AUBURN—Auburn baseball head coach Butch Thompson is gearing up for his 10th season as head coach on the Plains with fall scrimmages starting this week.
The Tigers are coming off a rather disappointing season in which they finished with a 27-26 overall record and didn’t make any postseason tournaments - the first time Auburn baseball hasn’t made the SEC tournament since 2016.
Part of last year's squad's struggles was the production Thompson got out of his pitchers, particularly the starters. Auburn’s starters struggled to go the distance in most games, resulting in pitching coach Everett Teaford relying on his bullpen early and often. The Tigers’ pitching staff was last in innings pitched throughout the league last season and 13th in the league in ERA per game.
Thompson knew that heading into this season he would need to revamp the pitching staff and brought in a few veterans to pair along with a prolific freshman class as well. Thompson got just what he needed with experienced arms such as Cade Fisher, Sam Dutton and Mason Koch through the transfer portal to go along with freshman newcomers Connor Gatewood, Christian Chatterton, Jackson Sanders and Andrew Alvarez.
With Chase Allsup, Will Cannon and Joseph Gonzalez from last year’s squad gone, Thompson still returns a lot of young talent on the pitching front and guys that gained some valuable experience a season ago.
“That’s still the biggest elephant in the room - question mark with the program - is trying to return to the standard of play on the mound,” Thompson said. “But every one of those guys got some innings and experiences and, you know, can they (improve)?
Fisher, an experienced left-handed pitcher that Thompson will rely on to provide a spark on the mound, landed at Auburn this offseason after spending his first two years at Florida.
“We needed more left-handers,” Thompson said. “We’re still in the same league that he was competing in. I liked his experience of being in Omaha both years. He’s already tried being a starter and maybe it didn’t work out for the whole season, but now, in a third year can he, you know, is it one thing? Is it finding that one thing to stick and go with? And I think it is. I think he’s a really good pitcher and has a chance to do well.”
To go along with a top-notch pitching haul this offseason, Thompson hit the trail for guys to fill the void that Cooper Weiss and Chris Stanfield held a year ago. Bringing in Eric Snow to battle for an infield position and Bristol Carter to slot into the center field spot was a huge win for the Tigers heading into this season.
Contributing to the No. 4 ranked recruiting class by Perfect Game were guys like Bub Terrell, a big bat that can take over a role in the outfield as well as Chase Fralick and Chris Rembert.
“Terrell is absolutely exciting to watch play. Chase Fralick could be in that category, another good-sized left-handed hitter that’s a freshman. Chris Rembert from Pensacola Catholic has impressed. Those three freshmen have just been superb,” Thompson said.
Returnees Ike Irish and Cooper McMurrary will help guide the young talent along. Irish dealt with a nagging hand injury throughout last season but finished as one of Auburn’s biggest bats, turning in a .319 batting average and providing a lot of power from the left side of the box. McMurray is another powerful bat returning for the Tigers, who finished with 14 home runs a season ago.
“Ike is getting a lot of publicity, I see from looking around,” Thompson said. “I need to keep him hungry and working hard, just like I need to keep myself hungry and working hard. Cooper McMurray, you just feel like any coach in our league would like, ‘Man here’s a guy between 12 and 15 home runs and maybe 60 plus RBIs, we’ll take that.’”
Thompson will have five weeks of preseason practice in the fall before ramping things up heading into the spring season and will provide a significant amount of opportunities for newcomers to prove that they belong.
“These next five weeks, starting today, might be as an impactful five-week window as any part leading up to the season, or during the season, for trying to put our best foot forward,” Thompson said.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email logan.fowler@1819News.com.
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