The preseason chatter about Stanford is that the program is back to where it belongs as a perennial top team and Pac-12 title contender. The Cardinal have earned that with three straight fantastic seasons culminating in finally breaking through into a super regional last year to finish the season No. 10 overall.

This season presents a new level to the challenge of remaining a top program: Stanford lost its top six hitters from last season, All-American closer Jack Little and its most physically talented starting pitchers, Erik Miller.

Stanford is No. 17 in D1Baseball's preseason poll because the expectation is that head coach David Esquer, pitching coach Thomas Eager and hitting coach Tommy Nicholson can put together a winning team.

Stanford begins its season Friday night at 6 p.m. against Cal State Fullerton, its oldest continual non-conference rival.

Cardinal Sports Report breaks down each part of the team on the eve of the season opener.

Brenden Beck is the staff ace and someone the entire team relies on to lead by example. The steady junior has pitched with maturity beyond his years since his freshman season.

He was good last season (5-4, 3.63 ERA, 1.39 WHIP) in his first year as the "Friday starter", yet perhaps his best moment was when he was a relief pitcher against Fresno State in the regional championship: 3.1 innings without allowing a baserunner.

Beck did not pitch during the summer and focused on strength and conditioning. He's added some velocity but his priority is to improve his changeup so he can throw it to either side of the plate versus right-handed or left-handed hitters.

Junior Jacob Palisch will likely take another shot at being the Saturday starter after an uncomfortable sophomore season.

The 6-5 lefty was outstanding his freshman season and Eager and Esquer decided to make him a starter role to help replace Tristan Beck and Kris Bubic.

As a freshman, Palisch pitched in 47 innings in 26 games and had a 1.72 ERA, . 96 WHIP and .198 opponent AVG. Last year: 4.79 ERA in 56.1 innings, 1.57 WHIP and .296 opponent AVG.

“Last year was a roller coaster with him," Eager said. "Even when he got back in the bullpen it wasn’t as locked down as it was the year before. You go from two different mindsets, he had to deal with a couple things. To his credit, he never complained. He kept challenging himself. He started in the Cape and had a lot of success and learned a routine he trusted to prepare himself for starting.”

The other likely "weekend starter" would love to repeat his freshman season.

Sophomore Alex Williams (6-3, RHP) was a revelation. He earned Freshman All-America honors with an 8-1 record (2.45 ERA, 1.27 WHIP and .226 opponent AVG). His best game was his last when he threw a complete game against Sacramento State in the first game of the elimination day doubleheader.

“He’s always possessed confidence in himself, much like Brenden Beck," Eager said. "They’re very similar. They’re not too proud to say we’re not going to throw a fastball here, let’s go changeup. Both those guys are committed to getting outs.”

Williams has improved his fastball by four MPH since he got to Stanford, but no one, including Williams, expects him to throw fastballs by hitters sitting on the pitch.

Eager complimented Williams' development this off-season to develop "command of the zone" -- the ability to set up pitches with previous pitches rather than be satisfied throwing strikes. To keep the comparison going, Eager said Williams' trajectory has been similar to Beck's.

There are several candidates to start the midweek games: Rice graduate transfer Jackson Parthasarathy, freshman Quinn Matthews and freshman Max Meier.

Parthasarathy was a surprise addition for the Cardinal. He got into graduate school and called up the coaches to say he wanted to use his last year of eligibility pitching for the Cardinal. According to Eager, Parthasarathy is one of the top pitchers on the team in terms of control.

Matthews (6-4, LHP) is the most often mentioned freshman by coaches and teammates among the first-year players who have excelled. The Orange County native fits into the theme for Stanford's pitchers: "mature beyond his years".

The most persistent issue with Matthews during the fall was that his chase for perfection caused huge swings in performance from day to day. He'd be amazing and then: "Wow, that wasn’t amazing," Eager laughed. "You almost went the other direction. The extremes are pretty big.”

Eager sat down with Matthews before winter break to pass on some veteran advice.

‘How many times do you throw a perfect pitch and it gets hit? And how many times do you throw a crappy pitch and it doesn’t get hit?’ There’s a happy medium across the board. You holding yourself accountable to perfection, you’re going to drive yourself nuts. To his benefit, he came back and he has been different.”

Matthews' best pitch is his changeup and Eager has worked to transform his big, looping curveball into more of a slider. Its effectiveness has "skyrocketed" since he arrived.

Meier (6-1, RHP) came to Stanford from Lawrence Academy in Massachusetts and he has opened eyes since he arrived.

“He’s a great kid and has a quick arm," Eager said. "He has live stuff. He has probably been more of a surprise than anybody from where he was in the fall to since he’s come back (from winter break). He’s put himself in a pretty good position to throw a lot of quality innings and maybe the occasional spot start.”

The bullpen will rely a great deal on submariner Zach Grech, dependable Austin Weiermiller and expected closer Cody Jensen.

Grech has led Stanford's bullpen in innings pitched the past two seasons and rebounded from a slow start last season to pitch better in conference: 2.45 ERA, 1.03 WHIP and .250 opponent AVG in 25.2 Pac-12 innings.

Weiermiller only pitched 17.2 innings in conference last season but allowed only four earned runs while striking out 21 batters.

Jensen's fastball has been described by Eager as "angry" because of its movement and he's one of the few Cardinal who can use it as an out pitch. Jensen's mentality also is a good fit for the closer job. He's confident in his ability and he actually had success against Mississippi State in the regional: 2.1 IP and five strikeouts.

The X-factor in the bullpen is 6-5 junior RHP Carson Rudd. For most of the past two seasons Rudd entered the game when it was already decided one way or the other. He has a quick, compact motion and can throw in the 90s.

“He’s always had the arm and the stuff. That’s no joke. A lot of it is between the ears," Eager said.

Stanford lost Kyle Stowers, Andrew Daschbach, Brandon Wulff, Will Matthiessen, Duke Kinamon and Maverick Handley from last season's lineup. That group also formed statistically one of Sanford's best ever defenses.

Good luck predicting how the lineup will shake out this season. There could be 20 variations by the end of the season and the Cardinal coaches have had to embrace that there will probably be more situational game-day decisions than the past two years.

There is a positive to how many players are legitimately in the mix to play.

"I think it has been great the past couple months because it has created a lot of competition," Nicholson said. "There is a lot of uncertainty about who is going to play where. Even right now we have a lot of options. Almost every one of our position players can play multiple positions. There's only a few guys who are locked into one."

These starters are locked in: Nick Bellafronto at third, Nick Brueser at first, Christian Molfetta at catcher and Tim Tawa at either shortstop or center field.

Tawa is the centerpiece of the lineup. He hit for power last season: six of his eight home runs were in Pac-12 play and he hit .283 in conference. Tawa struck out 24 times to only four walks and will need to hold down the middle of the lineup this year and be a run producer.

When Tawa was a freshman, Nico Hoerner pointed to him as the future All-American leader of the team. Tawa didn't take the step forward he wanted to last year. He aims to accomplish that this season.

Where he lines up in the field will be in part determined by the performance of freshman Adam Crampton. Every coach and teammate who talks about Crampton says the same thing:

“Adam Crampton defensively is a really, really solid shortstop and second baseman," Nicholson said. "And he makes contact. He has good hand-eye coordination where he can make contact. Yoy may not be asking as much offensively at shortstop so playing him would give us the opportunity to play Tawa in the outfield.”

Tawa played shortstop last year and third base his freshman season. He has worked with Crampton to pick up some of how the freshman plays shortstop.

If Tawa moves to center field then Christian Robinson will move to a corner outfield spot. Robinson is one of the most physically talented players on the team but he has been on a journey to find consistency the past two seasons.

"He really has put in a lot of work," Nicholson said. "He’s had to take a couple steps forward, take a step back … and I think he had a step back in the early parts of January and now I think we’re ready to see him take another step forward and hopefully ride that into the season to get some consistency. He’s such a good defender and can play all three spots out there. He’s competitive and has come up with big hits in big spots two years in a row. He has a knack for that.”

Brandon Dieter will probably get the first look at second base. The top recruit from the 2018 class, Dieter struggled in the batter's box his freshman season and only had 24 at-bats in conference play. He is a plus glove but Stanford can't afford to have Crampton and Dieter both in the middle of the defense if they can't be productive hitters, no matter how sure-handed they are on defense.

Another possibility is that to get Crampton's elite glove on the field he plays second and Tawa stays at shortstop, which keeps Robinson in center.

Brueser has been talked about as a great defensive player since he got to The Farm but absolutely no one was going to unseat Daschbach from first base. Now it's Brueser's turn.

Nicholson expects Brueser to pick up some of the power for the team, but no one expects him to produce like Daschbach (17 home runs in 2019). Brueser had two home runs and six doubles in 85 at-bats last season.

Molfetta is a steady presence behind the plate as a fifth-year player. He also has been one of the team's most consistent hitters this offseason. He steps in for one of the best catchers Stanford has ever had, Handley.

Handley's offense was good but his defense was elite and he could guide pitchers through tough situations.

Molfetta played very little last season (10 games and two starts) and there will be a lot of pressure on him to step up.

His understudy is freshman Kody Huff. The 5-9 righty from Chandler, Arizona was time and again praised by coaches and teammates. He is the leader to bat in the DH spot.

“Kody Huff has been really, really impressive as a freshman," Nicholson said. "He’s just gotten better and better and better. He came in early in the fall and looked really good and then went through a stretch when he was learning and he’s come back this winter quarter and been really, really good.

"He’s taken off. It looks like the more Kody gets in there, the better he gets. I would probably foresee both of them (Molfetta and Huff) being in the lineup at the same time.”

The leader of the infielder will be Bellafronto, a fifth year. He became the full-time starter at the position last year after three seasons of rarely playing. His leap forward last season to confidently hold down the spot on defense (four errors in 107 chances) and at the plate was a needed surprise for the coaches.

Competition for the corner outfield spots is going to come down to freshmen or relatively new names.

Sophomore Grant Burton appeared in five games last season has been one of the top players of the offseason.

“Grant Burton had a really good fall," Nicholson said. "He led our team in home runs in the fall. He has power and speed and can really play defense.”

Freshman Brock Jones is transitioning from football to baseball and with each passing week has shown the ability that made him a prized recruit: “In just a couple weeks he’s gotten better. He’s looking really good.”

Freshman Henry Gargus is another player to watch. He was hurt during the fall but possesses some of the best raw power on the team.

“There’s going to be a lot of newness this year," Esquer said at Bay Area Media Day. "I tell my team often that we’re going to rely … on pitching and defense and we’re probably going to have to grow into our offense. Not knowing exactly where players will play, we don’t have a first team or second team. I say we have a first look and a second look."