What Did We Learn About Alabama Baseball In Nonconference Play?

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama baseball begins SEC play on Friday afternoon in Lexington against the Kentucky Wildcats. The Crimson Tide sits at 15-3 to start the season, opening the year with a stunning loss to Washington State, dropping a midweek to a very good Southern Miss team in Hattiesburg, and losing the finale of the Frisco Classic, which Alabama won nonetheless, to Houston.

Here are the three biggest lessons learned from Alabama's four weeks of nonconference play:

The bullpen questions are not going away

The bullpen is the weakest part of the team. That was the expectation going in, and it has been apparent through 18 games. The unit has been simply overmatched at times, and the announcement that projected closer Kaden Humphrey would have to undergo season-ending Tommy John surgery pushed things from bad to worse.

Numerous players has struggled, notably Samford transfer Evan Steckmesser, who allowed seven earned runs in 0.1 innings pitched over two appearances two weeks ago. Steckmesser has had his moments, as have most of the other pieces, but the negatives have shown up a lot more than the positives,

Of the nine players to throw more than 5.0 innings of relief, five have an ERA over 4.5. Steckmesser and Sam Mitchell, the two who have thrown more than 10.0, sit at 5.91 and 5.23, respectively. Hagan Banks, the likely primary closer, has looked very shakable, allowing runners on in each of his last three save attempts. While Banks is yet to blow a save, he's been playing with fire, and its hard to see an SEC offense not being able to make him pay at some point soon in a ninth inning.

Matthew Heiberger has been excellent to start the year, and is indicative of the talent the bullpen has. But the early struggles place a lot of pressure on starters Tyler Fay, Zane Adams and Myles Upchurch to work late into games and get Alabama as close to the finish line as possible.

The lineup is deep enough to compete with any team

Brennan Holt is batting .309 with a .451 on-base percentage as the nine-hole entering Friday's opener. The South Alabama transfer has been excellent to start the year, and his play underscores the team's impressive depth. Through 18 games it appears to be the strongest lineup Vaughn has had in Tuscaloosa, with a deliberately constructed order that never takes pressure off opposing pitchers.

Jason Torres has been one of the biggest catalysts for this, leading the team in RBI in the six-hole. The runners ahead of him are finding ways to get on and he is simply raking when they get into scoring position. After Torres, there is Purdue Fort Wayne transfer Justin Osterhouse, who is quietly beginning to put things together following a slow start to the season. Peyton Steele bats eighth with the lowest on-base at .288, but the fourth most RBI at 14.

Alabama Keeps Responding to Early Adversity

Alabama has faced no shortage of adversity through the first four weeks of the season, with Vaughn describing the team as the most "banged up of a unit as I've had maybe in all my years as a head coach." Logen Devenport, Sam Christiansen and Coleman Mizell are all yet to see the field, leaving only freshmen as backups in the outfield, and it is hard to overstate the effects of the aforementioned Humphrey injury.

"If you want to go through my notes, I've got plenty of notes of things we've got to get better at," head coach Rob Vaughn said. "But it's not even what we need to clean up, I just want to see how we handle what's coming.... How can we take a punch? We've taken a few this year, and we've gotten off the mat every time."

Alabama has shown an ability to take those punches so far, responding every time it's gotten knocked down, from the opening day loss to Washington State, to the blowout suffered against Southern Miss right before the team went on to win the Frisco Classic. Vaughn has been impressed with the way his team has battled through adversity early.

"The only thing that matters is winning," Vaughn said. "Just win, that's it. I don't care if we win 25-1, I don't care if we win 1-0 and get no-hit. It doesn't matter. Just show up and find an excuse to win. This group's done that at a pretty high clip."

From Sunday starter Upchurch, to multiple pieces in the bullpen, to batters including Osterhouse and Steele, Friday will mark the first time a number of players play in a weekend SEC contest. Vaughn's message to the team has been simple: just keep on playing baseball.

"It's no different," Vaughn said. "The bases don't get further. The mound doesn't get any closer or further, it's 90-foot bases and 60-foot, six inches for the mound. The game is still the same... The biggest thing that's a difference is crowds and environments. That's really it."