Hokie ClubThe Virginia Tech baseball team will kick off its 2009 baseball season this weekend at the Courtyard by Marriott Classic in Spartanburg, S.C., with four games in three days. The invitational is co-hosted by USC Upstate and Wofford, two schools whose campuses are just a short bus ride apart.
The Hokies will open the four-game slate with a neutral contest against UNC Asheville at noon on Friday at Upstate’s Harley Park. They will then visit Wofford on Saturday for a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m., before concluding the weekend back at Upstate with a single game at 2 p.m. against the host Spartans.
To give glimpse at the Hokies’ personnel this year, here is the preseason prospectus from the 2009 media guide:
After paying dues in 2008, young Hokies return in 2009 looking to reap the rewards
Head coach Pete Hughes and his staff head into the 2009 baseball season a lot more confident in the Hokies’ abilities than at this point a year ago. Whereas last season’s roster possessed boatloads of talent but not much certainty, the new campaign starts with that gap not quite so wide. The Hokies have overhauled their roster over the past two years and 2008 served as a way to evaluate all of that newfound talent. Now that players have carved out roles for themselves, 2009 looks to be an instrumental year in turning a slumping program back into the proud winner it once was. Here’s a look at each of the positional areas:
INFIELDERS
To see just how much the Tech program has changed, simply take a look at the infield – not one person from the anticipated regular lineup was even on the roster in 2007. Four Hokies who will definitely see plenty of time on the field include redshirt senior Ty Hohman, redshirt sophomore Michael Seaborn, and true sophomores Tony Balisteri and Austin Wates.
The key to the whole operation will be the play of Balisteri at shortstop. He started 32 games in that spot a year ago and had the up-and-down season that one would expect from a freshman, both at the plate and with the glove.
“Tony is our most athletic infielder,” Hughes said. “He makes plays that no one else on our team can make, but he needs to make the routine play. And he needs a nice, consistent approach at the plate where he puts the ball in play more often. If he can do that, our infield will be really solid.”
The coaches are really hoping Balisteri can lock himself in at short and be consistent from day-to-day, simply because that allows them to move Hohman around to wherever he is needed. Hohman, a second-year transfer whose first season as a Hokie was cut short by a facial injury, is as reliable as it gets at any of the four infield positions, including first.
“Tyler has been so steady,” Hughes said. “I feel comfortable putting him anywhere in the infield. We can use him as a swing guy if one of those others isn’t playing consistently.”
The others include Wates at second and Seaborn at third. Both had impressive offensive seasons as freshmen, but needed to tighten things up defensively, and that seems to have been taken care of in the fall.
First base will be a by-committee situation after losing stalwart Sean O’Brien to graduation. If Balisteri gets comfortable at short, Hohman could play first. It could be true freshman Ronnie Shaban, a versatile two-way guy who is also able to play second, third or short, or it could be the 6-foot-6 Matt Blow, who spent much of his time last year as a designated hitter. It could even be catcher Anthony Sosnoskie, who worked at first in the fall as a means of finding a way to keep his bat in the lineup when he gets a day off from behind the plate. Basically, it looks like whichever extra infielder is hitting the best is going to be the one manning first.
Other players expected to add depth to the infield include redshirt sophomore Brandon Lower and redshirt freshman Matt Shoemaker.
OUTFIELDERS
Hughes isn’t fretting about the outfield situation in 2009, and that probably has something to do with the fact that he has six players to put out there in any combination while being able to feel good about how they’ll perform.
“That’s our most competitive position on the team,” Hughes said. “Any one of those six guys can start for us and I wouldn’t be worried. I feel really good about our chances to win with any of those guys out there. Competition is healthy on teams like ours where we are trying to change a losing mindset and get onto the ACC landscape.”
Those six players include seniors Klint Reed and Sean Ryan, redshirt junior Steve Domecus, juniors Steve Bumbry and Mike Kaminski, and redshirt freshman Buddy Sosnoskie. Though all six will contribute, the opening day starters figure to be Domecus in left, Ryan in center and Sosnoskie in right.
Domecus comes to Blacksburg after one season at Moorpark College in California, where he played after spending his freshman year at UC Santa Barbara. He’s a versatile athlete who can hit and run, and he’s good enough at catcher that he will regularly spell Anthony Sosnoskie behind the plate. But because of his well-rounded game (he was drafted by the White Sox last summer), he figures to see a lot of time in left.
Ryan started nearly every game in center a year ago and is likely to do so again. He is one of the better outfielder defenders in the ACC and has greatly improved his offensive game, hitting .305 in 2008. He will also look to be a force on the base paths by attempting more steals now that his once-ailing hip is completely healthy.
Buddy Sosnoskie was expected to contribute a great deal last year as a two-way player, but shoulder surgery delayed his Hokie debut until this season. He won’t factor in on the mound in 2009, but he should see a great deal of time in the lineup because of his offensive talents and his potential to be a leadoff hitter.
While those three players might lead the pack at the start of the season, don’t count out the other three.
“Kaminski, Reed and Bumbry will be breathing down their necks to get into the lineup either every day or in a platoon situation,” Hughes said. “We have some options if Domecus catches – we can slide another outfielder in there right away.”
Reed started 38 games in right last year and should see an upswing in production now that he has made the adjustment to Tech after playing his first two years for VMI. Bumbry has seen extensive time at all three outfield positions during his two seasons in Blacksburg, and Kaminski is a promising power and speed threat who arrives with two years of eligibility following two seasons at Cuesta Community College in California.
Other players who could fill in if needed include senior Luke Padgett, redshirt freshman Mickey White and true freshman Andrew Rash.
CATCHERS
The Hokies will have three capable catchers at their disposal in 2009, and it starts with junior Anthony Sosnoskie, who has steadily improved since splitting time as a freshman.
He played in all 45 games in 2008 before missing the final 10 contests with a broken cheekbone, and he finished among the team leaders in many offensive categories. He followed that up with a brilliant summer, finishing as the runner-up for MVP honors of the Southern Collegiate League. Hughes thinks that production can go even higher if he gets some rest this season.
“I’d like to rest Anthony a couple of times per week,” Hughes said. “We asked him to do a lot last year. It’s hard to play every day at that position and still maximize your offensive abilities. It wears you out.”
Spelling Sosnoskie, who will likely serve as the first baseman or the designated hitter when not catching, will be Domecus and sophomore Chris Kay. Domecus, who will play left field as well, is very athletic behind the plate for his size (6-4, 220 pounds) and could probably start every day if not for Sosnoskie’s presence.
Kay, a former Georgia state class 5A player of the year, will also see some time behind the plate. Not much was known of Kay’s ability until Sosnoskie went down with the injury last year, but he started the season’s final 10 games and performed rather impressively. He proved that he could handle the duties of playing in the ACC as a true freshman and that should bode well for some opportunities in 2009.
“I think catcher is our most skilled position right now,” Hughes said. “We have three capable guys, and that’s been a major area of concern for us the last two years. All three of them can catch every day at the ACC level. It’s good to have a lot of talent at that position.”
DESIGNATED HITTERS
The designated hitting situation will be a lot like what is going on at first base – whomever is swinging the bat well is going to play.
“We won’t have a typical DH – a guy who plays there just because he doesn’t have a position,” Hughes said. “I try to avoid recruiting those players. Whoever DH’s for us is going to be a good enough athlete to play in the field as well, but it just so happens that because of numbers, that’s how they get their bat in the lineup. It’s going to be whoever can hit the most and bring some energy.”
So who fills that role? It could be whoever the odd man out in the infield is that day, any one of the six outfielders who is riding a hot streak, Anthony Sosnoskie when he’s not catching, Blow, or even redshirt freshman pitcher Marc Zecchino. While rehabbing his elbow from the Tommy John surgery that caused him to miss last season, Zecchino tried his hand at swinging the bat in the fall and did such a good job that he could be the DH once in a while. Kay is another option in case he’s not getting enough cuts with all of the catching depth this year.
STARTING PITCHERS
While the Hokies’ team ERA in 2008 was too high for their liking, the season proved to be extremely beneficial because it allowed a lot of pitchers to work through their struggles and find a role that is best suited for them.
“We had so many question marks last year with freshmen because you don’t know how they are going to react,” Hughes said. “Now I know what we’re getting, and it’s better than what we saw last year. We have a better grasp of what our guys are capable of and we like that.”
The most obvious result of last year’s growing pains is that two-thirds of the 2009 weekend starting rotation spent much of last season coming out of the bullpen. Redshirt senior Rhett Ballard and sophomore Justin Wright figure to be options No. 1 and 2 against ACC foes this year after each smoothly made the transition from reliever to starter a season ago.
Ballard set a Tech record for relief appearances with 34 in 2007 and was on his way to doing it again last year with 19 before becoming a starter in early April. While he didn’t earn the wins to prove it, the 6-6 submariner became the Hokies’ most valuable pitcher because of his ability to work deep into games, let alone the fact that he led the team in strikeouts with 74.
“I think Rhett’s gone under the radar around the league,” Hughes said. “I don’t think people appreciate what he does, but we sure do. He will pitch on Friday nights because he can handle it, he’s going to extend the game and it helps our bullpen for the rest of the series.”
The left-handed Wright was almost an afterthought before the 2008 campaign but wound up as one of the team’s biggest surprises. He was so successful out of the bullpen in 17 relief appearances that the coaches tried his hand at starting against VCU in early April. Though he only threw 2.1 innings in that game, his workload steadily increased until he went the distance in an upset of No. 1 Miami in May.
Joining Ballard and Wright in the weekend rotation will likely be Sean McDermott, a left-handed sophomore who took his lumps in 16 appearances (seven starts) as a freshman. His struggles were never a matter of talent or mentality, but rather that he had never thrown so much during his days in the wintery northeast and he was simply running out of gas.
Junior Josh Wymer and freshmen Mathew Price and Luke Erickson will be the main candidates for the mid-week starting roles, pitching for the Hokies in games that are just as important as the ones that come on weekends against ACC competition.
“I don’t want to undersell those mid-week starting jobs,” Hughes said. “We’re not at a point to talk about preferential wins – winning on any day is important for our program right now. First of all, we need to win on Tuesdays and Wednesdays if we want to be considered for at-large bids to the national tournament, which is our ultimate goal. And second of all, it builds confidence and you feel good heading into the weekend after having won on Tuesday and Wednesday. Those are going to be really valuable spots for guys to win so they can get us going and get Ws on our record.”
Wymer was actually the Hokies’ opening day starter in 2008 and ended up leading the staff with five wins, while Price, a 34th round draftee of the Atlanta Braves, and Erickson, a talented lefty from Richmond, Va., possess great potential.
“When you have a program with depth and competitiveness, those mid-week starting jobs are auditions to bump somebody out of a weekend job,” Hughes said. “I want kids who are starting in the middle of the week to try to prove me wrong and to show me that they belong pitching on the weekends. I’ll be curious to see if those young guys have the competitive spirit to do that.
RELIEF PITCHERS
The Hokie who made the biggest improvement in the offseason was 6-5 right-hander Jesse Hahn, and he also represents the biggest change in the pitching staff heading into the 2009 campaign. Hahn started a team-high nine games in 2008, but his stuff has become so electric that the Hokies intend on using him as a lights-out closer this season.
“The age-old question is what do you do with that arm?” Hughes said of Hahn. “Do you start him once a week? Or do you roll the dice with him as a closer and run the risk of not getting to a save situation? We think our program is better now to the point where we are going to be in save situations. We couldn’t do that last year, and that’s why Rhett became a starter. It’s not written in stone, but I think we’re good enough with enough depth to get to save situations this year.”
But as Hughes alluded to, there is no reason to have a dominant closer if you don’t have the middle relief to reach him when you need to. That’s where pitchers like juniors Ben Rowen, Kyle Cichy and Rob Whitley, redshirt sophomore Brandon Fisher, and even Wymer factor in.
“Those guys are going to be the most valuable part of our team,” Hughes said. “They’re going to have bridge the gap from our starters to our closer. The middle relievers have to know their job and come in and get it done every time we ask them to. They have to be consistent and pound the zone.”
Also adding depth out of the bullpen will be redshirt junior Dave Zappacosta, redshirt sophomore Danny Farris and freshman Clark Labitan. Zecchino could contribute when he becomes 100 percent healthy, as could Shaban when he is not serving in another role. Sophomore Jake Peeling will likely sit out the year as he rehabs from shoulder surgery.