No games yesterday, let's talk about the future

The Braves seem to be well-stocked on the offensive side of the ball. Five years from now, we could have 5 of the 8 current starting lineup still in their prime. Brian McCann (age 24), Mark Teixeira (28), Kelly Johnson (26), Yunel Escobar (25), and Jeff Francouer (24). Martin Prado (24) can play third base to take over for Chipper Jones (36). Gregor Blanco (24) can take the place of Matt Diaz (30). That leaves one outfield spot open for someone from the minors. Josh Anderson (25) is playing well at AAA Richmond and could fill that open spot.

The Braves pitching may be a little thin, but that is the case for just about every team in the majors. Jair Jurrjens (age 22) and Chuck James (26) may be the only hold-overs from the current starting rotation. Tim Hudson (32) will be 37 in five years and may not have much left in the tank. John Smoltz and Tom Glavine will both be in their upper 40's and will probably be out of the league. There are a couple of pitchers at AAA Richmond that are pitching well and could help out in the rotation as early as this year. Charlie Morton (24) and Jo-Jo Reyes (23) could be pitching for the big league club as early as September 2008. The current relief staff (Ohman, Boyer, Acosta, Campillo, Carlyle, Moylan, and Soriano) are all between the ages of 26 and 30. As long as they stay sharp they all could be pitching five years from now.

Ball State will lose 7 seniors from this years squad, 5 that play a significant part for the team. Wayne Bond (10HR, 47RBI, .342 avg, all stats as of 4/28), Justin Rogers (7HR, 34RBI, .336avg), and Matt Stokelen (3HR, 28RBI, .254 avg) account for about 30 percent of the offense so far. Alex Schmid has played well in a part-time role this year and could fill one of the open spots left by the departing seniors. The other spots will need to be filled with a current player stepping up or a decent recruit or two. Our depth seems to be lacking here.

Ball State will lose one of its three main starting pitchers this year in Tyler Pritchard. It will also lose the school's all time-save leader, Kyle Heyne. The current team ERA is 6.01, but if you remove these two seniors it balloons to 6.70. The current pitching staff isn't very good, but unless some of the current players find some magic over the summer we will have to depend on some recruits to help the staff. Being a mid-major school, having depth on a baseball team is very difficult. This current BSU team is an example of that lack of depth.

Brownsburg High School's baseball team will graduate 7 seniors this year. Those seniors have combined for 94 hits and 59 RBI (all stats thru 4/28), which are about half of the team's offensive output. The senior pitchers have thrown 60 of the 98 innings. The Dogs will return 4 players who have played a lot during the 2008 season. Tucker Barnhart, Joel Stucker, Kevin Blessinger, and Matt Steinbaker have combined for a .381 average this year. The four pitchers returning (Alex McGowan, Matt Duncan, Steinbaker, and Barnhart) have a 2.95 ERA this year. I also know that there are many good players coming through the system at the JV and Freshman levels. I don't see next year's team having any problems upholding the Brownsburg Baseball tradition.