University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels' Depth on Display at Fall World Series
October 8, 2004 | Baseball
Oct. 8, 2004
By Adam Lucas
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Carolina head baseball coach Mike Fox spent the early part of this week trying to decide how to divide his team for the annual Fall World Series. It's a best 3-of-5 competition set for October 11-21, and Fox has more than just a passing interest in the outcome.
"I want to make sure I'm on the winning team," he said with a smile.
With good reason. The stakes are high - members of the losing squad have to run 10 miles and, most importantly, have to sing Christmas carols at the squad's annual holiday gathering at the Fox home. Running the 10 miles isn't much problem for the well-conditioned athletes, but the prospect of singing "The 12 Days of Christmas" in front of their teammates and coaches acts as a powerful incentive.
Players will be allocated to the two Fall Series teams through a modified draft. To ensure competitive rosters, players are paired at every position - two shortstops, two third basemen, etc. - and the members of each pair go to opposing teams. For the first time in his tenure at Carolina, Fox has the depth to make a legitimate pairing at every spot on the diamond.
"There isn't one solid position set," he said last weekend after taking in a scrimmage. "We don't have a Chris Iannetta or a Marshall Hubbard that we can say for sure will be out there. We have two or three guys we know are going to play, especially against right-handed pitching. But we've got 20 position players and are two-deep at every position. It's the first time since I've been here we can go two-deep at every position with a right-handed and left-handed hitter. If everybody performs, that's some pretty good depth."
But at some positions, some untested depth. Iannetta and Hubbard led the Heels in home runs and runs batted in last year, but both moved on to professional baseball after their junior seasons.
Iannetta's departure is especially challenging because in addition to his offensive skills, he also was instrumental in the development of Carolina's young pitching staff. Pitching coach Roger Williams allowed the Rhode Island native to call the vast majority of the pitches last season. Iannetta's solid work behind the plate prevented numerous wild pitches and also helped negate the opposing running game as he threw out nearly half the runners who attempted to steal against him.
He won't be replaced by just one player. Two freshmen, Benji Johnson and Matt Iannetta (yes, Chris's brother), are in the mix, as are two players - former left fielder Jay Cox and versatile Justin Webb, whose junior year was cut short by a broken wrist - trying new positions. At this point in the fall, Webb has the edge, but it's a position where Fox expects to play several players in 2005.
"Our pitchers got spoiled last year with Chris back there," he said. "We're going to have to have more than one guy to catch. We can't get in the situation we had last year again. Chris was an ironman, but he wouldn't have been if Justin hadn't broken his wrist. I'd feel better about our catching situation if that hadn't happened."
The Tar Heels are using 24 of their NCAA-mandated 132 practices this fall, one of the shorter falls in recent memory. If the Fall World Series goes a full five games, there's the potential that 12 of those practices could be scrimmages. That's something Fox believes is necessary given the grind of the fall and opening day (February 16 against Appalachian State) still being four months away.
"That's the hardest part of coaching, especially once you get a week or ten days into it," he said. "They're tired, they're being given tests and papers in their classes, and we don't play until February. We have to keep their motivation up and we have to have some leadership. You have to have a variety of different practices and throw in some scrimmages to keep them going."
Fall Notes: Injuries have been blissfully scarce this fall. The only two players on the injury report are a duo expected to miss the fall because of surgery, senior outfielder Ross Cook and freshman pitcher Luke Putkonen. Junior pitcher Adam Kalkhof is on the mend from a shoulder injury that robbed him of some velocity in the spring and limited him to just ten appearances. Kalkhof, a freshman All-American in 2003, is in a battle for the third starting spot in the weekend rotation with Matt Danford, Robert Woodard and Andy Gale...Fox singled out Wes Moyer, Chase Younts, Jonathan Hovis, and Mike Daniel for their leadership during fall practice...
Hovis, one of the most reliable members of the Tar Heel bullpen in 2004, had both pitching and hitting success in summer league play. But don't look for him in the batting order for Carolina. "He's a pitcher first for us, and he knows that," Fox said. "He's going to pitch a lot of innings for us and have a lot of appearances."...Freshmen Reid Fronk and Chad Flack both homered during the first scrimmage of the fall, but pitchers were limited to only fastballs and changeups in that session...The departure of Michael Gross means the Heels are searching for a closer. "You'd like to have one guy who knows his role and the team knows his role," Fox said. "We've got some spots on our pitching staff where there are questions and that's one of them." Woodard, Hovis and freshman Andrew Carignan are among the contenders for the late innings...
After a sparkling performance in the Cape Cod League, sophomore starter Andrew Miller is battling Daniel Bard for the team's number-one weekend starter slot. "I challenged him a little bit because I think he was our best guy at the end of last year," Fox said. "He didn't start as fast so he didn't jump out there, but he finished a lot stronger. I've thrown that in his head a little bit. One versus two really doesn't matter, but if it makes them better, I hope it does matter." Bard, who was Baseball America's midseason freshman pitcher of the year, struggled some at the end of 2004. His fastball - consistently clocked at 92 or 93 miles per hour - has never been a question, but he's working on adding a reliable breaking pitch and cut fastball to his repertoire.
