Baseball 2019 Preview: Starting Pitchers
2/13/2019 10:17:00 AM | Baseball
Season Tickets Available For 2019
The 2019 Sam Houston State baseball season is nearly upon us, with Matt Deggs' team to open up the season on Feb. 15 in in DeLand, Fla. vs Manhattan.
This is the fifth of a five-part preview, position by position, of this year's squad, leading up to the 2019 opener.
STARTING PITCHER NOTABLES
Returning: Hayden Wesneski, Riley Gossett, Seth Ballew
Newcomers: Matt Dillard, Cody Wolf
HUNTSVILLE – It is rare that teams are able to return the amount of accomplished weekend talent the Sam Houston State Bearkats will feature in 2019.
In addition to several arms mentioned in Tuesday's piece on the bullpen who could potentially see starts at different points of the year, the Kats boast 3-5 arms who are projected to see the bulk of the starts this year.
It all begins with the duo of junior right-hander Hayden Wesneski and left-hander Seth Ballew who combined to post a 13-4 record between them in 2018. Wesneski is projected by virtually all publiations as the top pro prospect out of the Southland Conference in this year's draft and after taking a step forward as a sophomore last year, he seems primed to take another leap forward during his junior campaign.
“Hayden has really made a jump and he has a really high ceiling,” head coach Matt Deggs said regarding the Cypress native. “He is a guy that has a really great build, is really athletic and pounds the strike zone with a couple of different fastballs. He can also can spin it, can pull it, and prepares very professionally. We've seen him become a guy who go from 89-92 to a guy that can pitch comfortably in the low to mid 90's and reach back and get a little higher than that if he has to.”
After being drafted in the 33rd round of the MLB Draft y the Tampa Bay Rays out of Cy Fair HS in 2016, Wesneski immediately turned in a 10-2 record with a sub-four ERA as a freshman. Last year he was even better, opening the season with a dominant complete-game win over Kent State on his way to a 7-3 record and a solid 3.50 ERA.
He finished the season sixth in the Southland with 97.2 innings of work and went at least 6.0 innings in 10 of his 15 starts, including each of his last eight appearances. He earned second team all-SLC honors last season and is a preseason all-Southland choice entering this season.
Meanwhile, Ballew was arguably the most steady of all the Bearkat starters a year ago. Despite just a 5-10 stature, the lefty routinely had the Kats in all of his starts, finishing the season with a 6-1 mark and a 3.00 ERA while holding opposing hitters to just a .238 average on his way to honorable mention all-SLC honors.
He struck out just 57 batters in 81 innings, but never gave up more than four runs in any of his 18 appearances (11 starts), while going no less than 5.0 frames in any of his final seven starts of the year, all on the weekend.
“Seth is a classic left-handed pitcher that can really pitch and change speeds with three or four different pitches,” Deggs said. “He's got as much experience as anybody and is in his sixth year of school. We are fortunate to have him back and to be able to have a guy like that on our staff.”
Another arm the Kats could turn to is senior right-hander Riley Gosset. He also earned freshman all-America honors in 2016 after going 7-0 with a 2.64 ERA as a true freshman. But he missed all of the 2017 season with an injury suffered just before the start of the year, and in 2018 was used in a variety of roles throughout the season.
Still, he managed to make 21 appearances – eight starts – and posted a 3.66 ERA in 59.0 innings. This year he likely makes the move back to the rotation after having a full year back under his belt and Deggs knows that his return to full strength could pay big dividends in 2019.
“Riley was on the ground floor of this thing,” Deggs said. “When he is healthy, he is as good as there is. He has a great command of a fastball, has a second pitch and a feel for pitching. He's also got super composure and holds runners very well.”
Others that Sam Houston could turn to in starting or long relief roles include a pair of newcomers in true freshman lefty Matt Dillard and junior college transfer righty Cody Wolf. Dillard, a lefty from St. Pius X HS in Houston, was a big coup for the Bearkats last year and he joins the staff fresh off a 31st round selection by the Milwaukee Brewers in last year's MLB Draft.
“Matt Dillard has a chance to be as good as anybody who has ever come through here,” Deggs said. “I see a guy like Caleb Smith, who is pitching in the two hole for the Miami Marlins right now. It's the same kid six or seven years ago. Left-handed pitcher, 6-1 with a really good fastball, a good breaking ball, has a feel for a change up, and is a tremendous athlete with a lot of toughness in him.”
A Perfect Game/Rawlings Sports all-Texas regional choice, Dillard projects to be one of the Kats' go-to guys in years to come, but still has the ability to make an impact on the staff right away.
“I think he is going to pitch beyond his age, and he is going to get thrown in that right away,” Deggs said. “He is ready to pitch. It is just a matter of getting his feet wet and making sure we have him in the right spot. I feel comfortable throwing him right into it and I think he is going to be able to handle it.”
Meanwhile, Wolf has been impressive in fall and spring workouts and projects to be used in multiple roles. He joins the team after a successful career at Temple College where he led the Leopards to the 2018 NJCAA World Series, finishing his career with a 16-6 record and 3.36 ERA in his two-year career with 169 strikeouts in 169 innings.
“Cody is kind of in that Donica mold of a junior college guy who can really command the fastball, and can spin it anytime he wants,” Deggs said regarding Wolf. “He really has an idea about pitching, and I think he is going to be seeing a lot of appearances for us and kind of in that utility knife role.”
“You can start him, you can kill an inning with him, you can finish him. I think that is going to be a big part of what we have done in spring training: identifying roles and really putting these guys in those situations so that we have some success in those situations before they ever show up.”
The season opens on Friday, February 15 against Manhattan, as part of a three-day tournament in DeLand, Fla., hosted by Stetson. The home opener will be Feb. 19 against Texas Southern. Tickets to the home opener are available now.
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