With the foundation set for a program that experiences consistent success, Virginia turns its attention to a new season. The 2016 team must transition some returning pieces together with new players to see if the Cavaliers can form another title contending team.
Of course, that begins with pitching at UVA. That’s an area that D1Baseball’s Aaron Fitt sees as a potential weakness for this club.
“They’re going to win most Friday games because [Friday night starter] Connor Jones might be the best pitcher in the country this year,” Fitt said. “But I think the pitching is a little bit thin, and ultimately I think that could prove to be this team’s Achilles’ heel.”
There is no doubt the MLB Draft left some holes in the Cavalier lineup, especially the pitching rotation. Three Cavalier hurlers were selected in the draft starting with Nathan Kirby, who was taken 40th overall by the Milwaukee Brewers. Closer and CWS Most Outstanding Player Josh Sborz was drafted 74th overall by the Los Angeles Dodgers. Sborz went 3-0 in the tournament with a save after tossing 13 scoreless innings in Omaha.
In the fifth round, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Brandon Waddell. The southpaw started 53 games in his UVA career, pitched 313 innings, and went 21-11 in his three seasons with a 3.39 career ERA. Over that time, 66% (35 of 53) of Waddell’s outings were quality starts. He saved his best for the College World Series where Virginia went 5-0 in his five career Omaha starts, including the CWS finale last season.
The innings, the leadership, and the experience of those three pitchers can’t be replaced right away. There is talent, however, on the UVA staff and it certainly begins with Jones.
A preseason All-American, Jones went 7-3 with a 3.19 ERA through 18 starts in 2015. He will return to the role of Friday night starter, a spot he held last season after Kirby was lost for the regular season due to injury. Jones worked an ACC-high 115.2 innings and fanned 113 batters. He limited opponents to a .226 batting average. He threw at least six innings in each of his last nine starts and struck out seven or more batters in five of those games. Jones will open the season as the Friday starter when the Hoos face Kent State this weekend in Myrtle Beach.
Coming off a solid season, Jones took the summer off to rest his arm but was not dormant, working on strength and conditioning all summer. He came back stronger and the expectation is that strength will help Jones maintain stamina throughout the game and not wear down.
“I worked out on being more explosive with the bottom half of my legs so that was my main focus,” Jones said. “Moving on from last year, I felt that was one of my weaker areas. I felt like I improved a lot as far as overall the strength and condition of my body and I feel really good moving into this season.”
UVA coach Brian O’Connor named freshman Daniel Lynch as his game two starter against Appalachian State in the Caravelle Resort Tournament. A Perfect Game Honorable Mention All-American, Lynch recorded 0.97 ERA his junior year at Douglas Freeman High School in Richmond, when he was tabbed a First-Team Class 5A All-State performer. The lefty finished his sophomore season with a 7-1 record and a 1.76 ERA, striking out 66 and walking 18 in 47.2 frames. Lynch missed about two months of his senior season with swelling in his rib cage but O’Connor says Lynch has pitched at a high level since the fall.
Lynch is a confident pitcher and has confidence in his stuff. O’Connor says he throws multiple pitches for strikes and is throwing his fastball in the 89-91 mph range and he seems to have made on impression on Virginia’s coach.
“Daniel Lynch is starting game two for us because he’s earned that,” O’Connor said. “I thought he had a really good fall. I feel like he’s a very mature player, he’s shown a lot of poise, and the upside of this young man is really tremendous. He’s got a pretty good idea of what he’s doing out there, a pretty special talented kid that’s going to grow throughout his time in our organization and has a chance to really be one of the greats in our uniform.”
Greats in a UVA uniform? No pressure there! Catcher Robbie Coman even compared Lynch’s approach to a former Cavalier southpaw that also started as a freshman.
“Lynch has done great [learning the system],” added Coman. “He’s proven himself on the mound in the fall, made some big pitches and pitched some good games and proved he could do it. He reminds me of Waddell a little bit when he was in his first year.”
Tommy Doyle rounds out the rotation and will toe the rubber in game three in Myrtle Beach this weekend.
Doyle missed the first month of his rookie season with mononucleosis but did make 16 appearances out of the bullpen going 1-1 with a 3.47 ERA. He held opposing hitters to a .217 batting average in 2015. He received some valuable postseason experience when he tossed a perfect ninth inning of relief against NC State in the ACC Tournament and matched his career high with 2.2 scoreless innings against USC in the Lake Elsinore Regional Championship Game. He worked one scoreless inning against Florida in the CWS too.
The right hander went 7-2 with 1.86 ERA, 84 strikeouts, and just 18 walks in 51 innings during his senior campaign at Flint Hill High School in Vienna. He was named a 2014 Third-Team All-America selection by Perfect Game and the 2014 Co-Virginia State Player of the Year.
“I believe we have a lot of talent in that starting rotation but two of the three need to learn quickly what it’s going to take to win at this level,” O’Connor said.
There are several options to fill in the mid-week starter and relief roles.
Certainly replacing Sborz at the back end of the rotation will be a key to sustained success this season, but that is a work in progress to start the season according to O’Connor. Several veteran options in the mix include Alec Bettinger, Kevin Doherty, and David Rosenberger as well as junior college transfers Holden Grounds and Tyler Shambora.
Those players all could be key contributors. You aren’t ‘relegated’ to the bullpen at Virginia after all. Middle, long, and backend relief is a critical role on a Cavalier pitching staff and some of the greats of Virginia pitching have been bullpen guys at times. Names like Sean Doolittle, Tyler Wilson, Kyle Crockett, Artie Lewicki, Whit Mayberry, Branden Kline, Nick Howard, and Nate Kirby all have served in that role just to name a few.
Coman says the process of slotting pitchers really comes from watching them in live action over the fall and seeing how they respond to different situations.
“Everyone who comes in from high school is a starting pitcher,” Coman said. “The first meeting with Coach K’s in the fall is, ‘Hey guys, who started in high school’ and everybody raises their hand. Obviously everyone can’t do that in college so they got into games in the fall, put them into situations to see how they respond, to see how they learn and pick things up, and pick up the system.”
Expect to see Adam Haseley on the mound at some point in the season but not to start the season. O’Connor said the two-way sophomore, who came into his own as a pitcher late in 2015, is slated to start in centerfield.
Sophomore Derek Casey is working his way back from an oblique injury last season and is also expected to pitch this season but Kuhn says there’s no rush. Casey went 4-1 in 2015 with a 3.06 ERA. In his final five mid-week starts the Hoos went 5-0 in those contests.
“He’s progressing really well,” Kuhn said. “He’s about eight months out post op. He’s throwing. He’s really, really strong. He looks really good and we are hopeful he may be able to do what Artie did for us in ‘14. Healthy, there’s no doubt he would have probably gotten the ball in Omaha. But we’re not going to push it because he’s a very talented young man and we’re not going to put any part of his future career in jeopardy for the sake of recovering quicker in this season. His arm will talk to him, he’ll talk to us, and we’ll be very judicious with him, but he is coming along very, very well.”
O’Connor and his brain trust made an unusual move bringing in the two JUCO pitching transfers to help bolster a youthful staff. Casey’s injury played a role in that decision.
“When Casey went down last year, I knew that we would be replacing Kirby, Waddell and Sborz, so we just thought it important to go out and get a couple of guys that were a little bit older,” O’Connor said.
Kuhn says both transfers were the top pitchers on their respective staffs and he is looking for leadership and innings from both.
“Holden Grounds from Navarro College signed with a four year school out of high school and then decided to go to junior college because he wanted to get bigger and stronger,” Kuhn said. “He was their number one or two starter in Navarro and he was a first team all-conference pitcher there. Tyler Shimbora out of St. Pete, Petersburg, Florida, was his team’s number one. He basically carried his team to the postseason and to the playoffs. They are both going to add a great deal of depth and maturity to our young staff.”
Things are little more settled offensively as the Hoos return six of nine position players. With both catchers (Matt Thaiss and Coman), middle infielders Ernie Clement (2B) and Daniel Pinero (SS), and Haseley roaming centerfield, O’Connor likes what he has in the middle of the diamond.
There are questions at first and third base, but freshman Ryan Karstetter seems to have the pedigree that makes him a likely choice at the hot corner. At first, O’Connor has preseason All-American Pavin Smith, who is coming off Tommy John surgery, penciled in again. Unlike a pitcher, a position player’s return time is much faster after Tommy John surgery.
“It’s easier to manage as a first baseman, or outfielder than it would be for say the left side of the infield guys, or a catcher, so certainly the position that he played is easier to manage,” O’Connor said. “That said, you still have to manage the protocol for the rehab on this, but everything has gone well and you just don’t throw the ball as much as a first baseman, or outfielder. It’s completely different as a pitcher.”
With Smith at first, two rookies likely will be joining Haseley in Davenport’s vast outfield. Doak Dozier seems to be on everyone’s list to take over one of the outfield corners, while Jake McCarthy and Cameron Simmons are on the potential list for the other spot. With two top recruiting classes over the last two seasons, Thaiss says there’s plenty of talent to fill these roles.
“I think the most interesting thing we have is a lot of versatility,” Thaiss said. “The freshmen that we’ve brought in are all very, very good athletes that can play multiple positions. I think you’re going to see that this year in the spring. I mean, I don’t know what’s it’s going to be, I’m not the coach, but we’ve got guys who it might be at second, it might be at third, it might be in the outfield. We might have guys who are pitching and then move to the outfield. I think this freshmen class is part of a group of good, good athletes who can play all over the field. I think that’s going to really help us this spring.”
With so many new faces trying to fit into roles, that leads some of the baseball experts to ponder if a repeat trip to the CWS finals or even Omaha may be in doubt.
“I think UVa will be solid, but I do expect a little step back,” Fitt said. “There’s still a lot to like in that lineup, especially the Thaiss-Pinero-Smith-Haseley core, and I think the Cavs will be sound on offense and defense. I don’t expect Virginia to get back to Omaha this year, but it would be foolish to write off any team coached by Brian O’Connor, Kevin McMullan, and Karl Kuhn. These guys have a history of getting the most out of their talent, and I don’t think anybody will be shocked if this group of Cavs over-achieves (like last year’s team did). Certainly, a return trip to Omaha is attainable, but I’ll be very surprised if they win it all again. Of course, last year’s National Championship was quite a surprise to everybody, after the way the regular season played out. So you just never know in college baseball.”
Baseball America’s John Manual says UVA is not among that publication’s preseason selections to be among the final eight in Omaha but says it would unwise to count out the Wahoos.
“I would think after last year, when we had UVA as a top 5 preseason team that struggled all year, then won it all, that we’d stop prognosticating! But of course we won’t,” Manual said. “Certainly at this point it would be more of a surprise if UVA did not get to Omaha; that’s how successful the program has been. Even when you lose the Waddell’s, the Kirby’s, the Sborz, the Towns … those kinds of guys leave but they always seem to get replaced for the Cavaliers. That said, we do not have UVa as a preseason Omaha team, in part because of those significant losses. Haseley-Smith-Thaiss-Pinero is a great core to build around, though, and Connor Jones could wind up being the best starting pitcher in the country on the college level. Those are strong building blocks.”
For O’Connor, worrying about preseason prognostications is not at the top of his priority list anyway.
“It doesn’t bother me that people haven’t talked about whether this team can repeat and things like that because, you know, although I respect the people that do them, and the profession and everything, the polls don’t really matter to me,” O’Connor said. “It probably rarely ever happens that the team predicted number one before the season starts wins it all. Nothing taught us more than last year that what matters is playing really good baseball for four weeks at the end of the season.”
