I concur. OFCIt was rough. But with alll the pitching injuries, to be one win a way from the NCAA world series is amazing. Great job Pollard!
Pulling for Wake AND UVAIt was a good season for sure. Strong teams in the super regionals. Will be pulling for Wake to bring it home for the ACC. They hit 9 home runs today.
Certainly bodes well for next year. Appreciate the coverage Conor. This team gave us a fun ride.Quick recap of today.
I'll try to work up a column on Duke's baseball season in the next few days. I put something on Twitter toward the end of the game that I'll repeat here: It's harder to see in the immediacy of the final loss but this season was, on the whole, nothing but a success story for this team/program.
I don't get the sense Pollard's philosophy on his pitching staff has changed because of this year's success. He and Brady Kirkpatrick made the most of a bad situation. I'm most intrigued about what Andrew Healy could look like on a bigger pitch count next year. It's important to remember going into next year: Jonathan Santucci's season-ending injury wasn't Tommy John surgery, so I don't think he'll have a crazy rehab process.
This season has lined up Duke for sustained success as long as they don't lose too much (Alex Mooney as a draft-eligible sophomore) to the draft and portal.
Alex Stone, Jay Beshears, Luke Storm and Luke Fox are the juniors to keep an eye on relative to the MLB draft.Quick recap of today.
I'll try to work up a column on Duke's baseball season in the next few days. I put something on Twitter toward the end of the game that I'll repeat here: It's harder to see in the immediacy of the final loss but this season was, on the whole, nothing but a success story for this team/program.
I don't get the sense Pollard's philosophy on his pitching staff has changed because of this year's success. He and Brady Kirkpatrick made the most of a bad situation. I'm most intrigued about what Andrew Healy could look like on a bigger pitch count next year. It's important to remember going into next year: Jonathan Santucci's season-ending injury wasn't Tommy John surgery, so I don't think he'll have a crazy rehab process.
This season has lined up Duke for sustained success as long as they don't lose too much (Alex Mooney as a draft-eligible sophomore) to the draft and portal.
Maybe we’ll enjoy the same good fortune we did this spring with our basketball team in terms of guys leaving for the pros….Alex Stone, Jay Beshears, Luke Storm and Luke Fox are the juniors to keep an eye on relative to the MLB draft.
Maybe. Have to remember that baseball is just a different beast. Guys who do four seasons or more in college baseball almost never have any leverage in the draft, so even if they're picked in the first 10 rounds, they'll be low-balled in signing bonus money.Maybe we’ll enjoy the same good fortune we did this spring with our basketball team in terms of guys leaving for the pros….
Duke is bringing in the Ivy League POY to play shortstop, so that tells us all we need to know about Mooney. Andy Blake from Columbia. Nothing official from Duke AFAIK but he's posted it on social media.Maybe we’ll enjoy the same good fortune we did this spring with our basketball team in terms of guys leaving for the pros….
Santos was the highest-ranked freshman pitcher, higher than Tallon, Healy, et. al. I had hope he could overcome his arm troubles but Duke has (should have?) a lot of pitchers coming back next season so it might be a numbers crunch.The portal tracker at D1 Baseball lists 5 players from Duke in the portal.
Andrew Fischer is the only significant contributor.
Oliver Santos had big recruiting profile but I think was hurt and didn't pitch this season; Collin Bosley-Smith pitched 2 innings, none after March 31.
The other two, Colten Smith and Tyler Christmas, aren't on Duke's roster (which means they left the team before the season).
CrapAlso of interest on D1Baseball:
Troy Tulowitzki is listed as Miami's top candidate, but Chris Pollard is listed in the next tier of targets.
Good work once again by our very sharp and intelligent AD Nina King to retain Coach Pollard.A couple of updates here and I'll go in chronological order:
- Chris Pollard tweeted last night (tweet is below) the ole "unfinished business" phrase, and within minutes there was a tweet from Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball that said Pollard is getting a new deal that's going to include facilities upgrades.
He did interview, as was reported. My gut feeling is that it was a leverage play to get Duke to commit to facility upgrades.
I would keep an eye on where Duke is playing home games next season and down the line. I think it's cool that Duke plays at a great, downtown, Triple-A stadium ... and I also think it's a problem that you're playing 2/3 of your home games somewhere that you have limited practice availability.
- Miami officially gave the job to its longtime pitching coach this morning. My two cents is that it's a weird and horrible move -- their pitching is what has been the issue, at least from what I've seen. But I think yall won't mind much about them making that move because it corresponds with Pollard staying at Duke.
Depends on his negotiating skills. He does have lots of leverage.Alex Mooney got picked 218th…. Wow some places had him as a top 30 prospect. Surely he comes back?
Interesting. Baseball definitely is different but that’s a joke of a spotDepends on his negotiating skills. He does have lots of leverage.