re: TOfficial offseason baseball thread: Clement replacing Godwin

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C - Austin Knight (.303 batting average/.303 slugging/.324 OBP)


1B - Sikes Orvis (.294/.540/.397)



2B - Tate Blackman (Incoming freshman)

Getting Blackman to campus was a significant coup for Ole Miss. The former No. 1 middle infielder nationally should be able to hit immediately at the Division I level, and he can run and play second base, shortstop or third base. The first or last one of those is the likely destination and gives the Rebels some flexibility. A scout told me yesterday that Blackman profiles as Chris Coghlan. I have a hunch Ole Miss would take that.

SS - Errol Robinson (.294/.327/.371)


3B - Colby Bortles (.250/.397/.386)

Bortles is going to play somewhere, and it would be optimal for the Rebels if that place is third base. This spot would allow some others to get at-bats at designated hitter and put more offense in Ole Miss' batting order. Bortles looks OK at the hot corner, and he'll get thousands of repetitions more before he has to do it in a game. I'll be optimistic and go with this, though he'll just move to DH if it doesn't work. He had five extra base hits in 68 at-bats.

LF - Clay Casey (Incoming freshman)

Casey wasn't projected as high as Blackman, but there was still nervousness as to when he would be selected. He slipped to the 33rd round due to signability, and while he didn't enroll for summer school with most of the other incoming players, I haven't heard concern regarding an odd signing decision. Casey is 6-foot-3, 204 pounds and runs better than you expect. There will be power and swing-and-miss in game early on. Maybe a comparison is Matt Smith as an underclassman.

CF - JB Woodman (.298/.429/.346)



RF - Jordan Watkins (JUCO transfer)

This could easily be Will Jamison, who will play a lot of games next season as a senior, but I'm going to go with Watkins in the spot. The Delgado Community College product hit .363 last season and also stole 18 of 20 bases. He's originally from Hope Hull, Ala. He had three home runs, three triples and 17 doubles in 193 at-bats. He walked 27 times and was hit 16 times by a pitch. He also had 34 strikeouts.

DH - Jack Kaiser (JUCO transfer) OR Holt Perdzock (.324/.351/.350) OR Joe Wainhouse (Incoming freshman)

I would have picked two of these two platoon, but they're all left-handed, so who knows what will happen. Kaiser hit .413 with eight home runs at Alvin Community College. He's a physical hitter, as is Wainhouse, a 6-foot-6, 250-pounder from Kent, Washington. Let's see how their bats adapt to SEC pitching in the fall and go from there. Perdozock is interesting because his body of work suggests more playing time, though there's not any real power potential. He had the clinching-hit in the super regional and a pinch hit RBI in the College World Series. That off-the-bench knack is very valuable, so maybe he stays in that role. Either way, he'll certainly have a role.

SP - Christian Trent (2.05 ERA, 86 K, 20 BB, 110 IP)


SP - Brady Bramlett (injured in 2014)

I'm going a little out of the box here. Shawn Johnson, a 6-foot-7 JUCO transfer, Evan Anderson or others could certainly take this role, but I liked Bramlett as a freshman, and I'm hearing good things after his labrum injury. The 6-foot-4, 245-pounder struck out a batter an inning in 2013 before the injury took the rest of that season and this past season. He's back throwing in the 90s with a heavy fastball and has solid secondary pitches. Opponents hit just .198 off him as a freshman, and if he's healthy, this spot in the rotation wouldn't surprise me at all.

SP - Sam Smith (3.61 ERA, 54 K, 21 BB, 94.2 IP)



Cl - Scott Weathersby (2.13 ERA, 51 K, 10 BB, 38 IP)


OTHER NOTES: It should again be a deep bench. As I mentioned, Jamison could have easily gotten one of the outfield spots. Dalton Dulin will have a chance at second base. Brantley Bell could potentially factor in at several positions. Cameron Dishon is back as a valuable runner, and JUCO transfer infielder Jay King is highly regarded by a lot of people. There's competition. That's a good thing.

Two freshmen arms who could find time are Petal, Mississippi, right-hander Calder Mikell and Meridian (West Lauderdale), Mississippi right-hander Will Stokes. Wyatt Short will just be a sophomore, and it wouldn't surprise me to see Preston Tarkington find a larger role as a junior.

Peyton Attaway redshirted this past season, and Ryan Leone is throwing after shoulder and elbow injuries. Two names to remember when the fall gets here.

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