Tulane tweeted it yesterday and coach Travis Jewett confirmed his weekend rotation against Florida Gulf Coast will be Braden Olthoff, left-hander Jack Aldrich and Donovan Benoit. Keagan Gillies will be the closer, with Connor Pellerin, Justin Campbell and Chris Holcomb the other guys out of the bullpen in late innings.
Here is Jewett on the decision to use Gillies as the closer:
"Not that he's not capable of doing the front, It's just more like those guys are, too, but we're just trying to shorten the game a little bit and add some weaponry down there."
I researched Gillies in the first inning of games last year. It's not totally analogous to a closer since a starter has to pace himself early, but Gillies gave up nine runs in the first innings of his 15 appearances (14 starts, one early relief). He allowed zero runs in 11 of them, one run in one, two runs in one and three runs in two. What the coaches would have been looking at is the 11 times out of 15 he was clean.
One thing is certain. Gillies was Tulane's most dominant pitcher in the fall and spring practice.
"When you watch a pitcher in the fall or early spring, they don't pitch seven innings," Jewett said. "They pitch one and two and that's even a starter's deal in fall ball and early spring. You're building up, and then I just kept watching the aggressiveness, the verocity of his pitches, the up velocity, the angle that he naturally presents with his height. You can't pitch in the bullpen if you can't do it more than once, and I think he can. He fields his position well for a big guy. He can hold guys. He understands changing rhythms. There's some believability."
Tulane's closer decisions have not worked once at the beginning of the year under Jewett. He went with hard-throwing Ted Andrews in 2017 and he gave up two runs in the ninth inning at UCSB in his second appearance to lose and never recovered, losing his role along the way as he finished with 27 walks in 16.1 innings. The softer tossing Christian Colletti took over and did the best job of any closer Jewett has had, finishing with 11 saves and a 2.79 ERA.
In 2018, Jewett went with hard-throwing Will McAffer. He earned a save in the opener and only one other, finishing with a 6.91 ERA and 26 walks in 28.2 innings. The Wave never found a reliable closer, with Pellerin having a team-high three saves but walking 40 in 44 innings.
Last year, Pellerin blew a save on opening day and eventually lost all self-belief, finishing with an 8.44 ERA and 31 walks in 26.2 innings. Again, they never found a closer, with Brendan Cellucci earning a team-high three saves but being totally unreliable. Justin Campbell was probably the best at it, but he was shaky as well and did not have closer stuff.
I do not know if the experiment with Gillies will work, but he throws strikes, something no Tulane closer since Colletti has done. I like the risk, and it it doesn't work out, he can always return to the rotation. No way would I trust Pellerin at the start of the year. He has to prove himself in middle relief and work his way into the closer role with consistent performances, something he has been incapable of to this point.
Still, Jewett likes Pellerin's development.
"You start talking about those two guys sitting out there at the back and it could be imposing," he said. "And then Holcolm the left-hander gives you a different look and Campbell at times was efficient last year. If I could have removed him when maybe we should have if we could have, then all of a sudden maybe he becomes a little bit more effective and a little bit more usable frequency wise. If you can use him as a little bit of a sandwich guy and an aggressive accelerator to a left-handed de-celerator (Holcomb) to back to an accelerator with different arm angles and different shapes of pitches, that would be good. We've got some nice right and some left out there."
Jewett told Gillies about the planned move two weeks ago.
"He smiled a little bit and he told me how he thought about me, which I will tell you is positive, and he said I trust you and I want to do whatever it is for the best of the team," Jewett said. "He can be easily pushed forward, too. He's trained that way. But if we do this now and at the end of the season we're still doing, it's good for everybody. He's been here as long as I have and he deserves victory and is willing to take a different role to try to make that a possibility."
Jewett said he had not made up his mind about the starting catcher. Luis Aviles has a hand injury he is trying to fight through. Parker Haskin has an arm issue but is feeling better. I would assume Frankie Niemann will start, but Jewett did not rule out the other JC transfer, Haydan Hastings. If Niemann does not start at catcher, he will be the DH. I was not sure about that since he hit only .250 (23 of 92) in the last 29 games last year, but Jewett said he was swinging the bat great.
"It's a close call," Jewett said. If he (Niemann) does (start at catcher), I would feel good, but if it's one of the other two guys (Hastings or Haskin), I would feel good, too. You are going to see Niemann in there somewhere. He's going to hit and catch or just hit."
The third outfielder will be either Luke Glancy or Logan Stevens. Glancy is the better hitter and Stevens has more range. Florida Gulf Coast is going with right-hander Hunter McGarry, a second-team All-A Sun pitcher with a 6-2 record and 3.05 ERA last year and a sinker/slider guy, tonight. Glancy and Stevens are left-handers. Ethan Groff, the third candidate to start, is right-handed. Florida Gulf Coast will go with another righty Saturday, Mason Studstill (5-2, 2.60), a first-team A-Sun pick who throws harder than McGarry.
David Bedgood will be on the bench if Niemann is the DH and will be the DH if Niemann catches.
Here is Jewett on the decision to use Gillies as the closer:
"Not that he's not capable of doing the front, It's just more like those guys are, too, but we're just trying to shorten the game a little bit and add some weaponry down there."
I researched Gillies in the first inning of games last year. It's not totally analogous to a closer since a starter has to pace himself early, but Gillies gave up nine runs in the first innings of his 15 appearances (14 starts, one early relief). He allowed zero runs in 11 of them, one run in one, two runs in one and three runs in two. What the coaches would have been looking at is the 11 times out of 15 he was clean.
One thing is certain. Gillies was Tulane's most dominant pitcher in the fall and spring practice.
"When you watch a pitcher in the fall or early spring, they don't pitch seven innings," Jewett said. "They pitch one and two and that's even a starter's deal in fall ball and early spring. You're building up, and then I just kept watching the aggressiveness, the verocity of his pitches, the up velocity, the angle that he naturally presents with his height. You can't pitch in the bullpen if you can't do it more than once, and I think he can. He fields his position well for a big guy. He can hold guys. He understands changing rhythms. There's some believability."
Tulane's closer decisions have not worked once at the beginning of the year under Jewett. He went with hard-throwing Ted Andrews in 2017 and he gave up two runs in the ninth inning at UCSB in his second appearance to lose and never recovered, losing his role along the way as he finished with 27 walks in 16.1 innings. The softer tossing Christian Colletti took over and did the best job of any closer Jewett has had, finishing with 11 saves and a 2.79 ERA.
In 2018, Jewett went with hard-throwing Will McAffer. He earned a save in the opener and only one other, finishing with a 6.91 ERA and 26 walks in 28.2 innings. The Wave never found a reliable closer, with Pellerin having a team-high three saves but walking 40 in 44 innings.
Last year, Pellerin blew a save on opening day and eventually lost all self-belief, finishing with an 8.44 ERA and 31 walks in 26.2 innings. Again, they never found a closer, with Brendan Cellucci earning a team-high three saves but being totally unreliable. Justin Campbell was probably the best at it, but he was shaky as well and did not have closer stuff.
I do not know if the experiment with Gillies will work, but he throws strikes, something no Tulane closer since Colletti has done. I like the risk, and it it doesn't work out, he can always return to the rotation. No way would I trust Pellerin at the start of the year. He has to prove himself in middle relief and work his way into the closer role with consistent performances, something he has been incapable of to this point.
Still, Jewett likes Pellerin's development.
"You start talking about those two guys sitting out there at the back and it could be imposing," he said. "And then Holcolm the left-hander gives you a different look and Campbell at times was efficient last year. If I could have removed him when maybe we should have if we could have, then all of a sudden maybe he becomes a little bit more effective and a little bit more usable frequency wise. If you can use him as a little bit of a sandwich guy and an aggressive accelerator to a left-handed de-celerator (Holcomb) to back to an accelerator with different arm angles and different shapes of pitches, that would be good. We've got some nice right and some left out there."
Jewett told Gillies about the planned move two weeks ago.
"He smiled a little bit and he told me how he thought about me, which I will tell you is positive, and he said I trust you and I want to do whatever it is for the best of the team," Jewett said. "He can be easily pushed forward, too. He's trained that way. But if we do this now and at the end of the season we're still doing, it's good for everybody. He's been here as long as I have and he deserves victory and is willing to take a different role to try to make that a possibility."
Jewett said he had not made up his mind about the starting catcher. Luis Aviles has a hand injury he is trying to fight through. Parker Haskin has an arm issue but is feeling better. I would assume Frankie Niemann will start, but Jewett did not rule out the other JC transfer, Haydan Hastings. If Niemann does not start at catcher, he will be the DH. I was not sure about that since he hit only .250 (23 of 92) in the last 29 games last year, but Jewett said he was swinging the bat great.
"It's a close call," Jewett said. If he (Niemann) does (start at catcher), I would feel good, but if it's one of the other two guys (Hastings or Haskin), I would feel good, too. You are going to see Niemann in there somewhere. He's going to hit and catch or just hit."
The third outfielder will be either Luke Glancy or Logan Stevens. Glancy is the better hitter and Stevens has more range. Florida Gulf Coast is going with right-hander Hunter McGarry, a second-team All-A Sun pitcher with a 6-2 record and 3.05 ERA last year and a sinker/slider guy, tonight. Glancy and Stevens are left-handers. Ethan Groff, the third candidate to start, is right-handed. Florida Gulf Coast will go with another righty Saturday, Mason Studstill (5-2, 2.60), a first-team A-Sun pick who throws harder than McGarry.
David Bedgood will be on the bench if Niemann is the DH and will be the DH if Niemann catches.