So the season was supposed to start today, but the game got rained out in Bakersfield. I don’t think it is a huge stretch to say that this team surprise EVERYONE last year in Pac-12 play. The question is how will this team perform this year when there are expectations? The Pac-12 wont have another down year and OSU, AZ, and Washington are pretty loaded.
I’m a pretty avid baseball fan and I’ve seen my fair share of games, so here is my somewhat trained eye on what I see and what I think of this years team. The thing that stands out right way is the starting pitching. The Fri-Sun starters on this team are loaded and going to put the team in great position to win every series. Jayson Rose is a future MLBer and will likely been somewhere in the Top 5-10 rounds of the MLB draft this year. His change up is excellent and I’d really compare it to Trevor Hoffmans change up. Like Hoffman, this is his go to strikeout pitch and it shows because he finished 2nd in the conference last year. Lapiana is a crafty lefty that is a real competitor. His stuff isn’t going to blow you away, he keep the Utes in games. Finally Otteson brings the heat on Sunday with a mid to high 90’s fastball and will mix in the cutter.
The bullpen is the main area for concern. Drachler is solid at the back end, but other than that it is a real question mark. Keirsey can throw hard, but he will spend most of his time in the outfield. Someone is going to need to step up and cover that setup role. My prime candidates would be one of JC kids and Stoltz, but we will see.
On defense we have both conner infields back and most of the outfield. This group took huge strides defensively last year. Infact this was one of the top 2 reasons this team took so many steps forward, imo. The concerns are we lost the middle infields and our catcher, so those positions are unknowns at this point. The fact is that Smiths Field is a huge pitchers park. The outfield needs to play great defense. 420 to dead center leaves a lot of ground to cover, even including the elevation. Thankfully the Utes have lots of returning talent.
Offensively, this team mostly remains the same. The Scagari and Davis graduating will hurt for a bit, but i think maybe Keirsey and someone else will step into this spot. The good news is that Carroll is back to hold down that number 3 spot in the lineup. I honestly don’t expect much of a slump on the offense. They are replacing only 3 weekend starters; RF, 2B, and SS. and Hoffman started a bunch of games at SS.
Overall, I fully expect this team to make the NCAA’s again. For the most part, they have a pretty cake non conference. The Pac-12 will be improved, but the starting pitching on this team is going to be tough for any opponent. Realistically they probably wont win the conference, but I really believe that they can, especially if some relievers step up. They were picked to finish 6th in the conference by the coaches, but i feel that are better than that. Another real quick thing of importantance. They will beat the zoobies in the series this year. TDS lost a lot of talent last year to the MLB. They will take a step back. It’s been 20+ years. It’s time.
Go Utes.
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