2014 Record: 20-21 (7-5, Second in NESCAC East), Lost in NESCAC Playoff Semifinals
Starters Returning: 7 (6 Position Players, 1 Starting Pitcher)
Projected Lineup: (Stats are from 2014)
1B Rockwell Jackson ’15 (.310/.382/.372, 0 HR, 11 RBI)
CF/P Sam Warren ’16 (.302/.388/.442, 1 HR, 9 RBI)
C Mekae Hyde ’15 (.313/.353/.363, 0 HR, 6 RBI)
RF Nate Pajka ’15 (.261/.331/.426, 3 HR, 13 RBI)
DH Evan Czopek ’16 (.267/.380/.350, 0 HR, 8 RBI)
SS Brendan Fox ’17 (.265/.359/.306, 0 HR, 15 RBI)
3B Sam Berry ’16 (.145/.269/.164, 0 HR, 6 RBI)
LF Ryan McCarthy ’17 (.217/.294/.304/0 HR, 6 RBI)
2B Conor Reenstierna ’16 (.211/.302/.237, 0 HR, 8 RBI
RHP Will Levangie ’15 (1-3, 3.34 ERA, 6.67 K/9, 29.2 IP)
RHP Rob DiFranco ’16 (3-3, 3.60 ERA, 12.15 K/9 , 20.0 IP)
RHP Connor Speed ’18
Offensive Overview:
Bates has already played seven games so we know something about them already. The most important thing we have learned thus far is that Nate Pajka ’15 is mashing baseballs. He has a .1000 slugging percentage in large part because he already has four home runs. Pajka will need to continue hitting like that as Bates is replacing both boppers Griff Tewksbury ’14 and Kevin Davis ’14. Those two were far and away Bates’ best two hitters a year ago. However, so far the Bobcats have hit much better as a team than they did a year ago. Besides Pajka, Evan Czopek ’16 has shown massive improvement after hitting only .265 in 2014. It is unusual to see a first baseman leading off, but Rockwell Jackson ’15 is a converted outfielder. Bates had the second most walks of anybody in the NESCAC a season ago, and they will again rely on a patient approach at the plate.
Defensive Overview:
One of the biggest reasons for Bates making a run into the playoffs after a shaky start to the season was how their defense improved as the season went along. Even though they finished the season with 63 errors, third most in the NESCAC, they had only 15 errors in conference which was the third lowest mark. Though Bates will miss Davis’ bat, they won’t miss his 14 errors that he had in the field ago. Sam Berry ’15 will be an improvement at third base. Shortstop Brendan Fox ’17 has struggled somewhat early on with five errors already this season, but he was pretty sure-handed in 2014. Expect this defense to resemble the one from the end of the season and be a big positive behind the pitching staff.
Pitching Staff:
The loss of Brad Reynolds ’14 and Chris Fusco ’14 to graduation is a lot. Reynolds practically dragged the Bobcats to the postseason as he finished the season with a 2.20 ERA in 61.1 IP. Fusco was not a great pitcher always, but he ate up a lot of innings. Will Levangie ’15 is the only returning starter, but he doesn’t scream ace because of his average K/9 ratio. Rob DiFranco ’16 is making the transition from the bullpen to the starting rotation and has looked good in his two starts thus far. The third spot is still somewhat up in the air, though Connor Speed ’18 looks like he has grabbed it for now. Sam Warren ’16 will also be in the mix for that third spot. Bates relied a lot on their bullpen a year ago meaning a bunch of guys pitched between 20 and 10 innings. Guys like Marc Cunningham ’16 and Connor Colombo ’16 have a tall task in replacing DiFranco in the pen.
Storylines to Watch
1. How many players make a big leap forward?
Bates lost their three bona fide stars (Davis, Tewksbury, and Reynolds) who were a huge reason for their surprise run in the East. Now a lot of players capable of breaking out remain on the roster. The Bobcats need to have a few players show remarkable year-to-year improvement in order to succeed. As noted above, Pajka appears to be in the midst of a big season, and Czopek is also smashing the ball to the tune of a .464 average thus far. A couple of other players are off to great starts as well. However, the team overall is hitting .337, an impossible pace to keep up. It is possible that a good amount of their stats are inflated by weak pitching. On the rotation end of things, a few guys could go a long way in replacing Reynolds, and the guy below is probably the most likely to come close.
2. Can Rob DiFranco ’16 adjust to starting?
DiFranco flashed his potential as a reliever last spring in large part because of his 12.15 K/9 ratio. Then he delivered a stellar summer season for the North Shore Navigators in the Futures League. He appeared in 22 games and posted a .095 ERA in 33.2 innings while walking only three batters. He ended up being voted the Navigators Player of the Year for his performance. Now he is being asked to move to the rotation. I think he will make the transition much more easily than Big League flame-outs Joba Chamberlain and Daniel Bard, the first reliever-turned-starters that come to mind. Still, he will have to adjust and learn how to pitch against batters when they come up in the order for the second or third time. Pounding the zone like he did this summer is a good place to start of course.
3. Will their unique schedule hurt them?
Because of the Bates academic calendar, the Bobcats start their season well before everybody else with a trip to California in mid-February. They just played their first game back north on Monday, and three games remain on the schedule before they open the NESCAC schedule with Trinity. Weather might end up impacting one or more of those three games. At best Bates will play four games in the month between their trip and their games against Trinity. That means their hitters will not have seen much live pitching during that time. While you can simulate at-bats in practice as much as you like, game at-bats are impossible to recreate perfectly. Of course, Bates, in their first live action in more than 20 days, put up 16 runs on Monday against MIT so maybe it won’t affect them at all.
Biggest Series: April 24-25 at Tufts
Bates plays the East favorites in the final weekend of NESCAC play, and chances are that the second spot will still be very much up in the air at that point. Playing Tufts last is not likely to help Bates much as the Jumbos will still play their regular starters, but even so the Bobcats should be playing with a lot more urgency than the Jumbos.