60.9 F
Davis

Davis, California

Thursday, March 28, 2024

All AG-Cess

The UC Davis baseball team is hitting a meager .194 through four games.

There. I said it. Now get over it.

Before you start calling out the team’s offense, remember this: these hitters who’ve gotten off to a slow start are the same hitters that will carry the Aggies over the course of the season.

Does a .194 average ever look good? No. A .284 on base percentage? Probably worse.

A four-game sample, however, should be looked at as such – just four non-conference games at the beginning of a 55-game regular season schedule.

The heart of the UC Davis order should be mentioned with the Big West Conference’s best. Ty Kelly was the league’s batting champ last season, hitting .397. Ryan Scoma boasted a .358 average of his own. Kyle Mihaylo slugged .516 – and is slugging an absurd .786 in the early goings of this season.

As if this wasn’t enough, the Aggies add a true middle-of-the-order threat in junior college transfer Jared Thompson.

A former Fresno City standout, Thompson has the build of a slugger (i.e. a huge, huge lower body). The 6-foot-3, 215-pounder clubbed a one-hop, opposite-field shot off the right field wall in UC Davis’ home opener again San Francisco on Tuesday. If it weren’t for howling winds blowing in from the outfield, that ball would probably still be in the air.

Good things take time. Pitchers are supposed to be ahead of hitters at the beginning of the season.

Enjoy it while you can, Big West pitchers. You’ll be having a hell of a time trying to slow down UC Davis’ offense by season’s end.

For more Aggie baseball, let’s take it to the mailbag:

 

Ask Adam: Fitzy’s future

Hey Adam,

What’s the future look like for Justin Fitzgerald with my awesome San Francisco Giants? When will he make it to the big leagues?

Thanks,

Giants Fan 55

 

Giants Fan,

First and foremost, the Giants stink. How can you root for a team like that with such a well-run Oakland Athletics organization just across the bay?

That said, there’s reasons to be excited about Fitzgerald’s potential major-league future – even if it looks like he’ll have to don the orange and black to do so. Sorry, Fitzy.

An 11th-round pick by San Francisco in June, Fitzgerald was one of seven Aggies (yes, seven) to be selected in the 2008 MLB Draft. Catcher Jake Jefferies became the highest-ever drafted player out of UC Davis when Tampa Bay took him in the third round (No. 78 overall).

UC Davis’ season-season (15) and all-time saves leader (18), Fitzgerald projects as a power bullpen arm at baseball’s highest level.

The 6-foot-5, 225-pound righty started his professional career off on the right foot, going 1-0 with a 3.86 ERA and five saves in 21.0 innings between the rookie Arizona League and short-season Northwest League.

By normal projection rates, it should take Fitzgerald, 22, two to three seasons to advance through the next three minor league levels and reach the San Francisco bullpen.

If he can keep racking up the ground balls and maintain low walk rates, there’s a chance he could make it to AT&T Park even sooner.

Thanks for the question, Giants Fan. Go A’s.

 

Have a question you’d like answered in next week’s All AG-Cess? ADAM LOBERSTEIN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.

 

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