This, of course, isn’t a bad problem to have, as he said on Monday when talking to reporters at media day.
“It’s a very mature group, a very talented group that’s ready to prove to a lot of people that we can play the game the right way and better than anybody else,” Lemonis said. “We have a lot of experience back in the pitching staff.”
While Lemonis hasn’t finalized the starting rotation or the bullpen, he said he does have it down to six players competing for the four starting spots — three starters for the weekend and one for midweek games.
With junior pitcher Kyle Hart still out with an injury he suffered last season and junior pitcher Sully Stadler out for the season, neither are included despite being key starters on last year’s team, which landed the No. 4 overall seed in the NCAA tournament.
The six pitchers are senior Luke Harrison, juniors Christian Morris, Scott Effross and Caleb Baragar, sophomore Jake Kelzer and freshman ?Brian Hobbie.
Morris, who went 6-3 with a 2.04 ERA last season, is expected to step in as the ace for Joey DeNato, who was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies.
“(Morris) is one of the better pitchers in the league,” Lemonis said. “We’re excited that he’s on our team, he pitched really well this weekend. That maturing level and experience level is huge, once you’ve been out there and done it. I think he’s still got room to grow. He’s a really strong-armed kid.”
Effross was the team’s closer last season, bumped up from the setup role after now-redshirt senior Ryan Halstead went down for the season in the home opener.
Kelzer was drafted by the New York Yankees but chose to return to IU. Harrison was a key reliever, while both Baragar and Hobbie are new to the program.
Lemonis said his staff will not rush Hart back and is hoping he can start appearing in games by mid-March, likely starting with relief appearances before seeing if he can join the starting rotation.
Halstead will be the team’s closer. He missed almost all of last season after suffering a knee injury in just his fourth appearance of the season. In 2013, he set the school record for saves in a season, breaking his own mark he set his freshman year. He was drafted after both high school and his junior year but chose to come back to IU.
“It’s huge to have a guy with that much experience,” Lemonis said. “The injury was really a tough injury, but the kid worked so hard that you’re seeing a kid whose body is better and stronger than ever, and I think his stuff is a little better than ever. To have that ability the first night to hand the ball to a guy who’s pitched in so many big environments, it’s big for us. I know as a new manager, that bullpen is a huge part.”
Whoever doesn’t win a spot in the rotation will end up in the bullpen — an area that was a strength of the Hoosiers last season — to go along with what was generally considered one of the top pitching staffs in the nation. The talent on the roster this year has the team excited.
“I’m excited and I’m cautiously optimistic because you never know where you’re at until you get 10, 15, 20 games in and you’ve been battle tested,” Hart said. “I think we’re stacked, I really do. This is a better staff than any with DeNato, (Brian) Korte or (Aaron) Slegers. I think we’re better and deeper. We’ve got a lot of guys who are fearless.”
Halstead’s thoughts on the pitching staff were simple.
“We have strength, we have depth and we have ?experience.”
