Bulldogs Baseball Preview: In the Field

Georgia Baseball season is just around the corner, getting underway this Friday at Foley Field as the Diamond Dawgs take on Albany (2:00 p.m. ET). If you are thinking about giving Georgia Baseball a try, I encourage you to do so. If you’ve already decided that it’s worth a shot, then you’re in the right place as DawgsHQ builds up to Opening Day with previews of the three aspects of baseball: on the mound, in the field and at the plate. In case you missed it, yesterday’s preview discussed Georgia’s pitching. Today we breakdown the defense behind them.

Infield/Outfield

Much like the pitching staff, Georgia’s defense is one defined by experience. In the infield alone, the Bulldogs return numerous players that started games last season. Chaney Rogers started a team-high 54 games in 2021, primarily playing first base, while Cole Tate, Garrett Blaylock and Josh McAllister all bring to the table 30 or more starts. Blaylock has shifted his focus to the outfield primarily with all the competition for playing time in an effort to get him on the field, and that’s a good thing considering that we have yet to mention Parks Harber, who started games at third base down the stretch, and Florida transfer Cory Acton.

Both Tate and McAllister dealt with injury in the middle infield last season which offered the opportunity for several guys to gain experience, and potentially even play out of position some. However, once healthy, they settled into spots. The same goes for Harber who had a wrist injury that kept him from establishing himself in the lineup until late in the season. With everybody healthy, at least to open the season, the consistency should be helpful for everybody to get in a groove.

Meanwhile, Acton joins the Bulldogs from across the division at arch-rival Florida. He started 58 of 60 games as a true freshman in 2019 after being drafted out of high school by the Detroit Tigers. Then in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, he started another 15 games for the Gators. However, things fell off in 2021 some with Acton only seeing action in 31 games with 19 starts, all at second base. Over the last two seasons, Acton has only made one error on a total of 117 chances, an improvement from when he fielded a still-strong 96.6% as a freshman with five errors on 145 chances.

Count on seeing Rogers at first base along with Harber, Acton at second, Tate and short and McAllister at third while also knowing that they are capable of playing other spots around the field and that guys like Buddy Floyd and potentially even freshman Cole Wagner can still contribute off the bench.

As is the case with the infield, the outfield has numerous options too. Ben Anderson held down a spot in the starting lineup last season because of his strong defensive play in center field. Excluding catchers and first basemen, Anderson led the team in putouts last season with 114. Connor Tate is bound to be in the mix somewhere because of what he can do with the bat, while Luke Wagner, Randon Jernigan and Garrett Spikes compete for the third spot, likely in right field. You could throw in Rogers and Blaylock, both of whom have experience in the infield and outfield, as well. Because of Wagner’s presence as a pitcher too, it’s a good thing that Georgia has options in the outfield. Josh Stinson often appears in games too given his speed on the bae paths, sometimes staying in to play in the field too.

“It gives me all the confidence in the world, because if you want to get into the seventh, eighth inning as a starting pitcher, you’ve got to get quick outs. I have all the confidence in the world in my defense,” Georgia pitcher Jonathan Cannon said. “I’m biased, but I think I have the best defense in the world behind me. When the ball is hit behind me, I’m not concerned about them making the play. They’re very sure handed behind me.”

Catchers

Fernando Gonzalez is Georgia’s top option at catcher, starting 36 games for the Bulldogs in 2021. When he’s not in there, it’ll be Shane Marshall, who got 15 starts, or Corey Collins. Gonzalez is a guy known for his defense, setting a school-record for catchers with a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage in 330 total chances while throwing out 45 percent of base stealers and only allowing seven passed balls. While it was a strong first showing, Gonzalez is hopeful that he can take the next step forward in year two as the game has slowed down for him some.

“We put a lot of pressure on our catchers, and they’re (Gonzalez and Collins) coming back,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said. “They’ve been through it as freshmen. Now they’re sophomores. They know how to handle and run the game a little bit better.”

“Once you have a year under your belt, you learn how to slow the game down,” Gonzalez added. “You think about what happened last year, what you could have done differently and apply that this year. I think that’s going to help me a lot this year as a sophomore with 40-50 games under my belt, slowing the game down and using whatever I can to get better.”

Overall Approach

Overall, and I’m sure you can tell a theme, the defense is one defined by experience. Having guys back that have been through the bumps and bruises of an SEC schedule before, and ones that have learned the hard way in some cases, makes all the difference in the world when it comes to confidence in the ability to make a play behind a pitcher.

“There aren’t going to be too many surprises because everybody knows our players. These guys are all back,” Stricklin said. “To have the Tates back, to have Ben Anderson and Chaney Rodgers and Josh McAllister, those guys are all fifth year seniors. Corey Collins, Fernando Gonzalez and Parks Harber all played a bunch as freshmen last year and they’re going to be in the middle of things. Transfer Cory Acton from Florida is going to be an impact player that’s going to play second base and be a big time hitter for us. All those guys have played and are really talented. So we’re old and experienced with depth and talent.”

Georgia and Albany set set for a three-game series this weekend with first pitch on Friday coming at 2:00 p.m. ET. Saturday’s game is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. ET with the Sunday finale at 1:00 p.m. ET. All three games can be seen on SEC Network+.