Chris Lemonis To Lean On Young, New-Look Pitching Staff In 2017
IU head baseball coach Chris Lemonis was having a conversation with someone the other day when he mentioned that his pitching staff was going to be young.
Right as he mentioned the youth, the reaction wasn't all that positive. He understands why one might think an inexperienced staff could turn out to cause headaches, but he's not about to count out his unfamiliar arms.
"I talked to somebody earlier, I think they took young as bad," Lemonis said. "Young is, we've got some really talented young guys in there with our group, so we're excited about our young arms."
Indiana's entire starting rotation and a few key cogs from its bullpen rotation a year ago are set to be replaced this season. Former starters Calab Baragar, Evan Bell and Kyle Hart all leave holes to fill at the start of games while Jake Kelzer's departure means the Hoosiers will lean on a new closer.
The plan for the first weekend is to start sophomore Jonathan Stiever on Friday, sophomore Tim Herrin on Saturday, freshman Andrew Saalfrank on Sunday and junior Brian Hobbie on Monday in the opening weekend slate.
While Lemonis wouldn't yet reveal his usual three-man rotation quite yet, it's likely to come out of those four. Being a freshman, Saalfrank likely has the most ground to make up.
Nobody is going to be able to replace MLB guys like Hart, Baragar or Kelzer alone, but Lemonis doesn't consider the task impossible for his young arms. He's got about six pitchers he said he'd be comfortable throwing as starters moving forward into the year in what has been a competitive fight for the three starting spots.
“Experience is hard to replace sometimes, but at some point Kyle Hart was young,” Lemonis said. “That’s the biggest side for us. A lot of our youth is in sophomores.”
Of the returning arms, right-hander Stiever is the most battle tested at the collegiate level. He owned a 2.47 ERA over 40 innings of work as a true freshman. He picked up a win against Butler in his first start and went on to make three more during mid-week outings.
Lemonis said Stiever's been working to develop a breaking pitch to go along with his fastball and offspeed action he relied on last spring. The development of the third pitch began in the summer and continued into the fall and spring.
He could wind up being IU's ace.
“I think the breaking ball has really made a big difference for him to this point,” Lemonis said. “He’s very steady, and he just shows up and goes about his business. He’s a good command guy that gets after it.”
Hobbie, another righty, pitched just 8.2 innings as a sophomore after tossing 18.2 as a true freshman. He made eight appearances but struggled a bit with command but has clearly cleaned that up to a point where Lemonis feels comfortable throwing him into his pool of potential starters.
Herrin, a lefty, pitched just three innings over four appearances his true freshman season. Saalfrank, another lefty, was a two-time All-State honoree out of Hoagland, Indiana, and owned a 1.67 ERA for his high school career.
Lemonis will be able to pick and choose his spots at the back end of the bullpen but expects senior right-hander Luke Stephenson to hold down the closer's role. Junior southpaw BJ Sabol and sophomore righy Pauly Milto are also expected to eat up innings near the tail end of games.
"We've got a lot of different options there," Lemonis said.
Joining Saalfrank will be seven other freshmen and a few sophomores to fill out the rest of the bullpen arms. This early in the season, it appears Lemonis is open to letting competition determine which of the underclassmen emerge as arms he can lean on.
Senior outfielder Craig Dedelow's been hitting against the staff all spring and said there's plenty to like about the pitchers the Hoosiers will be offering. He said there's some similarities between last year's veterans and the underclassmen carrying the load.
“After losing a lot of the veteran guys that I have been with for the past three years leading up to this year, you’re seeing a lot of the same qualities that the Kelzers and Harts had,” Dedelow said of IU’s young arms. “Just a lot of composure and confidence in their stuff, and I think that’s only going to grow as the year goes on.”
While there will certainly be some growing pains expected, Lemonis said he wants to see steady improvement as the season progresses. The more innings his underclassmen throw, the less inexperienced they become.
“We just have to make sure as a group that we are progressing, that we are developing, that we are getting better,” Lemonis said. “We want our wins but we are getting better as we play. That’s always going to be a challenge when you have to go on the road for the first few weeks.”