Mike Bianco stood on a podium, clad in a coat and tie, in the Diamond Club area at Swayze Field Monday for his 17th media day at Ole Miss, signifying the beginning of college baseball season. Ole Miss is set to take on No. 6 East Carolina Friday afternoon to open its season. Bianco gave some insight on what his team will look like on opening weekend.
The rotation was the first order of business, and it will look like this:
Friday- David Parkinson.
Saturday- James McArthur
Sunday- Brady Feigl
“The reason that this has been so difficult to figure out is because of the competition. I don’t know if we’ve ever had a year where we’ve had so many guys that could do it,” Bianco said. “Not only those three guys that I mentioned, but true freshmen Will Ethridge, Greer Holston and Ryan Rolison were the six guys that were really candidates to start for us. I chose those guys because they give us the best shot to succeed.”
The only real wildcard here, if there is one, is Brady Feigl, who was really effective for Ole Miss out of the bullpen last year as a freshman. Bianco said Feigl may have the best stuff on the team, and the Sunday role was really the Rebels’ most glaring weakness on the pitching staff, so going with a guy with some experience like Feigl certainly makes sense.
Bianco said he thought about splitting up the two left-handers in Parkinson and McArthur, putting Feigl in between, but in the end elected to go with this order.
“To be honest, David has just pitched the best of all of them,” he said.
Tate Blackman backed up Bianco’s assertion that Feigl has potent movement with is pitches, and could be a really tough pitcher for the Rebels on the back end of their rotation.
“His stuff is.. not straight. Everything he throws at you is moving left or right or down,” Blackman said. “It is very hard to get a barrel on him. Like coach B said, he has the most electric stuff on the team.”
Bianco also went around the diamond listing his eight starters in the field.
3B- Colby Bortles
SS- Grae Kessinger
2B- Tate Blackman
1B- Cole Zabowski/Chase Cockrell/Michael Fitzsimmons (Bianco said you will see all three throughout the weekend)
LF- Thomas Dillard
CF- Ryan Olenek
RF- Will Golsan
Overall, it will be a pretty young group that will have as many as four freshmen in the lineup at one time. Bianco says he doesn’t quite know how he will handle the designated hitter slot, but he added that Kyle Watson, D.J. Miller and Tim Rowe, along with the guys competing at first base, will be in the mix for time at DH.
What does this team lack? According to Bianco, it’s leadoff hitter.
“One of the things that this team doesn’t have is a traditional, prototypical leadoff hitter,” Bianco said. “We’ve got a lot of really good hitters. I think this team will be more physical than last year’s team as far as extra-base hits and home runs. I do think we have that component of running, but we just don’t have that type of hitter. Most of the guys that run like Blackman, Golsan, Olenek, they’re very aggressive hitters as well. I think the leadoff spot is one that I’d like to figure out as quickly as possible.”
Sophomore Nick Fortes will also see time behind the plate, as could Dillard, who is a catcher by trade but will start in left field due to the fact that the Rebels need his bat in the lineup. Ole Miss is really deep at this position, largely due to everyone from this talented freshman class showing up on campus. It’s brought competition, which Bianco thinks has been great for all of them. Johnson has led the way because of his defense.
“Cooper has showed me that, defensively, he can be a game changer with his arm and his quick release. There are times in intra-squad games where you just shake your head,” Bianco said. “But the other guys are all talented. I don’t think we have a problem with any of them running out there and catching.”
One thing he did make clear was that you’ll likely see three different lineups in the three games this weekend as the Rebels tinker with the pieces they have, like most teams will be doing this time of year.
First pitch on Friday is at 4 p.m.
