Bringing in a good JUCO player (or a couple, or a few) to fill a hole on a team that has potential to make a postseason run is certainly an option and can be beneficial to a program.
No one mentioned 2017. He is going to be very good as a sophomore and junior because he is getting a whole lot of playing time now. That is better for the program than letting some JUCO guy play this year.
Allowing a freshman to endure the ups and downs of that first season only makes him a better, more experienced player in the future. I'm glad we are using Gates instead of a bunch of JUCO transfers........
What's funny is that we were told that we couldn't take starters out, even when they were getting hit, because the bullpen wasn't reliable. Now we have a guy throwing well.......go get him.