Hey folks,
Here's the second installment of my notes dump following my interview with Tracy Smith yesterday. Enjoy yourselves, kids.
Sabourin to face competition at first -- from Monar
Lost in all the talk about his left arm, according to Smith, is the fact that Blake Monar is a more than capable hitter. And despite Jerrud Sabourin's stellar freshman year, he's going to face competition from Monar.
It's not so much Sabourin but Monar that's sparking this position battle. As alluded to in today's article, there is depth and plenty of deserving guys fighting for significant playing time.
"Right, now, there's gonna be a little battle at first, I would think," Smith said with a smile. "(Monar)'s a good pitcher, but he's a good baseball player too."
Smith said, however, that he doesn't feel like he needs to play Monar in the field to keep his mind off the expectations placed upon his performance on the mound.
"I think it depends on the kid," Smith said. "That kid's got a good head on his shoulders, a very competitive spirit, so we don't worry too much about him being bogged down if he's doing both."
Bashore going to take it easy in the fall
Matt Bashore threw 80+ innings last year and ran up some high pitch counts as the Hoosiers' automatic Saturday starter. He appeared to tire a little bit toward the end of the year, something Smith said at the time he saw, and the left-hander started just three games in Cape Cod this summer (he appeared in four others).
Smith said Wednesday that he plans to keep his ace southpaw rested this fall, not pushing him too much. According to Smith, Bashore is a proven commodity, and there's no reason to stretch him.
"All indications are he is healthy -- we had him checked out," Smith said. " We're gonna take it slow with him, just to give him the ample rest. He has nothing to prove relative to our team."
There is one hard, fast rule for Bashore to follow this fall.
"He's begging to swing the bat this fall, that's not gonna happen," Smith said, laughing.
The outfield is crowded with a capital "K"
Chris Hervey is certainly entrenched at left field (and probably leading off), but other than that, there's going to be some serious outfield competition. Crawford and Schutz are the presumptive favorites for center and right, respectively, but Brian Lambert, Alex Dickerson and a healthy-again Sterling Mack ought to push each of them.
Smith said Mack "says he's ready to go," and he said specifically that the Lovett School graduate will compete with Crawford in center field. The fight for playing time won't stop there.
"There's some depth in that outfield," he said, praising Schutz, Hervey and Crawford while also mentioning Dickerson and Lambert. Smith singled out Lambert, calling the junior from Illinois the best hitter in fall practice the last two years and "the best baserunner on the team."
"There's gonna be some competition out there, boys," Smith said with a grin.
Optimism about No. 2 catcher slot
Josh Phegley had to be the go-to backstop pretty much all of last year, with brief spells in right field or DH thanks to Dylan Swift. Thanks to the arrival of touted Indianapolis catcher Josh Lyon and the anticipated competition for the No. 2 spot, Smith thinks he'll have the opportunity to rest his All-American catcher.
"That was a big problem with us last year -- nobody really solidified the No. 2 position," Smith said. "I think that hurt us down the stretch, because Phegley wore down. Part of his problem with Team USA this summer was he was so banged up from catching all the games that he had to catch for us."
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That's all I've got. I've got a couple of more stories in the works for the next couple of weeks, plus the start of fall practice. So stick with Inside Pitch, we will -- as always -- do our best not to let you down.
