all about individual number rather than the team concept. In other words, it was easy to steal bases in the summer and won't be as easy this spring.
Still, Pierce likes Alemais' potential.
"He's been outstanding," Pierce said. "He's a great athlete. He's got fast twitch, he runs really well and he's got a great arm. He has fit right in and he really wants to win. I look for great things to come from Stephen."
5) My informed guess for the lineup in the opener is this:
Catcher: Jake Rogers
First base: Garrett Deschamp
Second base: Jake Willsey
Shortstop: Alemais
Third base: Hunter Hope
Left field: Richard Carthon
Center field: Grant Brown
Right field: Lex Kaplan
Designated hitter: Yandel
The infield is the same as last year. Carthon has come on in preseason practice after appearing in danger of losing his starting job while John Gandolfo, who had a terrific fall, has quieted a bit. Yandel, who was horrendous at the plate last year (one hit in 24 at-bats), has been much better this spring, and Pierce's mentor, Rice coach Wayne Graham, has a history of using two-way players. By no means is Yandel starting at DH written in stone, though. Pierce is circumspect about his lineup, and when I talked to him there were still two more practices before Tulane travels Thursday to get to Pepperdine.
1) This isn't for public consumption because Pierce told me he wanted me to wait for an official word from the doctor, but J.P. France probably is done for the year. He had a setback with his injured elbow Sunday. Before practice on baseball media day, France told me he had a problem with a nerve in the elbow and that the injury happened in the summer. It aggravated him for a while before shutting him down, forcing him to miss fall practice and limiting him to an inning here or there this preseason.
France looked terrific in shutting out Arkansas Pine Bluff is his freshman debut last year as an opening-day starter, but he never pitched well again and lost his spot in the rotation after his next two starts, finishing with an ERA near 6.00.
2) Ian Gibaut will not start against Pepperdine this weekend unless Pierce changes his mind. Corey Merrill, who had a solid freshman season despite going winless (0-5) because of Tulane's inept hitting, will pitch in the opener, with junior Alex Massey (who I incorrectly listed as a senior in my Advocate story that ran today) going Saturday and Tim Yandel likely starting Sunday.
Yandel is a surprise. He came to Tulane as a hitter, starting 35 games as a freshman. Last year he spent most of his time as a pitcher, appearing in 13 games as a reliever and pitching 18 effective innings.
3) Unlike Rick Jones, Pierce does not like rigid roles for his pitchers, so he is not wedded to the idea of Gibaut being a closer. His actual quote on Gibaut was this: "We'll use him. We don't really look at him as a closer. We look at him much more as a stopper. If the game's on the line in the seventh inning and we have a chance to win, he'll be in the game."
4) Stephen Alemais led his summer league in stolen bases after stealing only 11 (in 12 attempts) for Tulane last year, but don't look for him to run willy nilly under Pierce, who pointed out at that A) Alemais needs to get on base more often to have a chance to steal and B) pitchers in college baseball are much more attuned to the running game than they are in summer ball, which is all about individual number rather than the team concept. In other words, it was easy to steal bases in the summer and won't be as easy this spring.
Still, Pierce likes Alemais' potential.
"He's been outstanding," Pierce said. "He's a great athlete. He's got fast twitch, he runs really well and he's got a great arm. He has fit right in and he really wants to win. I look for great things to come from Stephen."
5) My informed guess for the lineup in the opener is this:
Catcher: Jake Rogers
First base: Garrett Deschamp
Second base: Jake Willsey
Shortstop: Alemais
Third base: Hunter Hope
Left field: Richard Carthon
Center field: Grant Brown
Right field: Lex Kaplan
Designated hitter: Yandel
The infield is the same as last year. Carthon has come on in preseason practice after appearing in danger of losing his starting job while John Gandolfo, who had a terrific fall, has quieted a bit. Yandel, who was horrendous at the plate last year (one hit in 24 at-bats), has been much better this spring, and Pierce's mentor, Rice coach Wayne Graham, has a history of using two-way players. By no means is Yandel starting at DH written in stone, though. Pierce is circumspect about his lineup, and when I talked to him there were still two more practices before Tulane travels Thursday to get to Pepperdine.