2016 Indiana Baseball Season Preview
Major League teams are just beginning to report for Spring Training but on the college level, baseball's Opening Day is here. The Hoosiers open the season on the road today at 4 p.m. against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. With that in mind let's see what the 122nd season of IU Baseball has in store in Peegs.com's official season preview.
Last Season
The Hoosiers had a solid, if unspectacular, run in new coach Chris Lemonis's first season at the helm. IU finished with a 35-24 record, including a 12-10 mark in the Big Ten, good for sixth in the conference. Indiana was eliminated in the semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament but received an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament as a No. 3 seed. The 2015 season ended in the Nashville Regional with a 5-3 loss to Radford. It was the third consecutive NCAA appearance for the Hoosiers, a first in program history.
Key Departures
RHP Scott Effross, 2B Casey Rodrigue, RF Will Nolden, C Brad Hartong, SS Nick Ramos (See below), RHP Ryan Halstead, RHP Luke Harrison
In short, the Hoosiers are losing a ton of talent from last season's team and will have to rely on a younger core making big strides in order to have a successful season.
Key Additions
OF Alex Krupa, Jr.-Krupa won JUCO World Series MVP last season and his Iowa Western Community College team won a national championship. The transfer hit .428 and led JUCO baseball with 10 triples. He's twice been drafted by the Cincinnati Reds, most recently in the 35th round of the 2015 Draft, but has spurned them both times.
IF Tony Butler, Jr.-Butler played last season at Madison Junior College where he hit .356 with 10 extra-base hits and played excellent defense at shortstop and third base. He played his freshman season at Virginia before transferring to the JUCO circuit for a season.
C Ryan Fineman, Fr.-Fineman was rated the No. 31 catcher in the 2016 recruiting class and an Honorable Mention All-American coming out of Agoura High School in Westlake Village, California. He'll get a chance to play right away if starting catcher Demetrius Webb struggles.
OF Luke Miller, Fr.-A Muncie, Indiana native and Cowan High School grad, Miller was rated the No. 3 recruit in the state of Indiana in the 2016 class after hitting .516 with 14 home runs in his senior season.
On the Mound
LHP Kyle Hart, Sr.-Hart is the Hoosiers' version of Clayton Kershaw. The lefty started just eight games last season after recovering from Tommy John surgery in 2014 but dazzled in the games he did pitch. The Cincinnati native posted a perfect 5-0 record with a sparkling 1.21 ERA. His 12 career Big Ten wins already rank third in IU history and he's on the short list of the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year candidates.
RHP Evan Bell, Sr.-Bell might well be the X-factor in Indiana's rotation this season as he is the newcomer and an unknown. He appeared in 21 games last season but started only three and posted a 3.62 ERA. He did start against eventual Big Ten Tournament champion Michigan and held the Wolverines to one run on four hits in 6 1/3 innings.
RHP Caleb Barager, Sr.-Barager will occupy the No. 3 starter role as he did last season when he tied for the team lead with 12 starts. He pitched well overall, finishing with a 3.47 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 57 innings but had just a 1-4 record. He will have to be more consistent at the back end of the IU rotation this year.
RHP Jake Kelzer, Jr.-The imposing 6-foot-8 Kelzer was the Hoosiers' top draft pick after being taken in the 14th round by the Chicago Cubs. He chose to stay at IU where he will make the move from the rotation to the bullpen. Kelzer will replace the departed Ryan Halstead as the team's closer and certainly has the talent to be successful after posting a 3.11 ERA as a freshman reliever two seasons ago.
RHP Thomas Belcher, Jr.-The side-arming Belcher will replace the outstanding Luke Harrison as IU's eighth-inning man in front of Kelzer. His control is excellent as he did not walk a batter until his 13th appearance last season and he is a workhorse, totaling 27 appearances, good for eighth in the Big Ten, in 2015. His 2.44 ERA was impressive as well.
Impact Position Players
OF Craig Dedelow, Jr.-Dedelow will likely be the Hoosiers' best hitter this year after being one of the best last year. As a sophomore he was named All-Big Ten Third Team and led the Hoosiers with a .325 batting average, 76 hits and seven home runs. All three of those figures also ranked in the top 10 in the Big Ten as well. The Munster, Indiana native started all 59 games for IU last year, including 45 in center field where he plays stellar defense.
OF Logan Sowers, So.-Sowers came to IU with plenty of hype after being named Indiana Mr. Baseball his senior year McCutcheon High School in Lafayette. He did not disappoint. The powerful Sowers joins Dedelow in the middle of the IU lineup after being named to the All-Big Ten Freshman Team last season as well as earning Freshman of the Week honors four times. He hit six homers in 2015, including two grand slams, and started all 59 games, mostly in left field. D1Baseball.com ranks him as the No. 1 draft prospect in the Big Ten in the 2017 class.
C Demetrius Webb, So.-Webb will likely enter the season as the starting catcher, hoping to fill the large hole left by the departure of Brad Hartong. The redshirt sophomore started four games behind the dish a season ago and appeared in 13 but hit just .143 without an extra-base knock. With Fineman waiting in the wings he'll have to prove himself right away.
IF Brian Wilhite, Sr.-Wilhite started 28 games a season ago as a utility infielder (20 starts at third and seven at short). He hit just .274 but finished the season hot, recording hits in nine of his final 11 games. He'll be one of a handful of players expected to replace the gaping hole left by...
Nick Ramos
Ramos was the incumbent starting shortstop heading into this season after starting 35 games at the position a year ago. The slick-fielding Ramos was named to the 2015 Big Ten Tournament All-Tournament Team but at IU Media Day Lemonis announced Ramos would not play his senior season. The coach declined to make any further comment other than to say Ramos is still enrolled at IU.
Experts Say...
...IU will compete for a Big Ten title. Big Ten coaches picked the Hoosiers to finish third in the conference behind Maryland and league favorite Michigan. The Wolverines return eight starters from a squad that went 39-25 a season ago, including pitcher, infielder and outfielder Carmen Benedetti, the consensus preseason Big Ten Player of the Year. Maryland went 42-24 in 2015 and advanced to the Super Regional round of the NCAA Tournament. The Terrapins' rotation includes Hart's main competition for Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, Mike Shawaryn who was All-Big Ten First Team last year after posting a 1.71 ERA in 17 starts.
Schedule Highlights
The Hoosiers' schedule gets hairy in a hurry. After the season-opening three-game series against Middle Tennessee, the Hoosiers travel to California for a three-game set with perennial powerhouse Cal State-Fullerton. The Titans have won four national titles and made 17 appearances in the College World Series, including a trip to Omaha in 2015. The NCAA's preseason rankings have CSF ranked No. 16 to open the 2016 campaign.
Other dates to watch on the Hoosiers' schedule include March 11 (IU's home opener, the first of a three-game series against Western Carolina) April 1 (the start of the Big Ten season on the road against Rutgers) and a home set with Purdue the following week (April 8-10). The Hoosiers will not face conference favorites Maryland and Michigan during the regular season but could see them in the Big Ten Tournament, which begins on May 25.
Quotables
"I finally feel like I can sit back and say I've done everything I can and I'm ready for a full season."-Kyle Hart on being fully healthy after missing parts of the last two seasons with arm trouble.
"The only difference in my opinion about pitching Friday is you face the other team's Friday guy, that's probably the biggest challenge to face those guys that are as good if not better than you are. Just going out and competing like I usually have, doesn't matter what day it is."-Hart on being the team's Friday starter (typically the staff ace) this season.
"The back half of the game is kind where I started my career out, it was a place I was comfortable in. I'm not mad about being back there, I'm enjoying it. It's a mindset, you gotta go in there, you gotta know you're the man."-Jake Kelzer on being the team's closer this season after starting last season.
"I think we feel really comfortable. We did have a lot of playing time last year and I think it's just getting out there and trying to feel comfortable."-Logan Sowers when asked about how the sophomore class feels after Lemonis called them important to the success of the season.
"Our group's hungry, they're ready to compete, they're ready to play. It's a mature group. They got a lot to prove. We've got a mature pitching staff, so we feel if we can defend at a high level behind them we'll have a chance to win every game."-Coach Chris Lemonis
Opening Day
The Hoosiers open their season on the road at Reese Smith Jr. Field in Murfreesboro, Tennessee against the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. The game is the first of a three-game set and first pitch will be at 4 p.m. EST. Middle Tennessee is coming off a 32-27 season in which it went 19-11 in Conference USA. The Blue Raiders will counter IU ace Kyle Hart with senior right-hander Nate Hoffman in the first game of the 2016 season. IU has won three straight season-openers going back to 2013. Audio calls of the game can be heard on the IU Radio Network or from the link provided below.