2020 West Virginia Baseball Season Preview
Coming off arguably the best season in modern school history, Randy Mazey’s West Virginia baseball team is looking to return to the heights of a 2019 season that saw Morgantown host an NCAA Regional for the first time in the tournament’s current form.
Looking to replace five starters in the field and three-quarters of the pitching rotation, the young Mountaineers were voted into seventh place in the preseason Big 12 baseball rankings, still receiving a first place vote from the conference’s coaches. Additionally, there is still national respect for what West Virginia returns as the opening NCBWA poll ranks the Mountaineers 36th in the country.
Mazey is confident that despite losing so much talent, West Virginia can reach the top again soon.
“Just like we built it, you gotta rebuild it the same way,” Mazey said. “Try to recruit good players, teach them how to play the game and how to work hard and motivate themselves. We’ve got a history here of kids developing at a pretty high rate so if they buy into what we’re trying to teach them, then I feel like we’ll continue on the path we’re on."
With a school-record of eight players drafted by MLB teams, as well as starting first baseman Marques Inman departing the program, Mazey has his work cut out for him going into the spring. Losing record-setting ace pitcher Alek Manoah, in addition to fellow starters Kade Strowd and Nick Snyder, competition to fill in the pitching staff and returning Saturday starter Jackson Wolf looks to be fierce.
Wolf, a 6’7” left-hander, had an outstanding offseason in the elite Cape Cod League, pitching to a 3.03 ERA in seven appearances for the league champion Cotuit Kettleers. He will likely be joined in the weekend rotation by sophomore righty Ryan Bergert, a high-potential pitcher who emerged in the 2019 Big 12 tournament as a breakout candidate, pitching five shutout innings against Texas Tech.
The other two spots on the starting staff are still up for grabs with a couple of returners and a handful of newcomers all vying for those positions. Haden Erbe, a junior college transfer from Seminole State College, started both games during the fall schedule and will compete with Zach “Otter” Ottinger, another true sophomore who stood out late in 2019, and several freshmen, including Toronto Blue Jays draft pick Daniel Batcher.
One of the losers of the battle to stay in the pitching rotation will see Sam Kessler replaced as the Mountaineers closer with Ottinger looking like a favorite for that spot. The return of redshirt senior Braden Zarbnisky with a medical waiver will strengthen the staff as well, with the two-way star having stabilized the West Virginia bullpen in each of his three previous seasons.
The rest of the bullpen will be young but returns a decent bit of experience. Beau Lowery, Dillon Meadows, Madison Jeffery and Brock Helverson each made at least 12 appearances a year ago and will look to build on those performances in 2020. They will be joined by a series of newcomers, including righties Tyler Strechay, Drew Watters, Hunter Rosenbaum, and West Virginia native Carter Lyles, along with left-handed in-stater Jake Carr.
Zarbnisky’s reintroduction to the team will not only help the hurlers but will also cut down on the impact caused by the departures of several major contributors from the lineup. Darius Hill and Brandon White will need replacing in the outfield, as will Inman and catcher Ivan Gonzalez.
At the catcher position, it is difficult to replace a player with as much experience as Gonzalez but if anyone can, it will be junior Paul McIntosh. The junior college transfer made an immediate impact last season, seeing time behind the plate and in left field while getting most of his reps at designated hitter, leading the team with 10 home runs.
Named to the preseason All-Big 12 team, McIntosh looks to become the everyday catcher for the Mountaineers and a middle-of-the-order presence that will drive in runs for a team that needs to get runners on base.
However, the Florida native is not phased by what his new responsibilities will bring.
“I’m just gonna go about my business the same as I did before. Obviously, I’m going to have more on my plate this year and I’m ready for that. I’m prepared for it and I got to see what “Pudge” (Gonzalez) did all last year. It’s my turn to step up and contribute,” McIntosh said.
He will be spelled by a pair of young but talented newcomers in Vince Ippoliti, a sophomore transfer from McLennan Community College, and Matt McCormick, the Mountaineers’ top-rated freshman recruit and a draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds.
On the infield dirt, a pair of returners seem likely to make up one of the best double play combinations in the Big 12 as junior Tyler Doanes, a preseason All-Big 12 pick, is back at second base while sophomore Tevin Tucker will hold down the shortstop position once again. Doanes proved to be an outstanding table-setter a year ago, earning a Big 12 Honorable Mention award while leading the team in batting average and ranking third in the conference with 20 stolen bases.
Doanes is now one of the senior players on the team and will be relied upon as a leader, with his style combining the contributions of his former veteran teammates and a strong work ethic.
“My last two years we had Jimmy Galusky, Kyle Gray, Alek Manoah, “Pudgy”. We had all those guys to kind of lean on but just learning to be, like, taking kind of what all of them did while also trying to work hitting for power, hitting for average,” Doanes said.
Tucker will look to build on a strong true freshman season in which he emerged as one of the more spectacular infield defenders the Mountaineers have seen in recent years. A jump on the offensive side of the ball could make the Virginia native one of the most exciting players in the Big 12 in 2020.
On the corners, one spot is up for grabs while the other will likely be held down by returning starter Kevin Brophy. Brophy returned from a season-ending back injury a year ago to add some serious pop to the lineup, including an opposite field home run in the NCAA regional.
He will lock down either third or first base with his versatility allowing Mazey to put the best lineup on the field at all times. Top recruit McCormick is also capable of handling the hot corner, much like the departed Gonzalez, while first base options could include Arizona transfer Ryan Archibald and another standout freshman in Tyler DeMartino.
The outfield brings the most unknowns to the West Virginia lineup as the Mountaineers will need to replace two Major League draft picks. Darius Hill and Brandon White were both multi-year starters and their production will not be easy to emulate in 2020.
For most of 2019, coach Mazey employed a platoon in left field of TJ Lake and newcomer Austin Davis. Lake has since graduated, leaving the position to the now-sophomore Davis, a speedy defender whose bat came along nicely toward the end of his freshman season.
Much like Brophy in the infield, Davis brings versatility to the outfield with the ability to play all three positions well, as evidenced by his performance in center field following White’s injury in the NCAA regional a year ago. Elsewhere on the roster, another freshman may be emerging as the favorite for the everyday job in center.
Newcomer Victor Scott started both fall games up the middle for the Mountaineers, clearly showing a quick adjustment to the college game early on in his time in Morgantown. With Scott looking like the top option in the middle and Davis locking down one of the corners, the final corner spot will likely be filled by a variety of players.
Zarbnisky is likely to see considerable reps in the outfield but will also fill in at designated hitter rather often to save his pitching arm. Junior college transfer Austin Earl may get a chance to platoon in either spot, in addition to the aforementioned DeMartino who can handle the outfield as well as first base.
Momentum is one of the biggest things that West Virginia University athletics have needed to vault its teams to the next level over the decades. Coming off a historic season in 2019, that is something the Mountaineer baseball team has in spades.
With a coach like Randy Mazey and the highest rated recruiting class in school history, West Virginia looks much more likely to reload, rather than rebuild, in the 2020 season.
First pitch is ten days away as the Mountaineers will visit Jacksonville University for the season’s opening series on February 14.