Coming off back-to-back regional appearances, South Alabama is setup to have a big year in 2018 with plenty of players returning and one of the best hitters in college baseball in Travis Swaggerty.
The junior outfielder hit .356 last year with 11 home runs and 19 stolen bases, showing off his ability to hit for power and run. Right now he is essentially a lock for a first round pick in the upcoming MLB Draft.
“Number one, his work ethic is off the charts,” said South Alabama Head Coach Mark Calvi when talking about what makes Swaggerty such a great player. “He was a good player when we got him, and he’s turned himself into what he is today. Countless hours in the batting cage at night, before and after practice. The kid has just worked like crazy.
“He’s a guy that had talent, he had gifts and he just worked – plain and simple. He’s worked as hard as anyone I’ve ever had. And he loves to play, he loves the work that goes into being a player. Some guys they work because they have to, because they play. But Travis, he loves it. He loves the game and the work that goes into it. When you take his level of skill and you put those attributes with it, that’s when you have a pretty good player.”
As coach Calvi points out, Swaggerty has all the tools that allow someone to be an exciting player. Not only can he hit for power and run the bases well, but he has a great arm in the outfield.
But it’s not just Swaggerty that makes this lineup work. Almost everyone else from last year’s team will be back in the lineup.
That list includes Dylan Hardy who led the team with a .363 average last year, and Brendan Donovan who hit .336 with 9 home runs and a .448 on-base-percentage.
Other guys like Drew LaBounty and Colton Thomas will have a big role in the offense this year (UPDATE: LaBounty fouled a ball off his eye during a scrimmage and was hospitalized. It is unclear what his status is at this time).
Mike Sandle is a newcomer that had a very good summer and coach Calvi said he has done a nice job so far after redshirting last season.
This team shouldn’t have much of a problem scoring runs, the question will be on the pitching staff. Not so much because of a lack of talent, but because of some of those talented arms coming back from injury.
“We have Nick DeSantis, who probably would have been our closer last year, got hurt in game 15 last year and had Tommy John,” said Clavi. “He’s working his way back into the fold this year and he feels great, but he’s nine months post Tommy John. How quickly can he recover and respond after throwing? Will he be himself? Will he be as good? Will he be better? I don’t know yet.
“Ryan Terry, a left-handed pitcher, a junior college guy that hit 88-91 (fastball) with a really good curveball, had nerve transposition surgery in the fall. Nothing major, but it happened late and he’s still working his way back into feeling it off the mound again.
“Those are two really big guys for us, and there’s some question marks around them.”
However, there are still some experienced arms coming back to the pitching staff that could take a step forward in 2018 to help this be a really good unit.
“On the bright side Andy Arguelles is back – he beat LSU and Auburn last year and gained valuable experience as a freshman. Tyler Carr is back after being our Sunday guy (in 2017). And I think both of those kids have gotten better. At least from the fall and then early on in the spring, both of them are better now than they were last year at this time.”
Arguelles had a 5.37 ERA as a freshman in 55.1 innings pitched with 51 strikeouts, while Carr had a 4.64 ERA last year in 77.2 innings pitched with 66 strikeouts.
They will have to replace their Friday night starters and closer from last year in Randy Bell and Matt Peacock. Coach Calvi is hoping either Arguelles or Carr can step up and take over the Friday night spot.
Coach Calvi mentioned that newcomer Zach Green has been outstanding in practice so far and stood out. “I think he’s been the best of all of them so far,” coach Calvi continued. “I could see him being a closer candidate maybe until DeSantis and a couple of other guys get healthy in the bullpen. I think we have some very capable arms. We have some new guys with talent, it’s just a matter of where they slot out.”
Coach Calvi won’t have much time to figure things out as they play a very difficult schedule to start the season. Nine of their first 18 games are against NCAA Tournament teams from last year, including Oklahoma, Indiana, Texas Tech (x3), Auburn and LSU.
“Our guys are excited about it (the difficult schedule),” noted Calvi. “It’s a very challenging schedule, and it’s by design. I look at it this way, you can’t beat ‘em if you don’t play ‘em. And you need to play ‘em if you want to be a postseason team.
“You need to go on the road and play really good teams and get used to that. You need to try and play the best schedule you can. It helps prepare your team. It prepares your team for conference play. Sometimes the type of schedule you put together, the strength of schedule, the optics of your schedule and your body of work, it really matters at the end of the year to the selection committee. That’s a big deal.”
That certainly seems to be the method for teams today that aren’t in a power conference. If a team like South Alabama from the Sun Belt wants to earn an at-large bid into the tournament, they have to prove they can hang with some of the top teams from big conferences like the Big 12, ACC and SEC.
“In today’s day-and-age the 40-win mark is not the barrier anymore, that’s not the goal,” said coach Calvi. “It used to be, if you won 40 games it was pretty much a lock you were in. Now it’s where you finished in the conference and what your RPI is – what’s the other teams’ winning percentage that you played. The formula is different now than it was 10-15 years ago.
“A good schedule can swallow you up, or it can really help boost you forward if you handle it the right way. Our guys are excited about it and we’re looking forward to it. We have to play really good baseball starting out from the first month, but I think our guys are capable.”
South Alabama brings back nearly 85 percent of its roster and some key pieces on the mound from a team that won 42 games last year.
There are obviously a lot of expectations being put on this team from the media with the Jaguars ranked in some preseason polls. That attention is certainly warranted, but as coach Calvi points out, there is a lot of work to be done first.
“I think this team just needs to focus on being the best version of itself,” said Calvi. “We just don’t know how good we can be this year. Our guys believe we have a good club. Our players believe they are good together. How good are they? I don’t know. Every season is different.
“They understand there are challenges and opportunities that come in the peaks and valleys of a season. Our team’s goal really is to win the league. That’s our goal every single year to win a conference championship. Everyone wants to get to the College World Series, everyone wants to get to Omaha — but to put that ahead of certain things that needs to happen before that’s even a thought, is crazy. I believe in being realistic. Our goal is to get to the postseason every year and make a run.”
Coach Calvi said they had a similar mindset when he was a South Carolina. They didn’t sit there and talk about Omaha every day, rather they talked about the things that would allow them to get there.
“We talked about playing good baseball,” Calvi continued. “We practiced good habits every single day. We did the things that it would take for a team – if they got there – to be good. And that’s what we try to do at South Alabama.
“There are just too many things that have to happen before we get to that point. And our team has been focused. Getting in the postseason is a privilege. You have 64 teams get in among over 300 Division 1 teams – it’s a low percentage of teams that actually play baseball. Nothing is a given, but our guys have a big enough crew that has been to two regionals in a row.”
Still, there are a lot of players coming back on this team who have been through the process and know what it takes to get to the postseason.
“There are some guys who are hungry to take the next step,” Calvi mentioned. “We have some fans that would love to see us take that next step, and our coaches would love to see us take that next step.
“But we also know there are so many steps before it that we need to take care of. So yeah, we’d love to be able to host a regional. We’d love to be able to win a regional and move on to the Super Regional, and roll the dice and see what happens from there. We think we have the capability and our guys are hungry enough to do it.”
