D1 Baseball came away impressed with Auburn in its 2022 Fall Report
Coming out of a 2022 season where you had eight players drafted by MLB, including five of your top six innings eaters and your top four hitters, there would normally be cause for concern about the depth of your team. But D1Baseball.com writer Aaron Fitt, who spent a day with the Tigers during the Orange and Blue World Series, isn't worried about the loss of production because of the strength of the incoming class of recruits and transfers.
There’s plenty of reason to believe Auburn will keep on chugging along at a very competitive level despite losing its top four hitters from last year’s Omaha team (superstar Sonny DiChiara, Blake Rambusch, Brooks Carlson and Brody Moore) plus five of its top six innings eaters on the mound (Trace Bright, Mason Barnett, Carson Skipper, Blake Burkhalter and Hayden Mullins). Sure, this team will have a different look, but there are still a number of proven mainstays with Omaha experience on this roster, and Auburn has proven adept at reloading every year and blending the new faces in with the old.
Fitt was on the Plains late in the fall, on hand both to watch a game of the Orange and Blue World Series as well as spend time with head baseball coach Butch Thompson. Fitt spends time discussing both the pitchers and the position players, and is very complimentary of the talent on the roster.
For pitching, Joseph Gonzalez and Chase Allsup are the clear #1 and #2 starters, with no clear #3 but plenty of options. Fitt lauds the experience of lefties Tommy Sheehan and Tanner Bauman, as well as the electric stuff from freshman lefty Zach Crotchfelt, righty Hayden Murphy, and Crotchfelt's "piggyback", junior righty Carson Swilling.
In his remarks after fall camp, Thompson explained that the early part of the non-conference season will be time to determine who seizes that 3rd starter's role, reinforced by his comment to Fitt that the rotation is currently "Gonzalez-Allsup-TBA", with a Sunday opener and bullpen matchups a possibility based on opponent.
When it comes to position players, Fitt notes the strength of the team lies in the experience up the middle with centerfielder Kason Howell, shortstop Cole Foster, and catcher Nate LaRue.
Going a step farther, Fitt has Foster as one of the two potential breakouts players in 2023, along with right fielder Bobby Pierce. Of Pierce, who didn't get into the everyday lineup until April following double knee surgery in 2021, Fitt notes "he looks primed for a big year as a righthanded power source in the heart of the lineup."
Thompson and Fitt discussed the continued offensive maturation of LaRue, who hit only .211/.272/.382 last season but has retooled his setup in the box to be more open and give him better timing. Auburn's fall notes point out that LaRue hit .420 w/ 18 RBIs this fall, including tying for 2nd with fellow catcher Ike Irish in homeruns with five.
Junior college transfer Cade Green (2nd base) and freshman Gavin Miller (3rd base) are the suggested fielders around Foster, but Fitt admits there's a lot of depth and competition in the infield with grad transfer Brody Wortham & Bryson Ware competing at 3rd base.
Just as deep as the infield is catcher, with freshman Ike Irish winning fall MVP honors and junior college transfer Carter Wright behind both, as well as the returning veteran Ryan Dyal. Fitt believes Irish is a safe bet to get immediate playing time at DH, calling him "super-talented" both offensively and defensively. During the game Fitt watched, Irish went 1-3 with three "hard hit balls" - a batted ball at 88MPH exit velo or greater - and threw out an attempted base stealer with a pop time of 1.94 seconds to 2nd base (the MLB average for 2022 was 2.01 seconds).
You can read the entire D1Baseball Fall Report HERE.
Auburn baseball opens the season on February 17th at home against Indiana for a 3-game series. Due to having sold record numbers of season tickets last year, fans interested in tickets are officially encouraged to join the Tigers Unlimited Billy Hitchcock Ticket Priority Program. Single-game ticket information will be released closer to the start of the regular season.
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