CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois baseball coach Dan Hartleb still has the same bad taste in his mouth from last June.
Since ending last year with an 0-4 postseason outing after a successful 36-17 regular season, Hartleb still feels the disappointment of last season’s conclusion.
Hartleb, now, is trying to rectify the prior year’s conclusion this upcoming season, which begins on Valentine’s day against Milwaukee, when the Illini travel to Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
“I think about it all the time. It’s the thing that keeps me going,” Hartleb said of last year’s poor ending. “Hopefully, the guys are driven that much. It’s frustrating. I get to the point where there's year’s where we don’t make the NCAA Tournament and I can’t even watch the NCAA Tournament. It’s something that’s frustrating to me and once I get to a point where that doesn’t matter, you’ll see me retire.”
Instead of that alternative, D1Baseball’s Big Ten Coach of the Decade is looking to figure out how to retain the last 10 years of success going into the 2020 season. He said he’s learned the name’s of the newcomers on his roster, but “that’s the easy part” to a fresh season.
With 33 total players and 13 freshmen on his roster, five more than last year, Hartleb is going to try and figure out how to utilize his new, talented team.
“The thing, I don’t want to say is difficult, but the thing that I’m going to have to figure out this year is who reacts in what situations,” Hartleb said. “I think we’re a talented team, but in order to make what I figure are good decisions baseball-wise, I need to learn what people do against other teams and with the number of players we have this year, I don’t want to say it’s going to be experimental because I will learn some things in practice, but until I see how these guys react when things are tough against a good team, I probably won’t make as good as decisions as I can right now.”
The reason for such a large freshmen class is the fact Illinois lost nearly half its roster to graduation or the MLB Draft. Marquee players that’ve been around for the last several years, such as outfielder Jack Yalowitz and infielder Michael Massey, have since moved on to professional baseball and left large vacancies in the lineup.
Other frequent starters like first baseman Michael Michalak, third baseman Grant Van Scoy and outfielder Zac Taylor have also moved on from the program, leaving numerous positions up for grabs.
Hartleb has an idea of who may fill his opening day lineup, but nothing is ever guaranteed for him as he wants to conjure up as much competition as possible.
“There are some things I have in my mind right now, but the only people that know those 100 percent is me,” Hartleb said. “I’ve shared some things with the coaches with at least what some thoughts are up front, but guys have to perform, and they have to do things the right way. It’s not fair to me say, ‘hey this guy is going to start in this position right now,’ when they haven’t earned it. And if I say ‘we have this guy back in this position and it’s his,’ why would somebody come in to try and work and compete and gain that position?
“It’s always open and it helps competition and it’s healthy. And as long as I’m here that’s how we’ll do it every year.”
The Illinois bats will be led by every-day starter Cam McDonald, who had a stellar freshman season. McDonald was the only Illini to start all 57 games and batted a .281 average and led the team with 34 RBI. McDonald was named the All-Big Ten freshman team outfielder and an Illinois Athletics Male Freshman of the Year candidate.
Another sophomore looking to make a leap this season is infielder Branden Comia. Comia started 42 games last season at shortstop and second base, and he batted .255 with four home runs and 22 RBI. These will be two bats Illinois will need significant contribution from this year.
The Illini lost a bulk of their bullpen as well this offseason. Andy Fisher, who had the most starts on the team and led it in ERA, graduated and is playing minor league ball. Cyrillo Watson, who started the third most games, left to play professional ball too. Several relievers graduated last spring also, leaving arms Ty Weber and Garrett Acton to lead the pitchers this season.
Weber decided to stay for his senior season and will more than likely be the opening day starter on Friday against Milwaukee. Weber started in 14 games last season and had a 4-3 record and 3.28 ERA.
Acton had a dominant junior year, breaking the school record in saves (19) and being named All-Big Ten first team reliever. Acton pitched 33 innings, striking out 34 batters and recording a 2.18 ERA.
The pitching staff has a new coach overseeing it in Mark Allen. Allen joined the staff last October after previously being with the San Francisco Giants as its pitching coordinator. Allen replaced Drew Dickinson, who took the same position with the Virginia Cavaliers.
The pitchers have responded well to Allen so far, according to Hartleb.
“It’s been great. Mark has done a really good job. He’s a deep thinker. He’s very, very talented from a pitching standpoint in a lot of different areas. I’m excited for what he’s done for our pitching staff. I look to forward to growth we’ll see with those guys, so the transition has been very, very good. We lost a great coach, but we gained a great coach.
“Pitchers have responded well, got great feedback, so I’m excited about him,” Hartleb said.
Turnover is scary, and having significant turnover all over your ball club is probably even scarier. Hartleb knows he’s not going to know what exactly will happen with this team this year, but is eager to find out how his pieces will come together.
“We’ve got great upperclass leadership. The right guys doing the right things at the right time,” Hartleb said. “This group is enjoyable to be around every single day. They’ve done all the right things.”
