Breakout Stars Powering Tulane Green Wave Baseball Offense Early On
The Tulane Green Wave are off to a nice start this season and have a handful of breakout stars to thank.
Through their first 16 games, the Green Wave have a 12-4 record and have taken all but one series. They have just one more weekend until conference play starts and are sitting pretty.
These players have already left their marks on the campaign, and will be looking to continue their red-hot starts to the year:
DH/1B Matthias Haas
Haas transferred to Tulane from Cal Poly last year and had a solid first season in New Orleans. He has taken that up another notch, though, as he has been by far the team's best hitter.
He has a .368/.479/.632 slash line so far with a 157 wRC+ and two home runs. His nine doubles are four more than any other player on the team and are a large part of his sky-high OPS.
His strikeout rate has lowered to just 17.6% so far this year. It had been a massive weakness of his in the past, so this is a nice development so far.
OF Tanner Chun
Chun actually has the highest OPS on the team with a .362/.464/.660 slash line and a 160 wRC+. He has two home runs, four doubles and two triples so far.
The Hawaii native was not a necessarily highly-touted freshman as Perfect Game ranked him just No. 500 overall, but he is quickly proven that they were too low on him.
CF Michael Lombardi
Lombardi has been around for a couple of years with slow and steady improvements. He has made a massive jump this year, though. His 87 wRC+ from a season ago is all the way up to 136 through the first couple of weeks.
The 21-year-old has a .328/.474/.483 slash line with a team-high three stolen bases. His patience at the plate has stood out with 13 walks drawn to just six strikeouts.
He has proven to be a great leadoff hitter as he isn't power-forward, but does lead the team in runs scored.
C Andrew McKenna
Catchers are not necessarily known to be elite sluggers these days, but McKenna has made his presence known. He doesn't play every day, but it is getting hard to keep him off the field.
Perhaps in days that he doesn't catch, he could try out his hand as a designated hitter, allowing Haas to play in the field.
The FAU Owls transfer has a .280/.419/.520 slash line so far this year with a 125 wRC+.
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