Bragga expects big things from deep Owls
Changes lead to expanded rosters, players staying for an extra season
baseball coach Matt Bragga is not only expecting big things out of his Owls this season, but also college baseball as a whole.
“This should be one of the best years in the history of college baseball,” said Bragga, whose Owls began practicing for the 2021 season on Friday.
Expanded rosters because of players retaining an extra year of eligibility are among NCAA rule changes implemented after last season came to an end in March because of the pandemic. The 2020 MLB draft was reduced to five rounds as opposed to the customary 40 rounds.
“That’s 35 rounds of guys that did not get drafted and sign professionally that normally would have,” Bragga said. “And a majority of those are college guys that will be back in college baseball this year.
“Then on top of that, everyone getting an extra year of eligibility puts a lot of people back on the field that wouldn’t have been back.”
For the Owls, that includes position players Braden Comeaux, Cade Edwards and Bradley Gneiting as well as pitcher Roel Garcia. In a typical year, they wouldn’t have returned to play in 2021.
Many NCAA Division I programs have as many as 55 or 60 players for this upcoming season. Rice has 42 players on its roster. A typical number for the Owls is 35.
“There’s going to be more depth, not only in our program, but across college baseball,” Bragga said. “That’s going to make for great baseball.”
Rice opens its 56-game schedule — with 31 games at Reckling Park — on Feb. 19 against Arkansas Little Rock. The Conference USA schedule has been altered to maximize the number of games. C-USA games will be four-game series each weekend with nine-inning games Friday and Sunday and doubleheader seveninning games on Saturday. Bragga was in favor of fourgame series but outvoted 11-1 among league coaches in his desire to have all games go a full nine innings.
But Bragga is just pleased that the 2021 season is nearing. The Owls want to look ahead and put last year’s 214 shortened season behind them, a year the Owls hit a meager .239 as opposed to opponents’ batting average of .284. The Owls’ collective ERA was 6.54.
“Last year, in so many ways from a baseball perspective, leaves a bad taste in your mouth,” Bragga said. “It’s only 16 games, but those 16 games didn’t go the way I would have script it.
“It’s nice to get back out here and start fresh and get things rolling. But it wasn’t
a full year. I don’t like being judged on 28 percent of the season, but that’s OK, and that’s what’s out there, and so we use that as motivation.”
Bragga is banking on a core of returning players and 14 newcomers — five transfers — to turn things around. At .349, Comeaux was the team’s leading hitter in 2020. Austin Bulman hit two of Rice’s six home runs, and Edwards was one of three Owls to start all 16 games.
Headlining the newcomers are infielder Hal Hughes, who started 109 games at LSU, outfielder Guy Garibay, who batted .579 in an abbreviated 2020 season at Dickinson High School, and graduate transfer Will Karp, who completRice
ed a four-year NCAA Division III career at Haverford College (Pa.) as a .323 hitter with 82 stolen bases playing the infield.
“We feel like this class, that we were able to bring in to couple with other guys in our program, the product is better,” Bragga said. “We’re excited to get things started. Look forward to some normalcy with college baseball.”
Less than a month before the opener, Bragga hasn’t set the rotation. In the mix are righthanders Garcia, Alex DeLeon, Blake Brogdon, Dillon Janac, transfer Mitchell Holcomb and Garret Zaskoda, as well as lefthander Brandon Deskins.
Garcia is a Friday night Game 1 starter type who needs to stay healthy, pitching
only once over the past two seasons. DeLeon was the Friday night starter last year. He may pitch out of the bullpen this season. Holcomb was a weekend starter all four years at Penn, and Bragga likens his pitching style to Greg Maddox. Holcomb’s not going to blow away batters with velocity, but he’s hit 92 mph and sits at the high 80s. Deskins, with his three-quarter arm action, had trouble locating the plate two years ago, but is coming off a good fall camp. Brogdon continues to improve, and Bragga said Janac has a Rice arm, consistently pitching in the 92-94 mph range.
Cristian Cienfuegos was thrown into the role of closer last year as a freshman. He joins a number of candidates at that spot in 2021. Power-arm Dalton Wood missed last season and has a chance to pitch in the back end. At 6-7 and 245 pounds and built like an athletic tight end, freshman Mathew Linskey pounds the strike zone with a low-90s fastball. Also competing in that group is the trusted Drake Greenwood, who started Sundays last year, freshman Reed Gallant, and another freshman with a power arm Micah Davis, who was topping at 96 mph in the fall. All are righthanders.
Velocity doesn’t appear to be a problem for the Rice hurlers. In the offseason, of the 22-man pitching staff, 16 players touched 90 mph.
Rice’s position player starters are nearly set except in left field. Bragga said he’s penciling in Comeaux (third base), Hughes (shortstop), Edwards (second base), Bulman (first base), newcomer Will Clark (catcher), Garibay (right field) and Ole Miss transfer Connor Walsh (center field).
It’s a wide open battle in left field. In the mix are Gneiting, who could be the designated hitter, freshman Nathan Becker, who can play DH and first base, Justin Dunlap, Antonio Cruz, Daniel Hernandez and Dominic Cox.
“I really do like our lineup, and we’re deeper than we’ve been,” said Bragga, starting his third season leading the Owls. “I’m excited where we’re at offensively and anxious to get things going.”