Thanks for the insight GoAgs! I think we all kind of count on you to be the pulse of Aggie Baseball.

I went to see UC Irvine baseball play yesterday. They will be very deep in pitching, and they have many returning position players. They should be right near the top of the Big West this year.

Good call on Irvine. Fullerton and Irvine look like the Big West teams that are most likely to be playing in regionals. Fullerton will hit better this year (strong at all four spots up the middle and several recruits on the corners will be upgrades) but the pitchers will take their lumps early as they get used to either being in the weekend rotation or to D1 ball. Irvine has just about all of their pitching and lineup back and brought in three JC guys who will be difference makers.

If there is a third team, it will probably be either Long Beach (due to having most of their team back and getting healthier after being a M*A*S*H unit last year) or UCSB (due to also having most of the team back and several top 25 recruiting classes the last few years).

Cal Poly will end up in the top half of the standings like they almost always do (Lee has been in the top four in the standings in 14 of 16 seasons) but they are playing a difficult non-conference schedule so they probably won't have the W/L record for at-large consideration.

Upon reviewing the roster I uncovered some additional players that may make the team, but didn't make my projected roster, mainly because there's little to no information on them online.

I believe outfielder Alec Smith (whom I saw play in both games) may be returning outfielder Matt Smith (whom I did not see play in 2018). Why he would be going by Alec I can only guess. Maybe it's his middle/given name. Or perhaps he wants to differentiate himself from Sac State's outfielder by the same name- I don't know. I do know that the only baseball- playing Alec Smith I can locate online would've graduated from Cal Poly a couple years ago.

A couple more junior college starting pitchers- Nick Johnson and Alexis Miranda. Johnson, I believe, pitched at West Valley College in the Bay Area, while Miranda was a starter at L.A. Pierce College (where Daniel Barraza also pitched before coming to UCD). I don't believe either is in the running for a rotation spot), but they may be in the bullpen.

JC transfer pitchers typically do not become starters immediately for UCD. The only recent exceptions I can think of are Trevor Fox and Jeff Reekers (both 2007- 8). I've long believed the UCD coaching staff has preferred to have JC transfers pitch in relief, probably because they don't have as many years to work with them. Also, the elite JC pitchers get drafted or recruited by teams like Fullerton/Long Beach so they probably can find more arms with greater potential at the HS level. There's also the academic factor. I believe that's why UCD has never had repeat winning seasons at the D- I level. When they have several key seniors graduate (which is every year) they can't replace them easily through transfers, as other teams can.

Interesting side note. When Joe Biagini (a transfer himself)was at UCD he barely pitched. When he did it was in short relief. After he was drafted the Giants made him a starter. Food for thought.

A few more freshman pitchers as well. Matt Mascio and Jaskiret Singh (both of whom appear to have redshirted in 2018), as well as Ryan Sutter,. I saw both Mascio and Sutter pitch in the fall games. They combined for three scoreless innings.

And lastly there's Conner Longrie, a true freshman outfielder that started both games. Looked like a pretty decent hitter. In the press release about the schedule Vaughn did mention there's a battle for outfield spots. Since Lara wasn't even swinging a bat when I saw him Longrie may be in the mix for a reserve spot, although I still think the starters will be Kelly, Mook, and Morrison.

So there are some potential changes to the roster. I'm pretty sure I got at least 27 of the 35 man roster right.