When Scott Stricklin takes stock of his Georgia baseball currently in the midst of fall practice, the sight of outfielder Tucker Bradley back and healthy brings a smile to his face.
As well it should.
Bradley missed the majority of the 2019 season after injuring his shoulder attempting to make a catch against Dayton in what was just the Bulldogs’ third game, not only costing Georgia it’s starting left fielder, but one of the team’s more dynamic players.
“That’s one thing a lot of people forgot about as the season went along, we lost him in Game 3 as he’s hitting in the middle of our order,” Stricklin said. “You can argue that he was our best baseball player, just a hard-nosed guy, in baseball terms you call him a dirt bag, just always dirty, stealing bases, causing havoc. So yeah, having him out was a big blow to us, but I thought our guys stepped up, took that next-man-up mentality and we were able to have a very successful season without him but it certainly feels a lot better with him here healthy.”
Bradley – who hit .299 with three home runs and 26 RBI in 2018 batting predominately leadoff – could not be more thrilled to be back.
“I’m 100 percent,” the Chickamauga native said. “It definitely wasn’t fun having to miss last year with my teammates, but I’m back now and ready to get going.”
Getting Bradley back should certainly be a boost to a Georgia team which must find replacements for Aaron Schunk, Tucker Maxwell and LJ Talley as far as former position starters that do not return.
“I like our guys. We’ve got a lot of newcomers but a lot of our core players are back. Cam Shepherd and Riley King, those two guys, to be honest, we expected them to not be here but they are it makes you a lot better, then when you have the top end pitchers that we have, they’re great examples for our freshmen to learn from,” Stricklin said. “When you’ve got the talented freshmen that we have with Emerson Hancock, Cole Wilcox, C.J. Smith and Ryan Webb for them to look up to, that really helps out. I like our club, we’re very talented, I think we’ll be deep again. How deep we are on the mound remains to be seen. On the top end we’re going to be really good, we just need a couple of new guys to step up and we think they can do that.”
The Bulldogs are certainly blessed as far as Hancock and Wilcox are concerned.
Both Hancock and Wilcox are projected to go in the first round of next June’s Major League Draft, although neither will be on any kind of program this fall due to their work from the previous year.
Ditto for Smith – who continues to rehab a stress reaction in his back that cost him the latter part of 2019. According to Stricklin, the lefty will start throwing shortly and is expected to be 100 percent ready to go when the season starts Feb. 14 against Richmond.
‘We feel pretty confident that we’ve got Emerson, Wilcox and C.J. Smith, but who are the next guys, that’s the question we have,” Stricklin said. “The great thing about it for them is those guys aren’t throwing this fall. They’re just getting themselves ready for the season so those other guys are going to be getting more opportunities this fall to step up and say here I am.”
Other questions, finding replacements for Zac Kristofak and Schunk in the back end of the bullpen. Two possible options? Stricklin said Justin Glover and Ryan Webb come immediately to mind.
“He and Justin Glover are the two guys we really trust on the back end,” Stricklin said. “Justin has been really good. He was very good for us last year and I think he’s taken another step. Those two guys at the back end look really good.”
Offensively, Stricklin feels Georgia’s bats will be just fine.
Transfer Garrett Blaylock (Vanderbilt, St. John’s River State College) and Ben Anderson (freshman All-American at Furman (.361-3-39 in 2018) are two players Stricklin hopes can help make up for some of the losses offensively.
“I like our offensive club,” Stricklin said. “I think Connor Tate is going to make a big jump, Cole Tate has made a jump, Derek Blaylock can really hit. We’ve got Ben Anderson who sat out last year who was a freshman All-American, Tucker is back, Mason Meadows is going to be better, I think everyone takes a step forward. Patrick Sullivan has looked good, too.”
