Miami (FL) Hurricanes
Overall Rank: #17
Conference Rank: #5 ACC
Miami earned the third overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, but their postseason did not last long. The Hurricanes lost their opener to Arizona and were eliminated by UCSB in the next game. The Hurricanes will hope to quickly forget about the 2016 postseason and put it behind them. Jesse Lepore and Michael Mediavilla are the experienced pitchers on the roster. Those two combined to go 20-2 last season. That is a great start to what should be a very talented pitching staff.
2016: 50-14, 21-7
2016 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Jim Morris
Key Departed Players:
Danny Garcia, P, 3.57 ERA, 98.1 IP, 52 SO
Thomas Woodrey, P, 4.98 ERA, 68.2 IP, 40 SO
Bryan Garcia, P, 1.89 ERA, 38.0 IP, 55 SO, 18 SV
Brandon Lopez, .376 BA, 2 HR, 42 RBI
Zack Collins, .363 BA, 16 HR, 59 RBI
Willie Abreu, .285 BA, 12 HR, 56 RBI
Key Returning Players:
Jesse Lepore, P, 2.20 ERA, 73.2 IP, 57 SO
Michael Mediavilla, P, 3.40 ERA, 103.1 IP, 85 SO
Johnny Ruiz, IF, .342 BA, 4 HR, 57 RBI
Carl Chester, OF, .336 BA, 2 HR, 29 RBI
Randy Batista, IF, .272 BA, 2 HR, 26 RBI
Edgar Michelangeli, IF, .269 BA, 5 HR, 40 RBI
Projection:
Miami has some massive holes to fill at the plate. Brandon Lopez is gone after leading the team with a .376 batting average. He also added 42 RBIs and 50 runs. Zack Collins will be much tougher to replace. He hit .363 and led the team with 16 homeruns and 59 RBIs. As if losing that much power was not enough, Willie Abreu, who belted a dozen homeruns with 56 RBIs, is also gone. That leaves Edgar Michelangeli as the team’s top returning homerun hitter with six. Johnny Ruiz and Carl Chester will get on base consistently, but at this point Miami lacks the proven power hitters to again rank 22nd in the country in runs scored. As usual, Coach Jim Morris does have plenty of young talent looking to step up, but it is asking too much for anybody to be as productive as Collins or Abreu right away.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
