Q&A with Stanford baseball writer

In advance of this weekend’s regional, IDS reporter Evan Hoopfer asked the Stanford Daily’s Jordan Wallach some questions about the Cardinal’s team and its chances.

IDS Stanford was a bubble team. What was the expectation of getting into the NCAA tournament this year? Did it come as a surprise?

Wallach Coming into this season, while the team had its sights set on a tournament berth, expectations were certainly low from an outside perspective.

While Stanford returned key position players, particularly in the infield with senior third baseman Alex Blandino and junior first baseman Danny Diekroeger, no one knew how Mark Appel, the No. 1 overall pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, would be replaced in the Cardinal’s starting rotation.

The Astros prospect ate up 229.1 combined innings over 30 starts in his junior and senior years, so his departure left a massive gap in the team’s staff.

Stanford’s answer was to start freshmen pitchers for 27 consecutive games to open the season, the longest streak in the nation this season and perhaps in the history of NCAA baseball as well.

The quartet of Cal Quantrill — son of former major leaguer Phil Quantrill — Brett Hanewich, Chris Viall and Tyler Thorne shocked most as they got their seasons off to surprisingly composed starts against one of the nation’s most difficult schedules, which featured 24 games against teams in the top-50 in the RPI rankings.

While only Quantrill made it through the entire season in the rotation (the others came and went), not many people expected the youth of the Cardinal to hold up against their schedule, but it did. Another freshman, second baseman Tommy Edman, ended up making major contributions at the plate as he took over the lead-off spot in the middle of the season after carrying the offense with a 10-game hitting streak.

So it certainly came as a surprise that Stanford was able to clinch a postseason berth given its young roster, but credit is due to pitching coach Rusty Filter — the mentor of two No. 1 overall draft picks over the last five years, Appel and Stephen Strasburg at San Diego State — for toughening his first-year starters quickly and getting them ready to carry the staff for a good part of the season.

IDS What are the feelings around Palo Alto about this team compared to previous years? How big is baseball at Stanford?

Wallach Baseball at Stanford certainly isn’t as big as football or men’s or women’s basketball, and you’ll rarely find students at Klein Field taking in a game on a weekend. But support still comes from local residents, alumni and other Cardinal supporters, and it’s usually a safe bet to have around 1,500 supporters in the stands for an average weekend home game.

Overall, with the departure of Appel, interest in the team this year dipped slightly — the ballpark no longer had the same buzz on Friday nights when the ace stepped onto the rubber.

My former managing editor, Sam Fisher, put it this way in a column: “Every time you walked into Sunken Diamond, you came with the knowledge — perhaps even expectation — that you were going to see something special. There’s something very cool about seeing more scouts than there are MLB teams sitting behind home plate at every one of a pitcher’s starts.”

That simply wasn’t there this year, but plenty of fans still cared about the team and were eager to see the youth will shape the Cardinal roster for at least the next two years.

IDS What are Stanford’s strengths and weaknesses?

Wallach Stanford’s main strength certainly lies in its starting rotation.

While the four freshmen mentioned earlier did not all end the season in the rotation, other players stepped up immediately after getting the call in the middle of the season.

For junior John Hochstatter, that call came on April 13 against Washington. From that point forward, he became the team’s most sturdy arm, as he went 7-0 with a 2.68 ERA in the seven starts he made at the end of the season, including two consecutive complete games (and he was one out away from a third).

Sophomore Logan James also transitioned from the bullpen and soon earned a spot in the weekend rotation.

Over five starts, he went 3-1 with a 2.15 ERA. As long as the Cardinal avoid falling behind in counts early on in games and allow minimal free passes — something they suffered from early in the season and at times later on — the rotation has the potential to match up with anyone.

The team’s weakness is probably its depth on the bench.

While there’s no shortage of defensive replacements, Stanford has very few options when needing a pinch-hitter late in games, namely just freshman Jack Klein and sophomore Austin Barr.

Also, the Cardinal lack a strong running game, as the team went just 32-for-51 in stolen base attempts on the season, and it ranked last in the Pac-12 in both steals and attempts.

So Stanford will often resort to sacrifices, sometimes unnecessarily wasting precious outs in order to advance runners.

IDS Who is one Cardinal player that will surprise us with how good he is?

Wallach While junior center fielder Austin Slater won’t surprise anyone with his offensive performances this weekend given that he’s riding a career-long 17-game hitting streak, over which he’s hitting .448, sophomore right fielder Zach Hoffpauir can make a big impact very quickly with the bat.

Hoffpauir, a two-sport athlete who also plays free safety for Stanford’s football team, has raised his batting average from .271 to .339 over his last 13 games, a span in which he’s hit .520 (26-for-50). He leads the team with a .522 slugging percentage, demonstrating his power that can alter a game with just one swing.

IDS Care for a prediction? Will Stanford make it out of the regional in your opinion?

Wallach As head coach Mark Marquess leads the Cardinal into their 29th postseason appearance in the last 34 years under his tutelage but the team’s first berth since 2012, expectations are not very high for the team that surprised many by just making it to a regional.

But I think this team has a strong run in it. Each of Stanford’s first three starters can match up with any opponent. So as long as the offense holds up its end of the bargain, the Card can reach the regional’s final game against Indiana.

But the run will likely stop there as it’s going to take a lot to slow down the Hoosiers train that has won 30 of its last 33 games.