Baseball welcomes 18 newcomers

AUBURN | After producing four Freshmen All-American in last year’s class, Butch Thompson and his staff have added another talented crop of newcomers for 2018-19.

The 18 signees that enrolled this week and earlier this summer include five from junior college and 13 from high school. Eight are pitchers including six left-handers.

“I think this class is pretty good and I think we’ve got a couple of nice junior college players coming in,” Thompson said. “I’m not so sure our roster isn’t better from a talent standpoint, but I’m not sure it’s up there from last year from an experience standpoint.”

The class is headlined by left-handed pitcher Garrett Wade, who was named the Alabama Gatorade Player of the Year after striking out 109 batters in 54.2 innings last season. Tanner Burns, one of those Freshmen All-Americans, was the 2017 Gatorade Player of the Year.

“That’s back-to-back players of the year in our state turning down seven figures to come to Auburn,” Thompson said. “We think Garrett Wade has enough talent to be able to help us immediately.”

Auburn lost just one player from its early signees after junior college right-hander Blake Rivera signed with the San Francisco Giants following his pick in the fourth round.

But Thompson was able to replace him with the addition of junior college left-hander Kyle Gray, who was one of five spring signees. That group also included JUCO infielder Rankin Woley, who hit .460 with 93 RBI, JUCO infielder Everett Lau, JUCO catcher Matt Scheffler and right-handed pitcher Will Morrison, who was the Alabama 6A Pitcher of the Year.

“We’re getting two top junior college players. Woley led America in RBI and Gray had 100 strikeouts,” Thompson said. “You can’t have one catcher. When it became evident Brett (Wright) would sign, Matt Scheffler was our answer. He’s supposed to be a defensive guy and we’ll see about the bat.”

In addition to Wade and Gray, pitchers that could contribute early include Brooks Fuller, Carson Skipper and Dawson Sweatt. Auburn will go into the start of fall practice on Oct. 3 with 10 left-handed and nine right-handed pitchers on the roster.

“This will be my 19th year in the SEC and I don’t believe I’ve ever had more left-handed pitchers than right-handed pitchers on a staff. I’m kind of excited about that,” Thompson said.

Woley and Lau should be in the mix for immediate playing time in the field along with infielders Ryan Bliss and Devin Warner, and outfielders Kason Howell and Jarrett Eaton.

Thompson is also excited about the early performance of the newcomers in the classroom. Eleven of the 13 freshmen enrolled in the summer and finished with a combined 3.86 GPA. Nine of the 11 had a perfect 4.0.

Auburn must replace approximately 50 percent of its pitching and 60 percent of its hitting from last season. In addition to the players that were drafted, the Tigers also had three players transfer out of the program in outfielder Jeremy Johnson (Cincinnati), outfielder Cade Evans (Chattahoochee Valley) and catcher Mike Rojas.