Projection of Oklahoma’s 2021 starting lineup and pitching rotation with the season just two days away.
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Oklahoma Sooners baseball is preparing to begin the 2021 season in just a matter of a couple of days when they head south to do battle with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The matchup came together quickly and suddenly after the Sooners had to find a replacement opponent for Wichita State after weather complications canceled their series with the Shockers set to be played in Round Rock, Texas.
The games with Wichita State, of course, were also put on quickly after Oklahoma’s home series with Southern was canceled due to the winter conditions going through the region this week. But, it does appear the Sooners have found something that will work in this three-game set with the Islanders beginning on Saturday.
With the season less than two full days away from getting fired up, it seems like a great time to take a stab at what the starting lineup and pitching rotation will look like for the bulk of the season based off of last season and what we have heard from head coach Skip Johnson in the last couple of weeks.
Johnson did already reveal what this weekend’s starters will be, and that will be reflected as the plan going forward in the projections. These are not absolutes, just educated projections.
Starting Lineup
- RF Tanner Tredaway
- LF Brady Harlan
- 1B Tyler Hardman
- 3B Peyton Graham
- C Justin Mitchell
- DH Diego Muniz
- 2B Conor McKenna
- SS Brandon Zaragoza
- CF Connor Beichler
Most of the starting lineup from last season is back this year, which makes most of this a relatively solid projection. Where it gets murky is with the outfield and how Skip Johnson will mix in left-handed batters with his generally right-hand heavy team.
Last season, Brady Lindsly was often up in the two-hole as someone with good lefty pop. Without him, figuring out who makes logical sense there is a challenge. Brady Harlan gets put there in this projection for two main reasons: experience and the fact he is a left-handed hitter. A senior who Johnson can likely trust to give him solid at-bats early in the season, he seems to make some sense there at least to start the year.
Tredaway should be leadoff again and the 3-5 spots can stay the same from what used a lot last season. McKenna and Zaragoza should be somewhere in 7-9, but finding out just where is a little tricky as well. Connor Beichler is such an interesting player, it is a bit of a shot in the dark to project him as a starter, but his switch-hitting ability and his speed in the outfield seem to make him as good of a choice as anybody.
Kendall Pettis and Trent Brown could both easily work themselves into this lineup as well, but I would have them just on the outside looking in from this group. Again, these are just projections. Practice each and every day could be changing things, this is largely based off of what was used a year ago.
Starting Rotation
- Friday – Wyatt Olds
- Saturday – Dalton Fowler
- Sunday – Jake Bennett
- Tuesday – Luke Taggart
- Wednesday – Ben Abram
We have all known for the entire offseason that Wyatt Olds is going to be the No. 1 option and the guy getting the ball on Friday nights. That was confirmed by Skip Johnson earlier this week on the Big 12 teleconference.
He also revealed that JUCO transfer Dalton Fowler would be the No. 2 starter to begin the year. The 6-6 lefty will get a chance to be a big part of this team right out of the gate, and it will be incredibly big for the team if he has a successful year.
Another left-hander rounding out the weekend is Jake Bennett who did some really nice things in his limited time a year ago. He started three times, throwing 12 total innings allowing just one run and six hits while striking out 19. He gets a weekend spot as expected.
I assume graduate transfer Luke Taggart will be getting the ball the bulk of the time on Tuesday nights. He is a guy who has thrown a lot of innings at the collegiate level and should be a reliable option to at the very least eat up some innings for Johnson in the middle of the week to keep the bullpen fresh for the weekend.
Ben Abram should pretty much pick up whatever other starts are available in a given week. After a solid 2019 season, he was another one who really sparkled in his limited time a year ago. He only made one start, but came out of the bullpen three other times to throw 10 total innings allowing just one run and striking out 13. Still just a redshirt sophomore, he has plenty of time to still develop into a weekend pitcher in the years to come.
The Sooners will open their season on the road against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. CT.
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