The opener against Florida Gulf Coast is Friday. I have a feeling Tulane will go with a starting rotation of three Jucos with Keagan Gillies as the closer this weekend, but Travis Jewett did not commit to anything yesterday.
I talked to Jewett, Daniel Latham, Hudson Haskin and Connor Pellerin.
JEWETT
So give me all of your starters, the entire batting order, the weekend starting pitchers, your closer and the pecking order for middle relievers. You can do that, right? (I was joking because I knew he would not, based on past history)
"We haven't announced our rotation yet. We're holding on to it."
How do you feel with the opening approaching?
"I feel good. Obviously like any concerned parent, today, tomorrow and Thursday will be valuable, but we won't be trying to jam anything new into these three days. We'll just rehearse what we already put in and make sure that we're knowing and what I want to do this week is do that intentfully and make sure we're fresh mentally. The staff is ready to play against another shirt, but they're not here yet."
When you look at your lineup, you have three guys listed among the top 150 hitters in the country by D1Baseball.com (Hudson Haskin 14, Grant Mathews 99, Frankie Niemann 140). How good do you feel about the way you're going to be able to hit?
"I feel good. I do. There's this one variable that you have to insert, and that's the pitcher on the other team. It does matter, but I feel good. We've got a nice balance of some experience coming back and some right and some left. I've talked to you about how I feel Collin Burns, Logan Stevens and Ethan Groff have gotten better. They are playable, not that they weren't before, so that's good, and then having Ty (Johnson) back obviously has been a huge deal. And then we continue to watch the improvement of those old guys in Grant and Jonathon Artigues and Ty. I feel good about our offense. You never know going into a season. I didn't think last year we'd hit as many home runs as we did. That was just hitting the ball properly. I do feel like up and down we've got quite a few guys that could maybe pick that up a little bit and get us to that spot, but we can run and have some left and some right, so if our pitching can do what I anticipate it to do, then we can play the game in a different bunch of ways and stuff like that."
Are you set with your infield?
"I am. Collin at shortstop, Jonathon at second, Grant at first and (Trevor) Minder at third. Still a little bit up in the air on the weekend rotation and the plate and left field and DH. Probably what we decide to do out there and behind the plate is going to dictate a little bit about what the DH spot will be. I just need a couple more days to let them rehearse. Somebody will be good and we'll just go with it to start, and we'll have some nice options on the bench, too, so that's good."
Is Groff still in the running for a starting spot in the outfield?
"Absolutely. You know, he's such an athletic kid. He came here as a high school shortstop. We moved him to the outfield. He's very athletic. He can run. That kind of adds to our ability in the outfield. But (Luke) Glancy's done a nice job this spring and he gives us a left-handed weapon, so Logan (Stevens) and Groff and Glancy are going to be a tough decision, but we'll go with it. We feel like we're covered. The bench will be full and the defensive replacement if we need it will be full."
How much will it help your pitchers just to have a better outfield this year. Last year you gave up a lot of hits that could have been caught by a better outfielder?
"Yeah, they found the green of the field, which we want to try to eliminate those. I think it's big, especially in this ball park where there's not a lot of foul territory so the balls that do land on the green a little to your right and to your left and certainly in front, we'd like to turn those into outs just like you would a ground ball. I feel good about that. Those guys have done a good job."
Did you know Ty Johnson would return for his fifth year after his injury? Was it guaranteed?
"That was the anticipation. I felt pretty good about that. He's an energizer bunny. We have a thing in our program called positive life force, spirited energy. He is certainly that, so I can sit here today and tell you that I don't know if he's going to play right or left but he's going to lead off for sure. I filled three days of lineup cards and I put his name on the top. Other than that, the rest are blank, but I know for sure that's what we're going to do there."
How much did it affect the team not having him for almost all of last year after the thumb injury on opening day?
"The energy for one, and in a lot of different ways. He can be one of our better players just because of all the things that he can do--hit a line drive, double, run, steal some bases, he's got some home runs on his bat, too. He's just a whatever-it-takes kind of guy, so having that back will be big. We've had him in shrink wrap all spring, and so far everything is good. We've moved all the golf carts out of the way and all the obstacles that he would have no fear of just to make sure he's out there. He's going to let it rip, I know that, so I'm looking forward to seeing him out there for sure."
What's the scouting report on Florida Gulf Coast?
"They are good. They return some of their pitching and some of their key components offensively. I've been told they are projected to win the A Sun (actually the coaches picked them second behind Liberty; Florida Gulf Coast won the regular season title in 2019 and Liberty won the conference tourney). They are going to be good. I've spent a lot of times in the mornings trying to watch some of their returning pitching. They will be a very good test. You look at our schedule in general and there's a lot of tests on there. We've been studying and it's about time to take the first one. The weather's supposed to be good. I know the kids are fired up. It's one pitch at a time."
I talked to Jewett, Daniel Latham, Hudson Haskin and Connor Pellerin.
JEWETT
So give me all of your starters, the entire batting order, the weekend starting pitchers, your closer and the pecking order for middle relievers. You can do that, right? (I was joking because I knew he would not, based on past history)
"We haven't announced our rotation yet. We're holding on to it."
How do you feel with the opening approaching?
"I feel good. Obviously like any concerned parent, today, tomorrow and Thursday will be valuable, but we won't be trying to jam anything new into these three days. We'll just rehearse what we already put in and make sure that we're knowing and what I want to do this week is do that intentfully and make sure we're fresh mentally. The staff is ready to play against another shirt, but they're not here yet."
When you look at your lineup, you have three guys listed among the top 150 hitters in the country by D1Baseball.com (Hudson Haskin 14, Grant Mathews 99, Frankie Niemann 140). How good do you feel about the way you're going to be able to hit?
"I feel good. I do. There's this one variable that you have to insert, and that's the pitcher on the other team. It does matter, but I feel good. We've got a nice balance of some experience coming back and some right and some left. I've talked to you about how I feel Collin Burns, Logan Stevens and Ethan Groff have gotten better. They are playable, not that they weren't before, so that's good, and then having Ty (Johnson) back obviously has been a huge deal. And then we continue to watch the improvement of those old guys in Grant and Jonathon Artigues and Ty. I feel good about our offense. You never know going into a season. I didn't think last year we'd hit as many home runs as we did. That was just hitting the ball properly. I do feel like up and down we've got quite a few guys that could maybe pick that up a little bit and get us to that spot, but we can run and have some left and some right, so if our pitching can do what I anticipate it to do, then we can play the game in a different bunch of ways and stuff like that."
Are you set with your infield?
"I am. Collin at shortstop, Jonathon at second, Grant at first and (Trevor) Minder at third. Still a little bit up in the air on the weekend rotation and the plate and left field and DH. Probably what we decide to do out there and behind the plate is going to dictate a little bit about what the DH spot will be. I just need a couple more days to let them rehearse. Somebody will be good and we'll just go with it to start, and we'll have some nice options on the bench, too, so that's good."
Is Groff still in the running for a starting spot in the outfield?
"Absolutely. You know, he's such an athletic kid. He came here as a high school shortstop. We moved him to the outfield. He's very athletic. He can run. That kind of adds to our ability in the outfield. But (Luke) Glancy's done a nice job this spring and he gives us a left-handed weapon, so Logan (Stevens) and Groff and Glancy are going to be a tough decision, but we'll go with it. We feel like we're covered. The bench will be full and the defensive replacement if we need it will be full."
How much will it help your pitchers just to have a better outfield this year. Last year you gave up a lot of hits that could have been caught by a better outfielder?
"Yeah, they found the green of the field, which we want to try to eliminate those. I think it's big, especially in this ball park where there's not a lot of foul territory so the balls that do land on the green a little to your right and to your left and certainly in front, we'd like to turn those into outs just like you would a ground ball. I feel good about that. Those guys have done a good job."
Did you know Ty Johnson would return for his fifth year after his injury? Was it guaranteed?
"That was the anticipation. I felt pretty good about that. He's an energizer bunny. We have a thing in our program called positive life force, spirited energy. He is certainly that, so I can sit here today and tell you that I don't know if he's going to play right or left but he's going to lead off for sure. I filled three days of lineup cards and I put his name on the top. Other than that, the rest are blank, but I know for sure that's what we're going to do there."
How much did it affect the team not having him for almost all of last year after the thumb injury on opening day?
"The energy for one, and in a lot of different ways. He can be one of our better players just because of all the things that he can do--hit a line drive, double, run, steal some bases, he's got some home runs on his bat, too. He's just a whatever-it-takes kind of guy, so having that back will be big. We've had him in shrink wrap all spring, and so far everything is good. We've moved all the golf carts out of the way and all the obstacles that he would have no fear of just to make sure he's out there. He's going to let it rip, I know that, so I'm looking forward to seeing him out there for sure."
What's the scouting report on Florida Gulf Coast?
"They are good. They return some of their pitching and some of their key components offensively. I've been told they are projected to win the A Sun (actually the coaches picked them second behind Liberty; Florida Gulf Coast won the regular season title in 2019 and Liberty won the conference tourney). They are going to be good. I've spent a lot of times in the mornings trying to watch some of their returning pitching. They will be a very good test. You look at our schedule in general and there's a lot of tests on there. We've been studying and it's about time to take the first one. The weather's supposed to be good. I know the kids are fired up. It's one pitch at a time."
