Perfect Game's 2020 pre-season poll

Interesting place for us. I guess the questions about coaching are a big part of the drop...and our lackluster finish last year. But I expect this team to be much better this year. And I don’t think we were really as bad as our record last year. Just something wasn’t clicking. We’ll be back!

We didn't hit and we did a deep Swan dive at the end of the season. It was obvious to the writers we were spent during the late season and in the Regional. They are in doubt about what we are returning.

They know about our pitching, but we had a bushel of .230-250 hitters last year, so they're skeptical. Eleven games in, after we come back to Goss from San Diego, everyone will have a good idea where we fit in the polls.

We will get a real chance to see what a difference Canham can make . We certainly don't have any studs ( at least pre- season ), and we will have to be patient as the lineup and rotation establishes itself. But - I think we will still see Beaver ball at a promising and surprising level .

The 2019 team was a young team emerging from many personnel losses from the 2018 NC team. 36 wins may have well been their season potential. I think what dampened the season and created an unfortunate perception of the team was the finish, which may have resulted from the lack of enough Junior-Senior maturity and leadership that often plagues young teams.

The Beavers were 31 and 10, and then proceeded to lose 10 of their final 15 games, including two decisive losses in the Corvallis Regional. During that stretch, the team became hard to recognize at times. Confidence and swagger disappeared. Had the record been reversed, winning 10 of our last 15 games would have likely had us hosting a Super Regional.

Another area of concern for the writers had to be the 15-12-1 non-conference record that included being swept by Nevada and Oklahoma State.

We had five guys who looked consistently good at the plate in the fall. Claunch, Harvey and Casey plus the two freshman from Canada, McDowell and Cesar when he played. There were about five more that showed promise. Lots of speed as well. If Chamberlain and Pfinnings pitch to their potential we could win some pac-12 games playing small ball if we have to. I could care less what the writers "know" at this point. It feels a lot like 2016 to me. No returning super star but an exciting frosh class that when added to the returning roster this is a team with good upside as they improve during the season. The two transfers from Linn Benton, if they can produce at all at the plate will contribute as well. Just fast forward us to Surprise so we can watch some baseball.

To quote a former US Secretary of Defense;

We have some known knowns, some known unknowns, and some unknown unknowns.

Early on, I expect to see a good part of our roster given opportunities to contribute in various roles.

I expect to see fairly frequent pitching changes early in the season and I expect to see subtle changes from game to game in the batting order.

By the 20 game mark, things will be more clearly defined with the coaching staff comfortable with what they have.
I like our coaches. From a developmental and motivational perspective, they are relationship builders and communicators.

From the bench perspective, as tacticians and strategists, I think we'll see some smart baseball played this season.

I expect to see the same.  Mitch was a catcher for PC, catchers get a lot more of the hows and whys from the coach, and PC was big into experimenting early, letting players determine the lineup.