Brad Bohannon Believes Baseball Will Gain Ground This Season

The third-year head coach of the Crimson Tide said that he thinks his team will make the SEC Tournament after a disappointing 2019 season

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — After a long offseason, Alabama baseball coach Brad Bohannon is ready to get his team back on the field against some competition.

“We all can’t wait to get started," Bohannon said at a media event Monday morning. "Now I reserve the right to take this back, but I wish we played this Friday. I’m really, really excited to see this team compete against another group. It’s a really dynamic group. They’re real athletic. They’re really physical. We’ve got [a] strong offensive team. Very good intangibles. These kids love to play. They love to practice.

"I enjoy my time at the field with them as much as any group I’ve been a part of and just really can’t wait to see what it looks like on Feb. 14th.”

There is a lot of buzz surrounding the program this season. Bohannon enters his third season as head coach of a Crimson Tide team that hasn't made the SEC Tournament since 2016. In Alabama's defense, though, the SEC is a conference that is absolutely stacked. Nine of the conference's 14 teams are ranked in USA Today's Top 25 preseason poll, and gaining any ground is becoming more and more difficult as the high-caliber teams of the conference continue to strengthen their teams in the offseason.

That being said, Bohannon believes that his team can put up a solid run in 2020.

“You know I keep telling everyone we have a really good team," Bohannon said. "Like, I’m not afraid to say that publicly. We have a very good baseball team. You know, what does that mean in the Southeastern Conference when half of the league is ranked in the top 10? If you want to be in the top half of the elite teams you have to be a top-10 caliber team, so we have the talent to do that.

"We haven’t gone out and done it yet but I’m really, really excited about this group and with the intangibles and the talent we have I’m not going to put any limits on them.”

While Alabama finished a disappointing 30-26 last season, including going 7-23 in conference play, Bohannon and his staff have put together a solid 2020-2021 recruiting class. The Crimson Tide's recent class consisted of 10 players, with four of its players being ranked the top of their position in their respective state.

Jake Eddington from Missouri was the overall No. 1 player in his state according to Perfect Game USA. In addition to Eddington, Alabama signed five more pitchers to its class. While Bohannon seems confident with his offense, his pitching staff is another story. While Eddington is a solid edition, the Crimson Tide rotation lacks college experience and will continue to be a work in progress as the season advances.

“The kids have had six months to show us what they can do but with that being said we just don’t have a lot of experience on the mound really," Bohannon said. "Especially SEC experience and through fall practice and through the preseason work you know I really like the length of our pitching staff. We got a lot of arm talent, there just hasn’t been tremendous separation and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

"So because of that we’ve got 11 or 12 guys that I feel really good that can put up zeros and help us win against really good baseball teams and you know all of those guys will pitch a bunch and over time the guys that pitch the best will pitch the most.”

While Bohannon might not have the same level of confidence in his pitching that he does in his offensive firepower and fielding, he is still highly confident in the overall effectiveness of his team.

Bohannon did not mince words when asked about where he expects his team to be when the regular season comes to a close.

“We have a bunch of kids that have grown up going to games at the SEC Tournament," Bohannon said. "I think this group would tell you their sights are higher than that.

"It should be a goal for every group in our league to get there and if you’re good enough to get there you’re probably good enough to not only get a regional but even win it so I think we all expect to be in Hoover and I think we all expect to play well when we get there.”

Alabama opens the 2020 season on Friday, Feb. 14 against Northeastern.