Indiana Baseball 2024 Position Preview

Indiana baseball has a core of returning players coming off its 43-win season in 2023, but it will have to fill some vacancies. Some players will also adapt to new positions. With the season less than two weeks away, here is the 2024 position preview, divided into groups.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Indiana baseball’s season is now less than two weeks away, when the Hoosiers will travel south for Opening Day weekend in Myrtle Beach to play consensus top-20 teams Duke and Coastal Carolina. There’s some buzz around Indiana this preseason, which is grouped with some Big Ten favorites and College World Series sleeper teams.

Last spring, the Hoosiers went 43-20, the program’s most wins in nine years. And Indiana was only one victory shy of reaching the NCAA Tournament Super Regionals for the first time with sixth-year head coach Jeff Mercer. Like last season, Indiana returns core group of players but has some holes to fill.

Below is the 2024 season position preview, divided into the infield, outfield, and the pitchers.

Infield

Indiana returns three infielders: juniors Josh Pyne and Brock Tibbitts, and sophomore Tyler Cerny. Pyne will be at third base for the third consecutive season. Cerny played second base last season but will move to shortstop to replace MLB draftee Phillip Glasser. Tibbitts, the first baseman for the past two seasons, will be behind the plate.

Cerny was consistent at second last year, with some flashy off-balance throws and few errors. Mercer said the sophomore has the arm strength for shortstop, has focused on fundamentals and trusts his footwork; some of the plays he made in Jan. 26’s practice he was incapable of making last year.

Tibbitts’ natural position is catcher, and he caught in the Cape Cod League last summer. He succeeds Peter Serruto, who was invaluable behind the dish in the second half of last season and caught 37 of the team’s past 38 games. Tibbitts won’t catch every day, but on the days he does, Indiana’s entire right side of the infield will be different than last year. At second base will likely be Houston transfer Brandon Burkcel, who made 101 starts with the Cougars. He batted .260 and stole 24 bases last season, the most by any Houston player in six seasons.

First base is up for grabs. Mercer said that Purdue transfer Jake Stadler, listed at catcher, has performed better than anticipated. Mercer coaches the first basemen and also has been working with sophomore AJ Shepard for 12 to 18 months to learn the position. He is also listed at catcher and was sidelined all of last season due to Tommy John surgery. The staff has monitored and limited the number of throws Shepard makes during his recovery. Stadler and Shepard are the frontrunners because of their defense, and behind them are youngsters Cal Sefcik and Joey Brenczewski.

Outfield/DH

Mercer thinks the outfield must step up defensively. Starting left fielder Hunter Jessee and center fielder Bobby Whalen have transferred. Junior Carter Mathison — who has played some innings in left over the past two seasons — was turned into the team’s designated hitter by April of last season. Reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Year right fielder Devin Taylor is also back in Bloomington.

Like in the infield, players in the outfield are going to be moving. Mercer said in January in an interview with Mason Williams that Taylor will start in left field, Mathison will be in center, and Western Illinois transfer Nick Mitchell will start in right field. Mitchell batted .348 in 95 games in his past two seasons, swiped 38 bases and played center field. But Mercer mentioned Mathison has greatly improved his defense, and he prefers having the right-handed Mitchell with his glove-hand closer to the foul line. Yet, Mercer indicated the positions could be fluid.

Mitchell will also likely take Glasser’s spot as the team’s leadoff hitter.

Mathison hit an Indiana freshman-best 19 home runs, and Taylor followed that up last season with 16. Mathison hit just 10 homers last season, but his batting average rose by 38 points in about the same number of at-bats. With him in center, or at least somewhere in the outfield, that leaves the DH position open. The speculation is that freshman Andrew Wiggins, the No. 5 outfielder in Perfect Game’s 2023 class, will eventually work his way into the lineup. Morgan Colopy and Sam Murrison are also back and bolster Indiana’s defense late in games.

Pitching

Luke Sinnard had elbow surgery in the offseason and is expected to miss the entire season, which is a blow to the pitching staff. He broke the program’s single-season strikeout record with 114 last year. Mercer said that candidates for the rotation are sophomores Connor Foley and Brayden Risedorph, transfer Jack Moffitt, junior Ryan Kraft, and sixth-year Ty Bothwell. 

Risedorph turned in three outings for his season-high four innings last year, allowing just one earned run total in that span. His resilience on two occasions in the Lexington regional put his name in the conversation to get bumped up to the rotation. Flamethrower Foley made 20 appearances, all in relief, and never threw more than three innings. Foley did excel in high-leverage situations, though the success of the transition is to be determined. On Jan. 31, Foley mentioned he was over-reliant on his fastball last season and has worked to incorporate his off-speed pitches.

Kraft showed improvement from his freshman to sophomore seasons. The left-hander’s walks and home runs declined, and he allowed 29 fewer earned runs in 20 more innings. He only made two starts, although one was superb in Lexington. Bothwell, another left-hander, faltered at the beginning of last season, though he found a second-half groove and pitched well in the regional. Mercer said the model for weekends will likely be to name Friday starters, and be on standby during games. Why save impact-pitchers for the last day with Indiana's potent lineup — when they can help win the series in the first two games?

Moffitt also shouldn’t go under the radar. The 6-foot-7, 235-pound transfer’s 7.34 earned run average at Gonzaga last season didn’t impress on paper — but neither did Sinnard’s 7.18 at Western Kentucky in 2022. Indiana snagged Sinnard from the portal based on his physicality, metrics, and profile, and turned him into the ace. Sinnard is 6-foot-8 and has an identical build to Moffitt. So, who knows, the Gonzaga transfer could be the next Sinnard.

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• INDIANA BASEBALL 2023 REWIND: To wrap up 2023, here are the most memorable moments of the baseball season, including the team's most clutch hit, best freshman, the best series win and more. CLICK HERE