Baseball staff to make cuts to roster before VMI
With Opening Day against Virginia Military Institute on Friday, South Carolina baseball Coach Ray Tanner doesn’t have all of the answers, but he has most of them.
For Tanner, it’s simple: His team is “ready to play.” Everything else will work itself out over the course of the week, as far as specific lineup, especially when it comes to the bullpen, catchers and infield.
The good news for Tanner and the coaching staff is that they have too many good options in their eyes. The bad news is that with several players left to cut to get to a 34-man active roster, Tanner isn’t ready to commit one way or another on who he’ll cut or when he’ll reach that decision.
“It goes from day to day,” Tanner said. “It’s just difficult — like Ahmad Christian, who’s a guy that doesn’t have his baseball feet under him, but every day he gets better and better. He brings some energy and he can run some bases, so there’s days where you say, ‘We need that guys with us.’ Other days I think he probably needs to wait a year. It’s not easy. In our game, walk-ons are a big, big deal. In some sports, it may not be that big of a deal, but it’s a big deal for us. In baseball, your walk-ons can be as good as your biggest scholarship guys, so there’ll be some tough decisions later in the week.”
Tanner maintains that stance with his bullpen, as the pitching staff will be looking to replace reliever John Taylor, who had 50 appearances last season. With newcomers Evan Beal, Joel Seddon and Jordan Montgomery, who all had impressive outings in the three weekend scrimmages, Tanner doesn’t have his mind made up as far as where he’ll use them.
“It’s good to have some choices,” Tanner said. “I’m not sure I have all the answers right now. Hopefully, (pitching) coach (Jerry) Myers does. There’s a lot of guys that I like and as I watch them pitch, I’m just not sure where they’re going to fit or what role is best for them.”
As far as the competition at catcher with Grayson Greiner and Dante Rosenberg, Tanner doesn’t see it as much of a competition as both will play in the opening series, and likely throughout the season. He said it would be a late-week decision as to who will start on Friday. As far as the infield is concerned, Tanner feels confident in the young group that will replace last year’s combination of second baseman Scott Wingo, shortstop Peter Mooney and third baseman Adrian Morales.
“I’m not disappointed at all,” Tanner said. “I think we’re very capable. We made a couple of mistakes, but I’m sure we’re going to do that along the way. We haven’t had the kind of defense that I think will make a difference in a negative way. I think we’re good enough, but I think we’ve got to get more comfortable. Hopefully, we’ll get better as we play.”
What answers does Tanner have amid all of the questions? Tanner will start freshman Tanner English in left field, with Evan Marzilli in center and Adam Matthews in right, though Tanner said that he’ll likely put a veteran role in the leadoff spot as opposed to English. Furthermore, Tanner is set on the pitching rotation of Michael Roth, Matt Price and Colby Holmes, respectively. For Tanner, the focus now shifts to preparation for VMI.
“We’ve started looking at them a little bit,” Tanner said. “We know who their rotation is and they know who our rotation is. We know their personnel a little bit. It’s not like the old days where you played baseball and you didn’t know each other. Now, you get scouting reports on each other.”