Bay Area College Baseball Media Day was last week and Stanford was among the schools that participated along with Cal, San Jose State, Santa Clara, San Francisco, and St. Mary’s. Below are five things that stood out to me from what Stanford had to say.
VIDEO: Bay Area College Baseball Media Day 2023: Stanford
#1. New look at center field: With Brock Jones gone, there’s an opening at center field with sophomore Saborn Campbell and senior Henry Gargus looking like the most likely candidates to get the start. As an extension of this, there will likely be some shuffling around in the outfield in general. Eddie Park projects to play left field and while Braden Montgomery projects to play right field. Where the shuffling will come into play is when Montgomery moves to the mound to pitch, something I’ll touch on later. It’ll be interesting to see what David Esquer does with the outfield and who will get more innings at center field between Campbell and Gargus. My guess is Campbell, but we’ll have to wait and see.
#2. The infield will be shuffled around: Esquer made it clear that the infield personnel will stay the same, but also added that there will likely be some shuffling going on as well. Junior Tommy Troy will move to 3rd base, sophomore Trevor Haskins will move to short stop with Adam Crampton gone, and Drew Bowser will move to 2nd base.
Esquer didn’t say why those moves were happening but considering how poor Bowser’s fielding percentage was last season at 3rd base (.897), not to mention the 13 errors, moving him to 2nd would make sense. 3rd base is typically viewed as the tougher defensive assignment because that requires defending the line drive while also having less help around you. Plus, 3rd basemen also have to make a longer throw to 1st base.
One other thing of note is that junior Carter Graham will stay at 1st base while Malcolm Moore, the top incoming freshman, will play both designated hitter and catcher. Sophomore Charlie Saum will be the other catcher. It sounds like Saum will be the primary catcher while Moore will be the primary designated hitter, but Moore will be there to give Saum a day off while someone else can fill in at designated hitter.
#3. Quinn Mathews’ return is huge: Esquer made it clear that the return of Quinn Mathews is big. He said they didn’t expect Mathews to return due to the MLB Draft and is grateful that they have the kind of program that can be a soft landing spot for guys in case the major leagues don’t work out. Mathews will look to boost his draft stock this season after getting drafted in the very late rounds of the 2022 MLB Draft.
After being more of a reliever last season, Mathews projects to be a starter this year. If he has a big 2023, that could make the difference between whether or not they get back to the College World Series for a third straight year.
#4. Braden Montgomery will continue to be a wild card: Sophomore Braden Montgomery will continue to play both right field as well as pitcher while also hitting fourth in the lineup. Montgomery is such a special talent because he can hit, field, and pitch at an elite level. Last season, Stanford did experiment with him as a starter, but it sounds like this year he’ll be used as much more of a reliever. A guy who can serve as a bridge to allow guys to pitch late. The real question is whether or not he ends up being the closer. Given his 95+ miles per hour fastball, if he can improve his control, he could be a top-notch closer for this team.
#5. Pitching should have more depth: Esquer said he feels like they’ll have more depth on the mound this year. (Freshman) Matt Scott, (freshman) Nick Dugan, Quinn Mathews, Drew Dowd, and Ty Uber are looking like the likely starters. Brandt Pancer, Tommy O'Rourke, and Ryan Bruno as well as Braden Montgomery out of the bullpen.
The fact that there are a pair of freshmen projected to start is really encouraging and speaks to the confidence that Esquer has in them. The pitching was shaky at times last year and it seems like this year, Esquer has more confidence in his pitching staff. How those freshmen do will obviously be crucial. If they pitch well, then yeah, this could be a deeper/better staff than last year.
Conclusion: As a whole, this Stanford team is confident but also humble at the same time. They are aware of all the preseason accolades and recognition, but at the same time recognize they have to prove they are worthy of such hype. The offense should once again be really strong. They have a lot of bats that can go yard and get on base. I think the biggest question will be whether or not the pitching will be as good as Esquer thinks it can be. If it is, this Cardinal team could very well find themselves back in Omaha with better odds of winning a national title.
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