Feb. 9, 2010

Media Day Photo Gallery

By MOISEKAPENDA BOWER

If there were questions germane to the potential strength of the latest iteration of the Owls under Rice baseball coach Wayne Graham, the answers were revealed by the student-athletes selected to participate in Media Day festivities Tuesday at the Trauber Suite in Tudor Fieldhouse.

On hand were four Owls, including three position players - senior catcher Diego Seastrunk, junior shortstop Rick Hague, and sophomore third baseman Anthony Rendon. Rest assured that they weren't made available to the sizable throng of reporters and cameramen to discuss Zone Rating or any other defensive metric, for the prevailing theme of the 2010 club is whether it meets enormous expectations at the plate.

"I think we're going to have to be consistently offensive," Graham said. "In other words, one through nine (in the batting order), we're going to have to have quality at-bats because I think this is a team that can be shut out for four innings and then explode. You're going to have to have persistence and consistency to be that kind of team.

"But on the other hand, we're not going to get to Omaha (site of the College World Series) without good pitching. You can't. We may not have to have great pitching, but we're going to have to have good pitching, so we're going to continue to work every day towards that goal without letting anything else go."

While not turning his complete attention to a pitching staff teeming with talented but unproven arms, Graham acknowledged that the depth of experienced hitters has allowed him to focus, along with pitching coach David Pierce, more intently on his collection of arms. The Owls featured the second-most prolific offense in Conference USA last season, and aside from the loss of junior second baseman Brock Holt, return an entire slate of position players a year wiser and, presumably, better.

Rendon, the national freshman of the year in 2009, and Hague, a probable first-round selection in this summer's amateur draft, supply star power while Seastrunk, senior center fielder Steven Sultzbaugh, and corner outfielders Chad Mozingo and Michael Fuda provide star potential. Sultzbaugh, Mozingo and Fuda combined to hit .333 with 19 home runs and 102 RBIs despite Mozingo battling through wrist and ankle injuries and Sultzbaugh and Fuda making adjustments as frontline Division I contributors. The ceiling for each is exponentially higher.

That fact makes life easier for Rendon and Hague, who while viewed as the most potent threats in the Owls' lineup, revel in the realization they won't have to lug a disproportionate load for the offense to function.

"I know they're going to come through this year," said Rendon, who hit .388 with 20 homers and 72 RBIs as a freshman. "I'm pretty sure that (opposing teams) are not going to give me the pitches to hit as much as they did last year, so I know I'll rely a lot more on the people that are behind me and in front of me so I don't have to do everything myself."

Added Hague, who hit .319 with nine homers and 57 RBIs: "It helps each player knowing that there are so many other hitters in the lineup that nobody has to feel that, `Oh, I've got to put up numbers or our team is going to suffer.' We have so many power guys and we have so much speed that the consistency across the lineup allows the weight of the offense to be shared. We're all excited to come out and do it."

Though the power potential is tantalizing - the Owls finished third in C-USA in dingers (71) despite calling pitcher-friendly Reckling Park home - it's the Owls' versatility that makes them dangerous. Fuda, Mozingo and Sultzbaugh possess exceptional speed. Seastrunk, despite his struggles making the transition from third base, paced the club in walks (44) and finished third among the regulars in on-base percentage (.397). Hague parlayed a beneficial summer tour with Team USA into superior plate discipline while Rendon has exhibited all the patience necessary to deal with the fact that teams will likely pitch around him until his teammates make them pay for such brazen indiscretions.

Perhaps the most unique aspect of the Owls' lineup is its experience. Freshman Michael Ratterree will replace Holt at second and atop the order, but he will be flanked by fifth-year senior Jimmy Comerota at first base and an All-American junior at shortstop in Hague. Seastrunk and Sultzbaugh returned for their senior seasons despite being selected in last summer's draft, while Fuda and Mozingo are both third-year players. Rendon just happens to be the top sophomore in the nation.

"We've got some good hitters this year. We've got some experienced hitters this year," Seastrunk said. "Just watching the team during the fall intrasquad and during our spring practices, we have a fast team and we hit the ball hard. Just watching guys like Rendon hit, guys like Rick Hague hit, the force at the point of contact when these guys are hitting the ball is unlike the teams that I've seen. I've seen a few years of Division I hitting, and these guys hit the ball a lot harder than everyone else, including myself. It's incredible. We have a really good offense."

So good that, for the second season in a row, Graham will insert a ballyhooed freshman into a key slot in the batting order. Last season Graham needed only a handful of fall intrasquads to determine that Rendon would thrive batting cleanup, a conclusion validated by the statistics. This year Graham will open the season with Ratterree atop the order, and he spoke with conviction when explaining his decision.

"You've got to go with what you see, and so far he's demonstrated a good enough strike zone to lead off. And we don't have an obvious leadoff man," Graham said. "Of course (noted sabermetrician) Bill James will tell you your batting order doesn't really make any difference."

What was different was the fact that just one pitcher, senior righthander Mike Ojala, was tabbed to represent the Owls during Media Day. For a program so steeped in pitching excellence, its reliance on offense represents a departure from tradition. Given their track record, Graham and Pierce are sure to get the Owls' pitchers up to snuff, but in the interim watching Rice bash the baseball should make for an unusual brand of entertainment for the program's most ardent supporters.

"I'll have Anthony, I'll have Sultzbaugh, Fuda - all those guys that, if I'm patient, I'm going to get a pitch to hit," Hague said. "That helps me as an individual. But just being in a lineup that is so power-packed, it's just fun to play on a team that you know can put up eight (runs) a game."