Wesleyan Season Preview

Wesleyan (25-15-1, 9-3 in 2013)

What They Lost:

Bottom line, not much. Rightfielder Steve Moran played all but one game last season and hit a robust .348, but his bat, though solid, is replaceable. Moran was seventh among qualified hitters on the team in OBP and slugged a paltry (when compared to his average) .385. Captain Chris Bonti has also moved on, who spent most of last season as the team’s designated hitter at the top of the lineup. Bonti was a table-setter of the sabermetric mold, boasting a .443 OBP and rarely striking out (10.3%) while not being known for his speed (1-1 SB). The 2013 Cardinals’ only other two seniors had minimal impacts.

2014 MVP: CF Donnie Cimino ’15

This is an easy call. Cimino, an all-NESCAC football player, has been one of the league’s best ever since he hit .400 as a freshman, and has led the NESCAC in hitting the last two years. Cimino was so good that he worked his way into the 3-hole by the end of that season, and remained there throughout 2013, when he slashed .399/.467/.486. In conference games last season, Cimino was in the top five in AVG, SLG, hits, RBI and runs. Cimino headlines what could be the best offense in the NESCAC this year.

2014 Pitcher of the Year: Jeff Blout ’15

Blout and classmate Nick Cooney started 19 games between them last season, and each posted an ERA of 3.05 or below. Blout was almost a run better than Cooney on the year, finishing with a 2.06 ERA, a 5-2 W-L in nine appearances, all starts, and a 45:16 K:BB ratio. Among starters, Blout ranked fourth in ERA in 2013. The top two in that category (Cook of Amherst and van Zant of Bowdoin) have graduated, so the ERA crowd could come down to Blout and fellow junior JJ Lane of Hamilton. In four in-conference starts, Blout really excelled, posting a 0.75 ERA, and hurling two of his three shutouts in the NESCAC, but he wasn’t at his best come tournament time, giving up 13 hits and four runs in eight innings against Amherst in the finals of the winners’ bracket of the NESCAC tournament.

Season Outlook:

The Cardinals made the postseason last year after a two year hiatus, and are poised to return this season with a chance to claim a NESCAC title and repeat as Little Three champs. The outfield will be a strength for the Cardinals, with Cimino again aiming for a NESCAC batting crown. Jon Dennet ’15, who hit .340 last season and had one of the Cardinals’ two home runs in 2013, will man left field. Second baseman Andrew Yin ’15 and Sam Goodwin-Boyd ’15 each return looking to repeat their All-NESCAC performances from 2013. Goodwin-Boyd tallied the fifth-best slugging percentage in the NESCAC at .525. Third baseman Ben Hoynes ’15 and shortstop Guy Davidson ’16 make up one of the best defensive left sides in the NESCAC. Eric Jones ’16 will handle the duties behind the dish. He played in 34 games last year, and while he was mediocre offensively, he led the NESCAC in runners caught stealing (18) and held would-be base stealers to the lowest stolen base success rate (.679) among starting catchers. First-year Ellis Schaefer is a natural infielder, but will get at bats in right field as long as he continues to hit, while also spelling Davidson and other infielders at times.

The top-ten ERA-leaders from the Cardinals’ 2013 squad return. Blout and Cooney each earned second-team All-NESCAC honors in 2013, and could easily repeat that in 2014. Sam Elias was a dominant reliever in 2013, posting a 2.94 ERA, and could be considered for a starting spot in 2014, though the front-runner for the third weekend slot is Chris Law ’14. Overall, the Wesleyan staff posted a 3.69 ERA in 2013, and could improve on that number this season.

Again, the Lord Jeffs will likely be Wesleyan’s biggest competition for a NESCAC West title, and the two teams could rematch for a NESCAC championship come early May.