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8A SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 2007
BASEBALL
New talent shuffles lineup
Young players could challenge for starting spots in spring
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
The fall season is barely underway for the Kansas baseball team, yet the changes from last year's roster already are apparent.
Kansas' starting lineup against the Croatian national team on Sept. 2 included just one under-classman, but Coach Ritch Price made it clear that several young Jayhawks could push for starting jobs. He called this year's recruiting class the best he's had at Kansas.
THE INFIELD
Price expects to experience the most turnover in his infield.
Although junior catcher Buck Afenir, junior first baseman Preston Land and senior shortstop
Erik Morrison are sure bets to keep their starting spots. Price might have to do a little juggling to find starters at second and third base.
Price
One way or another, sophomore Robby Price will be starting in the infield, but after starting 57 games at third base last season, he may be the regular second baseman in 2008.
In place of Robby at third base, Coach Price likes what he sees out of Tony Thompson. Although a freshman, at 6-foot-4, 214 pounds, Thompson has the body of a corner infielder. But Price also wants to find a way to get freshman infielder Jimmy Waters into the starting lineup.
"The young man can really hit,"
Price said of Waters. "He's not as proficient defensively as he needs to be to play at our level, but he's been one of our better hitters in the first two weeks of the captain's scrimmages. He's a tremendous athlete."
One alternative Price is considering is moving Waters to an already crowded outfield.
THE OUTFIELD
Senior John Allman has been a mainstay in left field for the Jayhawks the last three seasons, and that isn't likely to change any
time soon.
After losing
Kyle Murphy
and Brock
Simpson to the
draft, the team
has vacancies in
center and right
field, but a trio
of upperclass.
men are already vying for those spots.
Faunce
Senior Casey Larson appeared in 40 games last season, starting 20, and played almost exclusively in center field. But it was junior Nick Faunce who started there Sunday and led off for the Jayhawks. Faunce knows a lot can happen between now and the spring, though.
"He's really mixing it up. I think he wanted to put players in who had experience at the beginning of the game," Faunce said of Price. "I'm hoping I'm going to stay out there, but I can't guarantee it."
All that's left is right field, where senior Ryne Price will be making the transition from second base. Coach Price said Ryne also would catch occasionally, which was his natural position in high school. So Waters might
be able to fill in right field on days where Ryne is behind the plate.
PITCHING
The only new face out of the nine pitchers who appeared Sunday was freshman Brett Bochy, who was a redshirt last season, but Price also expects some newcomers to challenge for spots in the starting rotation — in particular, sophomore left-hander Shaeffer Hall.
Hall transferred to Kansas after one year at Jefferson College, where he went 10-1 with a 2.19 ERA, six complete games and 67 strikeouts in 83 innings. As a senior at Lee's Summit West, Hall was named the Kansas City Star All-Metro Player of the Year and was drafted in the 28th round by the Texas Rangers in the MLB Amateur Draft.
Fortunately for Price, he'll have more time than usual to sort out his roster before the spring season.
Because of new NCAA regulations, teams can't begin spring practices until Feb. 1 and must wait until the third Friday of the month to play their season opener — a major cutback, considering Kansas played its season opener Feb. 1 last season.
But the NCAA did grant programs more practice time in the fall. Price said he could only hold 11 fall practices in past years, but this year he has a 45-day window in which to hold as many as 33 practices.
"I really like the change." Price said. "It allows you to practice properly and prepare your players to play on the weekend properly as opposed to before, where we were basically just scrimmaging."
Edited by Tara Smith
SHROYER (CONTINUED FROM 12A)
To my chagrin, I didn't look any better in round three. The only positive I found was that, like any good lefty, I could still get around on the inside pitch. But, considering how the eight-year-old boy across from me put my hits to shame, I almost wanted to try hitting right-handed for the first time since Little League
I stuck with the same speed for round four and touched a few more pitches, but I could tell I was dropping my back elbow because all my hits were harmless pop-ups.
I was ready to work out the kinks in round five, but my last token was eaten. On my way to buy another token, the teenage employee who had been monitoring the cages walked by.
"Sorry you had to watch that," I said to him.
He didn't say anything, but his polite smile couldn't hide his thoughts. The pity in his eyes stung even more than the blisters that formed on my right hand.
I bought one more token and ignored the pain the blisters caused when I swung. I had to finish on a good note. Finally, in round five, pop-ups turned into solid ground-
ers, and I turned on an inside pitch, sending a line drive to the right. I didn't hit the final pitch even though I desperately wanted to, but round five offered the glimmer of hope I needed.
SATURDAY
After my trip to the batting cages, I realized I wouldn't be able to depend on my bat to make the team. I'll need to flash some leather at first base.
My dad came to town from Shawnee at 10:30 a.m., and we went to Municipal Stadium at Hobbs Park for infield practice. For years while I was growing up in Mound City, Dad and I spent Saturday mornings practicing baseball, and I was glad we had the chance to do it at least one more time.
Municipal Stadium isn't the nicest field in Lawrence. Cigarette butts, broken glass and a discarded pair of shoes littered the grandstand. The infield was rough, and a low spot behind first base was still muddy from the recent rainfall. But I've always enjoyed playing on old-fashioned diamonds, and if I could field grounders there, I should be able
to handle grounders on Hoglund
Ballpark's grass infield.
As Dad hit grounders to me. I was pleased to find that my fielding abilities hadn't abandoned me. I'm right-handed in the field, which helps me cover everything down the line. I was surprised at how well I still could range to my right. I even made a few leaping catches on line drives to my right and chased down a couple fly balls over my head. Keith Hernandez may still be alive, but I felt his spirit assisting me.
I closed practice working around the bag. Dad and I turned double plays, and it felt incredible to stretch for his throws. As inflexible as I may be around the field, I've always been limber on first base. Dad finished off the practice throwing me short hops and balls in the dirt to either side of the base. I dug most of them. Nothing is more rewarding to a first baseman than saving his teammates' errors and keeping unearned runs off the board.
This week, I'll find out just how far along I've come. But, for good measure, be sure to say a prayer to the baseball gods for me.
Edited by Matt Erickson
Winding up
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Kansas City Royals pitcher Billy Buckner throws against Minnesota Twins first baseman Garrett Jones in the second inning of the Royals' 4-2 loss to the Twins. Buckner was credited with the loss for the game after he in the sixth inning with three earned runs.
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