Nov. 28, 2000
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.
Baylor baseball coach Steve Smith has had such great success over the past several years that he's made a demanding job even more difficult.
Not only has he raised everyone's expectations, he's also sent a boatload of players into the pros, rendering each fall practice that much more important in finding replacements for his departed stars.
Three seasons ago, he lost Charley Carter, Jeremy Dodson, Jimmy Blair and Kip Wells, only to come back with a team that reached the NCAA Super Regional. From that squad, he sent Jason Jennings, Jon Topolski, Mark Outlaw and Eric Nelson to greener pastures. No problem -- all last year's team did was win the Big 12 championship and host an NCAA regional.
From last year's team, the pros took pitchers Chad Hawkins and Kyle Evans, shortstop Jace Brewer, second baseman Preston Underdown, center fielder Anthony Hensley and right fielder Jaime Bubela. You might think Smith would be crying into his Dr Pepper, but just as in years past, he's working confidently to put the parts in place for another conference title run. And that usually starts with pitching.
"I THINK THAT OUR pitching has been the strength of our fall so far," Smith said, "and that's probably as it should be. Your pitchers know your own hitters very well, if they can't get your own guys out, you probably have some problems there.
"We've pitched pretty well. I've tried to use seven starters during the first six games of the (fall championship intrasquad) series. Justin Taylor, Josh Scott, Derek Brehm, Kyle Edens and Paul Thorp have all started twice. Scott Lehnhoff has had a start and Jared Theodorakos has had a start. Really, all of those guys have thrown well. And of course, Zane's thrown well."
Zane is sophomore closer Zane Carlson, an all-conference selection last season and, arguably, the Bears' MVP during the Big 12 championship run.
Of the six games completed through last weekend, Carlson's team had won five, and of those, Carlson had saved four.
"The difference in the series is Zane," Smith said. "We could balance the teams up pretty well, but we didn't have anybody to counter him."
With Hawkins and Evans departed, the starting rotation is up for grabs.
SCOTT, A SENIOR lefty, has the most experience and has carried strong summer success into the fall. In his two starts, he's pitched nine innings, giving up only three hits and no earned runs with only one walk and 10 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting .103 against him. Taylor and Edens, both juniors, have pitched primarily out of the bullpen in their Baylor careers, but both have looked good in the fall. Taylor's numbers are similar to Scott's, with opponents hitting .148, while Edens is holding opposing batters to a .214 average.
"Justin Taylor went off this summer and threw a lot of innings," Smith said, "and he's come back and been very effective. Kyle Edens, I've been very pleased with how he's done, because he's never had the opportunity he's getting right now. He's going after it pretty good."
Among the youngsters, sophomores Thorp and Brehm have been the most impressive. Thorp has thrown 13.2 innings with 13 strikeouts and just two walks. Brehm's been even better, going 13 innings with 14 strikeouts, only three walks and an opponents' batting average of .184.
"Paul Thorp has made tremendous progress in the last year," Smith said. "A year ago, he's a guy who's a position player becoming a pitcher and still hitting. Now after a season and especially a summer of pitching, he's most definitely a full-time pitcher. He knows a lot more about how to do it and has made tremendous progress.
"DEREK BREHM HAS made phenomenal progress. I'm pleased but not surprised. Derek has got tremendous ability, he's got the ability to pitch in the big leagues one day. But he struggled through a freshman year of confidence, throwing strikes, getting used to being away from home, going to class, all those things. I sense that all that's happened with him is he's grown up a lot. He's got all the ability in the world."
If the season were to start today, the starting rotation probably would come from among Scott, Brehm, Taylor, Edens and Thorp. Smith also hopes sophomore righty Steven White, who started several games last year, will figure into the mix in the spring. White is nursing an elbow injury similar to the one that sidelined Hawkins in last year's fall practice.
But Hawkins recovered sufficiently to be Baylor's best pitcher, All-Big 12 and a first-round draft choice of the Texas Rangers.
While he's been pleased with his pitching, Smith is still waiting for a few breakout performances from his position players. Catcher Kelly Shoppach is one of the best in the Big 12, and the infield looks pretty solid with returning starters Mike Huggins and Matt Williams at first and third, letterman Mark Saccomanno at short and senior transfer Trevor Mote at second.
"WE WON'T PLAY against a better catch-and-throw guy than Kelly Shoppach," Smith said. "Mark Saccomanno has had a great fall. He has just played very, very well, I knew he would do that defensively, but he's also had a pretty good fall offensively. Through the six games, he's hitting .304 and has only struck out one time in 23 at-bats. Matt has had a good six games, he's hitting .368 in the series with two home runs and nine RBI. I like us in the infield a lot."
The outfield, however, is a different story. Only sophomore Chris Durbin has won a spot, moving to center after a fine freshman campaign in left. But replacing Bubela and Hensley, especially defensively, has proved problematic to the point that Smith is going to give Huggins and second-baseman Tim Hartshorn a shot to win outfield jobs. Junior Steve Dorneman is in the outfield mix, but sophomore Ross Bennett, who played a few innings in left last year, might end up at first base if Huggins succeeds in the outfield. If not, he'll DH from the left side, along with Ron Zboril and Hartshorn.
ONE OF THE outfield spots could be filled by freshman David Murphy of Spring. He, China Spring third-baseman Jared Clements, Conway, AR, catcher Clay Coates and Mansfield infielder Trey Webb stand the best chance among the freshmen to get significant playing time. In fact, Clements has a good shot at being the right-hand hitting DH.
"I think for the most part I've been really pleased with our freshmen," Smith said. "That's always a point of concern, you go out and recruit and do the best job you can of evaluating players, but you're not ever really sure until you get them in your program and give them a chance to compete. They're all, with a couple of exceptions, position players, and I think each one of them has a chance to develop into a pretty good player."
With the fall series complete, the team is now off the field but back to the weight room in anticipation of defending the Big 12 title next spring.
Editor's Note: Articles such as this one by Carroll Fadal appear in each edition of the Baylor Bear Insider Report, available upon membership in the Baylor Bear Foundation. For information on joining the Bear Foundation, click here.
