University Southern California Trojans
Friday, February 15
Los Angeles, CA
7:30 PM
USC
vs
Omaha
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INF
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C/INF
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Photo by: John McGillen
2019 USC Baseball Season Preview
February 12, 2019 | Baseball, Features
LOS ANGELES – The USC baseball team kicks off the 2019 campaign this week, opening a 13-game homestand with a three-game series against Omaha starting on Friday.
With the season at hand, we took a moment to sit down with Head Coach Dan Hubbs and get an inside look at what to expect from the Trojans this year.
On the mound
Starting rotation…
"I think the interesting thing about this year's group is that we probably have six or seven guys who could pitch either at the front or the back," said Hubbs, who also serves as the pitching coach for the Trojans. "In that mix to start you have Kyle Hurt, John Beller, Chandler Champlain, Chris Clarke, Connor Lunn, and Quentin Longrie. I think we'll start out the year with Hurt on Friday, Beller on Saturday, and Champlain on Sunday, and that'll leave us pretty deep in the back end of the pen."
Hurt moved into the Friday role by the end of last season for the Trojans and showed flashes of his ace potential throughout the year, including tossing 7.2 innings of a combined no-hitter for the Trojans against Utah. The right-handed Hurt led the team with 81.1 innings pitched and finished second on the squad with 64 strikeouts. Beller, a lefty, was one of USC's most effective pitchers out of the both the pen and in a starting role last year, finishing with a team-best (for pitchers with more than 10 innings) ERA of 2.72. He made a total of 14 relief appearances and three starts, going 3-1 over the course of 49.2 innings pitched. Champlain is a highly touted freshman righty out of Mission Viejo, Calif. (Santa Margarita Catholic HS), who was a 38th round pick of the Angels in last year's MLB Draft. After electing not to sign and instead heading to Troy, Champlain comes in looking to make an immediate impact for USC.
In the pen…
"Having guys like Clarke, Longrie, Lunn, Austin Manning, a transfer named Gus Culpo who came in from junior college, and Brian Gursky, we really have great depth with some late-inning shutdown arms," said Hubbs. "That allows us to have Carson Lambert, who had a good fall and spring, and Isaac Esqueda more in the long role, and then more matchup guys right now being Riley Lamb, Calvin Schapira and Patrick Hubbs, while we wait for Ethan Reed and Alex Cornwell to get healthy. Lunn obviously had a good year last year as a closer and we'll probably start him off in that role, but we feel confident that with that group any of those names that we initially mentioned could end up finishing games also."
After anchoring the bullpen as the closer last season for USC, Lunn comes in as the most proven arm out of the pen for the Trojans. The junior righty posted eight saves with a 2.92 ERA, 32 strikeouts and just nine walks as a sophomore last year, and was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list heading into this season. Clarke served mainly as a starter for the Trojans last year, but showed great promise out of the pen in the latter half of the season, tossing five scoreless relief outings, including four of his last six appearances. Clarke posted 45 strikeouts to 18 walks in 57.2 innings pitched and had one save on the year. Longrie served as a starter for the Trojans last season and looks to fill both rolls this year for the team. The lefty made 14 appearances last year and threw 65.1 innings.
Lefties Manning and Gursky each pitched mainly out of the bullpen last year, but made a few spot starts as well. Gursky led the team with 23 appearances in 2018, making a pair of starts and throwing 34.2 innings. Manning had a total of 15 appearances on the year, with 28.2 innings pitched. Culpo adds a big right-handed arm to the mix after transferring from Orange Coast College. Sophomore lefty Esqueda made 16 relief appearances last year for the team and sophomore righty Lamb saw action in eight games, while the lefty Cornwell redshirted the 2018 season. Lambert, Schapira, Hubbs and Reed are all members of the Trojans' recruiting class which was ranked 14th in the nation by Baseball America.
In the field
Behind the plate…
"CJ Stubbs will be our catcher to start this year," said Hubbs. "He's had a really good fall in his transition back to catcher from pitching the majority of his first two years and then coming off of Tommy John, but he's been far ahead of where we thought he'd be offensively and he's a very good catch-and-throw guy. I think backing him up right now will be Tyler Lozano and Kaleb Murphy, with Daniel Edson also providing depth at the catching spot. We're confident in those guys and what they can do, and so we feel like we're pretty deep at that spot."
Stubbs, who is the brother of former Trojan Johnny Bench Award winner and current Astros prospect Garrett Stubbs, sat out last season after Tommy John surgery, but looks to not have missed a beat behind the plate or with the bat after a strong offseason showing. Murphy, who is coming back from heart surgery in the offseason and is still working his way into shape, led the team with a .333 average last season and gives the Trojans a strong veteran tandem behind the plate. The freshman Lozano comes in with some impressive prep accolades after hitting .537 his senior year and earning All-State honors at St. Mary's High School in Stockton, Calif.
On the infield…
"Around the infield right now we still have a pretty good battle going on at third base with the freshman Emilio Rosas and returner Ben Ramirez. Both will see some time over there," said Hubbs. "Chase Bushor will start out at short, Brandon Perez at second, John Thomas at first, but Tyler Pritchard has also put himself in the mix to play any one of those three spots. I would expect to see him get a decent amount of playing time as well. Helping out Thomas at first are redshirt freshman Bart West and true freshman Clay Owens. West is a right-hander, Owens is a left-hander, so we can mix things up and both, I think, will be in the mix at DH as well. They both have been swinging the bat very well, and so we feel good about that."
"I'm very confident in our infield defense going into this season. We returned almost our entire infield from last year, except for Dillon Paulson, and those guys played exceptionally well defensively, especially Ben, Chase and Brandon, so we're very confident about what our infield defense is going to look like."
The senior Perez returns after a gold glove season at third base and looks to carry that magic over to second. Perez had a down year at the plate last year, hitting .237, but was an All Pac-12 honorable mention after hitting .328 as a sophomore in 2017. Bushor was second on the team last year, hitting .301 in his first season at USC after transferring from Georgetown. Perez posted a .987 fielding percentage with just two errors and Bushor had a .984 fielding percentage with three errors last year. Ramirez hit .265 with a pair of homers last year and is coming off a solid showing in the Cape Cod League this summer for the Chatham Anglers. Rosas is a 6-1 infielder from Mater Dei who was a Top-20 shortstop prospect coming out of high school according to Perfect Game.
Thomas and Pritchard made spot starts for the Trojans last year and saw time as both pinch-hitters and defensive replacements. Thomas drove in seven runs and Pritchard drove in five. West saw action in three games, getting a pair of pinch-hit at-bats in 2018. Owens comes to USC from Norco High School where he earned All-State honors as a senior.
In the outfield…
"In the outfield we're going to start out the year with Blake Sabol in left, Matthew Acosta in center, Jamal O'Guinn in right, and then we have three others that will back them up, most likely Preston Hartsell, Brady Shockey and Trevor Halsema," said Hubbs. "I think right now Halsema and Shockey could also see time at the DH spot, whereas Hartsell is kind of in the mix at each of the three outfield spots as well, particularly defensively where he has really shined in the spring and fall. Our outfield depth I think is a strength of ours, and then it's just going to come down to who's hitting for us. But we're really excited about our defense as a whole and that should give the pitchers a lot of confidence that they can throw the ball over the plate, force contact and trust that good things are going to happen defensively behind them."
Sabol looks to be a key bat for the Trojans near the top of the lineup after hitting .276 last year and having a breakout summer for the Chatham Anglers in the Cape Cod League. Sabol hit four homers, two triples and eight doubles, while driving in 24 runs last season. Acosta provides another powerful bat as well as the ability to track balls down in centerfield. The junior hit .263 with three homers and eight doubles, while driving in 26 runs last year. O'Guinn looks to build on a solid freshman season in which he hit .240 with five extra-base hits, but led the squad with a .394 on-base percentage.
Shockey returns for his junior season after seeing action in 23 games last year and making nine starts. He drove in six runs last year. Halsema is also a returner and is heading into his sophomore season after appearing in 13 games and making a trio of starts. He had a pair of extra-base hits last year. Hartsell comes to USC as a highly-touted member of the recruiting class after being named the fifth-best player in California and 11th-best outfielder nationally by Perfect Game.
Keys to success
"One of our points of emphasis has been plate discipline going into this season," said Hubbs, who is entering his sixth season at the helm. "Offensively we want guys to know who they are as a player, not try to do too much and just do their part. On the mound it's been about commanding the strikezone and eliminating the free passes. That was kind of our Achilles heel last year, which led to some big innings. We need guys to throw the ball over the plate and trust our defense because that's the kind of team that we're going to be. A team that can really play catch and run some balls down in the outfield. But it has to start with us throwing the ball over the plate and trusting our defense."
"Some things that we've really focused on baserunning-wise are coming hard out of the box and thinking double right away, being aggressive on balls in the dirt and making sure to take the extra base. And I think we need to focus more on the double than the homer, and really trying to consistently square up the ball and know what we hit well. From what I've seen so far this spring, I think our plate discipline has been much better, where we're chasing less balls out of the zone. If we can do all of these things and stay within ourselves, we have a chance to be a really good club."
"We also have a great group of team leaders going into this season. I think the older guys have done a nice job of taking some ownership on how they want the team to be and some things that they wanted to instill. We put a lot of emphasis on attention to the detail, and I think the guys have bought into that. I think it's a mature group, which allows for less complaining and more focus on getting the job done. They're less concerned with who's getting the credit and much more focused on doing their part for the team."
Looking ahead
The Trojans have a hefty home schedule early on in the season, with the aforementioned 13-game homestand followed by a matchup with UCLA at Dodger Stadium on March 10. USC hits the road for the first time on the week it opens Pac-12 play against Cal (March 15-17). The Trojans play 32 games at home and 24 on the road this season.
USC returns 25 players from last year's squad, including three who earned All Pac-12 honorable mention (Bushor, Lunn and Sabol). The Trojans bring in the aforementioned 14th-best recruiting class in the nation this season as well, to bolster an already experienced lineup. USC will be looking to improve upon a 26-28 overall record from last year and 12-18 conference mark.
With the season at hand, we took a moment to sit down with Head Coach Dan Hubbs and get an inside look at what to expect from the Trojans this year.
On the mound
Starting rotation…
"I think the interesting thing about this year's group is that we probably have six or seven guys who could pitch either at the front or the back," said Hubbs, who also serves as the pitching coach for the Trojans. "In that mix to start you have Kyle Hurt, John Beller, Chandler Champlain, Chris Clarke, Connor Lunn, and Quentin Longrie. I think we'll start out the year with Hurt on Friday, Beller on Saturday, and Champlain on Sunday, and that'll leave us pretty deep in the back end of the pen."
Hurt moved into the Friday role by the end of last season for the Trojans and showed flashes of his ace potential throughout the year, including tossing 7.2 innings of a combined no-hitter for the Trojans against Utah. The right-handed Hurt led the team with 81.1 innings pitched and finished second on the squad with 64 strikeouts. Beller, a lefty, was one of USC's most effective pitchers out of the both the pen and in a starting role last year, finishing with a team-best (for pitchers with more than 10 innings) ERA of 2.72. He made a total of 14 relief appearances and three starts, going 3-1 over the course of 49.2 innings pitched. Champlain is a highly touted freshman righty out of Mission Viejo, Calif. (Santa Margarita Catholic HS), who was a 38th round pick of the Angels in last year's MLB Draft. After electing not to sign and instead heading to Troy, Champlain comes in looking to make an immediate impact for USC.
In the pen…
"Having guys like Clarke, Longrie, Lunn, Austin Manning, a transfer named Gus Culpo who came in from junior college, and Brian Gursky, we really have great depth with some late-inning shutdown arms," said Hubbs. "That allows us to have Carson Lambert, who had a good fall and spring, and Isaac Esqueda more in the long role, and then more matchup guys right now being Riley Lamb, Calvin Schapira and Patrick Hubbs, while we wait for Ethan Reed and Alex Cornwell to get healthy. Lunn obviously had a good year last year as a closer and we'll probably start him off in that role, but we feel confident that with that group any of those names that we initially mentioned could end up finishing games also."
After anchoring the bullpen as the closer last season for USC, Lunn comes in as the most proven arm out of the pen for the Trojans. The junior righty posted eight saves with a 2.92 ERA, 32 strikeouts and just nine walks as a sophomore last year, and was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year watch list heading into this season. Clarke served mainly as a starter for the Trojans last year, but showed great promise out of the pen in the latter half of the season, tossing five scoreless relief outings, including four of his last six appearances. Clarke posted 45 strikeouts to 18 walks in 57.2 innings pitched and had one save on the year. Longrie served as a starter for the Trojans last season and looks to fill both rolls this year for the team. The lefty made 14 appearances last year and threw 65.1 innings.
Lefties Manning and Gursky each pitched mainly out of the bullpen last year, but made a few spot starts as well. Gursky led the team with 23 appearances in 2018, making a pair of starts and throwing 34.2 innings. Manning had a total of 15 appearances on the year, with 28.2 innings pitched. Culpo adds a big right-handed arm to the mix after transferring from Orange Coast College. Sophomore lefty Esqueda made 16 relief appearances last year for the team and sophomore righty Lamb saw action in eight games, while the lefty Cornwell redshirted the 2018 season. Lambert, Schapira, Hubbs and Reed are all members of the Trojans' recruiting class which was ranked 14th in the nation by Baseball America.
In the field
Behind the plate…
"CJ Stubbs will be our catcher to start this year," said Hubbs. "He's had a really good fall in his transition back to catcher from pitching the majority of his first two years and then coming off of Tommy John, but he's been far ahead of where we thought he'd be offensively and he's a very good catch-and-throw guy. I think backing him up right now will be Tyler Lozano and Kaleb Murphy, with Daniel Edson also providing depth at the catching spot. We're confident in those guys and what they can do, and so we feel like we're pretty deep at that spot."
Stubbs, who is the brother of former Trojan Johnny Bench Award winner and current Astros prospect Garrett Stubbs, sat out last season after Tommy John surgery, but looks to not have missed a beat behind the plate or with the bat after a strong offseason showing. Murphy, who is coming back from heart surgery in the offseason and is still working his way into shape, led the team with a .333 average last season and gives the Trojans a strong veteran tandem behind the plate. The freshman Lozano comes in with some impressive prep accolades after hitting .537 his senior year and earning All-State honors at St. Mary's High School in Stockton, Calif.
On the infield…
"Around the infield right now we still have a pretty good battle going on at third base with the freshman Emilio Rosas and returner Ben Ramirez. Both will see some time over there," said Hubbs. "Chase Bushor will start out at short, Brandon Perez at second, John Thomas at first, but Tyler Pritchard has also put himself in the mix to play any one of those three spots. I would expect to see him get a decent amount of playing time as well. Helping out Thomas at first are redshirt freshman Bart West and true freshman Clay Owens. West is a right-hander, Owens is a left-hander, so we can mix things up and both, I think, will be in the mix at DH as well. They both have been swinging the bat very well, and so we feel good about that."
"I'm very confident in our infield defense going into this season. We returned almost our entire infield from last year, except for Dillon Paulson, and those guys played exceptionally well defensively, especially Ben, Chase and Brandon, so we're very confident about what our infield defense is going to look like."
The senior Perez returns after a gold glove season at third base and looks to carry that magic over to second. Perez had a down year at the plate last year, hitting .237, but was an All Pac-12 honorable mention after hitting .328 as a sophomore in 2017. Bushor was second on the team last year, hitting .301 in his first season at USC after transferring from Georgetown. Perez posted a .987 fielding percentage with just two errors and Bushor had a .984 fielding percentage with three errors last year. Ramirez hit .265 with a pair of homers last year and is coming off a solid showing in the Cape Cod League this summer for the Chatham Anglers. Rosas is a 6-1 infielder from Mater Dei who was a Top-20 shortstop prospect coming out of high school according to Perfect Game.
Thomas and Pritchard made spot starts for the Trojans last year and saw time as both pinch-hitters and defensive replacements. Thomas drove in seven runs and Pritchard drove in five. West saw action in three games, getting a pair of pinch-hit at-bats in 2018. Owens comes to USC from Norco High School where he earned All-State honors as a senior.
In the outfield…
"In the outfield we're going to start out the year with Blake Sabol in left, Matthew Acosta in center, Jamal O'Guinn in right, and then we have three others that will back them up, most likely Preston Hartsell, Brady Shockey and Trevor Halsema," said Hubbs. "I think right now Halsema and Shockey could also see time at the DH spot, whereas Hartsell is kind of in the mix at each of the three outfield spots as well, particularly defensively where he has really shined in the spring and fall. Our outfield depth I think is a strength of ours, and then it's just going to come down to who's hitting for us. But we're really excited about our defense as a whole and that should give the pitchers a lot of confidence that they can throw the ball over the plate, force contact and trust that good things are going to happen defensively behind them."
Sabol looks to be a key bat for the Trojans near the top of the lineup after hitting .276 last year and having a breakout summer for the Chatham Anglers in the Cape Cod League. Sabol hit four homers, two triples and eight doubles, while driving in 24 runs last season. Acosta provides another powerful bat as well as the ability to track balls down in centerfield. The junior hit .263 with three homers and eight doubles, while driving in 26 runs last year. O'Guinn looks to build on a solid freshman season in which he hit .240 with five extra-base hits, but led the squad with a .394 on-base percentage.
Shockey returns for his junior season after seeing action in 23 games last year and making nine starts. He drove in six runs last year. Halsema is also a returner and is heading into his sophomore season after appearing in 13 games and making a trio of starts. He had a pair of extra-base hits last year. Hartsell comes to USC as a highly-touted member of the recruiting class after being named the fifth-best player in California and 11th-best outfielder nationally by Perfect Game.
Keys to success
"One of our points of emphasis has been plate discipline going into this season," said Hubbs, who is entering his sixth season at the helm. "Offensively we want guys to know who they are as a player, not try to do too much and just do their part. On the mound it's been about commanding the strikezone and eliminating the free passes. That was kind of our Achilles heel last year, which led to some big innings. We need guys to throw the ball over the plate and trust our defense because that's the kind of team that we're going to be. A team that can really play catch and run some balls down in the outfield. But it has to start with us throwing the ball over the plate and trusting our defense."
"Some things that we've really focused on baserunning-wise are coming hard out of the box and thinking double right away, being aggressive on balls in the dirt and making sure to take the extra base. And I think we need to focus more on the double than the homer, and really trying to consistently square up the ball and know what we hit well. From what I've seen so far this spring, I think our plate discipline has been much better, where we're chasing less balls out of the zone. If we can do all of these things and stay within ourselves, we have a chance to be a really good club."
"We also have a great group of team leaders going into this season. I think the older guys have done a nice job of taking some ownership on how they want the team to be and some things that they wanted to instill. We put a lot of emphasis on attention to the detail, and I think the guys have bought into that. I think it's a mature group, which allows for less complaining and more focus on getting the job done. They're less concerned with who's getting the credit and much more focused on doing their part for the team."
Looking ahead
The Trojans have a hefty home schedule early on in the season, with the aforementioned 13-game homestand followed by a matchup with UCLA at Dodger Stadium on March 10. USC hits the road for the first time on the week it opens Pac-12 play against Cal (March 15-17). The Trojans play 32 games at home and 24 on the road this season.
USC returns 25 players from last year's squad, including three who earned All Pac-12 honorable mention (Bushor, Lunn and Sabol). The Trojans bring in the aforementioned 14th-best recruiting class in the nation this season as well, to bolster an already experienced lineup. USC will be looking to improve upon a 26-28 overall record from last year and 12-18 conference mark.
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