The Missouri baseball team’s first practice Jan. 31, right after NCAA sanctions that banned the Tigers from the 2018-19 postseason were announced, didn’t go well.
There was plenty weighing on the players’ minds, head coach Steve Bieser said. No one could focus.
But when a new month began the next day, Missouri’s perspective quickly changed.
“Everybody pushed it off to the side. There’s nothing we can do,” Bieser said.
The Tigers are still eligible to compete in the SEC and NCAA tournaments while an appeals process that could be lengthy plays out, but they’re not concerning themselves with that in the face of a brand new campaign.
Promising juniors Kameron Misner and TJ Sikkema will lead a senior-rich Missouri team this season, beginning Friday at North Florida in Jacksonville, Florida. For the rest of the Tigers, it’s business as usual.
“They know that we have a season ahead of us,” Bieser said, “and that’s kind of our plan.”
So what does the season in question hold for the 2019 edition of the Tigers? Let’s take a look at each side of this year’s Missouri team, beginning with pitching.
Sikkema, LaPlante anchor young staff
Most of the innings MU pitchers will throw this season will be hurled from the hands of newcomers. So it’s a good thing Sikkema and senior Tyler LaPlante are returning.
Sikkema, the Tigers’ ace lefty from DeWitt, Iowa, built on a strikeout-filled freshman year out of the bullpen in which his 0.88 WHIP ranked ninth in the nation. He began his sophomore year in the ‘pen but soon wound up in the Friday night starter role. He pitched to a 3.34 ERA in 70 innings, striking out 76 batters.
But Sikkema has been ill recently, living up to his last name. He got off his regular schedule and won’t start this Friday in the Tigers’ season opener.
So once again, LaPlante will be stepping up. LaPlante was a brilliant find out of Johnson County Community College, starting in the weekday starter role and entrenching himself as Missouri's Sunday starter before long. The final installment of a lefty triptych with Sikkema and Michael Plassmeyer, LaPlante may have ended up out-shining his counterparts a season ago. He led the club with a 2.75 ERA in 59 innings over 13 appearances, including 10 starts. Opposing batters hit just .207 off LaPlante; left-handers managed just .135.
LaPlante will take the ball first against the Ospreys, while a pair of junior transfers — both left-handers — will round out the weekend rotation.
Art Joven, transferring in from the College of the Sequoias in Visalia, California, will start on Saturday. He’ll likely move to Sundays once Sikkema is at full health. Joven got a 38th-round draft call from Boston in the summer of 2018 but didn’t answer the phone. The 6-foot lefty put up a 3.25 ERA as his former school’s primary starter. His fastball tops out at 89, but Joven’s arsenal includes a 12-6 curveball, two-seamer and circle change, according to his own NCSA Sports recruiting profile.
One of five San Jacinto College transfers to wind up at MU this season, Jacob Cantleberry should see most of his action in the Tigers’ weekday games, but he earned the call-up to Sunday’s spot for the time being. Cantleberry, who hails from Greenwood, Indiana, was a 2017 National Junior College All-American at San Jacinto. That year, Cantleberry posted a 1.73 ERA and struck out 89 batters in 76 innings. He had a solid 2018 campaign with a 3.32 ERA and 91 strikeouts in 76 frames.
As far as the bullpen, a pair of San Jac transfers figure to help out in the late innings for Missouri. Pitching coach Fred Corral told the Columbia Missourian on Tuesday that Lukas Veinbergs could be in the closer mix. The righty from Pinckney, Michigan, whiffed 34 in 32 innings last season at San Jacinto. Flamethrowing right-hander Trey Dillard’s fastball singed the triple digits in junior college. The sophomore from Phoenix was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 16th round in June, but he chose to attend Missouri instead of climbing through the lower minors. Sophomore Konnor Ash has an electric arm and might find himself in the fray.
Sophomore Ian Bedell is back after leaving high school early to play for the Tigers in 2018. Bedell missed a chunk of time, but served as a sort of long reliever. He could play a swingman role for the Tigers this season. So could senior Jordan Gubelman, who transferred in last year from the State College of Florida.
Fellow returnees Cameron Dulle, Cameron Pferrer and Luke Anderson should play roles in middle and late relief. Dulle is back for his senior season after 11 innings of a 6.55 ERA last year, while Pferrer posted a 2.98 ERA in 9.1 innings in 2018. Anderson put up an 8.10 ERA in 10 innings during his freshman season.
MU boasts five freshman pitchers — Seth Halvorsen, Tommy Springer, Nick Swanson, Nick Lommen and Trae Robertson — as well as two-way player Luke Mann.
Halvorsen, a top recruit who arrived as a shortstop as well as a pitcher, is turning his focus to pitching only. But the 2018 Minnesota Player of the Year suffered a partial UCL tear, according to the Missourian, and is working his way back.
Robertson, a lefty out of local Hickman High School, has generated the most buzz of the other four hurlers. Springer and Swanson are right-handers, while Lommen is a southpaw.
Mann, the Gatorade Missouri Player of the Year at Vianney High School, is currently slotted in as the team’s starting designated hitter, so he may not get many opportunities to pitch right away. The right-hander was deemed the top recruit in the state by PerfectGame.org. He pitched to a 10-0 record and a 1.09 ERA in 2018, fanning 102 batters in 70.1 innings on the hill.
Additionally, senior right-hander Spencer Juergens transferred in from Houston and must sit out the season. Ryan Rickett, a freshman reliever in 2018, is no longer listed on the team roster.
The Tigers’ pitching was its strength in 2018 and figures to be strong again, if not quite on the level of last year’s ballclub. Bieser knows the dynamics of Missouri’s home park play into that.
“Our ballpark is a pitcher’s park, especially when we’re playing early in the season and it’s cold, a little bit cooler. We get a lot of the north wind blowing in,” Bieser said.
“It’s a great place to pitch.”
Misner headlines an offense with depth questions
Bieser announced three important season-ending injuries to position players at Wednesday’s media day. The most critical loss for the Tigers is that of senior outfielder Zach Hanna, who broke his wrist. Hanna, who slugged seven homers for Missouri in his junior campaign, will redshirt and transfer. Sophomore outfielder Cade Bormet slid into a brick wall in right field late during the 2018 season, suffering a concussion and fracturing his orbital bone. Bormet is still feeling the effects of the concussion, won’t play this year and has been taken off the Tigers’ roster. Catcher Jake Matheny, another San Jacinto transfer, also will be out for the year with an undisclosed injury.
“So we have some recovery to do, but the good thing is we’ve got some really good players here, and versatile players that we can cover,” Bieser said.
It will be up to the remainder of the Tigers’ position players to carry the load. They’re led by Misner, who suffered a major injury of his own when he broke his foot and missed over half of the 2018 season. In the games he did play, though, the first baseman and outfielder hit .360, roped nine doubles and stole 13 bases. He got on base at a .497 clip and slugged .576 for the Tigers.
“He’s that good because everybody talks about five tools, and this guy has all five tools and his baseball IQ is really, really high,” Bieser said.
But no matter how good he is, the No. 11-ranked prospect in the 2019 MLB Draft according to MLB.com, can’t do it alone for Missouri, especially if he misses more time. A bunch of young players and newcomers will surround him in a Tigers lineup with more question marks than sure shots.
MU’s two best hitters in 2018, outside of Misner, moved on to pro ball. Sharp, who led Missouri’s qualified hitters with a .321 average and slugged eight homers, was a 26th-round pick of the New York Mets. Harris, who led the club with 11 long balls and slugged .516, is now a member of the Atlanta Braves organization.
Several key players on the 2018 squad were seniors, and MU finds itself with a few holes. Third baseman Alex Samples? Graduated. Infielder Matt Berler? Graduated. Catcher Brett Bond? Graduated and in the Los Angeles Angels farm system.
So who’s left? And who’s new? The team gave an indication Wednesday.
Perhaps the most notable newcomers to Columbia are Alex and Clayton Peterson, twin sophomore outfielders who each played a year in junior college. Bieser sang Alex Peterson’s praises Wednesday, saying the Cowley College transfer has earned both a starting spot in left field and the leadoff spot in the batting order. Alex put up eye-popping numbers in his sole year at Cowley, hitting .482/.555/.749.
In four scrimmages at MU, Bieser added, Alex got six hits in 12 at-bats and made it on base nine times.
“He’s proven the same thing here, that he just steps in the box and he’s ready to hit,” Bieser said. “He’ll take his walks when he gets them, but he’s going to be an offensive guy in that leadoff spot.”
Clayton Peterson’s skill with the glove, Bieser said, procured him the starting slot in center field.
"He’s been scuffling a little bit since the first of the year, but he’s a plus defender in center field and I expect to see him in there very often,” Bieser said.
Clayton, who spent last year at Northern Oklahoma Community College, wasn’t far behind his brother with the bat. He hit .449/.529/.742 with 13 homers and earned a spot on the NJCAA Division-II World Series All-Tournament Team.
His arrival means senior Connor Brumfield, who began his MU career in 2016 playing second base, is now the projected starter in right field. Brumfield had a disappointing 2018 at the plate, hitting .221/.335/.266 in 51 games.
Misner is expected to spend more time in center field once Tony Ortiz is fully healthy, meaning Brumfield could be the odd man out in the outfield. With Hanna’s injury, though, the Tigers’ only four-year player is in the lineup for now.
Sophomore Thomas Broyles and freshmen Ty Olejnik and Josh Holt Jr. project as bench depth in MU’s outfield. Broyles hit .299 with seven swipes at Northwest Florida State College in 2018 before transferring to MU. Olejnik, the long jump state champion in Wisconsin in 2018, brings athleticism to the position. He didn’t begin his baseball career until his senior year of high school. Holt Jr.’s blazing speed might be best deployed as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement.
On the infield, the double-play combination of Chris Cornelius and Mark Vierling remains uninterrupted. Cornelius enters his junior season after recording a meager .250/.339/.301 line last season, but offers a strong arm from the hole in short. Vierling, whose brother Matt was drafted by Notre Dame by the Philadelphia Phillies in the fifth round in 2018, hit .229 in 27 starts with the Tigers in his freshman season.
Paul Gomez hit just .179 last year in a backup infield role, but the senior is back for his final year after coming in last year from Cypress Junior College. Freshman Cameron Swanger from Loveland, Ohio, and junior infielder Peter Zimmerman, a St. Louis product out of Chaminade and another San Jacinto transfer, can contribute as well in the infield.
Junior transfer Austin James, from the State College of Florida, is expected to start at third base, a position most often occupied by Samples or Gomez in 2018. The junior from Valrico, Florida, hit .353 and stole 20 bases in his sophomore campaign. He adds some needed assistance in batting average for a Tigers offense that portends to need the help.
Misner will open the year at first base until Ortiz can spell him. Ortiz, a senior who transferred in from Lane Community College last season and played in 33 games with the Tigers, adds depth at first and in left field. Misner will be rooted to the heart of the order, Bieser said, but not necessarily locked into the cleanup spot.
“I think we have to check and see if our lineup is deep enough to protect him in the 4-hole,” Bieser said. “Right now, he’ll start a little higher in the lineup, you know, 2 or 3, so that we make sure we’ve got enough behind him that people have to pitch to him a little bit.”
Isaiah Cullum, who played his junior season with the Tigers in 2018, left MU and is now with Division II Florida Southern College.
Behind the plate, sophomore catcher Chad McDaniel has earned the starting in 2019. He impressed in limited playing time during his freshman season, hitting .274 in a backup role behind Bond.
Battle High School prospect Tre Morris joins the Tigers as a freshman, hoping to see time at the backstop position. Senior catcher Trevor Mallett was hammered by injuries, missing all of 2018, but remains on the Tigers’ roster. He may see some time this season with Matheny out for the year.
That leaves the DH spot for Mann. The Vianney product hit .513 with 12 homers and 61 runs batted in during his senior high school season. He could provide some pop and some protection for Misner in the lineup.
My guess at MU’s first lineup of 2019:
1. Alex Peterson, LF
2. Clayton Peterson, CF
3. Kameron Misner, 1B
4. Luke Mann, DH
5. Chad McDaniel, C
6. Austin James, 3B
7. Chris Cornelius, SS
8. Connor Brumfield, RF
9. Mark Vierling, 2B
What to expect from the season
In the best baseball league in the country, Missouri faces one of the toughest schedules in the nation.
The Tigers avoid any ranked teams in their nonconference schedule, but that changes substantially in their Southeastern Conference slate. The SEC has eight teams in D1Baseball.com’s Preseason Top 25. Missouri opens up conference play against No. 16 Arkansas in Fayetteville, and plays series against five other ranked SEC schools.
Back-to-back weekends versus No. 1 LSU (April 12-14) and at No. 13 Georgia (April 18-20) will pose a challenge for Missouri. So will the Tigers’ last two series of the year, a brutal stretch at No. 2 Vanderbilt (May 10-12) and at home against No. 3 Florida (May 16-18).
Bieser and said his goal is for the team to post a record of even or better in SEC play.
“We know that number, you’ve gotta be .500 in league play. If you can’t be .500, there’s no guarantee that you’re going any further with postseason play,” Bieser said.
In his third season, Bieser hasn’t accomplished this yet. Tim Jamieson went 16-16 in 2015 for Missouri’s best conference record since joining the SEC.
The Tigers haven’t made it to the NCAA Tournament since 2012, and unless they break .500 this season, that streak is likely to continue.
My prediction: 32-21, 13-17 SEC, miss NCAA Tournament.
