After several missed opportunities, I went out to the fourth game of Tulane's fall baseball world series last week and talked to Travis Jewett after it was over. Keagan Gillies was very sharp in relief with a series of easy innings. Other than that, I really had no lasting impression from the five innings I saw.
Tulane returns seven hitters who have played major roles in the past, which is good, and seven pitchers who played significant roles last year, although most of them were ineffective.
The hitters are Hudson Haskin, David Bedgood, Grant Mathews, Jonathon Artigues, Frankie Niemann, Ty Johnson and Luke Glancy.
The pitchers are Gillies, Justin Campbell, Connor Pellerin, Trent Johnson, Krishna Raj, Robert Price and C.J. Whelan. Other than Gilles and Campbell, none of these guys were effective last year.
By my count, Kobi Owen is the only significant player with eligibility left who did not return other than the guys we already knew about who went pro or departed (Josh Bates).
There are 18 newcomers on the fall roster, including Hudson Haskin's brother Parker.
Tulane split two games with ULL on the road and swept a pair from South Alabama at home. It's hard to read much into those, and I did not see any of them.
I get the impression the players really like new coaches Jay Uhlman, who replaces Eddie Smith, who left to be a volunteer assistant at LSU, and Anthony Izzio, the new volunteer assistant. Tulane has a lot of issues entering Jewett's fourth year, but no one seems to miss Smith much. His role may have been overstated in Tulane's excellent hitting last year. We'll find out next spring.
TRAVIS JEWETT
Fall's almost done. How do you feel about what you've seen?
"I've liked it. If I could start with not just even the play but just kind of the kids, the group, spirited, they're timely, they are around all the time. You go in the clubhouse, guys are in there, you come out on the field, guys are out here, so they are an invested group, so that's been good. The new guys have fit in well, stuff like that. And then what we've done is play good baseball, so that's been nice, for the most part. Our pitching has been kind of leading the way. They've done a good job of any cap that we've run into, it's been contained and it hasn't been multiplied. Those one-inning or two-run innings, that's what they've been. They don't turn into four or six our eight or 10. It's been contained, and because of that we've stayed in range and had some close games. Outside competition against Lafayette and South Alabama we've had success and even in our World Series. Today wasn't really part of the World Series because the other team won. We just kind of switched the lineups and we just wanted to force a little bit of the old tough in Keagan and Pellerin against some of the hitters and just continue to prove that pitching and defense (are the key)."
You have seven hitters back who played big roles in the past.
"And what makes me feel even better is Ty Johnson (who missed almost all of last season after tearing up a thumb on the first weekend). He's had an electric fall. He's just been who he is, on he barrel, on the bases, igniting us well. That's been helpful. He's worth a lot, just defensively, offensively, he can run, he can hit, he can do so many different things. That's been good. You referenced all the other guys and then the (Trevor) Minder kid, the JC transfer (who had a .484 on-base percentage for the JC national runnerup Parkland College in Illinois). I'm not saying he's come in to replace (Kody) Hoese, but kind of, that hole, he's inserted himself well both offensively and defensively. He'll be a left side infielder for us at one of the spots. That's been good.
"Like I said, our pitching has improved this fall, which has been good, and then another spot we've elongated our depth and play is behind the plate. A couple of those junior college kids and Hudson Haskin's little brother, Parker, he can catch and throw. It's allowed us to rest Frankie's knees and cross train him and play him at first base so he can continue to get at-bats. He caught all summer. And then Grant (Mathews) has moved to first base, so those guys are kind of splitting each team so they can play a lot, and then the (Ethan) Groff kid we redshirted last year is a highly talented and athletic and will help us cover more ground in the outfield this year. All in all, I'm pretty pleased and certainly optimistic for what we were able to do and what we look like."
You lost your top two recruits for different reasons (the well documented admissions department hangup on two-way star Justin Campbell--not the one already on the team--that ended with him going to Oklahoma State, and Damon Fountain deciding to quit baseball and get a job in Lake Charles the day before he was supposed to report; both were ranked among the top 200 prospects of the country, which was a massive blow, so has this been a good experience to get out here and kind of forget about all of that?
"Yeah. Yeah. That hurts. There's no doubt about it. I think everybody knows that, but at the same time I tell the kids all the time we have to be present with who's here and what we have and we've got to go forward. Those guys, hopefully they are doing well for themselves. We've got what we got, and I like what we've got. We've got some pieces. We've got a bunch of left-handed hitters. We've got some right-handed hitters. We can run. We can defend a little bit, and obviously our pitching and catching has been elevated and what we've done since we've been here is swing the bat."
I get the sense your players really like the new coaches.
"Jay is really knowledgable, very spirited and has a good way about him. The kids have taken to that well. He's been a good addition."
You have a lot of bats in your lineup. How excited are you?
"Real excited. What I'm excited about is the talent that's in there plus the new guys that have inserted themselves, but what I'm most excited is feeling like (the pitching can hold up). It's not like we come in the dugout and we're chasing five and six and seven. It's more like chasing one, chasing two. We're always obtainable, so that helps the believability. We may be able to bunt a ball this year or hit and run, things I wasn't willing to do last year because we needed all of our outs. We'll be a good hitting team, but that will help our collective offense. We can do some things like a true offense."
Tulane returns seven hitters who have played major roles in the past, which is good, and seven pitchers who played significant roles last year, although most of them were ineffective.
The hitters are Hudson Haskin, David Bedgood, Grant Mathews, Jonathon Artigues, Frankie Niemann, Ty Johnson and Luke Glancy.
The pitchers are Gillies, Justin Campbell, Connor Pellerin, Trent Johnson, Krishna Raj, Robert Price and C.J. Whelan. Other than Gilles and Campbell, none of these guys were effective last year.
By my count, Kobi Owen is the only significant player with eligibility left who did not return other than the guys we already knew about who went pro or departed (Josh Bates).
There are 18 newcomers on the fall roster, including Hudson Haskin's brother Parker.
Tulane split two games with ULL on the road and swept a pair from South Alabama at home. It's hard to read much into those, and I did not see any of them.
I get the impression the players really like new coaches Jay Uhlman, who replaces Eddie Smith, who left to be a volunteer assistant at LSU, and Anthony Izzio, the new volunteer assistant. Tulane has a lot of issues entering Jewett's fourth year, but no one seems to miss Smith much. His role may have been overstated in Tulane's excellent hitting last year. We'll find out next spring.
TRAVIS JEWETT
Fall's almost done. How do you feel about what you've seen?
"I've liked it. If I could start with not just even the play but just kind of the kids, the group, spirited, they're timely, they are around all the time. You go in the clubhouse, guys are in there, you come out on the field, guys are out here, so they are an invested group, so that's been good. The new guys have fit in well, stuff like that. And then what we've done is play good baseball, so that's been nice, for the most part. Our pitching has been kind of leading the way. They've done a good job of any cap that we've run into, it's been contained and it hasn't been multiplied. Those one-inning or two-run innings, that's what they've been. They don't turn into four or six our eight or 10. It's been contained, and because of that we've stayed in range and had some close games. Outside competition against Lafayette and South Alabama we've had success and even in our World Series. Today wasn't really part of the World Series because the other team won. We just kind of switched the lineups and we just wanted to force a little bit of the old tough in Keagan and Pellerin against some of the hitters and just continue to prove that pitching and defense (are the key)."
You have seven hitters back who played big roles in the past.
"And what makes me feel even better is Ty Johnson (who missed almost all of last season after tearing up a thumb on the first weekend). He's had an electric fall. He's just been who he is, on he barrel, on the bases, igniting us well. That's been helpful. He's worth a lot, just defensively, offensively, he can run, he can hit, he can do so many different things. That's been good. You referenced all the other guys and then the (Trevor) Minder kid, the JC transfer (who had a .484 on-base percentage for the JC national runnerup Parkland College in Illinois). I'm not saying he's come in to replace (Kody) Hoese, but kind of, that hole, he's inserted himself well both offensively and defensively. He'll be a left side infielder for us at one of the spots. That's been good.
"Like I said, our pitching has improved this fall, which has been good, and then another spot we've elongated our depth and play is behind the plate. A couple of those junior college kids and Hudson Haskin's little brother, Parker, he can catch and throw. It's allowed us to rest Frankie's knees and cross train him and play him at first base so he can continue to get at-bats. He caught all summer. And then Grant (Mathews) has moved to first base, so those guys are kind of splitting each team so they can play a lot, and then the (Ethan) Groff kid we redshirted last year is a highly talented and athletic and will help us cover more ground in the outfield this year. All in all, I'm pretty pleased and certainly optimistic for what we were able to do and what we look like."
You lost your top two recruits for different reasons (the well documented admissions department hangup on two-way star Justin Campbell--not the one already on the team--that ended with him going to Oklahoma State, and Damon Fountain deciding to quit baseball and get a job in Lake Charles the day before he was supposed to report; both were ranked among the top 200 prospects of the country, which was a massive blow, so has this been a good experience to get out here and kind of forget about all of that?
"Yeah. Yeah. That hurts. There's no doubt about it. I think everybody knows that, but at the same time I tell the kids all the time we have to be present with who's here and what we have and we've got to go forward. Those guys, hopefully they are doing well for themselves. We've got what we got, and I like what we've got. We've got some pieces. We've got a bunch of left-handed hitters. We've got some right-handed hitters. We can run. We can defend a little bit, and obviously our pitching and catching has been elevated and what we've done since we've been here is swing the bat."
I get the sense your players really like the new coaches.
"Jay is really knowledgable, very spirited and has a good way about him. The kids have taken to that well. He's been a good addition."
You have a lot of bats in your lineup. How excited are you?
"Real excited. What I'm excited about is the talent that's in there plus the new guys that have inserted themselves, but what I'm most excited is feeling like (the pitching can hold up). It's not like we come in the dugout and we're chasing five and six and seven. It's more like chasing one, chasing two. We're always obtainable, so that helps the believability. We may be able to bunt a ball this year or hit and run, things I wasn't willing to do last year because we needed all of our outs. We'll be a good hitting team, but that will help our collective offense. We can do some things like a true offense."
