Daniel Pidgeon – Nothing But NESCAC

The Great Thaw: Power Rankings 4/8

We held off on doing a Power Rankings last week because so few games had been played since the last one. Also, we had to re-watch Game of Thrones before the season premiere. Pretty standard stuff really. Before a big weekend of games, getting a Power Rankings out there is necessary.

1. Wesleyan (12-4, 3-0). Last Ranking: 1

The Cardinals have won their four games since we last made these rankings so they remain solidly at the top. Williams came close to beating Wesleyan in the final game, and in the process they reminded us that Wesleyan is far from unbeatable. What makes the Cardinals the best in the NESCAC is that they have no weaknesses. Take defense, an area where NESCAC teams often struggle to have consistency. As a team, Wesleyan has only 17 errors, the lowest in the NESCAC and good enough for the best fielding percentage as well. Even more impressive is that the Cardinals are yet to have a game where they commit more than two errors. Not making errors is sexy, and it helps win ball games.

2. Amherst (10-6, 3-0). Last Ranking: 3

Anytime you AVERAGE 20 runs per game over a three game stretch like the Jeffs did this weekend against Middlebury, we are going to take notice. Plenty of gaudy stat lines came out of it as a result, but the best one goes to NESCAC Player of the Week 2B Andrew Vandini ’16. Vandini went 8-12, walked four times, scored eight runs, knocked in 14 teammates, and hit two home runs during the weekend. He did strike out one time so there is room for improvement. The Jeffs can pretty much cement their place in the playoffs if they win their series against Williams this weekend.

3. Tufts (15-4, 2-1). Last Ranking: 2

The Jumbos drop a spot but we actually feel better about them now than we did two weeks ago. The conference loss to Bowdoin is the only one in their last 12 games, and Tufts is currently on a six-game winning streak. Kyle Slinger ’15 looked good once again this weekend against Brandeis and has now put his early season injury problems completely behind him. Also, don’t worry about Tufts striking out 112 times, the second most in the league. That’s because they employ a patient approach which is why they have 90 walks, 21 more than any other team.

4. Colby (11-4, 2-1). Last Ranking: 4

Are you buying or selling stock in Colby right now? They are 4-1 against NESCAC opponents (they won two non-conference games against Hamilton), and their one loss came on a walk-off homer. Yet, the starts of some of their offensive players are almost too good to believe. Chiefly, Tommy Forese ’16 who has hit four home runs and has an OBP of .500 after only getting 14 at-bats and hitting .214 last season. Others like Tim Corey ’15 are also enjoying big bumps in production from a year ago. The Mules have gotten somewhat limited production from Jason Buco ’15, so if others take a step back he could pick up the slack.

5. Bates (6-7, 1-1). Last Ranking: 5

The Bobcats are the slightest of smidgeons above the Polar Bears in our minds right now. The fact that the teams split a doubleheader on Sunday in which neither game was close certainly did us no favors in figuring out which team to put ahead of the other. Connor Colombo ’16 has emerged as one of the starters who will get the ball every weekend, but he has still only thrown 15.0 innings, the highest of any Bates starter. Seventeen different pitchers have thrown a full inning, a crazy high amount that shows how unsettled the pitching rotation is. Manager Mike Leonard will have to be able to push the right buttons to make sure the best guys get on the mound.

6. Bowdoin (7-11, 2-3). Last Week: 6

The overall record still does not look great, and the Polar Bears are stuck in neutral for the moment. Peter Cimini ’16 has struggled with an injury that has kept him out for most of the season, and the lineup has not hit well outside of a couple of core players like Chad Martin ’16 and Aaron Rosen ’15. Do they have a weekend where they can play well in every aspect of the game and sweep their opponent? They play at Wesleyan in a non-conference doubleheader Saturday. A good performance against the Cardinals could give them a little more confidence as they enter the stretch run.

7. Williams (6-9, 3-3). Last Ranking: 8

Getting swept by Wesleyan is not the worst thing in the world, but it does put pressure on Williams this weekend against Amherst. A series win is almost a must to keep the Ephs above .500. Both Dan Smith ’16 and Thomas Murphy ’15 have ERA’s close to 8.00, though Smith did contain the Wesleyan lineup enough to give Williams a chance in the final game of the series. The Ephs are hoping that they can keep the games more low-scoring against the fearsome Amherst lineup

8. Trinity (9-7, 1-2). Last Ranking: 7

Trinity is bringing up the rear in the East for now mostly because their offense has simply lacked punch this year. Their rotation has the third-best ERA in the league, and Jed Robinson ’16 and Nick Fusco ’18 both have ERA’s below 1.00. The problem is the offense has a NESCAC-worst .338 OBP, a full 31 percentage points worse than the second-to-last team. Besides his walk-off home run, Daniel Pidgeon ’16 has struggled at the plate with a .189 BA. He and other Bantam mainstays have to become more consistent at the dish.

9. Hamilton (7-5, 0-0). Last Ranking: 9

The final NESCAC team without a game in conference play, the Continentals are itching to get going finally. The Continentals have played only one game since returning from their Florida trip on March 24 so we have very little new information on them. Cole Dreyfuss ’16 has been a revelation with a 1.33 ERA. He has pitched more than six innings in each of his three starts which is important because the bullpen for Hamilton has struggled. They plan to travel to Middlebury for their opening series on Friday, though the opener could be pushed to Saturday because of weather.

10. Middlebury (0-12, 0-6) Last Ranking: 10

The Panthers got smacked by a very good Amherst team last weekend as they continue to struggle. The one area where Middlebury has been decent is their offense. They are sixth in OBP, but their inability to hit for power or steal bases has hamstrung the offense. Catcher Max Araya ’16 and shortstop Johnny Read ’17 are both hitting above .350 while some of the freshmen are also hitting well. The Panthers will try to get their first win against Hamilton, a team they beat twice a year ago.

Cardinals Start Where They Ended: Baseball Power Rankings 3/25

The NESCAC conference season is starting Friday, albeit in a somewhat lesser fashion than usual because of the weather. Still, with the beginning of conference games upon us, now is a good time as ever to Power Rank the teams. You will get a good idea of our impressions for every team from this. Then check back in later today to see our predictions for how the teams will finish in the standings and who will make the NCAA tournament.

All records are from 2015

1. Wesleyan (8-4, 0-0)

A year ago we didn’t expect Wesleyan to end up winning the NESCAC, but now we will be more surprised if they DON’T win it. The offense led by Wesleyan’s all-time hits leader Donnie Cimino ’15 and CoSIDA All-American Andrew Yin ’15 is stacked across the board. Nick Cooney ’15 and Gavin Pittore ’16 anchor the pitching staff. This team only has one weakness that we can point out: pitching depth. Jeff Blout ’14, Chris Law ’14 and Jimmy Hill ’14 combined to throw 117 innings – 31 percent of Wesleyan’s total – last season. Four of the top five pitchers in terms of innings are back but after that top four there is some uncertainty. Of course, Wesleyan’s problem is peanuts compared to those that other contenders have to deal with.

2. Tufts (9-3, 0-0)

The Jumbos have gotten off to a good start once again this year. Unlike the other NESCAC schools that fly all the way south to either Florida or Arizona, Tufts travels to North Carolina and Virginia. Connor McDavitt ’15 is getting on-base at a nifty .458 OBP to get things going at the top of the lineup. The numbers for the pitching staff are gaudy which gives pause about the level of competition that the Jumbos have faced, but this is also the most accomplished staff in the league. Tufts will face off in a big series against Bowdoin starting Friday.

3. Amherst (6-6, 0-0)

The Jeffs remain somewhat of a mystery after their spring trip. Their split of a doubleheader against #4 St. Thomas is an indication of how good the Jeffs can be. Ace John Cook ’15 was excellent in that start going 7.1 innings and a solo home run was the only offense St. Thomas managed against him. However, the Jeffs also gave up twelve runs in consecutive seven inning games. New shortstop Harry Roberson ’17 is hitting the ball great with an average well above .400, but he also already has seven errors, an untenable amount at this point. This team might not be as deep as past years which could ultimately doom them in the NESCAC race.

4. Colby (6-1, 0-0)

The Mules stock has gone up the most from the beginning of the season. They are still in the midst of their trip to Florida, but the early returns have been very promising. Unfortunately, we only have the statistics for two of their games, but their scoring differential has been great. Their offense has scored above 10 runs in five of their seven games thus far. Given that this was the worst offense in the NESCAC a year ago and they lost several key pieces, that could spell great news for the Mules. We won’t see them in NESCAC action until next weekend, however.

5. Bates (5-3, 0-0)

We have barely seen the Bobcats in action over the past month, and we still know very little about how their rotation is going to shake out. Because they have had so few games, their starters have only been going a few innings before giving way to their deep bullpen. A good sign for the Bobcats’ offense is that they are averaging the second most walks per game, something that they were very good at a year ago as well. Evan Czopek ’16 has been fantastic thus far in the lineup.

6. Bowdoin (5-8, 0-0)

The Polar Bears struggled through a somewhat uneven spring break, but they also faced some injury problems as well as a hard stretch of opponents. The key for them, as we said before, is finding a way to hit all the way through their lineup. Chad Martin ’16 has hit three home runs already in the middle of the lineup and has cemented himself as one of the premier power hitters in the league. Henry Van Zant ’15 allowed five runs but also struck out 13 batters with no walks in his last outing in Florida. If he becomes a fully fledged ace, then the Polar Bears will be thinking playoffs.

7. Trinity (7-5, 0-0)

The Bantams spring trip started out great with a five-game winning streak before they dropped five out of seven games to finish on a down note. The main problem for them on the second half of their trip was the offense averaging only 2.5 runs per game in the final six games. Once again, none of the Bantams showed much power as the team didn’t hit any home runs on their trip, but the impact of freshman Brendan Pierce ’18 in the lineup is promising. Some players like Daniel Pidgeon ’15 are bound to rebound from a slow start and help the Bantam offense recover at least somewhat. Also, note how tightly-packed the 4-7 spots are. The East, behind Tufts, remains wide open and these teams are basically interchangeable at this point.

8. Williams (3-3, 0-0)

The Ephs only started their spring trip this past weekend so they are still a little behind some of the other teams at this point. Besides Jack Cloud ’17, none of the Ephs main hitters have hit well thus far, and the back end of the rotation has not looked great thus far either. The Ephs’ three wins have come against mediocre competition. Still, the Ephs can make those worries mostly go away with a dominant performance in their opening series against Middlebury.

9. Hamilton (6-5, 0-0)

We would have put the Continentals higher if they hadn’t dropped a doubleheader to Colby on Tuesday. The two games exposed the lack of quality starters for Hamilton behind Jjay Lane ’15. Cole Dreyfuss ’16 is 2-0 with a 1.35 ERA in his two starts so far so he could end up being a critical piece for Hamilton. The Colby starters basically shut down the Hamilton lineup besides Joe Jensen ’15. Hamilton will not open their NESCAC season until April 10 when they travel to Middlebury so they will remain in the background for a little while.

10. Middlebury (0-6, 0-0)

Still searching for their first win, the Panthers have seen consecutive late inning leads slip away the last two games in their opponents’ final at bat. Dylan Sinnickson ’15 has been a fun story so far, but Middlebury is not going to see results on the field unless their pitchers start getting opponents out more consistently. The team ERA is an almost unfathomable 13.92 at this point. That number must, and certainly will, come way down. Still, Joe MacDonald ’16, who is expected to basically be an innings-eater (disclosure: Joe is the co-founder of Nothing but NESCAC) is the only pitcher with an ERA below 7.00 at this point. The good news is that the lineup is hitting better than last year with Raj Palekar ’18 enjoying a torrid start to his career, even though some of the guys expected to carry the load, MacDonald included, are off to slow starts.

Bantams Trying to Bolt Back to the Playoffs: Trinity Baseball Season Preview

Jed Robinson '15 and the Bantams have high expectations for 2015. (Courtesy of BantamSports) — Jed Robinson ’16 and the Bantams have high expectations for 2015. (Courtesy of BantamSports)

2014 Record: 16-17 (4-8, Fifth in the NESCAC East)

Postseason Outcome: Missed NESCAC Playoffs

Returning Starters: 10 (9 Position Players, 1 Starting Pitcher)

Projected Starting Lineup (Stats are from 2014)

2B Matt Mortimer ’16 (.294/.360/.353, 0 HR, 9 RBI)
RF Scott Huley ’15 (.236/.331/.330, 0 HR, 12 RBI)
3B Daniel Pidgeon ’15 (.300/.374/.364, 0 HR, 15 RBI)
1B Bryan Wolfe ’15 (.317/.430/.446, 2 HR, 18 RBI)
C Scott Cullinane ’16 (.263/..396/.395, 0 HR, 4 RBI)
DH Carson Kenney ’15 (.259/.310/.296, 0 HR, 5 RBI)
CF Ryan Vultaggio ’18
SS Adam Moossmann ’15 (.180/.276/.180, 0 HR, 6 RBI)
LF Evan Abraham ’15 (.183/.306/.183, 0 HR, 8 RBI)

RHP Sean Meekins ’15 (1-4, 3.43 ERA, 8.92 K/9, 39.1 IP)
LHP Jed Robinson ’16 (5-2, 3.48 ERA, 7.19 K/9, 41.1 IP)
LHP Chris Speer ’17 (0-0, 4.50 ERA, 2.25 K/9, 4.0 IP)

Offensive Overview:

Literally every single position player who got at-bats last season is back this season, and the Bantams are hoping that those players can make a massive improvement on their performance from a season ago. Indeed, they have to because this offense sputtered and was one of the worst in the NESCAC last season. The only thing that this group did well was draw walks. Besides that they didn’t do much. They didn’t hit for a great average or for much power. They only stole twice in conference games so opposing pitchers always felt comfortable, something that is a huge advantage. The bottom of the lineup contributed nothing. Wolfe was one of the bright spots, but this unit needs to be much better all around. Manager Bryan Adamski will be flexible in getting a lot of different guys at-bats as he continues to search for his best starting group so don’t be surprised if the lineup ends up very different than the one listed above when conference play rolls around.

Defensive Overview:

The Bantams need to be more sure-handed this year. They finished with the second lowest fielding percentage in the NESCAC, ahead of only Hamilton. The correlation between errors committed and finish in the standings is actually surprisingly closely correlated. The left side of the infield, Moossmann and Pidgeon, combined for 13 errors on the season. Both of them had fielding percentages barely above .900. One area where Trinity did do decently was defending the running game. Opponents stole 10 bags against them in conference play which ties them with Amherst for the fourth-lowest amount in the NESCAC.

Pitching Overview:

Meekins and Robinson are pretty firmly entrenched as the top two starters. Meekins struggled a little in conference play in part because of control problems. Robinson was not originally a regular part of the weekend rotation, but he pitched his way into this spot. His seven inning, two run start against Wesleyan in an end of season non-conference game was one of the bright spots for the Bantams last season. Behind those two, things are pretty wide open. Speer is the frontrunner right now based on the big strides he has taken in the offseason, but expect him to have a short leash given his limited experience. The positive side is that Adamski is a pitching coach first and he had great staffs at Amherst. He could have possibly brought in an impact freshman arm who will be able to make an instant impact for the Bantams.

Storylines to Watch

1. Was last year a fluke?

To call last year a disappointment for Trinity baseball would be somewhat of an understatement. Go watch this video of players and Adamski before the 2014 season began talking about their hopes for last year. You hear talk of winning the NESCAC as if it’s almost a given. Obviously a lot of coaches and teams emphasize setting high goals, but I don’t think anyone at Trinity was expecting to finish the season below .500. Their 4-8 NESCAC record is the worst for the Bantams since at least 2000 (there aren’t available records for further back). For Adamski, now in his second season, he needs to make large tangible gains on the playing field in order to show that 2014 was a blip for the Bantams. Trinity is considered a baseball powerhouse, and they have dipped before only to come back just as strong. Adamski has to show that last season was a brief though severe dip.

2. Where does the beef come from?

And by beef we mean raw power. The Bantams finished dead last in slugging percentage last season. In their 12 NESCAC games, they had an abysmal .268 mark. They didn’t hit a single home run in conference, and Wolfe was the only player to hit one all season. The fact that Trinity is somewhat known for their power hitters makes the outage last season all the more confusing. Guys like Pidgeon and Cullinane have to provide some additional pop. Obviously the NESCAC isn’t the big leagues where guys are about to go yard on the regular, but two home runs for an entire team all season is pathetic. For comparison’s sake, Nate Pajka ’15 has four home runs THIS SEASON for Bates. Go look it up.

3. Can they win close games?

We are going to beat this to death over the next couple of weeks, but that second spot in the East really looks like it is there for the taking. Still, this is going to be an uphill battle for the Bantams. Last season, all four of their conference victories came by one run. Yes, they lost a few close games as well, but they were closer to going 2-10 than 6-6. They need to continue to find ways to win close games. Their lack of many power hitters means they are unlikely to blow many teams out, but if they get on-base then they might be able to manufacture runs and pull out some victories.

Biggest Series: April 3-4, home against Colby

Trinity has their two home conference series in back-to-back weekends. They play Colby in this one and then Tufts a week later. The Bantams need to jump all over the Mules and have some confidence before playing the Jumbos a week later. The talent is there for a quick rebound in Hartford, and a key for them is going to be believing that they are capable of it. Last season they didn’t win a single one of their conference series, so notching one early will go a long way.