San Diego State Aztecs
Overall Rank: #31
Conference Rank: #1 Mountain West
San Diego State will be looking to bounce back from a 32 win season in 2019 that saw the Aztecs miss the NCAA Tournament. Head Coach Mark Martinez has built a very consistent program in his six seasons so don’t expect San Diego State to stay down for long. Casey Schmitt leads a talented returning group of players that will be highly motivated to get back to the top of the Mountain West Conference and the NCAA Tournament in 2020.
2019: 32-25, 16-13
2019 Postseason: NCAA
Coach: Mark Martinez
Key Departed Players:
Angelo Armenta, INF, .307 BA, 2 HR, 39 RBI, 6 SB
Chad Bible, OF, .276 BA, 7 HR, 30 RBI, 6 SB
Julian Escobedo, .255 BA, 5 HR, 32 RBI, 7 SB
Adrian Mardueno, P, 1.93 ERA, 5-2 W/L, 65.1 IP, 28 BB, 75 SO
Key Returning Players:
Matt Rudick, OF, .320 BA, 0 HR, 28 RBI, 6 SB
Casey Schmitt, INF, .315 BA, 5 HR, 36 RBI, 4 SB, 3.77 ERA, 3-3 W/L, 43.0 IP, 16 BB, 44 SO
Jaden Fein, OF, .293 BA, 4 HR, 20 RBI, 2 SB
Mike Jarvis, OF, .289 BA, 5 HR, 30 RBI, 8 SB
Brian Leonhardt, INF/P, .272 BA, 1 HR, 34 RBI
Jacob Flores, P, 3.75 ERA, 2-2 W/L, 36.0 IP, 27 BB, 38 SO
Aaron Eden, P, 4.01 ERA, 74.0 IP, 4-2 W/L, 19 BB, 41 SO
Michael Paredes, P, 5.29 ERA, 3-3 W/L, 51.0 IP, 19 BB, 56 SO
Projection:
Casey Schmitt is one of the top returning two way players in all of college baseball. Schmitt hit .315 last season with five homeruns, 36 runs batted in and four stolen bases. On the mound, Schmitt did a rock solid job in 2019 as he had a 3.77 earned run average and did a nice job with his command, striking out 44 batters while walking just 16. Matt Rudick, Jaden Fein, Mike Jarvis, and Brian Leonhardt will provide a solid mix of hitting for average, power, and a little bit of speed. Jacob Flores and Aaron Eden will be in the weekend rotation and the key for those guys will be to go after opposing hitters and limit the unnecessary walks. The schedule will be challenging as the Aztecs will battle the likes of Coastal Carolina, Virginia Tech, Nebraska, Oregon State, TCU, Cal State Fullerton, USC, and Oklahoma to go along with the Mountain West Conference schedule. If San Diego State can stay healthy and be a little more productive offensively on a consistent basis then they will get back to the NCAA Tournament.
Projected Postseason: NCAA Baseball Tournament
