This Friday is Opening Day! The Illini will take on Georgetown at Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Last year’s team was young, no doubt about it. With one more year under their belt, they have a year’s worth of experience and the team is better off for it. While Bren Spillane has gotten himself drafted, this team is strong and agile. They have gotten the attention of the national press too. Collegiate Baseball has ranked them #34 in the preseason polls.
Hitting
So who is returning to the offensive lineup?
Before going into speculation and reciting what’s on the FightingIllini.com 2019 Lineup Preview, I will say this: Coach Hartleb will use early non-conference games to test the skills of all his players. We may see a a variety of lineups in the first few weekends.
That said, I suspect that we will see the usual suspects in the starting nine. Junior Michael Massey who hasn’t missed a start yet, has a lock at second base. Ben Troike is a sure thing as well. Grant Van Scoy (shown top) is solid and will most likely take the hot corner.
With Bren Spillane gone, Mike Michalak is possibility to move to first base from DH. The Illini are lucky to have two outstanding outfielders returning in Jack Yalowitz and Zac Taylor.
A few questions remain. The third outfield spot could go to highly-touted freshman Cam McDonald or Andy Dyke. A healthy Ryan Haff could really help the Illini at first base freeing up Michalak for the third outfield spot.
The biggest question to me is what Illinois will do behind the plate. Illinois has historically produced good catchers and this year is no exception. Coming into this season, Illinois has tough Jeff Korte and speedy David Craan. Add to the mix, freshman Jacob Campbell who was drafted by the Cubs out of high school. No question, Coach Hartleb will have a decision to make.
Pitching
Too much pitching? It’s a problem most coaches dream of having.
The Illini will have 98% of their starts and 91% of their innings from last year. Long story short: with one key exception, we’re looking at the same pitching staff with one year more experience.
Coach Hartleb and pitching Coach Drew Dickinson are not ones to mess with success so I don’t see them changing their strategy too much. The FightingIllini.com 2019 Illini Baseball Pitching Preview shows that they will stay the course with a starting three of Quinn Snarskis (6-1, 2.84), Andy Fisher (6-3, 3.96) and Ty Weber (4-3, 3.84).
Cyrillo Watson (1-1, 4.25) is a possibility as fourth starter. Freshman Aidan Maldonado has been getting a lot of attention lately too. Coach Hartleb may just see what he can do.
Interestingly, none of the three named starters led the Illini in wins last year. That was setup man Ryan Thompson who was 8-3 with a 2.72 ERA. For a while, Ryan was in the nation’s lead for wins. With a big hole left by closer Joey Gerber, I wouldn’t be too surprised if Ryan was tested in the late innings.
The rest of the bullpen is full of young, fresh arms. By my count, there are seven freshmen and sophomores on the Illini pitching staff ready to prove their worth.
Here is the full 2019 roster of the Illinois baseball team.
Get ready, Illini! Friday is Opening Day!!