Preseason practice underway: Bulldogs have no time to waste
Ready, get set, and go.
For college baseball coaches around the country, today’s first official day of preseason practice can feel like a sprint to Opening Day.
That’s basically what it is.
With the season starting Feb. 17, that gives Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin and other programs across the country just three weeks to get their teams prepared.
“The biggest thing right now is just getting the pitcher’s pitch counts up. We lose them for almost six weeks, the week before finals up until they got back on January 9, which was their first day. You don’t see them for well over a month. That’s when you rely on guys to be doing what they need to be doing in the offseason,” Stricklin said. “The pitchers have to do a great job keeping up with their throwing programs, and they all did a great job. They came back in great shape, throwing live to hitters. We’ll actually have intrasquad (today).”
Georgia opens its season on Feb. 17 against Jacksonville State.
“In my opinion, three weeks is not enough time to practice before your season, and because of that, we have to rely on these guys to do stuff on their own. I really believe we should be able to practice as soon as we get back in January, but that’s the way it is,” Stricklin said. “So, Jan. 27 is the national start date, when everyone can officially start full practice. Everyone is allowed to do baseball-related activities, but we’re limited with time.”
Fortunately, for the Bulldogs and other programs across the country, much of the preseason work was put in during fall practice.
Offensively, this could be a fun team to watch.
Connor Tate (.345-13-58), Parks Harber (.307-13-53), Corey Collins (.257-11-37), Ben Anderson (.274-9-34), Cole Wagner (.276-6-21) and Fernando Gonzalez (.258-4-22) are back for the Bulldogs, along with a trio of transfers – infielder Sebastian Murillo (Long Beach State; four home runs in the fall), infielder Mason LaPlante (Yale; .281-2-16, 19-21 stolen bases), and third baseman Will David, a career .300 hitter at Samford.
Redshirt freshman Charlie Condon, however, is a player to watch. Condon (6-6, 215) dominated the wood-bat Northwoods League, batting .286 with seven home runs and 68 RBI in 61 games over the summer.
Keep an eye on junior Garrett Spikes, redshirt sophomore Dwight Allen II, and true freshman Justin Thomas (.517-16-53 his senior year at Benedictine-Savannah).
“This certainly could be our deepest team, and it could be our most talented offensive team,” Stricklin said. “We like the club offensively, and going back to the pitching side, the way the young arms came on for us in the fall, this gives us a lot of reason to be excited about the depth in our pitching staff.”
This year’s staff features a lot of new faces.
After spending most of his first two years in the bullpen, junior lefty Jaden Woods is expected to slide into the starting rotation, where he will join fellow lefty and junior Liam Sullivan.
Righty Nolan Crisp is back from a triceps injury he suffered late last year, while junior lefty Luke Wagner, according to Stricklin, has made a jump after scuffling a bit last spring.
Another name to keep an eye on is sophomore Coleman Willis. Willis (6-7, 210) was a highly regarded prospect his senior year at Houston County, but struggled as a true freshman, going 1-0 with an ERA of 9.35 in 14 appearances.
However, Willis has some of the best stuff on the team, and toward the end of the fall began to show some positive signs.
“It’s very natural for young guys to start to press if things aren’t going well for them the way they want it to go. But he had a good fall, just kind of getting back in the groove of things,” Stricklin said. “He came back in really good shape. He threw (Tuesday) and we were very encouraged with what we saw. We’re just trying to take it a little bit at a time, try to get him success and not force it on him.”
To augment the bullpen, Georgia added a quartet of transfers—Pace Mercer (ABAC), Dalton Rhadans (Wofford), Zach DeVito (Tulane) and Kyle Greenler (Elon), each of whom served as closers at their former schools.
They’ll join a bullpen that also includes sophomore Chandler Marsh (4-1, 3.74) and junior Will Pearson (2-2, 5.28), among others.
A talented group of five freshmen could also play a huge role.
Right-hander Leighton Finley (6-5, 214), right-hander Matthew Hoskins (6-2, 210), right-hander Kolten Smith (6-3, 195), left-hander Jarvis Evans (6-4, 215) and right-hander Blake Gillespie (6-1, 180) have each opened the eyes of Stricklin and pitching coach Sean Kenny.
Each throws in the low- to mid-90s and showed during the fall that they appear ready to contribute in a myriad of roles.
“Finley, Hoskins, Evans, Smith and Gillespie—all five of those guys could crack our rotation at any given time. They've all been really good; they’ve gotten stronger as the fall has gone on,” Stricklin said. “They all started a little bit slow, which is normal. They all were a little bit shell-shocked, when you’re 18 years old and have to play Connor Tate, Corey Collins, and Ben Anderson every day. They’ll beat you up a little bit. But by the end of the fall, those guys were all doing really well, and all came back healthy and ready to go. So, all five of those freshmen have a chance to pitch significant innings for us.”
