If you had to line up our pitching rotations… Blanco and Woolfolk are starters. Probably Valincius as the 3rd starter? I like Augustin as closer and Moore and Jaxel to lead the pen. Would be good if Colucci could be midweek starter? Just trying to get an idea for what we should expect…
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I think Chris Arroyo is probably going to get one of the two open starting roles (Sunday or midweek). So either Valincius or Bryson Moore for the other with Colucci the darkhorse candidate.
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Oh nice. I wasn’t sure if Arroyo would see consistent time on the mound. Thought they were kind of trying to get away from players pitching and playing the field (though he does have the talent to do it). Figured he’d mainly be DH which I guess could see him on the mound more.
Injuries probably necessitate him pitching at this point, but he’s apparently looked really good on the mound.
I think he’ll be the starting 1B when not pitching. But DH if he’s starting.
D1’s Fall Report on Arroyo pitching:
O’Connor said he also really likes Arroyo in a starting role rather than a bullpen role, and the routine of starting could help him manage his two-way responsibilities. He’s another advanced pitchability lefty with an 88-92 fastball, very good slider and quality changeup, and he’s a strong candidate to step into the Sunday starter job, or else a midweek starter role.
And D1’s Fall Report on Colucci:
Also keep an eye on righty Joe Colucci as a dark horse rotation candidate. A 4-2-4 bounceback from Maryland by way of Harford CC, Colucci has a durable 6-foot-5, 220-pound frame and a low-90s fastball that bumps 93-94, along with a quality slider and changeup.
If I had to add one more name from way out out of the blue that could emerge as a starter, it would be Lynchburg grad transfer Wes Arrington. He started 16 games for Lynchburg last season. Not overwhelming stuff but has a history of finding the zone (103 Ks and 37 BB in 100.1 IP last year) and was a workhorse (3 complete games).
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Oh I really like this… I’ve always been more of a fan of guys who can play field and pitch. Always just seem to be dawgs and are generally easy to root for… Colucci playing the midweek spot and converting to long reliever/key bullpen piece as the season goes on would be fun.
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For me it breaks down like this:
Starting options: Blanco, Woolfolk (both likely locks), Colucci, Arroyo, Valincius, Arrington, Moore
Bullpen arms: Augustin, Jaxel, Koenen, Lanzendorfer, Osinski, Markus, Kampschror, Barker, Richie, Oschell, and whoever is left over out of the starting options.
Could maybe see Jaxel or even Augustin being pushed to the starter group but I doubt it, and overall that’s 17 guys in the mix which will surely be cut down over the course of the season.
If you had to ask me right now how I think it shakes out, my best guess is Blanco/Woolfolk/Colucci on the weekend, Arroyo and Arrington as our primary midweek starters, Augustin as our closer and Valincius/Moore/Jaxel/Lanzendorfer/Osinski/Koenen as our most relied upon bullpen guys.
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Thanks for the update guys. I have been wondering for a long time what the deal was with O’Connor’s injury. We never heard any details but he seemed on Hodges’ timeline. What a shame to lose so many quality pitchers for this year.
At the very least in the cases of Hodges/O’Connor, our staff was able to plan around those guys likely not being available and found some replacements in the portal. Kirk is a rough recent development but we’ve got the depth to overcome losing him.
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uva comes in at number 2 in the preseason poll
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Great interview here with BOC. No big new info, pretty much reiterates what we already know about the team but he goes into his mindset of navigating the new age of college sports. Plus Oak is just a great listen in general.
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We have two new entries into the UVA baseball hall of fame, RHP Andrew Carraway and 3B Kenny Towns.
Carraway was a mainstay in our pitching staff in the mid-2000’s, playing four seasons of baseball at UVA (two as a reliever, two as a starter). He had 74 total appearances on the mound across those four years, including 29 starts and an overall record of 20-5. His biggest impact came in 2009 where he was instrumental in our postseason run as the #2 starter in our rotation behind Danny Hultzen, helping us win our first ACC title since 1996 and reach our first ever CWS. He was also the starting and winning pitcher in our first ever CWS win, an elimination game against Cal State Fullerton.
And last but not least, there’s Kenny “Motherfuckin” Towns. One of the most important players in our program’s history. Towns was not one of the most talented players to come through here, or even one who put up the most impressive accumulative stats overall. But I don’t think there’s ever been a more clutch player to come through our program than Kenny. He holds our program’s records for starts, hits, and RBI’s in the postseason and was arguably our best hitter down the stretch for our national title run in 2015. It’s hard to put into words how good this dude was in key situations, so I’ll just link what is widely considered the best play in UVA baseball history: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aov-6OvggQw
For those who don’t really keep up with UVA baseball, that play is our ‘Kihei Clark Pass’. Kenny also had an RBI single in this game en route to our first and only (for now) national title win. Dude is a legend.
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Also props to Pavin for a fantastic defensive play at first that gets overlooked because of how awesome the play was by Towns.
Second most awesome play of Towns’s career in this highlight. It gets a ton of extra credit because the pitcher for FSU is the one and only Jameis Winston.
Then there was the time he hit his first two career home runs in the season opener of his sophomore season at ECU. Of course, they were both grand slams.
KMFT indeed.
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Great breakdown of what to expect this season. Schoch has
2B - Godbout
SS - Becker
3B - Hanson
He also mentions O’Connor and Hodges like both could play this spring, and says he thinks Jaxel will eat up a ton of innings.
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Yeah I think it’s gonna be Becker at SS. Hanson looked good early in the fall but Becker started to gain more momentum there as it progressed. Also think he’s right about Jaxel, looked good in the summer and in the fall, should be one of our top bullpen arms.
D1 seems to think that Didawick is gonna play CF and we’re gonna put Nunnallee in LF, which is a bit surprising to me. Figured that Teel would have that locked down given the praise BOC gave him as a defender in the OF. But we’ll see soon enough.
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What about Augustin? Seems like the most likely Closer.
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That would be my guess to start but I could see Moore working into the role if not. He didn’t get a ton of innings last year but was lights out when he pitched. I would say more likely than not Augustin though.
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@KarlHess and anyone who is in the Blue Sky crew or whatever that other platform is
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They really like Moore as a starter. I think Augustin is the most likely closer.
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I don’t know why, but Schoch always get a laugh out of me when he calls him “my friend Brian O’Connor”.
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Only semi related but I associate Schoch with the resurgence of UVA baseball. Ever since he arrived, UVA baseball has been “back.” Sure you could point to Abbott or others but Schoch kinda seems like the mascot of the latest chapter of this program.
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