Previewing the 2024 Virginia Baseball Season
Coming off of its second College World Series appearance in the last three years and sixth in program history, Virginia is primed for another promising season with a solid roster combination of experienced returners and talented newcomers. As the Cavaliers get set to open the 2024 campaign this weekend with their sights set on another trip to Omaha, let's take a look at the roster for the 2024 Virginia baseball season.
Position Players and Projected Starting Lineup
After starting all 65 games at first base last season, junior Ethan Anderson will make the shift over to catcher, the position he was initially recruited to play at Virginia. He has some big shoes to fill as he steps in for 2023 ACC Player of the Year and first round MLB Draft pick Kyle Teel, but Anderson has the tools to get the job done. A Third-Team All-ACC selection a season ago, Anderson batted .375 with 97 hits, 71 runs, 15 home runs, 66 RBI and a school-record 26 doubles. Anderson isn't expected to catch every game like Teel did and when he doesn't, Salisbury transfer Jacob Ference will slide in behind the plate. Ference had an accomplished career at Division III Salisbury, helping the Sea Gulls win their first-ever national championship in 2021. A career .318 hitter, Ference had 99 hits, 87 RBI, and 20 home runs in his time at Salisbury, including 14 homers last season when he batted .364 and had a .986 fielding percentage at catcher. That's some pretty good production for a player who will likely be UVA's backup catcher.
Anderson could also spend some time at first base or as the designated hitter if UVA wants to give him a day off on defense, but first base will likely be played by a true freshman in Henry Ford, who cracked D1Baseball's Preseason Top 50 First Basemen list and was the only freshman to make the cut. A highly-touted recruit and physical specimen at 6'5", 220 pounds, much is expected this season of Ford, who is also a Charlottesville native. Fellow freshman Antonio Perrotta could also see some time at first base.
Second base will likely be manned by sophomore Henry Godbout, who started 43 of Virginia's 65 games as a true freshman last season, including the final 17 games of the year. Godbout batted .286 with 13 doubles, three home runs, and 38 RBI and had an unblemished 9/9 record on stolen base attempts. Fellow sophomore Luke Hanson could also figure into the rotation at second after starting seven games there last season.
Shortstop is the easiest position on the field to project for the Cavaliers, as junior Griff O'Ferrall has started every single game at shortstop in his career at UVA and this year should be no different. O'Ferrall has raked in some serious preseason accolades and with good reason, as he returns following a 2023 season that saw him earn First-Team All-ACC honors. He batted .396 with 20 doubles, two triples, a home run, and 42 RBI and broke UVA's single-season records for hits with 108 and runs with 76 and he led the ACC in hits. O'Ferrall was also excellent defensively and was one of five finalists for the Brooks Wallace Award, presented annually to the nation's top shortstop. Expect O'Ferrall to lead the way for the Cavaliers both from the shortstop position and the leadoff spot at the top of the batting order once again.
There's a bit of a question mark at third base with Virginia's home run king Jake Gelof gone to the professional ranks. Who will replace him? Henry Ford also saw some time at third base in the fall, but with him expected to get the start at first, it could be another freshman in Eric Becker who gets the nod at the hot corner. Luke Hanson could also be a potential option as an experienced returning infielder.
In the outfield, sophomore Anthony Stephan will get the start in left field to open the season. After starting in 46 games as a designated hitter as a freshman, Stephan got acclimated to playing left field last summer in the Northwoods League and is now ready to move into the outfield for the Cavaliers.
Fellow freshman Harrison Didawick started 49 of the 65 games for UVA in left field last season, but according to head coach Brian O'Connor, Didawick has moved over to center field and is battling with Indiana transfer Bobby Whalen for the starting center fielder position. Didawick made some big plays as a freshman, tallying four home runs, six doubles, five triples, and 34 RBI, and he could be primed for a breakout sophomore season. Whalen, meanwhile is looking to follow in the footsteps of another Big Ten transfer in Ethan O'Donnell, who ended up being a First-Team All-ACC selection and a Gold Glover in center field for Virginia last season. A graduate transfer from Indiana, Whalen is a career .274 hitter with 72 RBI and a .358 on-base percentage. Last season, he had 70 hits and 39 RBI and committed only one error while registering 147 putouts and five outfield assists for the Hoosiers.
It will be interesting to follow Virginia's designated hitter position throughout the season, as between Anderson and Ference at catcher and Stephan, Didawick, and Whalen in the outfield, there will be at least one capable bat in that group who deserves a spot in the batting order even when he isn't starting in the field.
In right field is another steady starter in Casey Saucke, who started all 65 games last season. He batted .299 with 16 doubles, four home runs, and 48 RBI and came on strong at the end of the season, reaching base safely in the final 20 regular season games and then earning a spot on the Charlottesville Regional All-Tournament Team. Saucke, O'Ferrall, and Anderson are now the veterans in the lineup and will be leaned on significantly this season.
Pitching Staff
Transfers played a huge role in Virginia's pitching staff in 2023 and by the end of the season, UVA's starting weekend pitching rotation was made up of three standout transfers in Connelly Early, Nick Parker, and Brian Edgington. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers, each of those pitchers are no longer with the program, as is closer Jake Berry.
UVA brings back the bulk of the rest of its bullpen and Brian O'Connor once again went to work in the transfer portal, bringing in four transfer arms: righty Joe Savino (Elon), lefty Owen Coady (Penn), lefty Blake Barker (Seton Hill), and righty Ryan Osinski (Bucknell). Virginia's bullpen also features some quality returners in Kevin Jaxel, Bradley Hodges, Matthew Buchanan, Angelo Tonas, Chase Hungate, and Cullen McKay.
For the season-opening three-game series against Hofstra this weekend, Brian O'Connor confirmed that Virginia will start Jack O'Connor, Evan Blanco, and Jay Woolfolk in those three games in that order.
Sophomore righty Jack O'Connor will get the start on Opening Day on Friday after logging 11 starts and 19 total appearances as a true freshman last season. In 65.1 innings, O'Connor posted a 3.86 ERA with 64 strikeouts to 25 walks and a 6-3 overall record. O'Connor earned Freshman All-America honors from Perfect Game and Baseball America after the season.
Lefty Evan Blanco, another sophomore, moves up into the starting rotation after appearing in 24 games out of the bullpen as a freshman last spring. In 23.2 innings, Blanco recorded a 3.04 ERA and a 1-0 record, striking out 26 batters and walking just 10. He had a 3.09 ERA in 12 appearances in ACC play and was credited with a team-high eight bullpen holds, two of which came in the NCAA Tournament and College World Series.
Finally, former two-sport athlete Jay Woolfolk rounds out the starting rotation in his first season focusing solely on baseball after previously splitting his time between Virginia's football and baseball programs. Woolfolk served primarily as a closer in his first two seasons as a Cavalier, but he will make his first-career start on Sunday. The hard-throwing righty led Virginia in pitching appearances for the second-straight season with 30 in 2023, posting a 2.91 ERA and a 2-1 record in 34.0 innings pitched.
Brian O'Connor also mentioned a group of pitchers who have been working to increase their pitch count in the preseason and who, although beginning the season coming out of the bullpen in relief, will likely get opportunities to start games at some point this season. Sophomores Kevin Jaxel and Bradley Hodges were mentioned in that group, as was Elon transfer Joe Savino and freshman Bryson Moore.
Schedule Overview
The 2024 Virginia baseball season opens with a three-game home series against Hofstra on the weekend of February 16-18. UVA will also participate in the inaugural Jax Baseball Classic in Jacksonville, facing Wichita State, Iowa, and Auburn on the weekend of February 23-25. Virginia's other non-conference opponents include Old Dominion, VMI, UMass, Penn State, George Washington, William & Mary, Georgetown, Richmond, VCU, Towson, George Mason, Liberty, and Navy. Last season, UVA was a perfect 25-0 against non-conference opponents in the regular season, becoming the first college baseball team to go unbeaten in non-conference play since 2015.
In ACC play, Virginia will host series against Wake Forest, North Carolina, Georgia Tech, NC State, and Virginia Tech. UVA will travel to play Miami, Pittsburgh, Duke, Louisville, and Boston College. In 2023, UVA turned in a 19-11 ACC record, winning its first ACC Coastal title since 2011. In this year's ACC Preseason Coaches Poll, the Cavaliers were picked to win the Coastal for the first time since 2015.
Click here to see the complete 55-game schedule for the 2024 Virginia baseball season.
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