Practice Begins For UO Baseball
01/28/22 | Baseball, @GoDucksMoseley
Much looks new as the Oregon baseball team opens practice Friday, but expectations are unchanged for a squad looking to play deep into the postseason.
Practice begins for the Oregon baseball team Friday, and PK Park will look and feel dramatically different when the Ducks take the field together for the first time heading into spring.
For one thing, the park itself is being refurbished this winter, with new turf, new outfield fences and new scoreboards. And the team taking the field on that new turf will look much different too, needing to replace all three weekend starters and three middle-of-the-order bats from the 2021 Oregon baseball team that finished within a game of first place in the Pac-12 Conference.
Everything will feel a bit new when the Ducks hold their first formal practice Friday.
"I think we've got a good squad this year," sophomore outfielder Anthony Hall said. "I think we can make a really good run, so I'm excited."
Hall will be one of the bats called upon to account for the absence of second-round MLB pick Aaron Zavala along with Kenyon Yovan and Gabe Matthews in the middle of the UO lineup. The pitching staff will look markedly different too, with Isaac Ayon, talented transfer Adam Maier and closer Kolby Somers leading the way in the absence of 2021 staff ace Robert Ahlstrom and his weekend rotation mates.
Zavala, Ahlstrom and company helped the Ducks exceed preseason projections last spring, when they finished a game short of tying Arizona for the conference title and also a game short of advancing to an NCAA Super Regional. Projections this preseason are mixed, with Oregon ranked as high as No. 19 in one poll, and unranked in others.
Despite the roster turnover, head coach Mark Wasikowski and his program are looking to show that they've reloaded rather than having to rebuild.
"We really like what we see on the field," Wasikowski said on the heels of fall workouts. "We think we can contend for a Pac-12 Championship, and we think this team's going to be really strong."
Despite the loss of a talented MLB prospect in Zavala, who hit .392 in 2021, the Ducks have another this spring in shortstop Josh Kasevich. Maier, a transfer from the University of British Columbia, is also considered to have big-time pro potential, after posting a 0.24 ERA as a high school senior and a 2.84 ERA for UBC during the abbreviated 2020 season.
The Ducks also have a couple of preseason all-American candidates in Somers, who saved 11 games in 2021, and outfielder Tanner Smith, who had a .950 OPS last spring. Smith also hit .324 in 2021, matching Kasevich for the top average among returning players for the program this spring.
The preseason notice is nice, Kasevich said. "But that's not the focus right now," he added. "The focus is on winning some games and winning a championship."
How the infield will be manned around Kasevich at shortstop is a focus as practice opens for the Ducks on Friday. They have a big-time recruit looking to win the job at first base in Jacob Walsh, and another promising transfer in Drew Cowley, who could play second or third. But there are veterans options, too, in Gavin Grant and Sam Novitske.
In the outfield, Hall, Smith and Colby Shade could be tough to unseat. But there will be competition there, and at catcher, where veteran Jack Scanlon heads a deep group that also includes the likes of Josiah Cromwick and Anson Aroz.
There are new names for fans to learn, to be sure. But there's ability, too.
"I think we'll be just fine," Hall said. "We've got a lot of young talent."
That should apply on the mound as well. In the fall, Maier was ranked one of the top-50 college prospects for the 2022 MLB Draft by Baseball America. Ayon made two starts among his 22 appearances last spring, and Andrew Mosiello made a memorable transition from the bullpen to start Oregon's season finale in the NCAA Regional final.
Ayon has been working to incorporate a sinker into his repertoire for this season, along with his four-seam fastball, a slider and a changeup.
"The more you throw it, the more I play catch with it, the more I get a better feel for it," Ayon said. "I think it's just going to come along as the season goes on."
Work like that has been underway all offseason for the Ducks, but the tenor will change with the formal start of practice Friday. It's a new-look team playing in a new-look park, looking to put together results on the field that are similar to if not a step above what Oregon accomplished last season.
