...the thaw continues.
Coach Walsh will likely submit something of a coach's corner feature on a regular basis in the weeks to come. I had the chance to chat with him today and surmised the following:
1) Regarding Brian's question on the Message Board about the Javy Castellanos start against ULL, Walsh characterized his outing as a positive step and also noted (as we had) that his start wasn't terribly well documented by the scorekeepers. He noted that against a lineup like the Cajuns, a team that "could be there at the end," if you're throwing a hard fastball and a hard slider, you need something of an offspeed out pitch to rely on. Javy has shown glimpses of said pitch, but not consistently. Still, Walsh said he looked good, digs the way Javy steps into his pitches more now, loves the fact that he's in tremendous shape, and sees him as a major contributor. Whether that's as a weekend starter or in some other role remains to be seen...
2) Expect the middle infield to remain the way it was this past weekend for the foreseeable future. Walsh seems to like Morgan Brown quite a bit at short and Farkes at second, despite a number of factors (Farkes' playing short for most of the stretch last year, the availability of senior infielder Ian Wallace...). Brown was limited by injury in the early Ivy portions of the 2004 season, but had started most of the team's early season games at short last year and wound up hitting .286. He's also seen time as a relief pitcher over the past three seasons (hardly unique among position players on the Crimson in that respect)...
3) Walsh described freshman Steffan Wilson, whom he started in the four-hole in the opener before batting him seventh against Minnesota, as a "guy who'll definitely be that kind of hitter someday." Somewhat contradicting an early Crimson report, Walsh said he expects to play Wilson mostly in left field or at third, should he move Josh Klimkiewicz to first more regularly (we saw both lineups this weekend, with Wilson at third against the Gophers). Whether Walsh'll settle into either of those lineups on a consistent basis seems an open question...
4) Walsh sees Matt Vance as the team's shortstop of the future, but has him playing center just to get his bat in the lineup right now...
5) On Frank Hermann, who looked excellent against Minnesota: "I think he'll be a strikeout guy for us. I see him throwing seven innings and getting somewhere between five to eight strikeouts a start."...
6) Could the "Unger Strikes" Crimson headlines be far off? Walsh is intrigued by Brad Unger, a 6'7" forward who just finished his first season for Harvard basketball. The Harvard Hoops bio notes that he "also was a standout pitcher for the baseball team." Walsh, having clocked him in the early, raw stages of things and noting that "you can't teach height," sees shades of Chris Young, former two-sport standout for Princeton.
7) Ambidextrous Matt Brunnig was actually ready, willing and able to go a couple innings with each hand if needed against Minnesota. Who knows, it could happen one of these weekends...
1 comment:
here's to original reporting on the blog. take a bow, martin.
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