2021 Alabama Baseball Pitching Preview
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After a tumultuous offseason for college baseball teams across the country following the early end to the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alabama baseball returns to the diamond on Feb. 19 to face its first competition since March 10 of 2020.
For last year’s Crimson Tide, pitching was a strong suit on the roster. Finishing the 2020 season 16-1 on the verge of entering SEC play, the Alabama pitching staff gave up an average of just over 2.8 runs per game. With a dynamic offense that was averaging 8.7 runs per game, it’s no small wonder that the Crimson Tide had only experienced one non-conference loss when the season came to its premature end.
In 2021, Alabama’s depth at pitching remains a solid strength at the core of this team. However, it is also quite inexperienced. Of the 17 pitchers on the Crimson Tide’s roster, eight of its starters classify as true freshmen along with one redshirt-freshman in right-hander Landon Green. In fact, the staff only has one senior this season in Will Freeman, a far cry from SEC experience that is so desperately needed in one of the toughest divisions in college baseball.
That being said, there is still a lot of talent on this Alabama team. While it might be young, there is a lot to talk about regarding strengths and weaknesses as the Crimson Tide makes its attempt to reach the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2016.
Starters
You can’t talk about Alabama pitching without mentioning one of those freshman, though, and that player’s name is left-hander Connor Prielipp. Prielipp, a preseason first-team All-American according to D1Baseball.com, was not only the Crimson Tide’s ace in 2020 but also one of the top starters in the nation.
In 21 innings pitched, Prielipp allowed just five hits and no runs. In walks versus strikeouts, he gave away only six free bases and sent a total of 35 batters back to the dugout — one strikeout away from six strikeouts per walk. Of his five hits allowed, only one of them was an extra-base his with one double.
According to Alabama fourth-year head coach Brad Bohannon, Prielipp is one of the best pitchers he’s coached.
“It’s a pretty small group of players that I’ve had over my career that have improved at the rate he has over an 18- or 24-month period,” Bohannon said on the All Things Bama Podcast. “Just everything has gotten better and it starts with his body. He’s put on 25 pounds, he’s grown an inch, he’s just physically he’s a way different person and his delivery, his stuff. He’s always had really good intangibles. He’s always been competitive and a good worker but his velocity, the bite on his breaking ball, he’s developed a changeup — it’s just all way, way better.
“I really tried to downplay expectations for him last year. I mean, no team wants to start a freshman opening day or the first game of a series and the first game of a series has really been a challenging matchup for us in the three years that I’ve been here. Every time we go to the park on Friday this year we’re going to expect to win and have a legitimate chance to win. We won’t win every Friday night but Connor, he’s pretty special and the sky’s the limit for him.”
While Prielipp is pretty much guaranteed the spot as Alabama’s Friday-night starter, the rest of the rotation isn’t as set in stone.
While the roster drops off quite a bit following Prielipp, sophomore Tyler Ras is also expected to be a solid member of the Crimson Tide starting rotation this season. While he is entering his third season, Ras re-classified as a sophomore following the 2020 season with the NCAA granting all spring athletes an extra year of eligibility. Ras remains one of the more experienced members on the Alabama roster and one of just a few with experience against SEC teams.
In his freshman season, Ras started 12 games and finished with a decent 4.14 earned run average. However, 2020 saw Ras work primarily from the bullpen rather than as a starter. In 11.1 innings, Ras allowed just one run off of nine hits, walked three and struck out eight. However, that one run came as the result of an error, so his earned run average remained at a stellar 0.00.
Sophomore righty Connor Shamblin and freshman southpaw Antoine Jean compose the last two pitchers that saw the most action in 2020 that are most likely to have starts in the first week of Alabama baseball. Both Shamblin and Jean had four starts each in 2020, with Shamblin amassing an ERA of 4.05 with 10 runs off of 22 hits in 20 innings, walking seven and striking out 20.
Jean finished last year’s abbreviated season with a 3-0 record and a 3.18 ERA, allowing seven runs off of 18 hits, walking three and striking out 17 in 17 innings pitched.
Bohannon said that in 2021 fans are going to see a different approach to pitching due to the ongoing pandemic. As a precaution in case someone is put into isolation for a positive test or due to potential exposure, more pitchers will see extended outings early in order to garner experience and provide depth should the bullpen suffer an outbreak.
According to Bohannon, Ras, Shamblin and Jean compose some of those pitchers.
“You’re going to see seven or eight guys have extended outings the first few weeks of the season,” Bohannon said. “I think it’s important for a lot of reasons but even this year in a COVID year if you have three guys that are conditioned to deep in a game and all of a sudden you lose one or two of them for a weekend you can’t just pitch one or two innings at a time and be ready to throw five or six innings or 70 or 80 pitches so because there’s not a lot of separation we need a secondary to try to combat the potential of losing somebody to isolation or quarantine.
“You’re going to see guys like Connor Shamblin, Tyler Ras, Antoine Jean, Jacob McNairy — Grayson Hitt is a freshman that’s going to pitch a bunch. He’s still a little rough around the edges but he’s got big stuff. He’s 90, 94 with a really good breaking ball that he throws for a strike. I’m probably leaving somebody off that’s in the mix but those guys we all feel good about and there’s not a lot of separation and they’re going to have extended outings and over time the guys that pitch better are going to pitch a little more and the guys that don’t pitch as well maybe we’ll try them at a different role or shorten their role.”
Bullpen
Regarding Alabama’s bullpen, two pitchers have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
Junior left-hander Brock Guffey will be primarily set at reliever in 2021. Last season, Guffey allowed only one run off of four hits in five appearances. Combine that with 13 strikeouts against the 26 batters that he faced, and you have to like those numbers for a reliever to bridge the gap between starter and closer.
Guffey was primarily a starter in high school but has since been solely used as a reliever at Alabama. Bohannon noted the value that Guffey brings to the Crimson Tide for serving as one of its primary relievers.
“Every young pitcher wants to be a starter in their mind and I’m going to steal a Nate Oats deal here: ‘You don’t always start your best five in basketball, it’s all about who you close with’,” Bohannon said. “A lot of coaches and pitching guys like to work from back to front and sometimes young hitters — they just have a heightened sense of focus in the eighth or ninth inning when the game’s close and sometimes they’ll give some at-bats away early and then in the middle of the game.
“I know Brock’s a guy that could be a starter for us and do a great job. I really, really value experience in the pen because it’s hard. It’s harder to come in the game with people on base when it really, really matters than it is to start with a clean inning so I’m giving those guys a compliment saying that they’re going to pitch late. Really appreciate Brock and we feel like when he’s pitching that he’s going to get an out.”
In a team with so many young players, experience will definitely be key when Alabama enters SEC play this season.
Sophomore right-hander Chase Lee is once again slated to be the Crimson Tide’s closer out of the bullpen. In five games played, Lee accounted for a win and two saves and allowed just two runs off of four hits in 11 innings pitched. Lee also struck out 19 of his 33 batters faced and walked just two.
Just like Guffey, you have to like those numbers coming onto the mound in late innings.
Verdict
Alabama is poised to have a much-improved pitching staff in 2021. Combining the day-one starter of Prielipp with Ras, Shamblin and Jean along with the bullpen strength of Guffey and Lee, this staff is highlighted by some solid pitchers that can go late in games as starters and pitch lights-out baseball from the pen.
Combine those pitchers with other standouts like Green, Hitt, McNairy and Dylan Smith, and the Crimson Tide should have solid depth on the mound — something that has not been seen at Alabama consistently in recent seasons.
The Crimson Tide has not made an SEC Tournament appearance since 2016, finishing last in the Western Division every year since. With its depth at pitching, this year could be the year that Alabama baseball finally makes its return to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in May.
