On Tuesday, Stanford baseball had their media day along with other Bay Area programs such as Cal and San Jose State. Manager David Esquer along with junior outfielder Brock Jones, junior catcher Kody Huff, and senior right-handed pitcher Alex Williams were the ones who represented the team.
One of the first things that Esquer mentioned is the challenge of filling the void left by the departure of starting right-handed pitcher Brendan Beck. Beck was drafted in the second round of the 2021 MLB Draft by the New York Yankees following his senior year and was a major reason why Stanford made the deep run to the College World Series that they did. Alex Williams (5-2, 3.42 ERA) will be taking over the starting pitcher role for game one of a three game series. Junior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews (5-2, 6.08 ERA) and sophomore left-handed pitcher Drew Dowd (2-1, 6.99 ERA) are projected to be starters number two and number three respectively to close out a three-game series. If it’s a four-game series, who starts that fourth game appears to be up-in-the-air at the moment. Freshman right-handed pitcher Ty Uber, sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Bruno, sophomore right-handed pitcher Joey Dixon and sophomore right-handed pitcher Brandt Pancer are among the candidates to play that role. It sounds like all those guys will get a shot at some point. At least early on in the season.
Another interesting storyline coming out of today’s media day is the upside of freshman Braden Montgomery, who is listed as both an outfielder and right-handed pitcher. Esquer is confident that Montgomery will play an important role on this year’s team, but he’s not sure how exactly he’ll be used. Esquer said Montgomery is unique in that he really wants to both pitch and play in the outfield and that he wants to put him to use in both capacities as much as possible. Montgomery is a guy who could also be part of the mix to pitch in a fourth game or even just in a relief role. And then he also should see some time in the outfield as well. Given that Montgomery is the highest rated freshman on this team, he obviously has a ton of talent and an ability to impact the game in a variety of ways. It’s just that on this year’s team, Esquer is going to have to get creative with how he utilizes him since there are other more experienced starters ahead of him on the depth chart at the moment.
In terms of what the players all worked on to improve their games in the offseason, Jones, Huff, and Williams all said their main focus was on the mental side of the game. Just getting more accustomed to being leaders on the team and taking on bigger roles. With some key seniors leaving, all three guys know that they’re going to have to do more than last year if Stanford is going to get back to Omaha and compete in the College World Series for a second consecutive year.
Big picture-wise, Esquer is feeling confident about his team. The departure of Brendan Beck along with infielder/outfielder Tim Tawa and outfielder Christian Robinson is certainly significant, but Esquer does feel like he’s got the pieces to get back to the College World Series and go even deeper than last year. Pitching does seem to be the bigger question mark at the moment. Just because Beck was such an anchor of the pitching rotation and Brock Jones is also certain to bring them a lot of power behind the plate. Just looking at this team, it does look like their hitting is a bigger strength coming in, but that of course doesn’t mean others can’t step up and rise to the challenge.
Lastly, Esquer talked about was how much it meant to the program to get back to the College World Series for the first time since 2008. He heard from a lot of alumni, former players, and fans after the season was over about how nice it was to see Stanford back on college baseball’s biggest stage. This is where they all feel Stanford baseball belongs. Between the years 1982 and 2003, Stanford reached the College World Series 13 times, winning the national championship in ’87 and ’88. When Stanford reached the College World Series in 2008, they hadn’t been there since 2003. So, Stanford had really been in a dry spell until they got back there in 2021.
Looking ahead to this season, Stanford does expect to get back to the College World Series once again. They’re a top ten/top-five team in preseason polls, have a great outfielder in Brock Jones, and also a lot of depth. It’ll be interesting to see how things go for them, especially in the early part of the season. Stanford will begin their 2022 season on Friday, February 18th at home against Cal State Fullerton. That will be the first game of a three game series that concludes on Sunday, February 20th.
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