2020 Roster Discussion


More from Eskew:
A University of Miami signee, Eskew was selected in the 24th round of the MLB first-year player’s draft at the beginning of the month by the Arizona Diamondbacks. He said that though he is still in discussions with Arizona, he is likely headed to Miami later this summer and looking forward to that challenge.

"It's going to be Miami," Eskew said. "Unless something drastic happens, I'm leaving for Miami in six days and I'm very excited, ready to go and can't wait to get started down there."
 
Advertisement
BA has us in their “Eight for Omaha” along with Louisville.


Perfect Game also has Miami in their Eight for Omaha:

The Hurricanes nearly earned a hosting spot with a very young roster and their rising sophomore and junior classes have high-end talent. The top six hitters return and that group combined for 64 home runs in 2019, led by Alex Toral’s 24 round trippers. Adrian Del Castillo was one of the best freshman in the country and the lefthanded hitter posted a .331 average with a remarkable 72 RBI. The pitching staff is less settled but Slade Cecconi and Chris McMahon are very talented arms on the front end while Daniel Federman brings experience to the back of the bullpen.
 
Advertisement

Fitt and Rogers also have us in their Eight, although neither seems to have gotten the Escala memo.

While it's nice we're getting recognition, I cringe any time I hear that everyone is picking us to win something. All of these so called experts are notoriously bad at making predictions. Let's hope the coaches and team pay no attention to this stuff and work their tails off this off-season, especially on defense and base-running fundamentals.
 
We will have 8 players batting over 0.300 in ACC play during the 2020 season, which is a safe assumption since 7 of them already accomplished that this year. We have two incoming freshman that might be better than what we fielded this year........

Cecconi and McMahon are two previously drafted MLB players with ample college-level experience. Van Belle returns. We are adding two drafted pitchers and keeping Federman.

We deserve universal projections in regard to Omaha because we should definitively make it there.

Gino HAS to "land" a Super Regional. Next year's team is elite.
 
We will have 8 players batting over 0.300 in ACC play during the 2020 season, which is a safe assumption since 7 of them already accomplished that this year. We have two incoming freshman that might be better than what we fielded this year........

Cecconi and McMahon are two previously drafted MLB players with ample college-level experience. Van Belle returns. We are adding two drafted pitchers and keeping Federman.

We deserve universal projections in regard to Omaha because we should definitively make it there.

Gino HAS to "land" a Super Regional. Next year's team is elite.
Actually we only have 3 that hit over .300 in Gil, Gates and Zamora.

Gil-.321
Gates-.320
Zamora-.303
DelCAstillo-.254
Lala-.252
Vilar-.248
Toral-.248
 
Advertisement
Actually we only have 3 that hit over .300 in Gil, Gates and Zamora.

Gil-.321
Gates-.320
Zamora-.303
DelCAstillo-.254
Lala-.252
Vilar-.248
Toral-.248

I believe he was making a prediction of his own. If we do have that many .300 hitters, then our offense will be top 5 in the country and, barring a melt-down by the staff, we should make all the prognosticators look smart.
 
I have 8 batters batting over 0.290 for the season and Lala was batting over 0.300 until the playoffs.

They are bringing in two additional all-stars this year, and that phenom that tore his ACL.

I do think that the team bats well over 0.300 next season. If you are a pitcher, who do you pitch away from? The teams with Collins and Abreu had 3 formidable batters and it elevated everyone else. The 2020 team could have a legitimate "Murderers Row".

44 Adrian Del Castillo . 331
16 Raymond Gil . 318
2 Freddy Zamora . 296
30 Alex Toral . 293
27 Anthony Vilar . 291
28 Jordan Lala . 276
51 Tony Jenkins . 268
10 JP Gates . 340
38 Luis Tuero . 333
43 Gabe Rivera .290
 
I have 8 batters batting over 0.290 for the season and Lala was batting over 0.300 until the playoffs.

They are bringing in two additional all-stars this year, and that phenom that tore his ACL.

I do think that the team bats well over 0.300 next season. If you are a pitcher, who do you pitch away from? The teams with Collins and Abreu had 3 formidable batters and it elevated everyone else. The 2020 team could have a legitimate "Murderers Row".

44 Adrian Del Castillo . 331
16 Raymond Gil . 318
2 Freddy Zamora . 296
30 Alex Toral . 293
27 Anthony Vilar . 291
28 Jordan Lala . 276
51 Tony Jenkins . 268
10 JP Gates . 340
38 Luis Tuero . 333
43 Gabe Rivera .290

I agree we should hit over .300 as a team. I don't think we'll match the 2015 team in BA, but if our power hitters stay healthy, we should be able to hit close to 100 home runs (we had 85 this year).

And now that it looks like we'll only lose Lugo to the draft from the incoming class, our pitching staff should be almost as good as our offense. Really the only other two teams that have that can say for certain they will have type of firepower both at the plate and our the mound are Vandy and Louisville.

The 2020 roster reminds me a lot of what we had in 2008. In 2007 we went out in Regionals but it was pretty obvious we'd have one of the best teams in the country in 2008 because of how loaded we were with young talent. Barring unexpected attrition, we should have a similar type of improvement in 2020.
 
Advertisement
I agree we should hit over .300 as a team. I don't think we'll match the 2015 team in BA, but if our power hitters stay healthy, we should be able to hit close to 100 home runs (we had 85 this year).

And now that it looks like we'll only lose Lugo to the draft from the incoming class, our pitching staff should be almost as good as our offense. Really the only other two teams that have that can say for certain they will have type of firepower both at the plate and our the mound are Vandy and Louisville.

The 2020 roster reminds me a lot of what we had in 2008. In 2007 we went out in Regionals but it was pretty obvious we'd have one of the best teams in the country in 2008 because of how loaded we were with young talent. Barring unexpected attrition, we should have a similar type of improvement in 2020.

After reading your posts, I looked up the 2015 UM baseball team and we had filthy batting that year. The 2016 team was quite good as well, but UM raked during 2015.

Am still surprised that all of those Seniors failed so miserably during 2017.......... Tackett was a colossal bust...... Reyes' injury coupled with Amditis' killed the 2018 season....

Next year's team will be elite, though!
 
We will have 8 players batting over 0.300 in ACC play during the 2020 season, which is a safe assumption since 7 of them already accomplished that this year. We have two incoming freshman that might be better than what we fielded this year........

Cecconi and McMahon are two previously drafted MLB players with ample college-level experience. Van Belle returns. We are adding two drafted pitchers and keeping Federman.

We deserve universal projections in regard to Omaha because we should definitively make it there.

Gino HAS to "land" a Super Regional. Next year's team is elite.

I think this is a key point, and very overlooked in the (sometimes) overhyped focus on the long ball.

Consistency in the lineup with having a deep bench of guys who by definition can make contact, manufacture runs, have high on base numbers, and be "tough outs" is what makes a truly great offense in the Regionals and Omaha.

The years we had great teams but struggled/failed offensively in the postseason and in the CWS, was not because we couldn't consistently hit it out of the park in the postseason, it was because we couldn't consistently get the ball out of the infield.

I'm thinking our really good CWS teams like 1998, or 1992. Anyway, it's a good point you made, and I agree. It bodes well for next year.
 
Advertisement
I think this is a key point, and very overlooked in the (sometimes) overhyped focus on the long ball.

Consistency in the lineup with having a deep bench of guys who by definition can make contact, manufacture runs, have high on base numbers, and be "tough outs" is what makes a truly great offense in the Regionals and Omaha.

The years we had great teams but struggled/failed offensively in the postseason and in the CWS, was not because we couldn't consistently hit it out of the park in the postseason, it was because we couldn't consistently get the ball out of the infield.

I'm thinking our really good CWS teams like 1998, or 1992. Anyway, it's a good point you made, and I agree. It bodes well for next year.

I was looking at 2015 and had forgotten how stellar that team's batting was. See below. When you have consistent 0.300 hitters throughout the lineup, it places enormous pressure on opposing pitchers because they have "no weak outs". [The 2018 team won 12 in a row after Reyes returned.
If Reyes and Amditis remain uninjured during the year, we might have made the tournament......]

George Iskenderian 0.364
David Thompson 0.328
Jacob Heyward 0.327
Garrett Kennedy 0.320
Christopher Barr 0.306
Brandon Lopez 0.303
Zack Collins 0.302
Willie Abreu 0.288
Ricky Eusebio 0.286
Johny Ruiz 0.315
 
Advertisement
Back
Top