Oregon Ducks
Overall Rank: #28
Conference Rank: #4 Pac-12
Oregon Team Page
Consistency reigned supreme with the Oregon baseball program in the last three season They have amassed 138 wins, which is good for the fourth highest win total in college baseball over the last three seasons. The 2014 campaign was a prime example of consistency and resilience as the Ducks battled through injuries and fought valiantly against eventual national champion Vanderbilt before falling in the Nashville Regional.
2014: 44-20, 18-12
2014 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: George Horton
Field Players:
The offense is going to have to be strong early in the season until the weekend rotation completely settles in after the first two weeks or so of the season. Infielder Mitchell Tolman is the best all-around returning player for the Ducks. He drove in 49 runs and has excellent speed, stealing 12 bases last season. Tolman should be an all-American at the end of the season barring injury. Shaun Chase is the top returning power hitter for Oregon as he went deep 14 times last season. His ability to hit the key homerun and lead the pitching staff are going to be invaluable once again in 2015. Infielder Scott Heineman returns from a shoulder injury and, if he is at full strength, will be another big bat in the lineup to help Chase to drive in runs.
Pitchers:
This will be a fun group to see battle it out early on the season as Oregon has to replace Tommy Thorpe and Jeff Gold out of the weekend rotation. On the surface this would look like the makings of a potential disaster, but the Ducks get back a number one starter in Cole Irvin from injury this season. Irvin won 12 games in 2013 and did a great job of going deep into games as he pitched four complete games during the 2013 season. The other two weekend starting spots should most likely be filled by sophomore Stephen Nogosek and freshman David Peterson. Nogosek came up huge in two starts against Oregon State and Vanderbilt late in the season that should give Coach Horton plenty of confidence in him moving forward.
Who to Watch:
The loss of Jake Reed is a big one for the Ducks as Reed was one of the top closers in the nation last season. He had 13 saves and limited opponents to a .182 batting average in 2014. It will be up to Garrett Cleavinger to step up and take control of the closer role in 2015 and it should be a seamless transition as he did get a couple of saves last season working out of the bullpen to spot Reed.
Final Projection:
Overall, the schedule for Oregon is a balanced one throughout the course of the season. A trip to Santa Barbara to play UC Santa Barbara is one of those series that might fly under the radar nationally, but should be a preview of two NCAA Tournament teams battling each other. St. John’s visits PK Park in early March in a tough intersectional test. The Red Storm will bring a very experienced squad to Eugene. The conference schedule is a bit more favorable this season as the Ducks will get visits from Arizona State in the middle of March along with Stanford and UCLA in the month of May. It will be very important for the Ducks to take care of business at home like they normally do and consistently win series so that they can get in position to be a regional host. Bottom line, if the pitching after Irvin comes through during the weekend series and Oregon can get just a little more explosiveness offensively, they should be knocking on the door of a Regional host spot.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
Returning Leaders:
At Bats: Mitchell Tolman, IF, 211
Hits: Mitchell Tolman, IF, 69
Home Runs: Shaun Chase, C, 14
RBIs: Mitchell Tolman, IF, 49
Runs: Mitchell Tolman, IF, 45
Stolen Bases: Mitchell Tolman, OF, 12
Wins: Garrett Cleavinger, P, 3
Innings Pitched: Trent Paddon, P, 50.2
Strikeouts: Matt Krook, P, 60
Saves: Garrett Cleavinger, P, 2
Madness 2015 Baseball Recruit Rankings:
#16 David Peterson
#33 Tim Susnara
Madness 2015 MLB Draft Rankings:
#59 Cole Irvin
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