Coaching staff looking to the future
7/3/2013 8:47:00 AM | Baseball
Following a second consecutive trip to the NCAA Regionals, Sam Houston's baseball coaching staff immediately began looking toward the future, knowing that they wouldn't return exactly the same squad that repeated as Southland Conference regular-season champions.
The Bearkats lost a pair of seniors in third baseman Kevin Miller and first baseman Jessie Plumlee, who were big-time contributors. The coaching staff also knew they were likely to lose a pair of weekend pitchers, Cody Dickson and Caleb Smith, in the draft.
That ended up being the case.
“What you would like to see is guys get drafted after their junior year because that means that they're in a good position to get a good draft,” Sam Houston head coach David Pierce said.
Dickson was drafted in the fourth round by the Pittsburgh Pirates and Smith was selected in the 14th round by the New York Yankees in the first week of June.
Since both lefthanders were juniors, they had until the July 12 deadline to decide whether to return to Huntsville for their seniors seasons or sign contracts with their respective organizations.
Neither Dickson nor Smith hesitated once they received offers and signed less than a week after the draft. Not waiting until the deadline allowed Pierce and his staff to put together a plan for scholarships as they continued the recruitment process.
“Both of them got fair drafts and both of them got fair money, so it was the right time for them to go,” Pierce said. “They signed and we're proud of them. Hopefully, we'll see them pitch in the big leagues one day.
“We were prepared for that going into this summer. We're comfortable with them going. The timing does benefit us, knowing how much scholarship money is potentially freed up and that lets you know what you have to work with. It does benefit us knowing that they have signed and they have moved on and now we're able to move on.”
Even with a pair of weekend starting pitchers gone, Pierce is confident with his remaining pitchers, including starters Andrew Godail, who was a weekend starter all season long, Tyler Eppler and Logan Boyd as well as relievers Jason Simms and Alan Scott.
“I think right now if you look at who we have returning and innings pitched, you have five guys that create the nucleus with Andrew Godail, Logan Boyd and Tyler Eppler and then you look at Jason Simms and Alan Scott who both had tremendous years out of the bullpen,” the coach said.
“That's a good nucleus to build on. I like that there's a couple of other guys who are close to helping us that started and pitched well this summer. Then we have some good-looking kids coming in that can help create that staff as well.”
As far as replacing position players Miller and Plumlee, the Kats coach is confident there won't be much dropoff. The Kats have a number of players with experience to step in. Along with Carter Burgess and Ryan Farney, who played shortstop and second base, respectively, the Bearkats can also utilize shortstop Corey Toups, who started all 62 games in 2012.
“I think our biggest concerns defensively or position-player wise are on the corner position,” Pierce said. “Those are the two things we'll address first. In such a critical position when the game really speeds up, it's great to have experience and you do have experience with Burgess, Farney and Toups. Fortunately, we'll have them, plus an addition to have options and great competition in the fall.
“We have very good outfielders returning and we have an additional option with that. We have our catching returning. We're very excited with what's happening with our program and the talent coming in as well as the talent returning.
Currently, Pierce and the staff are busy with recruiting to shore up the squad for the 2014 season.
“The guys that we're recruiting now for the most part are ones that we will sign in November. But we do pay attention to what's available right now,” Pierce added. “We feel like this coming year, we're as talented as we have been the last two years.”
