Hey- if someone can use that's baseball, I can "we're young".
There are going to be a lot of battles next fall and spring for a lot of spots.
I think Hunter Renfroe is going to be the catcher, and then Brett Bozeman and Mitch Slauter will also get some action there as well. We definately lose a lot in terms of experience.
1B- I think it will be Wes Rea if he is healthy, possibly Norris, Bozeman is a possibility, and Johnathan Holder is also a candidate.
2B- I don't think Frost will start- I think it will be Adam Frazier or Demarcus Henderson.
3B- Norris if Rea starts at first, possibly Brayden Jones.
SS- I think it will be Demarcus Henderson who will hopefully be back with 100% vision after having eye surgery. Frazier is certainly possible as well.
RF- Brandon Woodruff if he bypasses the MLB draft, certainly could be Holder or Stark here.
CF- CT Bradford- probably the only lock on the team.
LF- Brownlee
DH- Stark, Renfroe, Holder
It is going to be critical for a lot of our young players to have a productive summer once the season is over. They need at bats and innings. The good news is out of the above lineup, even though there is a lot of inexpereince for sure, there is only one true freshman, and there are only two guys that haven't ever played a game in the SEC- including that true freshman.
Just like our pitchers last year who struggled as freshmen and came back better, the same thing will happen with most of these players as well. Speaking of the pitching- that should be an area of strength next year. We probably return our entire starting rotation- Pollorena, Routt, and Stratton, and our top relief pitcher in Caleb Reed. We also get Ben Bracewell back- he has looked good in practice. Then we also return guys like Girodo, Graveman, and Busby and then we also have the dual position guys like Stark, Norris, and Renfroe, and then we are adding some more talented freshmen in the mix as well like Trevor Fitts, Jacob Lindgren, Will Cox, and a couple of legit dual position guys in Holder and Woodruff.
I think next year, there is no doubt that there are a lot of questions about the position players- but our pitching and defense should still be pretty solid next year. We may have some guys struggle a little bit at the beginning of the year at the plate, and then come around later- sort of like this year. Only difference is, we will still have at least a year or two of hopefully good solid production from those players. So, I think next year, we will see a similar record as to what we are having this year, and depending on how those players develop, possibly even better.