Alabama Baseball Preview: Crimson Tide have the talent, depth for a postseason run in 2022

Alabama baseball will look to make the journey to the 2022 NCAA Tournament once again this season, but they’ll do it with a much different roster than in 2021.

Last season, Alabama finished with a 32-26 overall record (12-17 in SEC play) in Brad Bohannon’s fourth season at the helm of the Crimson Tide, and the program clinched a berth to the Ruston Regional. Up until the postseason, things were going extremely well for a program that had not made postseason noise in quite some time. However, they were a quick out in the regional, as the Crimson Tide which dropped two of three games to NC State and Louisiana Tech, ultimately falling short of a Super Regional.

Now, Alabama will open up the 2022 season with a renewed sense of hope, driven primarily by new faces and a top 10 recruiting class (No. 11 per Perfect Game, and No. 8 by Baseball America), marking the second straight top-20 recruiting class under Bohannon. Before Alabama starts its season at home against Xavier, On3 spoke with Joey Blackwell to preview the roster and set expectations. This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Joey Blackwell is an Alabama beat reporter for Sports Illustrated’s Bama Central. He can be reached at @BlackwellSports on Twitter.

What do you think Alabama’s weekend rotation will look like this season, and who fits as a midweek starter?

Alabama has a lot of really talented pitchers this year. They added a lot to the repertoire, but they also lost three key players in Tyler Ras, Dylan Smith and Chase Lee last year. They already put out their lineup for opening day, and Alabama is going to have a JUCO transfer, Garrett McMillan, who’s a native of Tuscaloosa, on the mound to start Friday. Then, they have a junior in Antoine Jean starting Saturday as well. The Sunday starter will be Grayson Hitt. The three of them — Jean is a player I could see possibly starting Sunday down the line, after the other pitchers get settled in. McMillan, we haven’t seen him as much, but he had a really, really strong showing in his two years at Shelton State. I think that this rotation that Alabama has right now may not ultimately be the one it uses down the stretch, but at the same time, it’s a good start.

You also do have redshirt junior Landon Green coming back, you have redshirt senior Brock Guffey as well — and Guffey is a guy that Coach Bohannon has talked about a decent bit over the past couple of weeks. Both Green and Guffey are likely to be relievers, though. There’s still so much up in the air with this pitching staff. Obviously, it’s always going to take around a month to finalize that and see how they play, but those three guys starting right now provide a good opening weekend setup.

You mentioned Green and Guffey coming out of the bullpen, but who are some other names that Alabama might rely on as bullpen arms?

Green and Guffey are the two main guys in my opinion, since they both come into the season with a lot of experience. They can handle that pressure. I think those two guys will be used as late relievers or even closers, depending on which one can get the edge on the other. Sophomore Eli Giles can play well out of the bullpen. But I think Green and Guffey are going to be the names we hear called the most.

What will Alabama’s lineup look like to start the season, and who will the Crimson Tide rely on most for production behind the plate?

This offense this year is very much improved. They return six starting players, not including pitching. All of them have SEC experience now, and with that comes a lot of offseason work. Owen Diodati is a name that Alabama fans will want to remember. He had a fantastic year in 2020 before COVID hit, and he also had a strong start last year, but then he tapered off a little bit. I expect him to come out strong. Another big name is Tommy Seidl, a transfer outfielder from Harvard. He played really well against Alabama in 2020, when the two programs faced off. He brings a really big bat. Dominic Tamez should also help provide a spark, he’s a catcher that transferred from McLennan Community College in Arkansas, and he actually played his freshman season at Arkansas. It goes without saying how high-profile of a program that is. He comes in to replace Sam Praytor at catcher, and when he was at McLennan, in just one season he hit .380 with 17 doubles and 12 home runs. He also recorded 62 RBIs in 61 games. The dude can hit.

Those are some guys that I think fans should look out for. They will have a heavy impact on Alabama’s offense this year.

What stood out as a weakness for Alabama in 2021, and how do you expect the Crimson Tide to fix this issue?

The weakness last year, a lot of it was a weakness in the lineup during the later at bats of a game. The first five were pretty strong, but once you started getting to the six, seven, eight and nine hitters, they kind of tapered off. It allowed opposing pitching staffs to get a breather. Coach Bohannon said pretty much the same thing. I think this lineup is more powerful in general, and more importantly, it’s well-rounded. Opposing pitchers won’t have that break so to speak at the end of the lineup. That won’t be as big of an issue.

Last year, another weakness was that they had a lot of injuries on the pitching staff, which meant that the pitching lacked depth. This year, they have plenty of depth in the pitching staff, but they lack experience in those arms. Obviously, the SEC is one of — if not the toughest conference in any sport, not just college baseball. It’s highly competitive, and they’re going to need that SEC experience. That lack of experience is certainly something they can overcome by the time the SEC Tournament comes around.

What is Alabama’s ceiling this season, and where do you see the Crimson Tide finishing in SEC play?

In the SEC, you can be a very good baseball team and still finish sixth, seventh or eighth in the conference. Three of the top five teams in the preseason top 25 polls are in the SEC. It’s very competitive, and it’s hard to predict where this team fits without any play under their belt. But at the same time, last year, they did relatively well considering all the injuries in the pitching rotation. They made it all the way to Friday in the SEC Tournament, which was great for them. Alabama then made an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2014. This year’s mentality on the team is much more focused. They really want to get to Omaha. Some of the players, Jim Jarvis and William Hamiter, actually mentioned on Thursday that Omaha is no longer a crazy word for them. That’s something that they seriously think that they can achieve. As for an actual ceiling, I think they can make it past a Regional. I really think they can make it to a Super Regional with all these pieces.

Who would be your early pick for Alabama’s team MVP this year?

It’s very difficult to pick players this early on, but if I had to, I really think that Dominic Tamez, the catcher, has what it takes. As a fielder and a hitter, he brings a lot to the table. The catcher position also has some big shoes to fill, as they had to replace Sam Praytor, who was an all-conference selection. That was a huge question mark for them, and I think Tamez comes in and can make a really big impact early on.

As far as pitchers are concerned, you have some talent in both your starters and relievers. In terms of starters, I think Garrett McMillan or Antoine Jean can be the most valuable pitcher. McMillan, based on what he was able to do at Shelton State in keeping his velocity so high, I think he’ll make a seamless transition. Same for Jean. Had a great 2020 season before COVID ended things there.