After a season of marked improvement for the Blue Devils, a young, new team braved the weather this weekend for its first official practices of the 2015 season.
This year’s Duke team is looking to build on a 2014 campaign that finished 33-22 overall—above .500 overall for the first time since 2010—and 16-13 in the ACC, above .500 in conference play for the first time since 1994. The team finished just short of making the NCAA tournament, and though last season’s squad succeeded on the arms and bats of several seniors, this year's team will be much younger.
But if the Blue Devils lack the experience of last season’s group, they don't lack the talent. The freshman class is made up of 13 players, two of whom were drafted by MLB teams out of high school before deciding to come play for Duke. Southpaw Chris McGrath was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the 35th round of this year’s draft and power hitter Justin Bellinger was drafted in the 11th round by the St. Louis Cardinals.
“I think that athletically—offensively especially—we have a chance to be very comparable to last year’s club and maybe even more athletic than last year’s club,” head coach Chris Pollard said. “But we have to remember they’re young guys, and we have to be patient with them.”
With youth expected to run up and down the starting lineup, Duke will have to lean heavily on its starting rotation, particularly its ace, Michael Matuella. The junior right-hander will anchor the staff with both senior Trent Swart and sophomore James Marvel both sidelined for the year with injuries and last season’s ace Drew Van Orden now in the Washington Nationals' minor league system.
Matuella—recently named the No. 2 overall prospect for the 2015 MLB Draft—finished last season with a 2.78 ERA and a 4.6 strikeout-to-walk ratio. The Great Falls, Va., native showed great command and velocity on his fastball and has spent much of this offseason working on gaining command and confidence in his off-speed pitches. Matuella himself spent part of the offseason recovering from a back injury that forced him to see a specialist in Los Angeles, but said Friday he has made a full recovery.
The pressure might mount on certain players when the weight of the rotation falls on their shoulders, but Matuella remains confident in his abilities.
“I don’t feel any pressure,” Matuella said. “It’s tough seeing [Swart and Marvel] go down—those are two extremely talented pitchers…but pressure isn’t something I can control. I can only focus on how hard I’m going to work and the preparation I’m going to put into every start and everything else will take care of itself.”
Senior Andrew Istler—the only other returning starter in the rotation—will take control of the number two spot in the rotation behind Matuella, but the final spots are up for grabs between a group of freshmen, sophomores and a junior. McGrath, along with sophomores Karl Blum, Bailey Clark and Kevin Lewallyn and junior Nick Hendrix will spend the next few weeks fighting for the final two spots in the rotation.
The offense will need to replace two of its biggest bats from last year, Jordan Betts—now in the Boston Red Sox farm system—and Chris Marconcini, who transferred to Florida State after last season.
Bellinger and fellow freshmen Evan Dougherty and Jack Labosky will likely be counted on to fill some of that offensive void right out of the gate. Bellinger and Labosky will keep some of the pop in the lineup that Betts and Marconcini provided, and Dougherty, a contact hitter, will bring speed.
Pollard said he is excited to watch his newest Blue Devils, but he stressed that he and his staff need to be patient with them. As the season continues, he hopes that Duke can continue to improve and expects the youth to be much less of a factor by the second half of the year, but noted that fatigue might also become an issue.
“You have to give them an opportunity to get out there and make some mistakes and grow from those mistakes,” Pollard said.
After last season’s campaign, there are plenty of expectations for Duke in 2015. And even though the make up of this team is different from last year, there is no shortage of confidence in the clubhouse.
“Last year was a lot of fun. It was a good season for us, a big step forward—obviously it didn’t end the way we wanted it to, it was pretty frustrating—but it put a lot of confidence into the program," Matuella said. "We can be a team that’s going to compete with anyone.”
Ryan Hoerger contributed reporting
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