Clemson baseball opens new season with ‘more quality options’

The time has come for Clemson’s baseball program to officially move on from the disappointment from last season.

“We’ve talked about last season ad nauseam,” Clemson coach Monte Lee said. “We’re focusing on this season.”

The Tigers will get it started today with the first of a three-game series against Indiana beginning at 4 p.m. at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Lee said his team is going into it with more depth than it had a season ago, which produced the Tigers’ first losing season in more than six decades.

Health is a big reason why. Clemson was decimated by injuries last season, particularly on the mound. Getting through the grind of a 50-plus game season at full strength is a difficult ask, but the Tigers are starting close to it.

Lee said reliever Rob Hughes (undisclosed) and freshman outfielder Will Taylor, who’s still working his way back from the ACL surgery he underwent in the fall, are the only players who won’t be available this weekend.

There’s also quality competition going on that’s making it difficult on him to fill out his lineup card.

“Still trying to make a decision between maybe one to two spots, but we feel pretty good about, I would say, seven of those nine spots going into (today),” Lee said.

Jonathan French and Cooper Ingle are duking it out to be Adam Hackenburg’s replacement at catcher. The Tigers also need a new everyday second baseman with Sam Hall gone. Tyler Corbitt, a transfer from The Citadel, and Blake Wright, who started 10 games last season, are the candidates there.

Lee has consistently praised Ingle’s improvement offensively during the offseason, calling him the best hitter in the program. So French and Ingle, a strong designated hitter candidate, may both find themselves in the lineup, particularly if French is behind the dish.

Dayton transfer Ben Blackwell will take over for James Parker at shortstop, joining first baseman Caden Grice and third baseman Bryar Hawkins in the infield. In the outfield, Clemson has to replace one of the ACC’s top defensive players in Bryce Teodosio, a task that will fall to sophomore J.D. Brock to start the season.

Brock will be flanked by corner outfielders Dylan Brewer (right) and Chad Fairey (left). Brewer was second on the team last year with 10 home runs while Fairey missed all of last season recovering from an injury, but Lee said the third-year sophomore has earned a starting job with a strong preseason.

“He’s shown tremendous power, has hit for average and has been able to get on base,” Lee said of Fairey. “He’s a very good defender in left field. He’s played very, very well over the course of the year.”

But much like the infield and the DH spot, Lee said Clemson could mix and match in the outfield depending on whether a right-hander or a left-hander is on the mound for the opposition. Brewer could slide over to center at times while the left-handed hitting Grice, Clemson’s home run leader as a freshman last season, could see some time in the outfield as well.

“From a lineup perspective, we feel very good,” Lee said. “Probably, I would say, six to seven of those guys are going to be everyday guys, and we do have some platoon options whether we face a lefty or a righty in two to three of those spots.”

On the mound, Clemson’s new-look rotation for the opening weekend will consist of Mack Anglin (today), Nick Clayton (Saturday) and Nick Hoffman (Sunday) with Keyshawn Askew no longer around. Anglin posted a 3.99 earned run average in eight starts last season, but Clayton and Hoffman combined for just five starts a season ago as freshmen. 

The Tigers have their top reliever back in left-hander Geoffrey Gilbert (2.23 ERA in a team-high 28 appearances last season), but Gilbert could also take on a starting role in the future if needed. Fellow lefty Ryan Ammons will begin the season as the closer, and the Tigers have a slew of other arms, including Alex Edmondson, Jackson Lindley, Rocco Reid and true freshmen Jay Dill, Casey Tallent and Billy Barlow, that could help on the bump immediately.

Ideally, Lee would like to cap the number of pitchers he uses on any given weekend at 10 – “if you’re pitching more than eight to 10 guys on the weekend, you’re in trouble,” he said – but that will also depend on the health of the pitching staff as the season progresses.

“Last year, we got hit a little bit early in the season with injuries,” Lee said. “(Davis) Sharpe, Askew and even Anglin, all three of those guys experienced time off. A big part of that is just going to be luck. We have to be a little bit lucky when it comes to staying healthy. As we sit here right now, we’re pretty healthy.”

Which also gives Lee plenty of options to work with for the time being.

“I feel like we’re deeper,” Lee said. “I feel like we have more quality options in all categories.”