David Tracey
Freshman infielder Tyler McDonough hits the ball against ECU on Sunday, June 2, 2019 at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville. McDonough went 0-4 with one strikeout in the Wolfpack’s 9-2 season-ending loss.
The preseason No. 16 NC State baseball team finally kicks off its highly awaited season this weekend at home against James Madison. Although the team lost a couple of key pieces from last season, like Will Wilson and Evan Edwards, it should be another successful season for head coach Elliott Avent.
In the coaches’ poll released by the ACC, NC State was picked to finish third in the ACC Atlantic behind Florida State and Louisville, with the Cardinals picked to win the division with 13 of 14 first-place votes. Miami was picked to win the coastal with 12 of the 14 first-place votes.
New faces
Obviously, replacing Wilson and Edwards is no easy task, but there are a couple people ready to strap up. All signs point to freshman Jose Torres being the quarterback of the infield and junior Austin Murr getting time at first base.
“Jose Torres is a new guy [NC State fans] should look at,” Avent said at practice on Jan. 24. “He was a highly touted player out of high school for the Major League draft, and he comes in with a lot of promise. Austin Murr is a junior college guy out of Minnesota, who’s come here with a lot of energy and looks like he’s going to be a big help to us.”
Torres is a 6-foot shortstop that hit .402 in his senior year of high school in Baltimore and was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers in the 24th round of the 2019 MLB draft but chose to come to NC State. His speed and range shines true at practice, grabbing any grounder on his side of the bag, and he has a good arm that will only get stronger as he gets into the flow of the season.
Murr has transferred from Des Moines Area CC with junior standing and should be able to help the team with the gap at first base. He hit .440 across his two years at community college and collected 62 extra-base hits.
On the other side of the ball, redshirt junior Logan Bender, a great name for a pitcher, has come in from Catawba Valley Community College with some impressive numbers to stack a deep NC State bullpen. As a sophomore, he has a 0.78 ERA with 114 strikeouts in 57.2 innings, an unbelievable strikeout rate for a pitcher at any level.
Patrick Bailey’s draft year
As there has been for two years, there is a lot of hype around junior catcher Patrick Bailey, but this year, it is even more amplified. The rock-solid backstop is entering his draft year and is in great position to be a first rounder in the 2020 MLB draft. How high he will go might depend on his dominance this season.
He’s a switch-hitting catcher with a great arm, power and above-average speed, which is a great asset to any Minor League farm system. Not only will his performance determine his draft stock, but it might just determine how far this team is able to go.
“He means a lot,” Avent said. “You cannot minimize what that does for a pitching staff. Every catcher I’ve ever known that’s a good catcher makes the pitcher better … Hopefully Pat can relax this year, it’s a big year for him. Obviously a lot of eyes on him and he gets all kinds of accolades. So much money in the draft now, so that’s got to be on a young man’s mind, so he’s going to have to relax to all that stuff and learn how to come out here and have fun so his skills can show.”
Solid group of returners
Outside of Bailey, there are a number of players that are still in the lineup from last year. Most notably, sophomore Tyler McDonough is back and will likely see more time at second base than he did last year when he was mostly playing center field.
Other position players include juniors Terrell Tatum, J.T. Jarrett, Jonny Butler and Devonte Brown; sophomores Vojtech Mensik and Marek Chlup; and a couple seniors like Lawson McArthur and Brad Debo.
Most importantly, the pitching staff is pretty deep and has a lot of good options to start and come out of the bullpen. Junior Reid Johnston heads up the staff with redshirt junior Dalton Feeney; juniors David Harrison, Evan Justice, Nick Swiney and Canaan Silver; and redshirt sophomore Cameron Cotter.
There are a handful of names not mentioned that will certainly come out of the bullpen or even get a chance to start. This goes to show that NC State’s bullpen will be really deep this year; something that might be able to separate the team from previous years, when the team ended in the NCAA Regionals.
However, there is a lot of baseball to be played between now and then, and although the season looks promising, the Pack has to win early in the season to have a chance to win later in the year.