Miami's Ricky Eusebio (J.C. Ridley/Miami Athletics)

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College Weekend Preview: Week Two

Week Two of the college baseball season is loaded with marquee series, highlighted by four sets between ranked teams. D1Baseball staffers will be on hand for three of them (TCU at Arizona State, UCLA vs. North Carolina and Miami at Florida), and we’ll have coverage of those teams all weekend. The schedule also features a number of quality tournaments, highlighted by the Big 12/Pac-12 Challenge in Arizona and the South Alabama Tournament in Mobile. We’ll have writers covering both of those events, too. See the sidebar at the right for a look at where our writers will be, as well as the complete calendar.

One other note: conference play begins already this weekend in the Mountain West, where upstarts Nevada and Fresno State face off in Reno, and New Mexico visits Air Force.

Coming Friday morning: Aaron Fitt and Kendall Rogers break down 10 marquee pitching matchups on the Week Two schedule. Today, we’ll examine the showdown in Gainesille, take a look at Alabama’s retooled rotation heading into its big series in Houston, and spotlight exciting Georgia Tech freshman Kel Johnson.

Gators, Hurricanes Bring Back The Long Ball

Once upon a time, Florida and Miami were known for their big power bats. Miami’s last Omaha team in 2008 featured sluggers Yonder Alonso, Dennis Raben, Mark Sobolewski and Yasmani Grandal plus speed/power threats Jemile Weeks and Blake Tekotte. That team ranked fourth in the nation with 106 home runs.

In the first four years after the BBCOR bats came into effect, the Hurricanes hit 110 home runs total. Power production was suppressed nationwide, of course, but Miami’s downturn in lineup physicality coincided with the bat change and led to an offense that no longer intimidated anyone.

Florida adjusted to the bat change in a completely different manner, going from 27th in the nation in homers in 2010 (83) to fifth in 2011 with the new bats (69) to first in 2012 (75). Each of those three teams made it to Omaha, led by slugging stars like Mike Zunino, Preston Tucker and Brian Johnson.

But the Gators haven’t been back to the CWS since that core group of power hitters left. They dropped to 87th nationally in homers in 2013 (28) and 83rd in 2014 (26).

Home runs aren’t the whole story—plenty of teams win without the long ball in the BBCOR era, and both Florida and Miami have remained very good primarily by pitching extremely well. But with the new lower-seam ball helping to increase power production this spring, the Hurricanes and Gators are both built to take advantage. Both teams are more physical and powerful in 2015 than they have been since their last Omaha trips, with legitimate pro-caliber sluggers lurking once again in the middle of their lineups. Which means the annual nonconference showdown series between the two Sunshine State powers this weekend in Gainesville could be higher-scoring than usual—unless the two quality pitching staffs have something to say about it.

Miami enters the weekend hitting .341 as a team with three homers and 51 runs in five games—though the first four were against overmatched Rutgers. The Hurricanes exploded for 25 runs in the series finale, the most runs they have scored in a game in more than a decade.

“I can’t remember anything like that—it’s been so long since we’ve scored so many runs like that,” Miami coach Jim Morris said. “They said it was 2003, and that’s exactly right, it seemed like that long. It was a lot of fun, but I wouldn’t want that to be the case every day, to be honest with you. Back in the late 90s, we had a lot of those games. I think the ball is definitely jumping better, and our guys are stronger too.”

The Hurricanes upgraded their physicality dramatically with last year’s recruiting class, headlined by 2014 national Freshman of the Year Zack Collins and outfielder Willie Abreu. But it isn’t easy for freshmen to withstand the rigors of a long college baseball season, and Morris said they are stronger and better now as sophomores, and should boost their power production. It helps that junior corner infielder David Thompson is finally healthy and producing in the heart of the order (.300/.423/.600, 6 RBI), and the addition of junior-college transfer George Iskenderian (.444/.542/.611, 6 RBI) gives this lineup four dangerous bats who can hit the ball out of the park any time. First baseman Christopher Barr and catcher/DH Garrett Kennedy are significantly improved, giving the lineup the kind of depth it hasn’t featured in years.

[quote_right]”I can’t remember anything like that—it’s been so long since we’ve scored so many runs like that.” —Jim Morris[/quote_right]

Miami also has a pair of dynamic table-setters in front of the meat of the order, with lightning-fast freshman LF Carl Chester (.304/.333/.522) leading off and center fielder Ricky Eusebio (a team-best .467/.652/.733, 3 SB) in the 2-hole. Eusebio could always really defend, but now he’s becoming a more complete player, giving Miami a big boost.

“Eusebio’s an outstanding center fielder—as good as any that have played here,” Morris said. “He can really play defense, and has really improved, gotten better this spring. He’s standing on the plate more, being more selective. He’s bunting some. He’s getting on base, he’s walking, getting hit—he got hit six or seven times in intrasquad games. Our guys don’t like pitching to him because he’s up on the plate more.”

The question for Miami heading into the season was the rotation after ace Andrew Suarez. Morris likes to have righty Thomas Woodrey in his bullpen as a key setup piece for shutdown closer Bryan Garcia, but he used Woodrey in the rotation against Rutgers and he responded with six solid innings of work. He doesn’t have overpowering velocity, but is deceptive, hits his spots and keeps the ball down, and has a very good changeup. He’ll start Saturday against Florida, with righty Enrique Sosa slated to go Sunday. Sosa was brilliant in his season debut last weekend, allowing just one hit over 5 2/3 shutout frames. The Panamanian is an emerging talent.

“He’s got a good arm, in the low 90s with the best breaking ball on the team, probably,” Morris said of Sosa. “He’s a young guy, and if he gets rolling, he’s tough. It’s an overhand curveball, 12-6 breaking ball. And he throws a slider, but the real deal is that curveball is one that bends your knees. He throws a changeup too, a work in progress just because of the inexperience. He just hasn’t pitched that much.”

Eventually, Miami would like to get sophomore Derik Beauprez into the rotation, but he pitched well in two relief outings last weekend, and he’ll stay in that role for now. Even without Woodrey, the bullpen remains a strength, led by sidewinder Cooper Hammond and Garcia.

That Miami pitching staff will get a real test this weekend against the Gators, who have a .340 cumulative batting average and seven homers in four games. Florida suffered a setback before the season when first baseman Peter Alonso, fresh off an 18-homer binge in the Northwoods League, broke his foot. But even without him this team can rival Miami’s physicality and explosiveness. Cleanup man Harrison Bader is already taking advantage of the new balls—he blasted three home runs in opening weekend, matching his career total in two seasons heading into the spring. He carries a ridiculous .600/.684/1.400 line into the weekend, with 14 RBIs.

Freshman catcher/DH J.J. Schwarz is an imposing presence behind him in the order, and first baseman A.J. Puk has big lefthanded power in his long frame, though he has not gotten off to a strong start with the bat.

“I said that before the season started, that if we stay healthy and everybody performs up to their capability, that this lineup has a lot of dynamic parts,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “When Alonso gets back, you go one through eight, it’s got a chance to be a really good lineup. It’s unfortunate we lost Pete, but it’s gonna get some other guys an opportunity to see what they can do. I think we’ve got some depth. I think we’ve got a lot of moving parts. It’s still early, still only four games in, but we’ve been swinging the bats good this preseason. Obviously it’ll be a different type of thing this weekend with Miami—we’ll see some really, really good starters, and they’ve got different looks out of the pen and an All-America closer. So it’ll be different, but so far we’ve been swinging the bats well.”

Florida’s J.J. Schwarz celebrates a home run Wednesday at South Florida (Aaron Fitt)

The Gators kept their bats going Wednesday at South Florida, cruising to a 13-3 victory. Schwarz went bonkers in that game, going 3-for-5 with a homer, a triple and five RBIs. The ball explodes off his bat, and he has an advanced offensive approach for a freshman. And the Gators can keep him fresher than most catchers because they have another very talented freshman backstop in Mike Rivera, who like Schwarz is hitting .333 after four games. Schwarz agreed that Florida’s long-ball identity is on the way back.

“I think this year, a lot of our hitters have come a long way in the offseason,” he said. “Once we get Pete back, it’s going to be even scarier. So I think we’re in good shape.”

The Gators always pitch, of course, and their staff this year might be the deepest in the nation. They also have three weekend starters who all touched 94 last week, according to O’Sullivan, in Logan Shore, Dane Dunning and Puk.

So improved offenses or not, the hitters on both sides will still have their work cut out for them this weekend.

—Aaron Fitt



SERIES SNAPSHOT: Alabama Rotation Shows Potential

Having potential in college baseball is a good thing, but it’s far from everything.

That was precisely the feeling Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard had as he patrolled the middle-of-renovation Thomas Sewell Stadium throughout fall workouts. Gone from his postseason team were starting pitchers Spencer Turnbull and lefty Justin Kamplain. He had to find a way to replace those two. He had a plan, but as we all know, plans don’t always come together.

Will Carter (Alabama)

So, as fall workouts concluded, Gaspard met with his coaching staff and pieced together a likely weekend rotation — one that had plenty of potential but was also accompanied by uncertainty. Senior lefthander Taylor Guilbeau has been a quality option for the Crimson Tide during his tenure with the program, but the Tide was making the decision to move a guy who made just one start in 2014 to the Friday night role in the unforgiving Southeastern Conference. The Tide also opted to go with Walters State (Tenn.) CC power-armed righthander Will Carter. Carter, fresh off Tommy John surgery, flashed a big-time arm up to 95 mph with his fastball during fall workouts, but how would he make the transition to Division I baseball? That is a legitimate question.

Then there’s sophomore righty Geoffrey Bramblett. Bramblett made 17 appearances, five of them starts, last season, and might have the best starter’s mentality of the bunch. Gaspard describes a Cool Hand Luke-type personality when speaking of Bramblett, and the righty proved during fall workouts to be deserving of a spot in the three-man rotation.

Alabama might not have the flashiest weekend rotation in college baseball, but if opening weekend against Maryland-Eastern Shore — yes, not exactly the best litmus test — is any indication, this rotation’s potential could quickly turn into big results, perhaps as early as this weekend on the road against seventh-ranked Houston.

“I thought opening weekend was more about what we did as a unit. I thought all three starting pitchers established the strike zone well and threw first-pitch strikes,” Gaspard said. “I thought our guys had a mound presence and did a good job of showing what they wanted to do. We wanted to set a standard and we certainly did a good job with that.

“We passed the first test,” he continued. “Now we need to go into this weekend and watch pitchers expand and grow.”

One of the nation’s showcase pitching matchups this weekend features Carter and Houston righthander Jake Lemoine, a potential first-round pick in the draft. Lemoine put together a strong first start against Minnesota last weekend. Carter, a 6-foot-3, 190-pounder, struck out six, walked three and allowed just two hits in seven innings against UMES. The righty also sat anywhere from 89-93 with his fastball, also showing a legitimate three-pitch mix.

“I think the big thing for Will opening weekend is that his stuff was pretty good for a guy who had spent a long time rehabbing. He was 90-93 with his fastball, but I think there’s more in there, perhaps this weekend in a warmer environment,” Gaspard said. “He had a really good mound presence and threw a ton of first-pitch strikes. He’s a little bit of a work in progress, but his breaking ball is getting better and his stuff will just continue to get better.”

Guilbeau and Bramblett, like Carter, experienced a great deal of success against UMES. Guilbeau started the season opener and struck out seven while allowing just two hits in six shutout frames, while Bramblett allowed just two hits in six shutout innings in the series finale. Overall, the starting rotation didn’t allow a run, and the Crimson Tide outscored UMES 36-0. Guilbeau sat at 87-91 with his fastball, touching a 92 with a good changeup, while Bramblett sat at 89-92, along with better secondary stuff, particularly his changeup.

“Taylor’s overall command was just really solid. He’s really matured the past couple of years, and it was the one thing he had to overcome,” Gaspard said. “He was in total command of the game and it was good to see. He handled the running game well, and did some things you have to do to win. (Friday) night is another test.

“I like Geoffrey a lot as a Sunday guy. I think he could be a Friday or Saturday type of guy, but he throws a lot of strikes and has a true curveball,” he continued. “He can get you with three pitches and he establishes himself pretty quick. Like all three guys, he was just really good last weekend.”

At least for a weekend, the Crimson Tide turned all that potential into results. Now comes the process of establishing consistency, something that might not be so easy against one of the nation’s elite in Houston.

—Kendall Rogers



FRESHMAN FACES: Georgia Tech’s Kel Johnson

It didn’t take long for Georgia Tech head coach Danny Hall to figure out freshman outfielder Kel Johnson had a special set of tools, both on and off the field.

One of the many perks to living in the Atlanta area is the opportunity to be in one of the nation’s most fertile baseball recruiting grounds. Also there is the prestigious East Cobb Baseball organization, and Hall, having the eye for talent that he does, spends much of his summers checking out the talent the program offers.

Johnson was one of those talents. While some 15-year-olds are still trying to find their groove and the proper offensive approach, Hall recalls seeing the young Johnson launching homers for the East Cobb Astros with a wood bat with an advanced approach and deceptive power from a then rather lanky frame.

“He was launching balls out of the park at 15, and we were lucky enough to get him committed when he was 16,” Hall said. “His grandpa went to Georgia Tech, and the thing that really stood out to him was the academic side of things at GT. He was home schooled, so it was a rather unique situation.”

Kel Johnson is off to a torrid start for the Jackets. (Georgia Tech)

Around the time the Yellow Jackets committed Johnson, Hall again was reminded why he was so intrigued with Johnson beyond his abilities on the baseball diamond. In a conversation with Rhonda, his mother, while recruiting him, the subject of the SAT scores needed to get into Georgia Tech came up.

“His mom asked, ‘What kind of score does he need for the SAT?’ She added he might get a perfect score on the SAT, so you kind of sit there thinking like, ‘OK, is she kidding?’ ” Hall said. “I realized pretty quickly that she wasn’t kidding. He’s a biology major here and he had a terrific first semester.

“I think the academic side of it is important to him. He’s focused on everything he does on and off the field. We just re-did the underneath part of our stadium, and it’s interesting. You look around at all the academic All-Americans that we’ve had, and names like Nomar Garciaparra and Mark Teixeira are up on the wall. All those guys were focused on everything each day they were here, and Kel is like that.”

On the field, Johnson clearly has much to accomplish to join the likes of Garciaparra and Teixeira, but the 6-foot-4, 204-pounder and former Perfect Game High School All-American couldn’t be off to a much better start. Through four games, Johnson, who will split duties between corner outfield and DH, is hitting .474/.474/1.105 with three doubles, three homers (one grand slam) and nine RBIs. The grand slam helped lift Georgia Tech to a win against Georgia Southern in midweek action.

“What impresses me is he’s a really good hitter first, and is a power hitter second. He rarely wastes an at-bat and just has a really advanced idea of what he wants and is trying to do,” Hall said. “The other night against Georgia Southern, he was frustrated because he was going against a type of pitcher he doesn’t see a lot. He said he hadn’t seen guys like this before.

“We told him not to worry about it, and the next at-bat, he had a guy beat him with some fastballs, and I turned to one of my coaches and said, ‘If he throws a breaking ball and hangs it up there, he’s going to hit it off the scoreboard.’ He didn’t hit the scoreboard, but he hit it really hard.”

Despite his incredibly impressive start, Hall knows Johnson will go through some ups and downs as he gets into the meat of the schedule and ACC play. But the prognosis from an offensive standpoint is good, with the only major improvements needed on the defensive side, where Johnson needs to develop into a more consistent corner outfielder.

“He just needs to work on his defense. He can play right field, but that’s the one area that he needs to shore up to be a complete player,” Hall said. “If you want to be a good player with a career at the major league level, you need to be a good defender unless you’re somehow in the American League. He’s aware of it, and he works really hard at it, so he’ll just continue to work hard and get more comfortable.”

Johnson’s collegiate career has just begun. Buckle up.

— Kendall Rogers