It's that time of year again. The 2002 baseball season
is upon us as fall practice kicked off today. The fall
practice schedule runs from October 8th to November 4th, which
also includes the annual alumni game this Sunday the 14th at
12:00pm. I caught a good portion of practice today and here
are some of my observations:
- Saw the last part of infield practice with no real
shocking developments. Arik VanZandt, Chris Carter,
and Billy Paganetti were playing first, Chris O'Riordan
and Jonny Ash at second, Brian Hall and Tobin Swope at
the third, Andy Topham and Steve Gantenbein at short,
while behind the plate were Ryan Garko, Donny Lucy, and
Andrew Cleary. It was a welcome sight to see Cleary
behind the plate as going into the fall practice season I
was only aware of two catchers on the roster.
Cleary, a freshman, can also play in the infield, but I
only saw him behind the dish.
- After that, the team broke into four groups for an
intra-squad game. I saw five pitchers see time on
the hill, Ryan McCally, Jonny Dyer, Moses Kopmar, Dan
Rich, and Steve Papazian. McCally got the first
call and looked very good. He featured a good
fastball that bore inside to right handed hitters.
This forced a lot of weak ground balls that jammed the
hitters. He mixed in a few strikeouts and was not
hit very hard. Dyer, a freshman, got hit around a
little more, but threw strikes. I was very
impressed with Moses Kopmar. Kopmar, a freshman,
spotted his fastball very well and fooled many hitters
with a good change-up. He also struck out quite a
few hitters while on the hill. Steve Papazian,
another freshman, also looked pretty good. He
wasn't as over-powering as Kopmar with the strikeouts,
but still managed to get the majority of the hitters
out. Finally, Dan Rich also threw, which was a
welcome sight after he missed the majority of the 2001
season with an injury. Rich wasn't overpowering,
but mixed his pitches nicely, which included a very good
change-up. Rich could see a lot of time out of the
pen as he and Cunningham are the only two lefty pitchers
on the team.
- Two things struck me when watching the pitchers.
First, all five hurlers that I saw, threw strikes
consistently. There were very few walks which is
great to see, especially on the first practice of the
year. Another noticeable thing was the height of
the freshman pitchers. Kopmar (6'3"), Papazian
(6'5"), and Marc Jecmen (6'8") are huge
pitchers which can be intimidating for the opposing
hitters. It's still early, but I could see these
freshman contributing to this team in one way or another.
- As for the hitters. Sam Fuld is going to have a
huge year. This guy is going to be a tough out for
other teams, as he makes contact, always seems to hit the
ball hard, and can find holes in the defense. Just
from watching everybody hit, you can tell the ball jumps
off the bat of guys like Fuld, Garko, O'Riordan, Quentin,
and Hall.
- As for the other returnees. Andy Topham and Arik
VanZandt both put some good swings on the ball.
Topham had one of the better hits of the afternoon,
driving a Steve Papazian offering off the wall in
left. Brian Hall looked very good with the bat,
stinging a couple of balls on a line. I really
think it's going to be tough to keep him out of the
lineup.
- Scott Dragicevich saw very little action today. I
didn't see him at all in the field when the infielders
were practicing in the field and he did not play at all
in the field during the intra-squad game. He did
get a couple of at-bats, but was retired easily.
Jason Cooper also did not see any action in the field or
at the plate.
- Freshman Billy Paganetti had a few nice hits. He
had a deep fly to center that almost carried out in only
his second at-bat. Another one of these huge
freshman (6'4").
- In the field during the intra-squad, there were no real
surprises. Garko, Lucy, and Cleary split time
behind the plate. VanZandt, Carter, and Paganetti
were at first. VanZandt looked good at first, as
usual, while Carter showed some good agility around the
bag. O'Riordan, Ash, and Gantenbein all played
second, but this position is all wrapped up.
Topham, Gantenbein, and Hall each played short.
Over at third, it got a little interesting. Topham
did not play at all over at 3rd as Hall, Tobin Swope, and
VanZandt were the only ones seeing time. It will be
interesting to see if VanZandt at third will continue, as
one of the freshman could oust him at first. VanZandt is
solid with the glove no matter where you put him.
In the outfield, Fuld and Danny Putnam played
center. Putnam, Carter, and Swope all saw time in
left, while Quentin, Putnam, and Swope each played
right. Danny Putnam, a freshman, will remind people
of Sam Fuld, about the same height (maybe a little
taller) and left handed. Can play anywhere in the
outfield and may sneak into the lineup.
|