Last year’s baseball season was considered a building year for Duke. With freshmen filling 15 of the 27 roster spots, youth was ever present in the 2011 campaign. Now, after a productive offseason, the Blue Devils bring something new to the table—experience.
“I think we’re an experienced young team,” Will Piwnica-Worms said. “We had seven freshman starting last year at any given time, so they’ve had as much playing time as a lot of the juniors at some of the other programs. I’d say we are more experienced than our roster may appear.”
Piwnica-Worms, who was recently named a team co-captain, is one of only two seniors on the roster this season. Starting pitcher Marcus Stroman and catcher Ryan Munger, both juniors, were also named captains of the team. Piwnica-Worms feels the lack of senior leadership will not be a problem due to the experience gained last season dealing with a similar situation.
“I think experience wise, guys have just slowed the game down,” Piwnica-Worms said. “Playing as a freshman is tough, so now as sophomores they’re letting the game come to them. I think our offense is going to be a lot better this year.”
Even with an improved offense, though, defense could be the difference maker this season. Stroman, Duke’s ace in the pitching rotation, received multiple preseason accolades, including Perfect Game and Baseball America’s preseason first team all-America honors this offseason.
“It was a bit of a shock,” Stroman said. “It was definitely an honor. It just shows that you have to go out there and prove people right to validate it at the end of the year.”
The right-hander is also considered to be the best pitching prospect from the ACC in next year’s MLB Draft, and for good reason. While his record was only 3-4 in 2011, his 12.6 strikeouts per nine innings ranked second in the nation. Stroman also led the team with an ERA of 2.80, 90 strikeouts and four saves. Despite the success last year, Stroman worked to improve his craft all offseason.
“I’ve had an emphasis on pitch development,” Stroman said. “Last year I was mostly a fastball [and] slider guy for when I closed, but this year I’ll be using four pitches. This year I have a fastball, slider, cutter and changeup.”
Head coach Sean McNally echoed the sentiments of his players, making numerous references to the additional experience and team unity seen in the locker room thus far. However, McNally certainly is grateful for having a talent like Stroman on his side.
“I think it’s a great confidence builder when you know that you have one of the truly special guys in college baseball on your side taking the ball every Friday night,” McNally said. “There’s just a different energy when he’s on the mound.”
With a more experienced squad and talented team captains, Duke baseball feels they have the pieces in place to have a successful 2012 campaign.
“It’s a great league and we expect to make the conference tournament,” McNally said. “That’s a goal every year. Usually the teams that are in the conference tournament have a good chance at a regional bid, so we think both of those things are within reach. We’re going to have to play well to make that happen but if we execute there’s no reason to think we can’t get those things done.”
3. Notes
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