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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels' Bianco Discusses 2015 Season
2/9/2015 | Baseball
BLOG: Previewing the Batting Lineup and Pitching Staff
Ole Miss baseball head coach Mike Bianco met with the media Monday to discuss the Rebels' 2015 season and upcoming series against William and Mary.
Opening statement...
"Thank you to all of you for being here today. Like every year for every club, we are excited. It seems like a long time for us. We have been out on the field since late August practicing, playing intrasquad games and playing ourselves. We are ready to play someone in a different uniform. I know the guys on the team are excited, as I am. We have some new additions to the program. We certainly have an outstanding recruiting class again by Coach Carl Lafferty. We have another new addition to the coaching staff in Mike Clement. He comes to us from Kansas State. Early in the summer when Cliff Godwin got the head coaching job at East Carolina, you started to hear about the proverbial short list. I did not have the short list, so I started calling guys in the business and other coaches that I respect and it seemed like Coach Clement was at the top of everybody's list. I am certainly excited that he is here. We had a terrific fall. Not only is Coach Clement a great coach and a great teacher, but he is a great recruiter as well. Another addition is in our new sports information director, Adam Kuffner. Adam comes to us from Eastern Michigan. As we start this spring, I, in a way, struggled to explain to the team, something different and something exciting for you to write about. But, it seems that I come back to the same sentence, it seems very similar to last year. What I mean by that is we return some big pieces on the field. When you look around the field on Friday you will see Sikes Orvis, Errol Robinson, J.B. Woodman, Austin Knight and Colby Bortles. These are some guys who certainly played big roles for us last year in getting to the College World Series. Like last year, there is certainly going to be room for some new guys to step in and help us. There will be room for some new guys to play immediately, on opening day. On the mound, we are a little different than last year in the sense that last year at this time that was the big talk. Most of the questions in the preseason press conference were about the pitching and the starting pitching, maybe for the lack of experience in the projected starters. This year, we return two of the SEC starters from last year, along with some guys who have tons of experience like Scott Weathersby, Wyatt Short and Matt Denny. These are guys who gained some valuable experience for us last year. When I look around I see a lot of good things. I am also excited to see some of the new guys step out on the field for the first time and contribute. I am also excited to see some of the returners play themselves into some bigger roles for us. I will finish up by telling you how I see the lineup looking on Friday. In the infield and going around: 3B Colby Bortles, SS Errol Robinson, 2B Tate Blackman, 1B Sikes Orvis, C Austin Knight. Knight will be backed up by Henri Lartigue, who is possibly DH on opening day. In the outfield, Cameron Dishon will start in right field, J.B. Woodman will start in centerfield and then left field is really the big question mark as we open the season. Early on we will probably play a lot of guys to start off with. You will see Connor Cloyd out there, who is a junior college transfer, along with Josh Watkins and Kyle Watson. Kyle Watson is a true freshman who is actually an infielder, but he has had a terrific fall; so good of a fall that we are trying to get him on the field. Watson is a super athlete and during the fall he has practiced a little bit out there. As far as the mound, Christian Trent will start on Friday. The first weekend's rotation will be: Christian Trent, Sam Smith and Brady Bramlett. We mentioned earlier to some of you that Sean Johnson would be a weekend starter. He came up a few days before our first intrasquad game with some tendonitis in his shoulder. He is fine and he threw a bullpen on Friday and will throw another bullpen tomorrow. He will pitch in the first weekend, he just isn't in shape enough to start and log that many innings. Look for him to, at some point, get back into that starting role. As far as the bullpen goes, there are some I have already mentioned in Wyatt Short, Scott Weathersby, Will Stokes and Matt Denny. Will Stokes is a true freshman that has pitched very well for us this fall and early spring. You will see midweek starts possibly by Evan Anderson, Jacob Waguespack and some returning guys that seem to have elevated their game. Like every year, we are excited to get started."
On Tate Blackman…
"We think he is our best option at second (base). We saw a kid that didn't play like a freshman, not just with his ability but with the way he carries himself. Tate looks like the guy that is most ready to play. He is an outstanding hitter, runs well and is a good defender. I am excited about all of the freshman. Will Golsan, who I didn't mention, is going to be playing in the infield as a backup to start and may even play a little in the outfield. We are very comfortable in the infield."
On Brady Bramlett…
"When they come off an injury, you don't know where they are going to be or how they are going to be that first year back. When they are released and able to pitch, you have to see how they are. Brady had a really good fall. Once we got back his three starts were probably better than any of the starters. He was pretty spotless here this January and early February. We are excited. He is a guy that when we recruited him a couple years ago, we knew would have a big time fastball. His sliders keep coming and he has improved his change-up. We really think he is going to have a big year."
On the new balls…
"The first day out, you could see the difference just at batting practice. Maybe it's the hopefulness that we are going to have some more home runs. To put it in perspective statistically, I think we hit seven homeruns during the fall of 2013 and we hit 26 this past fall. We hit four home runs in the intrasquad game on Saturday. That just was not happening with the old balls. I really think that it is just not going to impact us, but it is going to impact college baseball. It is a good change. How much? I am not sure, but it is certainly a step in the right direction."
On the batting order…
"Opening day, the leadoff batter will be J.B. Woodman. Some of the order is going to be dictated by left-handed or right-handed pitchers. I think Errol Robinson will bat second. Sikes Orvis will bat third. Colby Bortles will bat fourth. I think Henri Lartigue will bat fifth. The rest of the lineup will mostly be dictated by righty or lefty."
On Joe Wainhouse as a true freshman…
"I think there is a possibility, even in the first couple of games, that he might DH. That is one of the things that we are not sure about. I do not think that William and Mary has released their starter yet. I don't want to think that Joe can't hit against left-handed pitchers. Matter of fact, Joe hit a homerun against one this past weekend and has had several hits against left-handed pitchers. He has really come on and been a guy that, as the fall progressed, we realized he is a guy that is extremely talented and could be ready to play as a freshman."
On Colby Bortles at third during the preseason…
"He has been terrific. Colby has really handled it well during the fall and early spring. He got off to a little bit of a slow start offensively at the beginning of January. This past weekend he had a great weekend. I believe he led the team in home runs this fall. He had a total of six home runs. Colby is a guy that is much like you saw at the end of the season. I really believe he is going to be a force in the middle of the lineup."
On losing great players at the end of last season…
"You have to reload and rebuild. People talk about replacing players. Last year was a terrific year. When you look at some of those guys like Will Allen, Austin Anderson and Auston Bousfield, those are guys who had great careers and maybe had their best year in their last year. You need that to have a special year. So we are going to need some of these guys sitting in the room, like Austin Knight, Sikes Orvis and Sam Smith, to step up and have a great year. We are going to need some of the young guys like Tate Blackman and Watson to step up and have great years like J.B. and Errol Robinson did. We need them to contribute and have big roles like the younger guys last year."
