Crimson Corner: Connor Prielipp's Return Could Not Have Come at a Better Time for Alabama Baseball

Prielipp has been out with an undisclosed injury since opening day for the Crimson Tide

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — On Tuesday night, Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon made an announcement that Crimson Tide fans have been waiting to hear for weeks.

Ace pitcher Connor Prielipp will finally be making his return to the mound this Saturday against Auburn.

Prielipp has been out of commission since Alabama's opening day due to an undisclosed injury. While some reports said that his injury was soreness, the injury was likely more serious. What was it exactly? Perhaps we'll never know. However, one thing is for certain: Prielipp's return could not have come at a better time for Alabama baseball.

In 2020, Prielipp started four games and won three of them, allowing no runs off of five hits and striking out an impressive 35 batters in 21 innings pitched.

Prielipp won his first and only start for the Crimson Tide, allowing no runs off of four hits and striking out eight batters in five innings pitched. While Tyler Ras has done an excellent job as the team's Friday starter in Prielipp's place — amassing a 5-1 record on the season — the added depth that Prielipp brings will certainly help Alabama during its midweek games.

On Tuesday, Alabama won its first midweek game since all the way back on March 10 against Jacksonville State. The Crimson Tide was able to easily handle Samford by a score of 19-1, with both bats igniting and a solid start from Grayson Hitt on the mound.

Heading into last weekend, Alabama baseball had lost nine of 10 games and was quickly falling to the bottom of the conference — a sight all too familiar to Crimson Tide fans in recent memory. However, Alabama opened the start of SEC play against some of the conference's best teams, including No. 1 Arkansas, No. 3 Ole Miss and No. 6 Tennessee. Last weekend, Alabama took a trip to unranked Texas A&M, and the team was able to pick up its first SEC series road sweep since 2018.

Now with the win against Samford on Tuesday, the Crimson Tide is looking like the solid team that we saw have its season cut short last year. Having won four games in a row, the team is now slated to take on in-state rival Auburn for a three-game series beginning Thursday. While it's possible that Alabama will lose at least one of those games, there is no doubt that there is a sense of optimism around the program ... for the time being, at least.

The announcement of Prielipp's return certainly doesn't hurt that optimism. With Prielipp returning to the rotation, Ras can now potentially start in midweek games and give the Crimson Tide an edge there. Without its ace, Alabama still won three of its four SEC series openers, but at the cost of valuable midweek pitching. That is no longer the case.

While Ras was also announced on Tuesday to be Alabama's Thursday starter, his addition to the weekend rotation will still free up the bullpen to perform during the midweek. Antoine Jean still remains absent due to an injury, and until his return a rotation of Ras, Dylan Smith and Prielipp seems most likely. Prielipp could return as the Friday starter should he perform well this weekend, but it makes sense for Bohannon to start him on Saturday until he proves that he is 100 percent.

With the return of that amount of skill on the mound, things are looking to turn a corner for Alabama baseball. With the Crimson Tide still pursuing its first SEC tournament appearance since 2016, it is now starting to finally look like the year that the team makes its return.