What does Auburn baseball need to do offensively to be successful in 2022?
The preseason SEC poll is out for the 2022 baseball season, and Auburn’s chances of returning to Omaha are slim, according to a vote of the conference's head coaches. Auburn was selected to finish 7th in the West and 13th overall, with only Missouri behind Auburn at 14th overall. Six different teams received first-place votes, representing a selection by a head coach to win the SEC championship. (You could not vote for your own team). Ole Miss led the pack with four first-place votes, followed by Arkansas with three, Vanderbilt, Florida, & Mississippi State with two, and LSU with one. Vanderbilt was selected to win the Eastern division, beating Florida and Georgia, with Arkansas winning the Western division just ahead of Ole Miss and Mississippi State.
If Auburn wants to overcome the odds and climb into contention for the conference, it’s going to start with the offense. The Tigers lost their three best hitters from last season’s squad in MLB draftees SS Ryan Bliss, 1B Tyler Miller, and C/OF Steven Williams, as well as 3B Rankin Woley to graduation and medical school. To replace them, Coach Butch Thompson is relying on a combination of returning veterans and incoming transfers. Senior Brody Moore, now manning the keystone, will partner with either reserve senior infielder Garrett Farquhar or rising sophomore Cole Foster at 2B. Samford transfer Sonny DiChiara and JUCO transfer Blake Rambusch will man the corner infield spots (1st and 3rd, respectfully) and provide a power threat in the middle of the lineup, with fellow Samford transfer Brooks Carlson and the loser of the Foster/Farquhar position battle as the weekday starters and next men up. Sophomore C Ryan Dyal is expected to hold off Presbyterian grad transfer Jake Wyandt and two-way player Nate Larue for the starting catcher role, but look for Auburn to rotate some of these catchers at DH whenever sophomore DH/LHP Cam Hill needs a blow.
The outfield is led by senior CF Kason Howell and junior Bryson Ware in right, but the question will be left field. Junior Brayton Brown has gotten starts there during the spring, but many inside the program are high on both redshirt junior Josh Hall and redshirt junior Bobby Pierce as well. Pencil Brown in for now, but know that this may change based on who displays the power and can provide timely hits in their limited opportunities during non-conference play. Defense isn’t a premium for most left fielders, a fact compounded by Auburn’s shallow left field and replica “Green Monster”, so the eventual starter here is whoever brings their bat.
Auburn projects to be strong defensively, in both the infield and outfield, but questions about the offense linger. None of the returning starters are known for their prodigious power, with the two returning outfielders Howell and Ware having a combined 14 HRs across 95 games and neither Brody Moore (2 HRs in 49 games) or the catchers (Dyal with 3HRs in 31 games & LaRue with 2 in 17 games) having a large resume of power hitting. 1B Sonny DiChiara and DH Cam Hill have shown plenty of power during their time in college, but look for Auburn to work on manufacturing runs through the running game – hit and runs, double steals, and the like to get runners on the move and put stress on opposing pitchers.
Despite the 25-27 record in 2021 (and 10-20 record in conference play), Auburn knows that injuries and tight losses (16 losses by two runs or less, with 10 by a margin of one run) mean that a bit more offense coupled with some young pitchers stepping up can make a large impact on the overall record. Auburn continues to work and prepare for their season-opening trip to the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, TX this weekend, where they’ll face Oklahoma on Friday, #14 Texas Tech on Saturday, and Kansas State on Sunday.