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2016 Auburn Baseball Preview

By Jake Mastroianni

Mar 28, 2015; Peoria, AZ, USA; An oversize baseball sculpture outside of the grounds during a spring training game between the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 28, 2015; Peoria, AZ, USA; An oversize baseball sculpture outside of the grounds during a spring training game between the Seattle Mariners and San Francisco Giants at Peoria Sports Complex. Mandatory Credit: Allan Henry-USA TODAY Sports /
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Predictions

Butch Thompson was no fool when he made his decision to come to Auburn this year. It had to be a fairly easy choice considering the Tigers are pretty much returning everyone from a team that made it to the postseason last year.

It’s not very often in college baseball that you return all nine starters, but that’s the case for Auburn baseball this year and I expect them to build upon the experience from a year ago. Now it’s not like this squad was one of the best teams in the SEC last year, there is still a lot of room for improvement, but it definitely helps to have some continuity.

Lipscomb returning to the rotation is the big key. I hate to put the entire season on his shoulders, but for the most part it kind of is. If you want to win in baseball, at any level, you need to have good pitching, and it helps to have an ace at the top of your rotation. Cole definitely qualifies as an ace and if he can anchor this pitching staff all year and pick up some big wins on Friday nights it’s going to set Auburn up to have a great year.

Someone will obviously have to fill in behind him in the rotation as a clear number two, but I feel like this Auburn baseball team has those options available.

At a minimum this team should win 30-plus games and return to the postseason. If the offense improves a bit and someone steps up as a solid number two in the rotation, this team could legitimately compete for the SEC Tournament championship.

I expect Auburn to finish the regular season with a 38-18 overall record and an 18-12 conference record. That would most likely put them in the top 25 in the nation, and in the top five or six teams in the SEC.

Those may seem like lofty expectations, but it’s not often a college team returns this many starters and I believe Coach Thompson helps them play at another level this year, while making Auburn baseball relevant again in the SEC and on a national scale.

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