Marshall University Athletics
COTTON: Waggoner's Pantry Well-Stocked with Pitchers
10/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
By STEVE COTTON
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- College baseball coaches have an unusual relationship with pro baseball's June draft. Marshall's Jeff Waggoner is no exception.
First and foremost, he wants his players to get a chance to follow their dreams and have an opportunity to play pro ball. But there's also a distinct silver lining when draft-eligible juniors end up returning for a surprise senior season.
Count the Herd's Chase Boster and J.D. Hammer as Exhibits A and B.
Had the pair of right-handers been chosen in the draft, Waggoner wouldn't have been surprised - and he'd have been as happy for them as he was when first-rounder Aaron Blair passed on his final college season to sign with the Arizona Diamondbacks in the summer of 2013.
But when neither Boster nor Hammer was picked, the Marshall mentor couldn't help but smile at the thought of writing those two names onto next season's Conference USA lineup cards.
"Honestly, I didn't think we'd have them back," said Waggoner, who's prepping for his 10th season at the Herd helm. "I felt bad because their dream is to play pro baseball, but that's how the draft goes.
"Their dream is to play Major League Baseball, but you can't depend on anything on draft day. They've reacted great, though. What I'm seeing from them is that they want to take it out on Conference USA, using it as motivation to be even better."
If Boster is better in 2016, the Herd is in for something special. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound senior was very good last season, when his 7-1 record and 2.95 ERA carried him to all-conference second team recognition, even though he missed more than a month's worth of starts due to injury.
The 6-foot-3, 217-pound Hammer also has the prototypical pitcher's build and was the Herd's hard-luck starter in 2015, deserving much better than a 2-6 record based on his 3.83 ERA and 56 strikeouts over a staff-best 80 innings of work.
Hammer made six so-called "quality starts" of at least six innings with fewer than three earned runs allowed without getting the expected results in his won-loss column.
So, Waggoner recruited as if to replace both of his weekend mound stalwarts, and the result is that he now might just have the deepest pitching staff in his time at Marshall. No fewer than three "newcomers" are waging a strong competition to become the third weekend starter.
Parker Danciu is a 6-4 lefthander who logged a 2.21 ERA at Palm Beach State Community College in Boca Raton, Fla., last season, after spending his freshman year playing for the University of Florida. Josh Shapiro, at 6-2, is another tall southpaw and a freshman from Bixley, Ohio.
Waggoner didn't have to go far to find the third man vying for a C-USA starting role - he just went to third base.
"We knew that we wanted Tyler Ratliff to both pitch and play the field for us when we recruited him," Waggoner said of his sophomore from Alexandria, Va. "But then we were hit by injury problems at catcher, and we needed him to do that.
"He already was playing third base, then catching when we needed him, and you can only throw so much at a freshman who's already doing all that, so we didn't pitch him much."
Ratliff finished second on the team with three home runs as he juggled those roles, but was limited to only 4 2/3 innings of work on the mound. A strong summer's worth of pitching has Ratliff up to speed to compete for significant time on the hill this season, with a fastball consistently in the 90s and with room to go significantly higher.
"What you have with Tyler is a very clean and quick arm," Waggoner said. "When he throws, his head doesn't really move. It's a very clean delivery and he's a big, physical kid. His legs are strong and as he gets more pitching experience he has the potential to really throw hard.
"Whether it works out best for him as a starter or in the bullpen remains to be seen - I don't even have a good feel for that myself yet - but as he gets more innings we'll learn the answer. I do know that he can be a special arm for us somewhere.
"You also have to factor in that he's our starting third baseman, too, and is having a great fall there. He's fielding the position well, he's leading the team in home runs, he's doing it all. It's a good problem to have to have to figure out how he best helps the team in the long run."
Someone will eventually become that third starter when Marshall hosts Southern Miss at Appalachian Power Park next March 18-20. The other two will still have significant roles.
"It shapes up well for us to have three guys fighting for the No. 3 spot on weekends," Waggoner said. "The competition should keep all three of them sharp all through the season, and the guys who don't get that third spot on the weekend will give us better options in pitching the mid-week games than we've had in the past.
"That competition will continue on through the season. If a guy pitches a Tuesday game and throws really well, there's no reason we can't bring him back and pitch in the C-USA game the next Sunday."
If Ratliff doesn't become the No. 3 starter, he could also compete for the closer's job, though another Florida junior college transfer - Burris Warner from Seminole State College in Sanford - has been sterling in that role during the fall practice season.
"Burris was hitting 93 and 94 (mph) in our exhibition game against Potomac State, with a wipeout breaking ball, which is a potentially great combination for a closer," Waggoner said. "But Ratliff is certainly a potential closer, too, if we decide that's the best pitching role for him.
"Or, one of the other guys we're looking at as a weekend starter, if he doesn't win that job, could also get a look as the closer. Fernando Guerrero was one of the best pitchers in the New York collegiate league this summer, and he's throwing in the low- to mid-90s. He'll have a big role somewhere in our bullpen."
While so many roles are yet to be determined, Waggoner also has several pieces available in his bullpen who provide a variety of talents to fit any given situation.
"Caleb Ross has been a very consistent guy for us and we know what he can do," Waggoner said. "Sam Hunter has had a lot of success as a situational lefty. Heston Van Fleet ââ'¬Â¦ everything he throws, sinks. He's a guy you call on when you need the ground ball. Keanu Ramos is another one where we know what he can do. We have a lot of guys on this staff we know well, and know where they can make us successful."
Waggoner also knows that the bullpen's best friend is a starting pitcher who goes deep into a game, and that's where he feels this year's staff might have an edge on those in past seasons.
"When we figure out who fills what roles - who those final starters are, who's the closer - then we start matching everyone else to where they can have their biggest success," Waggoner said. "I think we'll get a lot of innings out of our starters.
"If you're having to pull a starter in the fourth or fifth inning, that's a lot more stress on the bullpen than if that starter is giving you a strong six or seven, and we have a shot to be getting that six or seven from the starter a lot more this season.
"If you get seven strong innings from a starter and have a closer you can count on for the ninth, the rest of that bullpen should be pretty strong when you can look for the best matchups to get you through an inning, or maybe two.
"If everything works out, we can have that this year."
Veteran play-by-play broadcaster Steve Cotton - a record 10-time West Virginia Sportscaster of the Year -- is in his 23rd season on the Thundering Herd/IMG Sports Network. This column also appears in this week's Herd Insider.
