Hi, I'm Luke Waters and you're listening to the Hudson Homers Podcast.
Hello, Monarch fans and welcome to the Hudson homers podcast. I'm Gary joined as always by my partner in crime CB. Uh, unfortunately we saw the Monarch season come to an end a couple of days ago with a loss to finally knock him out of the Sunbelt tournament, but. We start turning our eyes looking forward, but we want to recap the final 2 games of the Sunbelt tournament. Talk about dollars for dingers bucks for bags. I look forward to what we've got coming in next year for ODU baseball.
A lot of fun things on the horizon, but CB, I know the, uh, the losses were not fun, but how was the rest of your weekend?
Yeah, you know, it, they were not fun. I did get to go and see, um, one of our alumni, Zach Rutherford, his dad, Robbie Rutherford, runs a showcase baseball academy, and I got to take some pictures for him on Saturday and got myself nice and burned up in the sun and sweated a bunch, and it was a pretty wonderful, terrible day. The last two games weren't super fun But if you told me going into the week that odu was gonna go two and two in the tournament I've been pretty happy with that.
I think we we can't really you you go into it in one game Win or go home and you walk away Two and two and you just really just miss a chance to to go to the semi finals. So they got to feel good Um, I think overall the season maybe not as good as it could have been but that's probably true most seasons
Think if you're an ODU fan, anytime you don't make the postseason tournament, you kind of feel like, man, there was, there was more there. I think that's very true for this team, but you have to give them credit for making one hell of a run in the Sunbelt tournament. It gets so hard to get out of those single elimination games and then when your next one, and we have the toughest road and we had to play South Alabama, who's a good team. We beat them. Uh, then we line up with Louisiana.
Who's been just a horse all year long, beating the hell out of everybody. And we give them their first loss. In the tournament, and we kind of take over that 1 seat spot. So definitely give him credit for for not quitting. I guess 1 thing you can say is true about this team. They didn't quit. They fought all the way down to the very end. Definitely a different feel than when the season into last year.
I don't think a lot of people had that same thought process on the mentality, the leadership coaching or anything like that. But this year. You know, you, you can say a lot of things, but they fought like hell down to that very end.
Yeah, I mean, you can't be more proud of the guys. They, um, all year didn't really hit as well as they could have. The pitching was great.
At a certain point here, the pitching just kind of Ran out of gas, uh, which is what happens, you know, but so I again We have to walk away and you got to feel good about the way they played the tournament They they should hopefully they they I mean i'm sure nobody was happy about it, but hopefully the ride home You know, they weren't sulking and feeling bad I hope they they felt good about themselves and the way they showed up and performed
Absolutely. Well, we want to get you caught up on dollars for dingers and bucks for bags because that promotion is going to be coming out here in the next couple of days, uh, we will certainly announce it on the Monarchist social media accounts. ODAF will also have a push. I'm sure the team will get involved with it as well. Uh, but on the season we ended up with 60 home runs for the year, which.
As you pointed out, uh, earlier this week and kind of our special episode of CB That would be the, uh, fourth best home run hitting season for ODU, is that right?
That is it is is crazy fourth best home running season of all time after the last three years, of course hitting over 100 So for most of us having experienced the last three years, it's felt like wow, we have a real power outage You Historically, we'd be like, man, this team, we are the bud bombers. These guys are hitting the home runs like crazy. Uh, so it's just, it's funny how things kind of readjust your reality.
Absolutely. It's, it's hard to put that into perspective after the previous three seasons, but still historically a great home run hitting team for Old Dominion.
Three guys, double digits, right? Kenny LaVarga with 10, Luke Waters with 11, and Maverick Stallings coming out of nowhere for 12 home runs. So that, that's just, anytime you have three guys, double digits, it's a big deal. And while we're talking about, uh, Dodge for dingers, Bucks for bags, we have three guys, double digits for stolen bases. Luke Waters again with 19, Kyle Edwards had 16, and Stephen Meyer had 28. Which is the most any OU players had at least 20 years, maybe even closer to 30.
and if you all remember, he's 28 for 29 and the only time he got thrown out on the base pass is when he intentionally got thrown out in one of those runners at the corner situation. That was the only time he got thrown out all season. I think he survived a replay review that overturned an out call. Uh, but amazing year, uh, for Stephen Meyer to lead us with stolen bases. So we've got 86 on the season for stolen bases. This is a way for fans to make a direct impact onto the program.
If you want to combine them, where you have 60 bucks there for the home runs, plus the 86 for the stolen bases, feel free. If you want to do one or the other. Any little bit helps. And, you know, obviously we're, we're not naive enough to think that a campaign like that is going to build a new bud or add all these new bells and whistles to the bud, but that helps a lot with equipment helps up travel a lot of things in their training programs. It's a huge boost.
It goes directly to the ODU baseball budget. And if you have any inkling about what's going to happen next year, we're probably going to need some help in that travel cost department because we're going to be on the road quite a bit. So you want to do the whole thing, 146 bucks or 60 for the dingers, 86 for the bags.
Either way, you are helping the ODU baseball program get better because we're kind of At the tipping point now where things are about to drastically change for ODU baseball with this new bud coming in.
Yeah. And it's always a big deal for the fans to help out and then to show that appreciation for what the student athletes do, what they, what they give to this program, what they give the school. Um, and, you know, again, just showing off that appreciation for it was. In a way, it's a kind of historic season.
We, we, as fourth most home runs ever 86 still stolen bases As many as they've had in the last 10 years So this is a this is a team that while offensively I think they weren't as strong as they probably could have been There was a lot more in the tank Uh, they still did some some fun cool things this season
Yeah. And certainly the offense did a lot of good things there. Uh, but you feel free if, if there's another stat you want to look at, uh, on the pitching side and you want to donate that amount, like if you, you know, are feeling real froggy and want to donate a 522 for every strikeout that we had this season, that's fine too. Uh, I think they will be happy with any amount coming in there. So a lot of options.
Want to shout out the pitching staff for really one of the, the better pitching performances we've had at ODU in quite some time, uh, with that team ERA only being 4. 67, that's a pretty crazy when you think about it over the course of a long season against a really good competition.
Yeah, and frankly, uh as we kind of saw there in the tournament, they got a little worn down that number was actually Below four about a month ago. Uh, so it did rise up a little bit and again just tells you how Hard the sun belt is uh how long of a season it is and still at the end of the day Four six seven is an outstanding era and it's better than many many teams had the odu was I think a top 15 top 20 Pitching staff in ncla this year.
Yeah, great performance on the pitching side. Uh, you know, hitting started to come together there at the end. I think it just was a little too late in the season, but. All right, CB, we, we got to talk about. The final two games, I want to run through them. Really want to talk about the Georgia Southern game, because that was a really good ball game. Uh, we just kind of fell apart a little bit there on the back end. Couldn't drive in some runners when we had guys in scoring position, but.
You know, it started out, uh, started out pretty strong with us being able to push across a run there in the first inning.
Yeah, I you know Got feeling good. Tj aiken leads off the single Kyle Edwards gets on a field of choice. So tj's out Uh, kenny lavarie gets hit by a pitch was a which was a big thing that day There were a ton of hit by pitches in that hole I think he said there were something like 20 hit by pitches between the four games on thursday Um, and then luke waters single scores. Kyle Edwards.
You're feeling good Uh, and then what really was I think the story of the day was dylan brown He looked like a absolute psychopath on the mound. He was as amped as you'll ever see him Uh, he was just dominant through his first three innings He was basically unhittable Is that kind of like where you look at and you say i've kind of said a few times this year like dylan really?
He's just take a big step forward in his development into next year going as being a junior And we saw a huge flash that potential starting the game, uh there on thursday
He was incredible and he was a lot of fun to watch. I mean, he was pacing around the mouth, stepping off the back of it after each pitch, uh, Just dialed in, locked in. Uh, he ended up giving up three runs on two hits and four innings, but no walks in nine strikeouts. I mean, he was on fire there for, for a good bit of those first three innings. I think you may have gotten out of rhythm a little bit when he finally had to go to the stretch.
But, uh, that was very encouraging to see him piece together three good appearances in a row to end the season, get his confidence back. Uh, cause he's a really good pitcher when he's dialed in, he can do stuff like that.
Yeah, Maverick hit a double to score Evan in the top of the fourth and the bottom of the fourth is, when, Sam Blancato hit the homer off of, uh, Dylan. Uh, then you're right back in the fifth. Kyle Edwards walked, uh, moved to second and a wild pitch. Kenny got hit by another pitch. Uh, they were, they were really throwing him inside. Then there was a balk. Then Luke Waters hit a big three run homer.
they left the bases loaded after that So they really so we did score three runs of the big luke waters home run in that top of the fifth But then I think twice in that game left the bases loaded Um, and that was that was a trend all season fair to you.
There was just a lot of left on base There was a lot again We said there was a lot more in the tank on offense there was They're really and not to say it's easy to hit with two outs and run from base loader It's easy to hit with even one out base loaded but You You know, there were just a lot of situations throughout the whole season where there were just runs and Left in play
And that Sam Blancato home run, um, he was great all throughout the tournament, but he ended up going three for four in the game and drove in five runs, drove in the first five runs there for the Eagles. Uh, the home run he hit to right. Uh, if you watched any of the games, there's kind of this cutout in right field that comes out about 20, 25 feet from where the rest of the wall is. where he hit it to. I don pitch at all. He was just opposite field and sneak But that kind of changed bit.
We did bounce back l Luke hitting the big home for us. But it's kind of A couple of runs in the sixth and the seventh, two more in the eighth. Uh, but yeah, 11 runners left on base for ODU, which like you said, story of the season, and it just continued to be a problem and it was really kind of throughout the order where those runners were left on, but.
We probably could have scored 10, 12, 13 runs if we just get a couple more hits here and there, uh, because it, it was a close hard fought ball game between two good teams and we just left too many opportunities out there.
and you know that left on base kind of combined with the pitching just kind of Being a lot of gas, you know, jay cassidy came and he gave up a couple of runs at inning I really think with jay what happened is he was hurt last year chris for newport Um, I don't know if he pitched at all.
He did pitch it wasn't much So I think this year he came back and he was strong for us for a while And now we're kind of getting the point of the year where the arm was just kind of done Um, because you can only pitch, you know So many things after pitching what you pitched last year You can you got to raise up a little bit off what you pitched last year.
If you didn't pitch much it's harder to pitch more so Uh brandon pond Again, he just kind of ran out of gas by the end of the year and then vincent becher and jacob gomez Who we know were phenomenal all year Uh, you know Probably had two of their weaker performances there at the end of that game. Uh again, not they pitched that poorly Just they didn't pitch up to their level of excellence.
They got it all to expect they pitched like normal guys um, and so that was a case of yeah when you The you're leaving guys on base and your pitching isn't as absolutely dominant as it had been all year. That's going to lead to a loss
Bash and Gomez had been pitching a lot and I mean, just 48 hours prior, they had gone, I think four and a third and four and two thirds to win that single elimination game. So they were coming back on one day rest after throwing more than four innings. Just before that. So, you're hoping to just get an ending out of them, get a couple of out, steal some here, save some arms. And plus you're gonna go to your seniors, right? Like they locked it down in that South Alabama game.
They helped lead us to that victory and their trusted arms that have been good down the stretch. And Gomez has been great all year. Um, so certainly see why you would turn to them to, to try to get some of those outs there with the, the condition you're pitching staffs in. But I go back to something that you and I both pointed out on the episode before the Georgia Southern game about John Hobe.
And not seeing Jon Halibutz in this game, I think is the, the thing that will haunt us for years to come of what could have been in this tournament.
yeah the decision to put hollow beds in for the eighth and ninth in a game you were leading seven nothing You know, I I definitely get the perspective of like hey, we need to win this game if we don't win this game It's a big problem for a whole week. That's fair I think if you can't bring in somebody at that point to trust to get six outs for me at the end of the game Not give up seven runs. We got some bigger problems.
It would have been great This has been an amazing situation to see Holo bets come in dylan brown throws the first four gives up three, uh holo bets I think you could have got at least four if not the last all the last five out of them Uh, so again, I don't I don't know what I don't know. I don't I don't know if John just wasn't in a position to pitch.
Again decision making i'm sure was hey, we want to get this win On uh wednesday, but it really does looking backward which always it's very easy to look backwards and see things but it just didn't seem like It didn't feel right at the time. And I think this just kind of makes it seem like it also just the decision didn't work out, which, you know, they, they pushed a lot of buttons with your Finwood, Marin and Hadrian and the whole coaching staff. They pushed a lot of buttons this year.
It got a lot of good results out of things. Uh, this is one that just, maybe they didn't push the right button.
It's tough when, you know, Jon Halibutz is going to get drafted here in a couple weeks, seven, eight weeks. I don't know exactly where he is on paper, your best arm. He's been solid for you all season. You know, he's had a couple bumps in the road, but for the most part, he's been. Our most dominant pitcher. He has been our, our ace. If we were having starting aces this year and to only have him get two innings in the Sunbelt tournament.
And those two innings were in a game that was already seven to nothing. That's a, that's a tough pill for fans to swallow. It's a tough pill for me to swallow because.
The whole dynamic of that tournament changes if we beat Georgia Southern, because if you notice in the championship game, the two teams that were there for the two teams that came out undefeated on their side of the bracket, Georgia Southern and Southern Miss, like once you lose in a double elimination tournament, especially the way it's set up now.
You're effectively out, like, it's very, very difficult to come back because ODU went from a situation of if they beat Southern, they win one game, they just need to win one more to win the Sun Belt. But instead, they lose that game, and they need to win three more games to win the Sun Belt, including two in one day after already playing in the single elimination round.
So, it was kind of In my mind, anything we got beyond that was just going to be kind of a bonus, but I knew that we just really didn't have a legitimate chance to work our way back into that championship game after losing to Georgia Southern.
Yeah. And like we said, coming out of the week, you know, you go in two and two, it's like, Hey, this was all cake. We, we went into that. Again, probably didn't play as well as we maybe could have all year left some wins on the table Um, you know, but coming in the single nation anything get past that one game is is just nice Uh, but yeah, we really it looks like just and again, you know You don't know probably know how best to come in and give up nine runs. Who knows?
Uh, I doubt it based on his performance. He's given and I also think you know, your hitters hit differently depending the score Your pitchers pitch differently depending the score Um, and it really just feels like yeah, if if you could have had halibuts in this game against georgia southern It would have turned some things around and it does seem much more likely to me They might have won and had a better shot. Um, that's not how it went and it's unfortunate.
Uh, but You know, they still had to play the game. So I had to win the games with whatever they had going,
And also we were missing another arm with Trent Buchanan. He was not available. He made the trip. He was with the team. We don't know the exact situation there, but Trent has been someone that's been able to take a lot of innings for us. He pitched really well down the stretch. Uh, he missed the last two weekends, did not throw in the conference tournament.
Uh, so we were kind of shorthanded a little bit going into this and needing to, like, really do some miraculous things to get to where we got. Would have told me halfway through the season that Trent Buchanan and Halibut would combine to throw two innings in the Sunbelt Tournament, I'd be like, okay, did we just get blown out in a single elimination game? I would never have guessed we would have gone 2 2.
Yeah. I had a thought that, uh, run would have been over on Tuesday evening, um, and you know, that all kind of played itself out in the final game there on Friday, uh, when a, just a litany of pitchers, uh, combined to lead to a 15 to five, uh, eight inning mercy rule finish, um, it just, there weren't a lot of guys that really were able to throw that well, that game, it just, um, It you know, and again, some of those guys have thrown very well during the year I mean even kellen davis who was
who was one of our most valuable pitchers Uh, he didn't pitch pretty well Um, it just was a it was a tough day all around. Um the jmu game and it's even worse because he lost jmu It's even more upsetting but you know, that's just they were they were the team was pretty gassed at that point Uh, and that's what you expect playing your fourth game in four days
Yeah, it stinks that it was JMU, but honestly, if it would have been anyone in that situation, the outcome probably would have been. Um, I was hoping we may be able to dig deep and find a little something there, but you know, you're up against a tough opponent that they are fighting where if they win that game, they're probably getting into the NCAA tournament, which is what they ended up doing.
They didn't make it to the NCAA tournament, uh, partially because of that, that win against us in the final game to eliminate us. Uh, they also were all over us on the base pass. I mean, they were stealing left and right. They were stealing early. If they got on with a single, you might as well rack it as a double. Uh, because they were just all over the place, stealing bases in motion, constantly causing all kinds of problems. Ended up with nine stolen bases on the day.
We had four errors in the game. Uh, and a couple of wild pitches just. It's a game you expect to see this is being your fourth game in four days after a pretty tough down the stretch portion to, uh, just, just kind of got ugly. We only held them scoreless in one ending. And that was the third, uh, guys tried to put up some runs, did what they could. We saw a lot of, uh, you know, pinch hit opportunities, uh, late in the game.
And then, uh, you know, Kenny LaVarie, unfortunately was the last out of the game, but I guess if you had to pick someone to be the final out of the game, to get eliminated from the Kenny LaVarie was making his. 230th start for ODU in his career, which is just amazing.
And kenny had a great tournament. Um, I don't have all the numbers in front of me. I know he had a few You Two hit games, so he had at least five hits in the tournament. Um, I think, I think he said they're going to be like five to 15. Uh, but he was. He was great. You can't thank Kenny LaVar enough for everything he's done for ODU. Um, I, I really hope he gets a chance to play pro. Uh, I guess we'll talk a little bit about stuff like that. Um, but congrats to him. He, he went out strong.
He, he wasn't trying to go out, uh, not winning a championship. So good for him.
Yeah. And then going back to the Georgia Southern game, you talked about it. He did get hit twice in that game. Then there was another one that they threw the ball over his head. Um, I think, uh, I got a response from, uh, mama Lavarie saying that mama bears got to go down there and teach somebody a lesson. Uh, I think she was pretty fired up about that too, but, uh, yeah, he had a great tournament. I mean, he left it all out there. All of these guys did.
I mean, there was, there was no team like they, they could have rolled over in the seventh, uh, when Jamie was up 10, but they didn't, they scored two runs in the seventh to extend it one more and they were doing everything they could to try to extend it again. Uh, but. Yeah, just, just run out of gas. I mean, that is a tall task to ask a team to try to play that many games in that short of timeframe down a couple of arms, uh, in a team that just hasn't consistently hit all season long, either.
Usually you can hit your way out of those situations, but yeah, won't take anything away from, from their fight and their heart that they put into it. I mean, those guys were battling down the end when we definitely saw some teams that Sunbelt tournament just absolutely quit, uh, once they got down in some of those games.
Yeah. Somehow Coastal Carolina quit, but they still gonna go to regional, so who knows how that works. Um, but, uh, you know, this year's tournament showed the difference between the 2024 Old Dominion Monarchs baseball team and the 2023 team. Uh, last year, you know, there were some, some clubhouse cancer, there were some problems, there were just, and they really just didn't have, uh, a lot of teamwork or a lot of fight in them. Um, I think overall, probably a more talented team.
Um, I would argue that hunter fitzgerald was a better hitter than anybody on this team. Um, and so Uh looking at the team this year what they had was a lot of heart They had a lot of fight. They had a lot of grit You know finney always talks about is like I want the guys who drink water out of the out of the hose I want the the um, the lunchbox guys, you know, the guys that are just uh You know put on the work gloves and go to it team And I think he got exactly that this year.
He got a lot of guys who have that heart We had that fight who would want to win. Um, I uh, evan holman to me is exactly that kind of guy You want me watching him at the plate choking up like an inch on the bat where no guys don't choke up anymore guys Even with two strikes.
They're just still going for the fence and evan is willing to do everything you possibly can to put a ball in play um, we this is a to me a very free Representative team of what we want and what we expect at Old Dominion Baseball These guys fought and they clawed and they were not willing to go down and doing everything they possibly could
Yeah. And you were talking a little bit about the NCAA tournament and coastal Carolina getting in, uh, four teams from the Sunbelt got in coastal Carolina, uh, Southern Miss, uh, JMU in Louisiana all got in. None of them are actually hosting though. And they got, uh, let's just say horrific draws for all of them. Louisiana has to go down to college station to play A& M. They are in a bracket that also includes Texas.
Uh, so that's going to be a whole lot of fun for the raging Cajuns to try to fight their way out of. Coastal is a three seed in the Clemson regional. They're there with some team called Vanderbilt. I don't know. I've never heard of them. They won national titles recently. Heard they're, uh, might be pretty good. JMU, they're a three seed down in Raleigh against NC State in North Carolina. And then Southern Miss also a two seed, they get to go to the number one overall seed, which is Tennessee.
They're also in there with Indiana and Northern Kentucky. So pretty tough go of it through the selection committee for the Sunbelt, uh, to not have a team in what's been the fourth best conference all year to host at least one regional, uh, was a little bit surprising. Uh, I will also say I was a little surprised to see that Troy was completely left out of the field, um, can also probably make a pretty good case for Georgia Southern to get in. Southern was 54th in RPI.
Troy was 57, Georgia 733 wins Troy with 37. They were pretty good. And then, um, not too far down the RPI list there. 69 through 71 is South Alabama app state and ODU. So some tough sledding on the, uh, selection committee there for the Sunbelt only getting four teams. And I think that's one of the biggest surprises conference wide for me. I
I think You want to see your your teams in your conference get in and do well I think it's ridiculous that Coastal got in.
I mean, I think anybody if you saw the Post game press conference when they got eliminated for their coach their head coach didn't believe they were getting in Uh, I think he didn't believe they deserved to get in Uh with if odu had that record that rpi odu would not have gotten in That's purely based on the fact they won a championship back in uh, what 2016 so they have a name Um, they they really do not deserve to be in the tournament and frankly based on what the head coach is saying They're
not going to put up a fight and I wouldn't be surprised to see him go in two Um, so it's, I hate to down talk a team in our league. You know, I'm trusting I'd be rooting hard for all of them, including Coastal to do well. It looks better for the conference, but that's the case. So yeah, why isn't Troy? Troy that actually wants to play hard and wants to do well should have been in there instead of Coastal.
mean, Troy went 18 and 12 in the Sunbelt. Coastal went 16 and 14. Um, I would have put Troy in over coastal every day of the week, but who knows? Maybe it came down to the geography based decision. Something like that.
But, uh, Troy getting left out, I think if you're gonna put coastal and you got to put Troy in, you probably got to put app state in maybe even Georgia Southern, but coastal, I mean, they finished seventh and Lee, they were a game ahead of us in the standings and they're, uh, you know, innocent at large and we weren't even sniffing one. So interesting the way that all plays out. We've definitely been on the wrong side of the committee.
Uh, a few times probably have cost us at least a couple good teams going to regionals, but, um, yeah, we'll, we'll root for three of the four teams to do well in their regional. So go everyone, but Jamie.
I'll reach for all four. I want Coast to do well. Maybe they'll win a championship this year. They'll prove me wrong, but I, I just don't, yeah. It's, uh, whatever. Don't even get me started on the NCAA. It's all about a name. That's, that's the reason Coastal Carolina is there and not Troy, is because Who knows where Troy is, but Coastal won a championship.
Yeah, I'm going to find out what my new betting limits are on these apps in other states when Jamie takes on South Carolina in the first round of their regional down there in Raleigh.
Oof. That's a rough one.
All right, well, we're going to move on and talk a little bit about some postseason awards, and we're giving these out. We are not paid professionals. We've just Two people that have followed this team very, very closely this year and got to see a lot of them play, got to talk to them, and see them throughout the entire season. So, CB, I'll let you, uh, you kick it off with, uh, the most valuable position player for the team this year.
Yeah. Most valuable position player. Uh, this is interesting 'cause it feels, it feels hard to not, you know, give it to guys like a, like a Kyle Edwards when you consider what he does on defense and, you know, he was, uh, one of our better hitters. Uh, but I think, you know, you gotta give to the guy that was there all year, every single day. Pretty consistent.
I think his batting average dropped to maybe slightly below 300 went up to as high as 341 point Uh, but luke waters, you know, luke waters finished it in 312 394 on base 518 slugging 912 ops 10 doubles 11 homers 44 rbis 19 steals So that's just all around great numbers Let the team in average hits total bases on base percentage and was second in homers and rbis again He was just a guy that he he played Exactly how he is as a person, you know, Luke is he's a very quiet guy.
He's a very steady guy Um, he just showed up every single day. He was exactly who he's supposed to be Um goes out and plays a solid right field despite not having played it before last season Uh, and and luke waters is he's my position mvp Uh, because just he just he is luke waters
And I agree with you on that one too. You talked about the consistency and I think that's what we saw from Luke all year. Like he was the one that you kind of had a pretty good idea what he was going to do, uh, game in and game out. So definitely back you up there on, uh, Position MVP, uh, for most valuable pitcher. Uh, this one was a little bit tougher cause we had a lot of great arms this year, uh, but we've got to give it to Jacob Gomez.
Now it goes two and two this year with seven saves, 2. 88 ERA, 1. 05 whip. And he pitched the second most innings on the team with 56 and a third, uh, led the team with 64 strikeouts at 10. 23 strikeouts per nine, uh, his strikeout to walk ratio was 4. 9, just great numbers across the board.
I, he was that person that if you were leading in the fifth, sixth, seventh inning of a weekend series game, and Jacob Gomez was available, he was going to come in and slam the door and make sure that we got the, that win. Uh, he would definitely stay in the game. I can't remember what series it was, but. Finney didn't have anybody up. I think Gomez had given up maybe like a hit, maybe given up one run. And you look over in the bullpen, it's empty.
And Finney's looking at Gomez saying, this is yours. You got it. And he went out there and got it. Uh, just consistent, reliable, great effort from a senior in his final year. Uh, you want to talk about a guy that should be on your draft boards. It's Jacob Gomez. I think he's very much flying under the radar right now. But he would make a lot of teams very happy coming out of their bullpen, here in, in AA and AAA over the next couple of years. So Jacob Gomez, most valuable pitcher.
Yeah, and it's not just, as you pointed out, it's not just the outstanding stats which were phenomenal. Um, it's the fact that he was just the heartbeat of things. He was the motor. He was the engine. I mean, he, you know, you, the guy was an absolute monster out there. You knew he was fighting for you. Um, he, even though they made him tone down and he couldn't talk his, uh, his stuff as much as he wanted to. Um, but the guy was just everything you want out of a pitcher.
Uh, so yeah, Jacob Gomez and me again, you're right. I mean, having guys like the share a hollow beds. There are certainly other good choices, but Jacob was just a little bit better. Uh, so how about our defensive MVP? This one? I don't think it's a surprise. I think I probably said this every other podcast the whole season. Um, Evan had a nine 91 fielding percentage, which I know as a catcher, you get a little more chances than most people.
Uh, the, uh, he had, he caught 16 of 37 runners, which is 43%. Anytime you get those above 30 for a catcher, you're doing great. And he was just, um, absolute monster behind the dish. You know, he, he was always putting his body out there. He played a ton. I know he was beat up and, and, and, And also on top of everything, you know, he really I mean he ended up hitting I think above 260 So it was better than I thought he was gonna end up hitting Uh showed a lot.
Like I said a few minutes ago He was always willing to just do whatever he had to do to get a hit or get on base
He also seemed to be the guy that would come through with a clutch hit when we needed it. Like, I wouldn't be surprised if he hit better with runners in scoring position than he did with the bases empty. Um, but yeah, no, no argument on me on defensive MVP. It's been Evan Holman all year, and I don't think anyone really came close. We had some guys have some web gym type plays, but Consistency, you factor in how much you got beaten up this year. Easy pick there for Evan.
Yeah, no offense to kane lavare and uh, kyle edwards. They were absolutely phenomenal but uh, having What evan does having that behind the plate and then and then it feeds into having such a good pitching season It's pretty impossible not to choose him
And then for freshmen of the year, we didn't have a lot of freshmen play a whole lot this year. But TJ Aiken, definitely stepped up in a big way. He became that everyday starter in left field for us. Uh, there were some games where he was the DH didn't want to take his bad out of the lineup. We got Bryce Jones or somebody else up there and left but ended up hitting 263, uh, 346 on base percentage. Uh, 710 OPS, four doubles, triple, two home runs, drove in 14 runs and had 29 starts.
So much to like about TJ and where his growth can go from here getting a better feel for a left field Having better at bats his average fell off a decent amount over the last couple weeks of the season kind of got into a slump Was constantly facing a shift over the right side.
So you finish it 263, but for a while there He was clipping right around 300 and doing a lot of good things for us at the top of that lineup So excited to see him develop This off season and into fall ball and in the next season, there is so much talent there that if they're able to harness that and sharpen it a little bit, I mean, he has got everything he wants right in front of him. Uh, he's going to be a big impact player for ODU and was definitely the best freshman on the team this year.
Yeah, TJ had a heck of a year. Um, he, he was very exciting to watch. Uh, you really can see, I mean, he, he's got a lot of room to fill out, get stronger. Um, he's got, you know, a lot of more baseball he can learn and get better at. Uh, but that, that is definitely a kid that you look at and you see, okay, there's a lot of talent potential here.
And we saw that in a lot of our freshmen, you know, on the pitching side, Nick Salpizio and Hudson Trobaugh, uh, they had some, and Marco Lovario, all of them had, you know, not a ton of innings, but they had enough to show what they could do, had enough to show they got room to grow. Uh, we saw Carter Van Sunderman played a lot the first half of the season as an infielder, um, very, very good infielder. He showed some, some of the, at the plate, even though that kind of fell off a little bit.
Uh, and Rowan Massey, even though he didn't get a ton of chances, I liked him a lot. I think, you know, he really showed a lot of ability to put the ball in play, which I think is as important as anything is just God played and not striking out being able to go out and put the ball in place. So there's, even though we didn't see a ton of freshmen play this year.
Uh, really it was, um, TJ and Sunderman got most of the at bats and then so Pizzo and Trobach and most of the innings, there, there's some talent with our freshmen. So there, there's a good shot for some of these guys that have some impact, uh, next year, sophomores. So our newcomer of the year, uh, which I think maybe I just made up last year, we'll keep going with it. Cause it's always, uh, there's always a good one for that. A newcomer of the year was Maverick Stallings.
Uh, Maverick, uh, we all know at the, around the end of the year, he just got hot, he had eight home runs in May. Uh, he pulled his average all the way up from around the 230s Uh maverick ended up finishing at 287 Had a 364 on base a 530 slugging 895 Ops Four doubles had finished with 12 home runs to leave the team 37 rbis And do all that he only had 44 starts again He was kind of splitting time with carter sunderman there the first part of the season.
So Uh maverick definitely came in as an excellent newcomer this year. I know guy he was a junior college transfer And so we really can I think expect him to do some big big things his senior year for us
Yeah. Maverick was fantastic down the stretch.
Um, I think you touched on this, but eight home runs in the month of May is Pretty wild stat you talk about coming on late and hitting 80 or 12 bombs in the final month of the season and some serious crunch time Loved the way that he just sees second base like that was a rotation for a little while He stepped in there and took it His power from the second base position is something that will help us a lot going forward as you start looking to replace Some other typical power positions,
especially the corner infield going into next year. Uh, just a lot to be excited about with, with Maverick.
And not only, uh, the power from second base, he just became a better second baseman as the year went on. And that's the thing that I know, Finwood has, uh, a long history, And a proven record of making guys better fielders. He was a very good shortstop when he played, Um, and he's really done a good job of making guys better fielders. You know, guys like, uh, Jared Young, um, who was a pretty awful fielder when he showed up at ODU.
By the time he left, even though he was only here one year, he was, he was a pretty solid fielder and he's played all around the infield in the bigger leagues now. Um, so yeah, Maverick really He put that work in on defense in addition to his offense and just had an all around great year for us.
And the next group we want to go over are what we're calling the pick to click in 2025. so guys that we think that are going to step up in a really big way in 2025 in one way, shape, or form. We've got three of them we want to go through. It's two pitchers, one position player. Um, CB, you want to start with the first one?
Uh this is my pick. We kind of had some similarity but I I really think uh Ben Moore is the guy you can look at and say I think he's gonna bust out in uh in 2025 He's gonna be his junior year. Um in 65 career innings. He's got a 233 era Uh 39 strikeouts and 37 innings this year Uh, nine and a half strikeouts per nine and 3. 6 strikeouts per walk this year.
This is a guy who he's been, I mean, he was a freshman all american last year, uh, had a very successful year this year, pitched great there around the end of the season. Um, this kind of question probably for anybody on the team, you know, can he stretch out, be maybe more of that typical five, six, seven inning starter, and really just be dominant? I mean, he's a, he's a big lefty. He's got kind of an odd delivery. Um, he's got his stuff just cuts.
I mean, I swear I heard a few of the guys I think it was app state we were playing and they were coming back to the dugout Just like this guy's disgusting.
Like I heard that three or four times Um, he is a very good pitcher who's pitched very well And if he just repeated what he's done the first two years the next two years, it'd be great But I think he's got more in his tank and he's got uh, he's got more he can give so if we can see ben more Do even better man, that would be huge for you going forward
Another one that falls into the bucket of can you stretch out and become kind of that dominant starter is Dylan Brown? No secret. I think he would tell you the same thing. He did not have the season.
He was expecting this year struggled really early Definitely struggled to the middle but came on late And really showed us what he's got because those last 3 starts or last 3 appearances that he had, you know, close out app state to beat Georgia State and then to, uh, come in and really do a great job against Georgia Southern early in that game. Uh, he's 1 that I would love to see step up in 2025 and. Become someone that competes with Blake Morgan for that ace position.
If we have an ace position, I don't know if we will or not. Um, but 12 strikeouts per nine, uh, 3. 33 strikeouts per walk in a year. That was not his best. We're all just great numbers. Um, he showed us what he can be in that Sunbelt tournament with that guy who is super dialed in, plays with some emotion, like a Jacob Gomez. I would love to see him step up and become one of our clear starters, potential ACE in 2025.
Yeah, dylan is a guy who just every time you pitch it you're like there is more here there this he's got such great stuff But then sometimes he doesn't And sometimes he gives up runs and walks and just does stuff And it's like every time it's like man This kid is so much better than the way he's pitching even though he said that 12 strikeouts per nine over three strikeouts per walk the stuff is there and Very clearly he can take a step forward and hopefully we're seeing the starts of that So I
mean between dylan brown and ben moore if the two of them Can pitch, Uh, at an even higher level than they were this year, man You've really got the start of something going going good next year
Yeah, absolutely. And I'll take the position player here and talk about Stephen Meyer. Uh, he really had a pretty good year this year. I think he's a plus defender plus speed, you know, pretty good on base percentage. Uh, but really where he lacked a little bit for us is, is in the average department only hit two 46, had a three 74 on base percentage. We want to just see that get higher because you think about how many bases he stole.
If he was getting on a base a few more times, he'd have 40 plus steals. uh he was clutch for us. He had two walk off home runs this season. I think that he has so much potential to be a pro center fielder. If he's able to just improve his bat a little bit, you got to remember he's young. It's his first year here at ODU. He's going to get this full off season, uh, to work with the team and go through their program. So I think.
It's logical that he's going to take another big step forward, but he is someone that, man, you can put in the lineup anywhere that he becomes a problem and he gets on base and becomes a bigger problem for other teams. And, uh, he is my position player pick to click in 2025.
Yeah, you know Steven i'm with you. I think he bet they can click in 2025 I actually had kind of put him in a group of guys where i'm like, I think he needs to Kind of bounce back or step up in 2025. Um, 28 steals most we've had in 20 years here and like you said how many more could he have had if he was able to get on base more 374 on base if nothing sees that but He's got this.
I mean for a guy who got hit 26 times or whatever he got hit Um, you know that that 246 average just kind of kills you I mean, that's always you talk about like billy hamilton It was a guy in the big leagues who you know So you can't steal first. It doesn't really matter how fast you are if you're not getting on base. Um, so Meyer is an extremely talented ballplayer. He's an extremely competitive kid.
He's one of those guys, he steps up in the moments that matter, which is a trait you just can't teach. So there again same thing kind of like with dylan brown. There's a lot more in the tank here Um, there's a lot of talent and if steven can can unlock those things man, he could have a monster 2025 season He could absolutely be challenging kevin gibbs for the stolen base record for a season
And he's a monster defensively in centerfield. I don't think that defensive run save gets tracked at the college level. Uh, but I imagine he would be probably up there in the top 25 in the country and defensive run saves just with the catches that he's made. I've got a couple of outfield assists as well. Uh, you know, he can avoid some of those collisions with his, uh, corner outfielders, I think he'd be in even better shape. But even in both of those instances, he made the catch.
Um, yeah, just all the makings of a five tool athlete right there. Uh, and I'd love to just see it take that step forward next year.
Uh, and while we're talking about a couple guys that kind of need to bounce back in 2025 Uh, one of them wasn't really his fault. Uh, Bailey, Mattel, I had a shoulder injury. He missed about a month and it was pretty obvious when he came back. It still wasn't quite right. He would get about a batter or two and pitch very well. And then anything past that, it seemed like he just lost it all of a sudden. Uh, so hopefully he can just. Rest and strengthen and get himself back.
You know, he only had 17 innings this year Uh still led the team in strikeouts per nine with 13. 8. So the stuff was there Um, but it just he he just unfortunately got hurt. Uh, so that's not his fault Hopefully he just has a healthy year because bailey Was a huge weapon the first part of the year when he was healthy and really can be so he could be he could be Right there with ben moore and dylan brown.
That's three lefties It would all be juniors who really can have huge seasons coming up Uh, but the guy to me Who I think really needs to bounce back and have a big year after this season is alex boucher His numbers took a pretty sizable dip. He went from hitting two 90 nines, a freshman hitting 2 41, had a 9 47 on base down to a 7 45. He struck Out in 38% of it is at bats in 2024. That was up in 33%, which is still a little high.
His isolated slugging, which that's one of those newfangled fancy stats, but basically saying his, his power, uh, his power went from it was 2 28. In uh, 2023 dropped all the way down to 136 in 2024. So it went from excellent to end So it's just a case of he needs to come out and have more contact and harder contact And now obviously he had a tough end of the year.
he hurt his hamstring at one point And then took a ball to face broke his nose played in the tournament the whole last week with a big face mask Uh, so you can't question the kid's toughness.
I mean, he got a double there right in his last at batted season Uh, just absolute tough guy Um, but you know alex, he's an extremely talented ball player Um, I'm wondering if maybe it's a chance to bounce back over to third base and maybe a little more comfortable playing in the infield I think learning first base maybe that was something that might have affected them, too Uh, but again another guy who there's a lot in the tank that we didn't quite see.
I felt like Alex Boucher when he played in the Sunbelt tournament was like the embodiment of our program, black eyes, broken nose, wearing this weird, clear visor and just fighting like hell trying to put the ball in play. He probably hit three foul ball home runs in the tournament, like just absolutely destroyed some, uh, down the left field line. Uh, so he's definitely tough.
Obviously, the potentials there he's he's done in the previous season, just, um, you know, maybe settle things down, let him reset, avoid any, you know, fastballs to the nose while he's batting would be be great. Um, yeah, I, I would love to see him bounce back because, I mean, that was, that's someone that we were probably relying on for more power numbers and have those kind of.
Important hits to drive runners in this season that just wasn't there consistently for us, but there is a clear pathway for him to get back to that production in 2025.
You know, and we were just talking about a bunch of sophomores, right? I'm talking about alex boucher Dylan brown ben bohr bailey mattella That's a, that's a great group of guys that are going to be juniors come up next year.
I I always I thought about this the other day and I always like to kind of look back at it We we kind of forget that group should be even better we had a a commit seth keller from hanover He got picked in the seventh round by the braves, uh, which he was going to come here as a shortstop They picked him as a pitcher. So he's in his third year playing professionally We got Everett Cooper who was supposed to be coming here. He got picked by the nationals.
And I think the 18th round, something like that. Um, he's been now three years professional, uh, and a kid, uh, Canon people's who was supposed to come here, kind of screwed us over a little bit, uh, chose to go to NC state. Then it kind of screwed them over a little bit, but going to Tennessee. Uh, but he's had a, had a monster year at NC state did okay at Tennessee. But those are three extremely talented players. Who were supposed to be part of that same freshman class.
So as good as that group we have right now is, it's kind of so I think it's just, if nothing else, it's worth looking back and remembering like, Oh yeah, our coaches do a really good job of getting talent. Um, cause again, you got two guys, one's in his third year pitching professionally, one's in his third year, uh, as a hitter professionally, and one's, uh, playing at the highest level of the SEC after playing at a high level of the ACC.
So it just shows, you know, we, our coaching staff at Old Dominion does a great job of acquiring talent.
It's the double edged sword of being able to recruit and find good talent before other people do. Then you're just keeping your fingers crossed and hoping that no one else finds out that they're also really good until you can get them enrolled. Um, it's, it's always tough and it's even tougher in baseball because you have that option to come out of high school and go pro like, like some of these guys did. I mean, Seth Keller would be an amazing arm dad, Everett Cooper would be a great bat.
I mean, I think you said why he's been hitting like 281 or something like that in pro ball.
Yeah, those numbers are a little, uh, skewed because he went out, he hit like in the 100s his first season in the Gulf Coast. And then he repeated it last year, hit like 370. And this year so far he's playing low A in Fredericksburg, hitting about 205 or something like that. So, overall it's 280, but again, he's only 20 years old. As long as they're patient with him, he's an amazing athlete, uh, great, great kid. You know, I'm definitely rooting for him.
Uh, but yeah, so that's definitely three talented players. It could have been on the team
Yeah, crazy to think what, what could have been there, Uh, with those guys being added to it. but on that topic, uh, we want to take a look at who is definitely out of eligibility and leaving, uh, or at least we're pretty sure that they're going to be leaving. Oh, to You And then also touch on.
Some of the guys that are coming in at but want to go through the guys that were, were leaving out here that are going to be, you know, definitely done with, with ODU in terms of their eligibility and that's Kenny LaVarie, Jake Tyser, Hunter Cole, and Jack Spites. Uh, tough for all four of them. I know Hunter, just came over, uh, after a nice successful career at Randolph Macon, uh, which the Yellow Jackets are back in the College World Series. So, congrats to Coach Ray Hedrick up there.
Jake Tyser, Juco transfer in, did a lot of great things for us, uh, last year before some injuries slowed down. And then, Mr. Monarch himself, Kenny LaVarie. Uh, that's, that's a tough foursome to, to be losing. Uh, but I think it may look worse on the pitching side when we get to that in a little bit.
Yeah, I mean it it's huge especially losing kenny Um the upside I guess is when you look at it We're losing 22 of our at bats for the year Uh, which is not a huge amount when you have this many seniors You would think you feel like you're losing a lot. We're really We're losing a third baseman and a DH. Uh, so there's going to be room in the lineup for at least two guys to come in.
Um now again, whether or not that means Boucher moves over to third base and you have a first base and DH available. If you know who knows we decide TJ Aiken is a DH. I think he's a left fielder. so there's a couple of spots in the lineup. Um, Yeah, I unfortunately have not seen a ton of these guys. Frankly, they keep they keep getting from all over the country. We have kids coming in from California. You Florida, we got a kid from Utah. I mean, we got guys from all over the country.
So I've really One guy i've seen a ton is tanner shadal. Uh, he's a corner infielder outfielder played shortstop and pitched at high school But he's gonna be more of a corner guy. Uh, he had a another great year Uh, let's see 433 here five homers pitched on the mound 139 era. I mean tanner's uh, He's gonna be a hitter for odu Really good ball player. I could very easily see him playing at third base or in right field You Um, so that's a local kid.
Um, but there there's some other a kid canin george the outfitter from uh, central florida Uh, he had a big time year 317 1076 ops 15. 14 homers 46 rbis Um, a kid, Andrew Morocco, who was a, I think it's Morocco is how you say it. I don't know. That's the first time I ever said it out loud. Uh, he is, he was a red shirt at coastal Carolina, ended up at Gaston college. Um, had a really big year there. 373, uh, 1171 OPS, 11 doubles, eight homers, 51 RBIs, 12 steals.
I know they said he plays like second and third. Uh, I think he probably could play first also. Uh, another first baseman from, from California, Zach Leet, I'm going to assume. Can you see the Leet or Light? Uh, he hit 314, 098 OPS, 12 doubles, 10 homers, 43 RBIs. I mean, those are just some, some Juco guys coming in. Efrain Morales is an extremely good catcher from South Carolina. And then you got Will Orbison from IMG.
If anybody knows anything about IMG, that's a huge big time, uh, producer of talent. And Brody Connors, an infielder from Mater D out in California, which is, again, one of the best high school programs in the country. So there's a lot of ta Oh, I forgot, Ryan Thomas is A is a outfielder from Utah, had a good year at JUCO. Um, that's a lot of talent coming in.
You, you love seeing I couldn't get stats on all the guys, but the juco guys all have really good stats and that's something you like seeing and say A good indicator that you might succeed at the next level is you succeed at the level you're at It
with some of the guys that are coming from the academy route, I mean, If you've even looked at college athletics in the last 10 years, you've heard of IMG Academy, um, uh, matter day. Like that's another huge one. a lot of big football stars come through matter day and then end up, uh, going to the power five now that, uh, the PAC 12 is officially done. Um, so you're just seeing A lot of good academy guys are getting that good training plus the Jucos.
I mean, I think on the offensive side of the ball, you know, we're definitely replacing what we're losing there from a production standpoint. Uh, you know, it's got to all work out and they got to get here and stay in school and all that fun stuff. But I feel pretty good about what's coming in on that, that hitting side. Um, pitching side might be a little bit different because we are losing 57 percent of our innings pitched from this year's team.
seemed low to me when I did that number I was like it feels like more because you're talking about Like four or five of your top six or seven pitchers
I think the bigger thing is a lot of those 57 percent were a lot of our weekend guys, you know, John, being number 1 on that list. You know, he technically does have another year of eligibility, but I have a hard time believing that. If he gets drafted, he's not going to go. I don't think he has anything left to prove at this level. Uh, of course, Jacob Gomez, Vincent Bechera, two senior stalwarts for us, spent their whole careers here.
Uh, we may, we're definitely going to miss them and their production on the mound, but I think the team is going to be missing them a lot from like a leadership and seniority standpoint within that locker room. I'll throw Jay Cassidy in that mix for a locker room guy as well.
I mean, I don't know how many players that we had come on our show throughout the course of the year that talked about Jay Cassidy leading this Jay Cassidy being involved in that, uh, he kind of came in for that one year from Christopher Newport and came one of the old guys on the roster. I feel like pretty quickly. Um,
but you know what you what you hope from that is that it's kind of like what Bashara told us where he said You know, uh heartline and I feel terrible about forgetting whoever who else he mentioned But the other guys setting the standard for him is you really hope what you see is these guys Have set the standard for the next guy.
And we'll see, you know, again, hopefully next year we see like Dylan Brown and Ben Moore and Bailey Mattela and some of these other guys stepping up and being the new leaders and being the new guys.
Yeah, absolutely. Brandon Pond, Lincoln Ransom, Aiden Kuhl, and Ben Moisan, uh, they will not be with ODU next year,, but we got some guys coming in, I would be shocked if we don't add a couple more arms here over the summer when we go rolling into fall ball.
Yeah. I'm going to have to imagine both hitting and pitching wise, you know, and again, we, we listed off the guys we know are done including, and we included Alabetts because he's getting drafted, uh, but there's. I'm sure there's some other guys that are on the roster who have eligibility who are going to move on I don't just things happen. There's probably somebody out there right now making that choice.
Um, So there are some guys we don't know about they're gonna be gone And there are some guys that we've never heard of who are going to be with us and they might right now not even know They're gonna be playing for older man. Um, but we have some guys come again. I've seen very few of these i've seen cole lanford Uh, he's a big left handed pitcher Um Um, he was originally committed to NC State. Uh, he, he played this P5 Academy.
Um, I got to see him come and pitch against, uh, Bryant and Stratton. And he did really well against a, a team called College Hitters. Um, kid Luke Ridley, a right hander. He's at the same college, Central Florida, that Kane and George was at. Um, he had a very nice season as a reliever. 3 1, uh, 4 13 ERA, 43 strikeouts, 32 innings. Um, Julian Areola is a pitcher from Burlington, North Carolina. Uh, Had a very nice year, 31 innings.
Uh, Jace Park from Philadelphia, another right hander, 6 1, uh, 69 strikeouts, 53 innings. Maddox Jack is a smaller kid, but really good pitcher. I've seen him pitch a couple times at the camps, uh, they've had over the summer, uh, from Hickory, North Carolina. And then Jacob Perrone Salisbury from, I'm gonna, I'm gonna say this incorrectly, Niskayana, New York. No idea. I'm not, I don't know how to pronounce those things.
Uh, he's a really I had I did have a chance to meet a lot of these guys back when they um, Officially signed back in the fall. Um, and then rocky green is a kid from uh, Reston who was kind of a late signing for him. Um, so still might be a few guys like that So there's not quite as many.
Uh, Established players, you know a lot of a lot of talented freshmen coming in So you, you, I agree with you, I think they're gonna probably fill in with some, some, uh, juco, some more juco, guys and some more transport portal guys.
So, the incoming pitching class has some like, Hall of Fame level names there, like Maddox, Jack, and Rocky Green. Like that, those are some, some high quality baseball names that are coming in. So maybe they don't immediately, uh, replace the production that we're losing, but, uh, with names like that, they have to be an interesting cast of characters. So Lucy won't be bored, uh, when we're talking to him, that is, that is for sure.
Jace Park is a solid one too, I think. I think when I googled him that actually there is some park called Jace Park where people play baseball,
yeah, I mean, there's just up and down that lineup. There's a couple other ones that would make some very interesting t shirts. Uh, for us looking into the future, but, a lot of this could change, the transfer portal and baseball is not nearly as crazy as it is in football, uh, but it is still pretty crazy. And there are power programs out there that will see a guy like.
Luke waters, or, Bailey, Mattel, or, Ben Moore or Dylan Brown, and they may be reaching out, uh, to see if they can try and convince him to go in the transfer for that happens. It happened to Southern Miss a couple of times, the Marshall few others. Uh, so a lot of things can change, but that's the best, as we know of right now, of, of who is leaving the program, who we have coming in, uh, we'll keep you updated, of course, if anything changes and,
and, I personally, I don't really worry about that. I guess it's going to happen. I'm sure it will happen and maybe though i'll be proven wrong But at this point, I don't see with baseball with your mid majors that being a huge thing um, I think a lot of guys they might hopefully be aware that if you're in a mid major And you're playing well, the team's playing Well, I mean if you're in the sunbelt sunbelt's one of the top five conferences in baseball, right?
You're already playing at a high level of baseball Uh, you can get seen get drafted become a pro from there You know You really don't have to go play in the acc or sec and and frankly if you go They're bringing you in to compete with five other guys for a spot and maybe you get to play. Maybe you don't Uh, so I you know, I know, our football fan base and our basketball fan base are very um uh Snake bit by the portal. I I currently am not that worried about it when it comes to baseball
Yeah, shouldn't have as big of an impact. And yes, we are very scarred from football. Um, and then basketball was like all kinds of crazy this year with coaching change that was going on.
I I'd argue if anything it's going to benefit us because we see you call it like kind of bounce back guys a guy that They go to it, you know, it didn't work out this year, but a guy like a gavin abrams, right? Gavin abrams who was at clemson, ends up coming back to kind of a uh, Yeah, I guess you could say lower level.
I would I would argue that let play up level I don't think i'm crazy to say the level play in the sunbelt is not as high as level play in the sec Uh now it didn't work out for gavin, which but again, he's a he's a talented ballplayer I don't you know, who knows what happened?
Maybe he'll get another shot next year Uh, but that's the kind of thing you're hoping for is those guys who for one reason or another didn't quite work out in the big power five schools And they're going to cut you get a chance at old dominion So I always as a baseball fan look at the transfer portal as a positive thing,
Yeah, and I think that is a hat tip to coach Finwood and what he's built at ODU and the reputation we have and the number of guys that we currently have in the pros and in the minor leagues and we're going to have, I would say, at least one, possibly two drafted this year. Um,
you know When you speak of finney, he always points out. Hey, you know what? We want guys who want to be here. So at the day, you know If a guy wants to go because they give him a couple bucks somewhere else. All right, take care We want guys, you know We want those lunch pail guys, one of the guys who want to show up and be old dominion guys and work hard and play here Um, but yeah, so, so continue your point. I'm sorry.
No, I think, uh, I think that wraps it up nicely. Um, but it's, uh, not quite like football where there's going to be a mass exodus of everyone who touched the field and even some guys that didn't. Uh, somehow getting power for offers, uh, not going to be quite the same here in baseball, but that's not to say that it couldn't have some one offs here and there.
Um, it could be a, a mutual benefit for some, but it seems like a lot of that was kind of weeded out over the past couple of seasons for us, thankfully, but we'll keep you updated either way. Um, through Monarchist social media, any new commits, uh, any, any info we get will be Pass it along to you.
Uh, maybe some of you are asking, maybe some of you are just glad that we're not going to be an alert on your Spotify anymore for a little bit, but we are planning some episodes here over the summer, to keep you plugged into the program. Uh, there's a couple of guys on the team that we just didn't get the chance to talk to this year. And we want to talk to them at some point this summer and hear their story and be able to bring it to you all.
Uh, we also want to talk to guys like Rick French to talk about the new bud that's being built. Cause that's a fairly exciting thing that's happened on the campus of Old Uh, you want to talk to Coach Finwood, talk about scheduling for next year. Uh, we want to get you updated on the draft and, and where, where John Halibut is going to go and potentially some other guys. So probably looking at a couple episodes here over the summer before, uh, football fully takes over and ruins all of our lives.
And then we get fall ball as a nice break. Uh, we'll let you know where that's going to be played too. That could be an interesting.
Yeah, who knows? Uh, but yeah, so like you said, you were about to start talking about the draft. I am not as optimistic as you and it's not because I don't think our guys are talented. I think it's because the minor leagues and the way they scout and draft and develop has changed so much the last 5 years that it doesn't really matter if you're talented. You have to be a specific kind of talented in specific places.
We have, I think, four or five guys who are every bit talented and ready to go, ready to play pro ball. And if it was five years ago, I would believe they're getting drafted. Uh, I think the only guy we're gonna have draft of this team is gonna be john holovitz I think he's gonna be in that. After the fifth round, you're kind of six to ten range.
He maybe leaks out to the 10 to 15 range but he is an extremely talented player, he's the kind of guy you You see 100 miles an hour in his arm I would draft him have him start for a year or two and then put him in the bullpen He probably shoots the big leagues in a year
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And, and you're right. Like it's really tough to get drafted in baseball now. I think it used to be a little bit easier, but we're down to basically 20 rounds at this point when it used to be what 60, I think.
It was At well at one point it was unlimited at one point They would keep going until every team said I don't want to draft anymore.
That's why there was a I think travis harper was like a uh, 88th round draft pick that made the major leagues Um, and then it got down to 50 then it got down to it was at 40 for about a good 10 15 years Now they got down to 20 and not just 20 rounds But they've also eliminated all a bunch of the short season minor league teams where guys usually get drafted and go play So now it's kind of like you get drafted Especially if you're a college guy, you better be ready to go play eight balls a day So
they really want the guys who are basically playing at the high levels, you know, the, the big power fives and ready to rock and roll. Um, now that's not always the case for everybody. Some guys it would be better off and they, can just finish out the summer playing short season ball and develop. Uh, I think there's a lot of detriment being happening to the pro game.
That's why you see guys coming up and getting basically their asses handed to them when they come up in the big leagues, cause they're not ready. They didn't get developed. They, they kind of want. To draft finished products. And that's not the way baseball works. It's not football.
It's very reasonable to take a guy in the first round, even out of college and still have to wait, take two, three years where he makes it to major leagues, even I'm talking about first round college player, your best players. So for guys who are not the first rounds, it's very reasonable to draft the guy out of college and still expect them to take three or four years to maybe become a big leaguer. But that's not what they want to do anymore.
No, they they want the Paul skeins type where you're going to throw a little bit in the minors. And then before the year is up, you're going to be up in the pros. We've seen a lot of them. I mean, that's what they want. They want the ready made. Guys, and they're just so dismissive these days. Like, all right, you don't exactly fit the mold. So we're not even going to bother taking a look at you. Like, it's not that you're not good and don't deserve it.
It's. And you only check seven of our nine boxes. So we might get to you later on and even see if you're worth drafting.
In another year, when Maverick Stallings did what he did, that would get him drafted. That would have made him, now maybe it would have been like a 28th round pick or something like that. But it would have got him drafted, but I don't think anybody was even watching him. I don't think anybody even, I don't think I saw scouts even aware that he existed. And because what they would look at is be like well The overall numbers weren't that great or they were just fine, right?
Um, and that's not to say maverick if you put maverick on a like I said back when they have appellation league If I drafted maverick now here in june, but in the appellation league, he would compete for a whole summer and do well Um, so again, I think jacob gomez. Absolutely. Absolutely Should be a pro player do not believe he'll get drafted. I would be I would be very pleasantly surprised if a team signed him He, if he wants to keep playing, I think he might have to end up playing Indie ball.
And that's not anything against Jacob Gomez or who he is as a player. That's just the unfortunate way they're doing things these days.
Yeah, it's unfortunate, but we're rooting for a lot of these guys. So at least get the opportunity, even if it's try out, get signed, go play indie ball for a couple of years. Um, because, you know, we, we definitely want to know we want to be looped in. We want to be able to cheer you on the rest of the way.
Trent Buchanan! I mean, that guy throws 96 from a funky angle. Like, that's the kind of guy you should sign and develop and let him keep pitching to get better. Kenny LaVarie does everything you want out of a player. But because he didn't hit 370 this year, I don't think there's any hope of It Now, can you go out and play, uh, Indie ball? Yeah, for sure. And if also, if I was a team, I'd look at him and say, Hey, if I sign a worst case scenario, all right, you're not that much of a hitter.
Go on the mound. He had four years of not using his arm on the mound. That arm is fresh and ready. And I guarantee he's got 97. And, uh, so I, it, it, it frustrates me this kind of year where it should be nothing but successes for these guys. Nothing, But things are great. But then I have to sit here And, say, I, think it's just unfortunately not going to happen for most of them because of the way base MLB baseball has gone now.
It's tough. Definitely not nearly as exciting. It was always funny when, you know, some random kid in high school will be drafted like the 56 round and it was like the 3rd best kid on his team, but somehow gets an opportunity. It gets some major league development and all of a sudden, boom, like, he's popping up in the pros. Like, those stories just, you It's not really going to happen anymore.
And you've got teams being scolded for trying to skirt the the draft itself to go to like the international signing pool and all of these things, like. It's, it's just become so much about, we just want the product to the league as fast as we possibly can. And half the teams in the league are once we get that prospect up and have them looking good. We can't wait to trade them away for more draft picks that are never going to stay with our program.
Just kind of the constant cycle of half the league tanking all year long. So. Baseball is just not, not what it used to be, but I think that's why you and I are so obsessed with college baseball. Cause it is pure and awesome.
I was just going to say, there's, I used to, I used to go cover. I used to take pictures for the Braves, my leagues. I love the Braves. Big fan goes to the minor leagues. I kept I knew like every guy in the minor league system. I I enjoyed it I loved it and it's just different now and you're right. That's why i'm like, hey, i'm just gonna hang out at home I'm gonna watch od baseball.
I'll go see him in high school If I can't I enjoy whenever the high school game I can get you around here Uh, because it's just it's and yeah, obviously is the level of play better No, I go to I went to big league game last year's last I went and saw to see benny, uh, pasquotino He had got hurt the day before but just watching like bobby witt You Just playing shortstop and it's just like and just watching him take ground balls between innings It's like this guy is and I got i've seen him when he
was like 16 So just seeing him, you know five years later, it was amazing So the level of play is not like it Yeah, the level playing the major leagues is insane level playing the minor leagues is is crazy Uh, but the actual like baseball baseball. I I really love college and high school baseball because it's just more fun
Well, major league baseball is lost is our gain because I'm really happy. We're going to have guys like Maverick Stallings and Luke waters back playing for us next year and potentially longer. Uh, and I'm going to enjoy rooting them on and, and getting to watch them play and get to watch some good baseball in the Sunbelt. So I think that's going to, uh, going to do it for us as we put a bow here on the 2024 season, uh, definitely stay subscribed.
Uh, if you know people that aren't subscribed, shame them into subscribing in case we do sneak one of those episodes off over the summer, just to to give you a little taste of, of ODU baseball before we hit the fall and all of that fun and excitement starts kicking back up,
yeah, and I I thoroughly appreciate everyone that listened to the podcast I I know I had people stopping me all the time when I was going to the games and um I I really really love ODU baseball and i'm glad we got an opportunity to talk about it Really enjoyed it with you gary.
yeah, I, I agree with you CB. It's been a lot of fun doing this podcast, hopefully reaching some of you and giving you some more insight to ODU baseball and just awesome people that surround that program. So thank you all so much for listening. Appreciate all the parents and the coaching staff in the athletic communication staff, that's welcomed us with open arms. So thank you. I'm Gary go monarchs
I'm cb go monarchs