10 Things to know as Auburn Baseball's Opening Day approaches
AUBURN — It’s game week.
We’re just four days away from baseball in Plainsman Park. Auburn will play Indiana in a three game series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. CT.
Indiana finished the 2022 season with a 27-32 record, 10-14 in the Big Ten. Against SEC opponents, they were 1-1, defeating Kentucky and losing to Arkansas. The Hoosiers lost more players than any other team in their conference to the MLB draft, but have been working in the offseason to fill those holes with impact transfers.
This Auburn team is coming off their second trip to Omaha in three seasons, but consists of 24 new players. After losing multiple players to the 2022 Draft, the Tigers will need to rebuild their strong roster quickly this season.
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Here’s 10 things to know as you prepare for this 2023 season:
— In his first Spring 2023 press conference, head coach Butch Thompson told the media that he has seen his team ranked anywhere between 15 and 300. “It’s kind of fair, the head coach doesn’t even know what all we have and how things are going to lineup… They have no meaning.”
— According to D1 Baseball’s preseason rankings, Auburn is set to play three of the top five teams this season in No. 1 LSU (May 5-7), No. 4 Ole Miss (May 11-13) and No. 5 Texas A&M (April 6-8).
— The Tigers will appear on eight national broadcasts this season, five of the games being at home. The first will be on SEC Network on Tuesday, Mar. 14th when Auburn plays Georgia Tech. In addition, 24 of 26 of the remaining home games will be broadcasted on SEC Network+ and will be available for streaming on Watch ESPN.
— USA Baseball announced the Gold Spikes Award Preseason Watchlist last Friday and Joseph Gonzalez was one of the names on the list. This past season, the RHP led the pitching staff with seven wins and a 3.22 era. This registered the seventh best in the SEC.
— Graduate transfer Justin Kirby is the No. 43 ranked impact transfer according to D1 Baseball. The outfielder is from Alpharetta, Ga. and played four years at Kent State. During his 2022 season, Kirby turned in a .990 fielding percentage with four outfield assists. He led the team with 64 hits, 17 doubles, 15 homers and 45 RBI.
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— With last year’s senior Brody Moore now in the St. Louis Cardinals organization, the middle infield needs a new leader to step up and fill the shortstop position. Thompson announced that Cole Foster will move from second base to short this season. The junior finished his sophomore season with a .971 fielding percentage.
— Ike Irish is a name that any Auburn fan should become familiar with. The true freshman earned the title of Most Valuable Player in the fall. The Michigan native was the No. 39 overall player in this past signing class according to Perfect Game. Irish finished this fall leading the Tigers with 23 hits in intrasquad games and exhibitions while ranking tied for second with five homers and third with 15 RBI.
— One of the veterans on last year’s team, Kason Howell elected to use his final year of eligibility and return for a fifth year. The centerfielder started in all 65 of last year’s games and led the team with 19 doubles.
— There are 13 new pitchers on this year’s roster after six were drafted from last year’s team. Thompson told the media that there will be more of a “baton” passing style pitching staff until things start to settle and true starters begin to emerge.
— Pitching coach Tim Hudson decided to leave Auburn to become Lee-Scott Academy’s head coach for his son’s senior season. Replacing him is Daron Schoenrock, who has 38 years of coaching experience. For the past 18 years, he was the head coach at Memphis. From 1991-1992, Schoenrock was Thompson’s pitching coach. They later became colleagues at Birmingham-Southern in 1994.
