By Justin Sampson (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Not many teams around the Ozarks will have to handle the loss of talent that Waynesville is experiencing. The Tigers graduated 10 seniors from their 2018 squad with another five from junior varsity moving away.
The latter fact is nothing new for any Waynesville program, but Scott Turner understands the amount of first-year varsity players that need to get up to speed.
“When you do the math, we have 15 percent of our innings pitched and six percent of our plate appearances returning,” he said. “That’s the limit on how much we have back.”
The Tigers went 7-16 last spring and lost their only All-Ozark Conference honoree in Ethan Brown. They expect to field three seniors and two juniors, some of which will be brand new faces. In fact, no full-time starters are back in the fold.
As is the case for Waynesville, move-ins will play a factor in this year’s success. Senior Georgia transplant Ethan Barber brings a big frame to town and, coming off a season with a 3.35 ERA and .360 batting average, will likely slot in as the top pitcher and a stick in the heart of the order.
Lebanon transfer A.J. Perkins matches him for the most varsity time under his belt. He was an All-OC honorable mention as a catcher and drove in 13 runs on 18 hits with the Yellowjackets as a junior.
In terms of established Tigers, Hunter O’Neil started the last month of 2018 at first base and contributed some on the mound. After seeing just 13.2 innings of work, he will likely shift to the top end of the rotation behind Barber. The junior will also be called up to expand on his 28 plate appearances, the most for any returning player.
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Fellow junior Josh Rumph will also play his way into the starting rotation after notching 11 strikeouts in 8.2 frames a season ago. Shane Arrington, a first-time varsity player as a senior, is likely to get relief appearances and spot starts as well.
Saul DeHart is the only other Tiger with top-level experience. He was primarily used as a pinch runner in his sophomore year, but will now take on a bigger role as he mans the middle of the infield on defense and bats near the top of the order.
With this much new blood to onboard, Turner is able to harken back to the basics of coaching.
“The biggest difference between varsity and junior varsity is the speed of the game,” he said. “They have to make sure they adjust to the pitching velocity. They also have to stay back on off-speed pitches. We want to make sure they understand the key concepts we’re trying to establish. There has a lot of reputation of situational stuff so that we don’t get taken advantage of simply because we haven’t been exposed to it.”
He will rely heavily on his upperclassmen, familiar and new, to aid that process as Waynesville enters the year. Despite the questions marks, the Tigers like what they have on the mound and share an enthusiasm with which they are embracing the challenge.
“This team could have a good pitching rotation, even possibly better than last year. Our biggest strength is that these guys are willing to learn. They pick up on things quickly and make those improvements to their game. They’ll soak it all up and the games will come to them faster.”
