Photo by: John Quackenbos
The Brotherhood Is Back
February 14, 2018 | Baseball, #ForBoston Files
Baseball returns with a close-knit roster loaded with depth.
There's an old tenet in baseball that championships are won by pitching and defense. Good pitching can make good hitters look silly, creating more opportunities for easy defensive outs. In turn, good defense can compensate a pitcher if there's a mistake pitch somewhere along the way. The two go hand-in-hand, a dual-front battle against the eternal quest for hitting.
If the motto is proven true once again, the 2018 Boston College baseball team will likely stand as Exhibit A. Two years removed from a dream run to the NCAA Super Regionals, its sport's equivalent of the Sweet Sixteen, it enters this current year ready to once again prove doubters wrong with a roster built by its brotherhood.
"I'm really excited about our roster," head coach Mike Gambino said. "One of the first things that jumps out from this ball club is how closely knit the team really is. It's something we've worked on these past four years, but it's real each year. It's part of our program, but each year, it's different. This team has really worked hard to become as close as they have and to embrace that brotherhood is pretty cool."
That brotherhood will harness one of the deepest BC rosters in recent memory. The Eagles return nearly three dozen letter winners from 2017, a year in which it went 25-28 and advanced to the ACC Tournament by winning 11 conference games. Chief among that is the pitching staff, which brings back its entire front-end rotation and a bullpen hungry for innings.
"From a pitching standpoint, we have a lot of guys back from either injury or who didn't play (much) last season," senior captain Carmen Giampetruzzi said. "We're excited to see what they can do on the field, so it's nice to the inner competition among everyone. We have guys who can throw three-quarter arm slots, a couple of overhand guys and some guys known for their finesse with breaking balls. We have some powerful arms in the back end, so it'll be really good to combine all of that together."
It starts with a weekend staff that started 28 of 30 ACC games last season. Jacob Stevens leads the group, a two-year starter who morphed from weekend complement into the unquestioned front-end starter last season. He finished 2017 with a 4-6 record and an ERA skewed by a couple of isolated outings. Down the stretch of the year, he threw six innings or more in six of his final nine games, including a seven-inning, one-hit, one-run game against Duke and a two-run start against Notre Dame in which he allowed only four hits.
"We asked a lot of Bear (Stevens) as a freshman and he rose to the occasion," Gambino said. "But he was also able to let Michael (King) and Justin (Dunn) give us what they could give us. Whatever (Stevens) gave us was a bonus in his mind as a freshman. Last year was the first time as the anchor of the staff and I think he had to learn how to do it. He took great pride in that and he was great in the second half of the year."
Stevens is joined by junior Dan Metzdorf and senior Brian Rapp, both who earned considerable innings as part of the team's weekend rotation. Metzdorf joined Stevens as the only two Eagles with 80 innings thrown on the season, while Rapp struck out 41 batters in over 56 innings in conference play.
"Danny Metzdorf went from having somewhat limited innings (in 2016) to a weekend starter (in 2017), which is a huge jump," Gambino said. "And Brian Rapp had some starts but had to learn how to be a weekend ACC starter. Now all of those guys have been through it. So you're going to see the same names (as last season), but you're not going to see the same guys. They're a year older, a year more experienced and their bodies have matured. Across the board, starting pitching got better."
But it's the depth that will truly stand out for BC. Junior John Witkowski is penciled in as the Eagles' closer with the rest of the staff falling into line from there. It will provide opponents with situational matchups that weren't readily available last year.
"We have a ton of different looks, which is exciting," Gambino said. "We're not going to ask guys to throw three innings to win games after starters come out. We can bring four different guys for the last four innings. There are guys who can embrace a role to throw the seventh or eighth. John Witkowski is getting the ball in the ninth with a lead. His stuff made a jump, his body's stronger, and he's been really, really good this preseason. His name will be talked about at the end of the year with the lists of relief pitchers.
"(Freshmen) Jack Hodges and Will Hesslink have stuff to pitch in the ACC right now," he said. "But we don't depend on those guys right now. Last year, we needed freshmen to help us out, and this year we don't need that. If they can help us out, that's great, but we'll be able to pace them a little bit slower than last year when we threw out some guys."
At BC, that pitching goes hand-in-hand with defense. A pitcher can handcuff a batter into making bad contact, and fielders, in turn, can make slick plays to build a thrower's confidence. The 2018 Eagles have the talent to make a difference in that regard, despite the fact that they lose arguably the team's most impactful player to graduation in Johnny Adams.
"You can't put a value on losing Johnny Adams," Gambino said. "There's no analytics or SABRmetrics guy who can look at stats and understand what losing Johnny Adams means across the board. But that said, Mitch Bigras at first base and Brian Dempsey, Jake Palomaki, Anthony Maselli and Jake Alu at the other positions will be able to play defense with anyone in the country."
The pitching and defense stand as cornerstones, but that doesn't mean BC's offense is nonexistent. The Eagles don't have aspirations to match power numbers at schools like Wake Forest, where the Demon Deacons hit over 100 home runs last season. Instead, they choose to play an aggressive style built by teamwork, using an old-school style of play steeped in base running.
"We're very solid on defense, but we're going to swing better than people give us credit for," senior captain Jake Palomaki said. "We have a lot of speed with young guys like Dante Baldelli and Chris Galland. We're going to be able to run more than people think. It'll be fun to see what we can do."
"This is not going to be a lineup with top to bottom power," Gambino said. "We do have offensive threats, but they're not threats to hit it off the fence. You're going to see a team that hits a lot of doubles, steals a lot of bases, runs from first to third on base hits. That's going to be a fun lineup to watch, but it's also going to be different fun for people who watch batters hit the ball over the fence.
"By design, this was a small recruiting class for us," he continued. "We knew a few years ago that this would be a smaller class with the next two years as larger classes. But these guys have a good chance to contribute. Chris Galland has looked awesome, and you could legitimately have Galland, Dante Baldelli and Jake Palomaki all as 6.5 (60-yard dash) runners in your lineup."
All of this falls on the backdrop of Boston College's new venue. After saying good bye to Shea Field last season, the Eagles move into their new stadium in Brighton this year. It brings with it new opportunities for a team that will now enjoy playing on artificial turf for every home game.
"The new field is (artificial) turf, so a few more balls should be able to get to gaps early on," Palomaki said. "The old field was so wet until about May, so we'll have more chances to hit doubles and triples because it's going to be a little bit more friendly for us now."
"There's so much excitement about it," Gambino said. "The Birdcage will always have a special place in our hearts and anyone who played there knows it will be special. That said, to open a new facility is awesome. We got down there in December to let the guys walk around and they loved it."
The new stadium likewise creates opportunity outside of the field as well. The Eagles' first game at home is on March 13 against Holy Cross with the first ACC stadium coming 10 days later against Virginia Tech.
"There's a buzz on campus," Gambino said. "The students loved the garage at Shea Field and the ramp provided them a great place to come out and watch a game. But there's going to be some really cool and fun areas for the students (in Brighton), and there's a buzz for them to come down and see it. This was a total program effort, meaning the teams that have been here and all their former players have gotten us to this point.
"We're going to miss the Birdcage, especially playing in front of the fans who were always up on the garage," Giampetruzzi said. "But there's a lot of excitement for the new stadium. Everyone's always asking about the new field. I believe the students are definitely ready to come out, and that's exciting for us."
The Eagles kick off 2018 on Feb. 16 with a three-game series against Santa Clara. That serves as the precursor to the team's annual trip to Florida where it will play the Boston Red Sox in an annual exhibition. ACC play begins on March 9 with a series at NC State.
If the motto is proven true once again, the 2018 Boston College baseball team will likely stand as Exhibit A. Two years removed from a dream run to the NCAA Super Regionals, its sport's equivalent of the Sweet Sixteen, it enters this current year ready to once again prove doubters wrong with a roster built by its brotherhood.
"I'm really excited about our roster," head coach Mike Gambino said. "One of the first things that jumps out from this ball club is how closely knit the team really is. It's something we've worked on these past four years, but it's real each year. It's part of our program, but each year, it's different. This team has really worked hard to become as close as they have and to embrace that brotherhood is pretty cool."
That brotherhood will harness one of the deepest BC rosters in recent memory. The Eagles return nearly three dozen letter winners from 2017, a year in which it went 25-28 and advanced to the ACC Tournament by winning 11 conference games. Chief among that is the pitching staff, which brings back its entire front-end rotation and a bullpen hungry for innings.
"From a pitching standpoint, we have a lot of guys back from either injury or who didn't play (much) last season," senior captain Carmen Giampetruzzi said. "We're excited to see what they can do on the field, so it's nice to the inner competition among everyone. We have guys who can throw three-quarter arm slots, a couple of overhand guys and some guys known for their finesse with breaking balls. We have some powerful arms in the back end, so it'll be really good to combine all of that together."
It starts with a weekend staff that started 28 of 30 ACC games last season. Jacob Stevens leads the group, a two-year starter who morphed from weekend complement into the unquestioned front-end starter last season. He finished 2017 with a 4-6 record and an ERA skewed by a couple of isolated outings. Down the stretch of the year, he threw six innings or more in six of his final nine games, including a seven-inning, one-hit, one-run game against Duke and a two-run start against Notre Dame in which he allowed only four hits.
"We asked a lot of Bear (Stevens) as a freshman and he rose to the occasion," Gambino said. "But he was also able to let Michael (King) and Justin (Dunn) give us what they could give us. Whatever (Stevens) gave us was a bonus in his mind as a freshman. Last year was the first time as the anchor of the staff and I think he had to learn how to do it. He took great pride in that and he was great in the second half of the year."
Stevens is joined by junior Dan Metzdorf and senior Brian Rapp, both who earned considerable innings as part of the team's weekend rotation. Metzdorf joined Stevens as the only two Eagles with 80 innings thrown on the season, while Rapp struck out 41 batters in over 56 innings in conference play.
"Danny Metzdorf went from having somewhat limited innings (in 2016) to a weekend starter (in 2017), which is a huge jump," Gambino said. "And Brian Rapp had some starts but had to learn how to be a weekend ACC starter. Now all of those guys have been through it. So you're going to see the same names (as last season), but you're not going to see the same guys. They're a year older, a year more experienced and their bodies have matured. Across the board, starting pitching got better."
But it's the depth that will truly stand out for BC. Junior John Witkowski is penciled in as the Eagles' closer with the rest of the staff falling into line from there. It will provide opponents with situational matchups that weren't readily available last year.
"We have a ton of different looks, which is exciting," Gambino said. "We're not going to ask guys to throw three innings to win games after starters come out. We can bring four different guys for the last four innings. There are guys who can embrace a role to throw the seventh or eighth. John Witkowski is getting the ball in the ninth with a lead. His stuff made a jump, his body's stronger, and he's been really, really good this preseason. His name will be talked about at the end of the year with the lists of relief pitchers.
"(Freshmen) Jack Hodges and Will Hesslink have stuff to pitch in the ACC right now," he said. "But we don't depend on those guys right now. Last year, we needed freshmen to help us out, and this year we don't need that. If they can help us out, that's great, but we'll be able to pace them a little bit slower than last year when we threw out some guys."
At BC, that pitching goes hand-in-hand with defense. A pitcher can handcuff a batter into making bad contact, and fielders, in turn, can make slick plays to build a thrower's confidence. The 2018 Eagles have the talent to make a difference in that regard, despite the fact that they lose arguably the team's most impactful player to graduation in Johnny Adams.
"You can't put a value on losing Johnny Adams," Gambino said. "There's no analytics or SABRmetrics guy who can look at stats and understand what losing Johnny Adams means across the board. But that said, Mitch Bigras at first base and Brian Dempsey, Jake Palomaki, Anthony Maselli and Jake Alu at the other positions will be able to play defense with anyone in the country."
The pitching and defense stand as cornerstones, but that doesn't mean BC's offense is nonexistent. The Eagles don't have aspirations to match power numbers at schools like Wake Forest, where the Demon Deacons hit over 100 home runs last season. Instead, they choose to play an aggressive style built by teamwork, using an old-school style of play steeped in base running.
"We're very solid on defense, but we're going to swing better than people give us credit for," senior captain Jake Palomaki said. "We have a lot of speed with young guys like Dante Baldelli and Chris Galland. We're going to be able to run more than people think. It'll be fun to see what we can do."
"This is not going to be a lineup with top to bottom power," Gambino said. "We do have offensive threats, but they're not threats to hit it off the fence. You're going to see a team that hits a lot of doubles, steals a lot of bases, runs from first to third on base hits. That's going to be a fun lineup to watch, but it's also going to be different fun for people who watch batters hit the ball over the fence.
"By design, this was a small recruiting class for us," he continued. "We knew a few years ago that this would be a smaller class with the next two years as larger classes. But these guys have a good chance to contribute. Chris Galland has looked awesome, and you could legitimately have Galland, Dante Baldelli and Jake Palomaki all as 6.5 (60-yard dash) runners in your lineup."
All of this falls on the backdrop of Boston College's new venue. After saying good bye to Shea Field last season, the Eagles move into their new stadium in Brighton this year. It brings with it new opportunities for a team that will now enjoy playing on artificial turf for every home game.
"The new field is (artificial) turf, so a few more balls should be able to get to gaps early on," Palomaki said. "The old field was so wet until about May, so we'll have more chances to hit doubles and triples because it's going to be a little bit more friendly for us now."
"There's so much excitement about it," Gambino said. "The Birdcage will always have a special place in our hearts and anyone who played there knows it will be special. That said, to open a new facility is awesome. We got down there in December to let the guys walk around and they loved it."
The new stadium likewise creates opportunity outside of the field as well. The Eagles' first game at home is on March 13 against Holy Cross with the first ACC stadium coming 10 days later against Virginia Tech.
"There's a buzz on campus," Gambino said. "The students loved the garage at Shea Field and the ramp provided them a great place to come out and watch a game. But there's going to be some really cool and fun areas for the students (in Brighton), and there's a buzz for them to come down and see it. This was a total program effort, meaning the teams that have been here and all their former players have gotten us to this point.
"We're going to miss the Birdcage, especially playing in front of the fans who were always up on the garage," Giampetruzzi said. "But there's a lot of excitement for the new stadium. Everyone's always asking about the new field. I believe the students are definitely ready to come out, and that's exciting for us."
The Eagles kick off 2018 on Feb. 16 with a three-game series against Santa Clara. That serves as the precursor to the team's annual trip to Florida where it will play the Boston Red Sox in an annual exhibition. ACC play begins on March 9 with a series at NC State.
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