The purpose of this article is to examine the state of Cal baseball-2002. I
was fortunate enough to be able to interview head coach, David Esquer,
on Monday, March 11, 2002. The publish date was delayed due to CyberBears' obsession
with Cal basketball during March Madness.
Cal entered this season needing to replace four key players from 2001: starting
LHP Jason Dennis, multiple role RHP David Cash, RF Rob Meyer & first
baseman Clint Hoover. The objective of this year's team is to again earn post
season play as well as, perhaps, cracking the pecking order of the perennial
top three Pac 10 baseball powers, Stanford, ASU & USC. Today, coach Esquer,
in his third season at Cal, is 78-64 (55%). This season the Bears have already
played 30 of 56 games scheduled, standing 19-11 overall and 3-0 in the Pac 10.
IMO, the Pac 10 race could go either way for the Bears. Several teams
have comparable talent (Cal, Arizona, Washington, UCLA & Oregon State).
Let's take a look behind the scenes for the reasons why...
The Bears of 2002 are a "thin" team and are entering Pac
10 play WITHOUT definitive answers as replacements for the
four key departed players. The reasons that the answers are not self-evident
by now have been injuries and inconsistent play from the new recruiting class
(100% freshmen). Cal was fortunate in 2001 - a rebuilding year - to
gain 4 position players as everyday starters plus a starting pitcher &
stopper (relief pitcher) from its recruiting class. These six key contributors
(one juco transfer along with five excellent freshmen) spurred the
team onto post season play.
This season only one recruit, CF-3B David
Nicholson (rated #80 nationally by BaseballAmerica), has jumped to the
forefront to become a cog in the machine as of the beginning of the Pac 10
campaign. Cal has 16 position players available this season but only half are
hitting capably (.270-.400 BA). The other half are really struggling with
batting averages hovering around the "Mendoza line" (.200 BA). The
pitching staff is facing a similar dilemma: 3 standouts among the 10-man staff! Actually, 7 pitchers have ERAs in the threes or below which is
good. The problem is that two of those, ex-Cal starter Ryan Atkinson & sophomore
reliever Blake Read, are rehabing injuries and only pitch during the
week (B games) until they regain their strength. A third pitcher just graduated
from this situation, frosh Kyle Crist, and started yesterday's victory over
WSU. A fourth relief pitcher, converted catcher Creighton Kahoali, is also
unavailable at the moment because he has started the last 7 games atcatcher in lieu of injured starter, John Baker.
The pitching staff has four
freshmen that all have had their "moments" this season, but
they're inexperienced and inconsistent. Three have unacceptable ERAs
(Todoroff,
Crist & redshirt surprise, Ingram). The lone freshman with a good ERA,
Brent Hale, has pitched well the majority of the time but has a tendency
toward wildness. This limits coach Esquer to using him as a
starter or long reliever rather than bringing him in the game with the bases
loaded. Cal needs at least a couple of these young men to step
forward to be counted upon during the rigors of Pac 10 play.
The pitching game plan seems to be as follows: senior RHP Trevor
Hutchinson (6-2) opens each weekend series as the starter followed by
sophomore, Brian Montalbo (3-3). Cal has been unable to develop a reliable #3
starter (to replace Dennis) or a setup reliever (to replace Cash). For now,
it is #3 starter "by committee" until somebody grabs the job. Coach
Esquer told me that this pitcher will have "a relatively short
leash" if he gets into trouble. Three freshmen are the prime candidates
(Kyle Crist, Brent Hale or Joe Todoroff). If they can go 7 innings,
soph ace Matt Brown will come in to close out the game. Coach Esquer needs
Brown to finish tight games so depending upon how many innings
of work that he's had in game #1 & #2 of a series, will dictate his
availability for the finale.
Yesterday, Crist started and was relieved by two
of his fellow freshmen, Hale & Ingram. Prior to Crist returning
to action, his high school teammate from Granite Bay, Todoroff, had been the
#3 starter. The Bottom Line: Cal has three dependable thoroughbreds plus four
freshmen with promise. Hopefully, veterans Atkinson & Read can also
graduate from the weekday regimen soon, adding to the team's overall pitching
depth. AS a side note, sophomore catcher Kahoali has a cannon for an arm and is learning how
to pitch during the week. Many pitchers are ex-catchers or
shortstops that couldn't hit the curve ball. One last item regarding pitching:
Esquer actually had his #3 starter "on board", he was BaseballAmerica's #12
prospect nationally named Adamzlck (6'5") from Westlake Village. The only
problem was that professional baseball realized his talent, too, and made him an
offer that he could not refuse!
The regular batting order is made up of position players that are
predominantly underclassmen. Originally, coach Esquer auditioned several
players to replace graduated first baseman, Hoover. He started the
season with a platoon system with sophomore James Holder (vs LHP) &
senior Derek Ayres (vs RHP). Holder homered in the opener and had a .750 on
base percentage for his initial couple games until he severely separated his
shoulder (he'll probably sit out 2002 as a medical redshirt). Ayres was given 22 ABs
but with little power production, Esquer was forced to move his top power
hitter, soph Conner Jackson, from the hot corner at 3B to 1B! So now the new hole to
plug on the infield has now become third base. The other unsettled
position is leftfield (5 candidates). Esquer moved soph outfielder Brian
Horwitz from LF to RF to kick off the season.
Here's the preferred batting order (BA/OB% stats as of 3/18):
|
3B-frosh David Nicholson |
.324/.389 |
|
DH-soph David Weiner |
.267/.380 |
|
1B-soph Connor Jackson |
.402/.456 |
|
2B-senior Carson White |
.359/.441 |
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