Baseball Notebook: Freshmen pitchers standing out, and more

Jonathan Cannon is expected to miss the first month of the season recovering from mononucleosis—and his Bulldogs play Saturday doubleheaders in each of the first two weeks. Thus skipper Scott Stricklin and pitching coach Sean Kenny have spent much of the first week of preseason camp determining who might fill those starting roles.

Three freshmen left-handers are currently standing out.

According to Stricklin, Jaden Woods, Liam Sullivan and Luke Wagner have each been impressive during the first week of intra-squads, and will have a chance to slot into the rotation behind Ryan Webb and C.J. Smith before Cannon returns.

“Those three guys have been really, really good,” Stricklin said. “Liam Sullivan threw on Monday, and it might have been the best of all of them. Jaden Woods was really good on Saturday.

"Just happy with our freshmen, happy with the way they’ve been pitching. We just need to get them more experience.”

At 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, the younger brother of former Bulldog first baseman Patrick Sullivan went 10-1 his junior season at Marist. He carried a 1.48 ERA, with 78 strikeouts in 51 innings, before his senior season was cancelled due to Covid.

Woods, who hails from Warner Robins and played at Houston County, went 9-2 with a 1.18 ERA in 58 innings as a junior. For his part, Wagner went 11-2 and posted a 1.44 ERA with 117 strikeouts in 68 innings at Red Land High School in Pennsylvania. Like Sullivan, neither Wood nor Wagner played as seniors after their respective seasons were cancelled due to the pandemic.

“Liam has been at 90 to 92 (mph). He’s 6-foot-6, and throws that ball from a steep slot. It comes downhill, and it’s tough to hit and has a lot of spin. But the interesting thing about him is, as big as he is, a lot of pitchers that size have trouble commanding the strike zone to repeat things,” Stricklin said. “He can throw his breaking ball for strikes at any time, and his changeup has gotten better. I don’t want to say it’s surprising, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised he’s been able to throw so many strikes and been able to throw it with more than just the fastball.”

All three are expected to pitch over the course of the first two weeks when the Bulldogs open the season by playing a pair of Saturday seven-inning doubleheaders against Evansville and Gardner-Webb.

Freshmen Max DeJong and Hank Bearden, whom Stricklin said might ultimately be suited for the back end of the bullpen, are two more freshmen who have impressed, and could see some early work as starters.

“What we’re going to do is, we’re going to extend these guys’ pitch counts, leading up to the season where they’re able to throw three, four, maybe five innings. We could see some split starts,” Stricklin said. “I can see Jaden and Liam splitting a start, Hank and Luke splitting a start, to start out with.

We’re still trying to figure it out, but we’re going to have to show our depth these first four weekends to get ready for the SEC, and get these young guys ready to go.”

In what comes as no surprise, Florida transfer Nolan Crisp appears ready to assume the role as closer.

The native of Locust Grove set a Gator record for saves as a freshman in 2019 with eight, before missing last year’s Covid-halted season due to injury.

“Nolan Crisp is the guy we’ll give the ball in the eighth and ninth to close out games,” Stricklin said of the sophomore he has compared to former Bulldog Zac Kristofak. “That's his mentality, his makeup, and he’s got the experience in our league.”

There are still questions to be answered as far as the rest of the bullpen. Still, Stricklin mentioned sophomores Darryn Pasqua and Jack Gowen, as well as a pair of true freshmen in Collin Caldwell and Will Pearson, who played his high school ball at nearby North Oconee.

“Pasqua has also taken a step forward, and has really improved all of his pitches. They’re all sharper, so I think you’ll see him (Pasqua) have some late-inning appearances,” Stricklin said. “Collin Caldwell is a freshman who's really tough on lefties, so he might be a matchup-lefty late. Jack Gowen is a player we’ve talked about before; this is third year, and it’s time for him to step up and take one of those roles, whether it’s a seventh-inning role, an eighth-inning role, or one-hitter role.

“Along with Bearden, Pearson is a freshman who just has that makeup, that mentality, that toughness about him. I think he can be a guy who can pitch late innings in games. So, we’ve got a lot of options, and that’s what these next two weeks are about, to figure out who will get the ball first when we get late into games.”

When speaking to Stricklin on Wednesday, only four players were mentioned as being assured of being in the starting lineup for the Feb. 19 opener against Evansville.

The remaining starting roles, he said, remain up for grabs. However, the fact that’s the case should not be taken negatively.

“I think the biggest thing is, we have a ton of depth position-player wise, and a lot of guys who are fighting for positions,” Stricklin said. “We feel like Cole Tate is going to be our shortstop, Ben Anderson is going to be our center fielder, Riley King is going to be in there, Connor Tate will be in there. But there’s a lot of questions these other guys are trying to answer as far as who's going to get that Opening Day nod.”

Stricklin said it’s actually a good problem to have.

“We’ve got depth,” he said. “It could depend on whether we see a right-handed pitcher or a left-handed pitcher; that’s a good problem to have, because we feel we have the depth to be able to platoon if we need to. But I like what I’ve seen, position-player wise.”

One of those positions where Stricklin could not be happier with his depth is second base, where sophomore Buddy Floyd and junior Joshua McAllister have pulled ahead of freshmen Caleb Ketchup and Kameron Guidry.

“Buddy and Josh have taken the lead in that battle. Buddy is a switch hitter, so who knows— maybe it’s Buddy against right-handed pitching, and Josh against left-handed pitching,” Stricklin said. “Those guys are hard-nosed players who know how to play the game, and have some experience under their belt. But both of those guys have been pretty good.”

Most college baseball coaches would be thrilled to have two catchers capable of starting. Georgia has four, and that’s making for an interesting scenario when it comes to who plays and when.

“Early on, we’re going to mix in several guys catching. Obviously, we’re very high on these young freshmen with Fernando (Gonzalez) and Corey (Collins), but you’ve got the leadership of a Mason Meadows and a Shane Marshall,” Stricklin said. “But we’ve got four guys who can catch at any time, and whom any team would love to have.”

It’s an interesting dichotomy.

Meadows and Marshall, at least so far, are known primarily for their defense, while Gonzalez and Collins are proving to be two of the best young hitters on the team.

Collins, in particular, is one to watch. At 6-3 and 220 pounds, the former North Gwinnett standout batted .483 with 16 home runs as a junior, and has shown Stricklin enough that he’s probably going to be the team’s primary designated hitter on the days he’s not behind the dish.

“It’s just going to be a challenge to keep Corey and Fernando out of the lineup, because their bats are really loud,” Stricklin said. “For freshmen to be able to swing the bat like they do, and handle the bat, I really expect those guys to swing the bat, even in our league as tough as it is, I think you’ll see those guys really hit. Those guys have really stepped up. Defensively, they’re both really talented, but offensively, those two guys have been really big.”

…Stricklin said Marshall will also be that rare player who gets an opportunity to pitch as well as catch. The sophomore was clocked between 90-92 in a recent scrimmage and, according to Stricklin, “was really good. I think you’ll see Shane on the mound some.”