AUBURN | Auburn coach Clint Myers speaks often about how he views the regular season as a rehearsal for postseason achievement.

Nothing truly matters, he believes, until the NCAA Tournament begins.

Since the Tigers open the postseason in earnest Friday afternoon with a first-round game against East Tennessee State, now is a good time to review Myers' fourth team on the Plains.

It's been an interesting spring so far — this particular team hasn't followed the usual script. His coaching paradigm is centered on pitching, defense and timely hitting. This team has some top-tier pitching, but the defense is just so-so and the hitting has oscillated between average and poor.

So with that in mind, we'll spend the next few days taking detailed look at the Tigers' top players. We begin today with the team's infielders, which is where the bulk of Auburn's plate production resides:

CARLEE WALLACE

Position: Catcher

Year: Junior

Season Stats: .348 batting average, .478 on-base percentage, 28 extra-base hits (7 homers), 47 RBIs, 37% runners caught stealing

Last 10 Games: .286 BA, .429 OBP, three XBH (1 HR), 6 RBIs

Personality: Sarcastic intensity, take-charge attitude, focused, slightly irritable

Scouting Report: Wallace has been Auburn's best all-around hitter this season. She stands just 5 feet tall, so she has a small strike zone and she rarely loses sight of that. She generates easy power with a compact stroke. She struggled earlier in her career with getting underneath pitches too often (ie pop ups), but Wallace has worked hard to be more disciplined when considering high pitches. Her pop-up rate is down significantly this season. Tends to come up big in pressure situations. Station-to-station runner. Seemingly immune to pain; only comes out of games or misses games if she's not ambulatory. She plays into the catcher stereotype — offers tons of leadership, toughness, resilience, speaks like someone with 20 years of game experience. Wallace also is a perfect example of someone who was told 100 times that she couldn't be a great softball player due to physical limitations, so she worked five times harder than everyone else. I don't think it's about proving doubters wrong with her; it's about proving herself right.

KASEY COOPER

Position: Third base

Year: Senior

Season Stats: .295 batting average, .481 on-base percentage, 20 extra-base hits (9 homers), 42 RBIs

Last 10 Games: .273 BA, .556 OBP, 2 XBH (2 HR), 7 RBIs

Personality Traits: Quiet intensity, introspective, precise, high expectations for herself

Scouting Report: It's been a difficult season for Cooper, who was ESPN's National Player of the Year in 2016. She got off too a poor start that lingered into March. Cooper has been better during the past six weeks or so, though she went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts in the loss to LSU Saturday. There are a million theories to explain Cooper's struggles; my view is that the pressure of being Auburn's featured performer affected her negatively. Before, she always had great co-conspirators in Emily Carosone and Tiffany Howard and Jade Rhodes and, going back a couple years, Branndi Melero and Morgan Estell. She seems more like a Scottie Pippen than a Michael Jordan, though I sense that's a minority opinion. Cooper generally is an excellent fielder with a solid arm and quick glove-to-throw transfer, though she's been slightly more error-prone this season. Cooper takes enormous pride in her work. She knows that a tour de force during the NCAA Tournament can wash away disgust over her relatively pedestrian regular season. I strongly suspect Cooper is going to mash throughout the next two or three weeks.

KK CROCKER

Position: Second base

Year: Freshman

Season Stats: .295 batting average, .327 on-base percentage, 1 extra-base hit (0 homers), 3 RBIs

Last 10 Games: .263 BA, .364 OBP, 0 XBH (0 HR), 1 RBI

Personality Traits: Optimistic, up-tempo, mentally tough relative to age

Scouting Report: Crocker is in a tough spot. She was supposed to be a reserve this season, but she's instead started eight of the Tigers' last 10 games. Crocker's fielding percentage during the past 10 games is .919, which is unacceptably low for a second baseman. That's three errors in 37 chances. She made a mess of it during the Tigers' loss to LSU the other day, compounding problems by falling into a cycle of passivity. Crocker is an aware, insightful hitter. She's a slapper who is known for having good bat control. Doesn't have much power, but Crocker's game is about speed and forcing the defense to act quickly. It's easy to label Crocker a disappointment based on the numbers she's produced this spring. I just don't think it's fair to expect a lot. Unfortunately, Crocker is the one who's been put on the spot due to Tannon Snow's season-ending illness. Snow was going to play first base, Kendall Veach probably was going to play second base this season. It's possible that Crocker is overtaken next season by the next wave of high-caliber recruits, but I wouldn't bet against her. I sense something special in Crocker; a strong distaste for the failures she's experiencing right now. This trial by fire has not and will not break her spirit.

KENDALL VEACH

Position: First base

Year: Sophomore

Season Stats: .228 batting average, .351 on-base percentage, 24 extra-base hits (12 homers), 43 RBIs

Last 10 Games: .129 BA, .206 OBP, 2 XBH (1 HR), 5 RBI

Personality Traits: Focused to the point of seeming distant, quiet, observer

Scouting Report: Veach may be the most perplexing player on the entire roster. She has immense power and fantastic mechanics. She thinks along with instruction. The problem, to this point, has been Veach's inability to translate practice excellence into game excellence. Her issue right now as a hitter is a willingness to chase pitches out of the zone. She's very pitchable right now from an opponent's perspective: Throw her early strikes outside, work high to get her out. Veach has been almost transparent during the past 10 games and probably needs a break, but Auburn doesn't really have the personnel to make that happen. Also, she's a favorite of Clint Myers insofar as Veach is completely engaged mentally. He's fully convinced that Veach is going to take a major step forward any minute now. Is that prescience or wishful thinking? It's up to you to decide. Veach is just a so-so defender; three errors during the past 10 games is a big tally for first base. Not the fastest runner, but will take extra bases if the opportunity presents itself. I'd just call her a "ball player."

HALEY FAGAN

Position: Shortstop

Year: Fifth-year senior

Season Stats: .307 batting average, .423 on-base percentage, 16 extra-base hits (8 homers), 31 RBIs

Last 10 Games: .200 BA, .238 OBP, 2 XBH (2 HR vs Ala.), 2 RBI

Personality Traits: Cheerful, up-tempo, carefree

Scouting Report: Fagan is a leader. She's tall and strong and loud. She's above average in so many areas — contact, power, arm strength, accuracy, pitch recognition, awareness, leadership. As such, Fagan seems like a made-to-order MVP kind of player. Still, she hasn't been that player so far this season. Fagan's approaches at the plate can vary wildly from day to day; opponents tend to pitch her delicately because she's apt to swing at anything and everything depending on the day. At other times, she's remarkably discerning. Fagan tagged Alabama ace Alexis Osorio for two solo homers a few weeks back. Her second homer, which was hit off a low/inside drop ball, may have been the team's most eye-opening stroke of the entire season. Few players would even be able to make contact with that pitch, much less crush it over the fence. However, Fagan has been mostly quiet aside from that one excellent performance lately. She's a very good defensive shortstop — composed and intuitive and consistent and has an outstanding arm. Fagan may be one of the most talented players even to wear the Auburn uniform, but her inability to execute plans at the plate limits her ability to impact games.