With the beginning of college baseball season edging closer, the Ole Miss Baseball Team once again finds itself in a position to be one of the best teams in the country. Several college baseball outlets have ranked them in their preseason Top-10, with their highest ranking at fifth in the country.
Coming off of a season where the Rebels saw several key players miss time for injuries, the 2022 team returns most of the position players that took the field in 2021 and adds a number of transfers to provide much-needed depth on the mound.
The Rebel offense will be the team’s biggest strength after leading the SEC in total offense during the 2021 season. This 2022 team returns every single position player that received serious playing time last year, with the exception of Cael Baker transferring to Ohio in the offseason.
The Ole Miss offense comes into 2022 with reasonable expectations to be the best offensive team in the country.
They return an offense filled with not only some of college baseball’s most elite hitting talent, but also with proven veterans who have experienced the grind of the college baseball campaign, something that will mean a lot to this team down the road when dealing with slumps and injuries.
Rebel fans should expect to see a very similar lineup that they saw in 2021. In his media day press conference, Head Coach Mike Bianco explained what he expected his team to look like come the season opener on Feb. 18.
“I do not know a year when I have gotten ready for the press conference and tried to write down names. There are always some question marks, but this year, there are not as many question marks. Some guys have played very well and some guys will start on Feb. 18,” Bianco said.
Kevin Graham returns for his senior year and will hold things down in left field for the Rebels. Graham placed his mark as one of the Rebels’ best hitters last season with a 342 batting average and 56 runs batted in.
The Rebels have a few different options when it comes to center and right field. The most likely scenario is that Justin Bench will return to his natural position in center field and TJ McCants will move over to right field.
Justin Bench is a do-it-all player for the Rebels, while TJ McCants exceeded expectations in his freshman season with a batting average of 300. His development is something that really excites the coaching staff.
“(McCants) is a super athlete. Scouts realize that. He’s a draft-eligible sophomore. He’s a kid who has played infield in the scrimmages and will continue to do that. One, it gives us more depth and options. Two, in fairness to him, who knows that might be the thing he does when he gets to professional baseball,” Bianco said.
Bench played the majority of the 2021 season at third base due to injuries. His move to the infield sent McCants out to center field, where he grew more comfortable every game despite his natural position being in the middle infield.
Bianco says he wants the team to show some defensive improvement this season, so fans should expect Bench, who is the team’s best outfielder, to start the season off in center. It should be noted that the coaching staff believes Bench can play anywhere on the field, so seeing him move to another position wouldn’t be a huge surprise.
If that happens, McCants will most likely move back over to center field, and either Hayden Leatherwood or Kemp Alderman will step in and play right field.
With Bench projected to return to center field, this leaves third base wide open for the taking. Bianco had really good things to say about junior college transfer Reagan Burford, who impressed the coaching staff with his bat during the fall. Expect Burford to start at the hot corner come opening day. Bench and Tim Elko have game experience there as well.
“(Buford has a) very mature approach offensively. He’s a guy who is a little different from what our fans are used to…he’s going to be a tough out. He can run. He can handle the bat. We’re going to need that,” Bianco said.
The Rebels have a chance to have the best middle infield in all of college baseball with Jacob Gonzalez and Peyton Chatagnier.
Shortstop Gonzalez was one of college baseball’s best hitters in 2021, and it was just his true-freshman season. He hit 355 while driving in 55 RBIs and looked like a veteran defensively. If he can build on his stellar freshman season, he could very well find himself being selected in the first round of the MLB draft.
After a hamstring injury slowed his production down in 2021, second baseman Chatagnier comes into 2022 completely healthy. Chatagnier is the fastest player on the team while bringing a strong bat into the lineup. Gonzales’s connection in the middle infield makes for one of the best duos you’ll see at this level.
At first base the Rebels return none other than Tim Elko, the on-campus legend who miraculously played through an ACL injury for much of the 2021 campaign. Elko appears to be back to 100% as he gears up for what could be a historic season for him.
“Tim Elko has been back and been released to go full speed, 100% out there. I was even a little shocked a few weeks ago. I pulled Tim to the side and watched him during an early work portion of our practice where it is just defense and watched him move around first base,” Bianco said. “Easy to look at him and not realize the injury he had and surgery and work and effort put in, as well as Josh Porter, our trainer, to put him back on the field.”
To put what Elko did last season in perspective, the top performers around the country last season all finished with somewhere around 60 RBIs and 20 home runs. Elko missed four weeks during the season and acted as a pinch hitter for two more weeks before making his way back into the lineup on a torn ACL. He finished the year with 55 RBIs and 16 home runs. He competed with the best players in the country statistically while only playing half of the season at full health.
Bianco says that he thinks that he might have the best catching trio that he’s ever had at Ole Miss in Hayden Dunhurst, Knox Loposer and Calvin Harris.
Dunhurst will get the start behind the plate. He returns as one of the best defending catchers in the country and provides the lineup with yet another big bat. Harris is in line to be the next stand-out catcher under Mike Bianco and will likely get many at-bats as either a pinch hitter or designated hitter against right-handed pitching. Loposer returns for his senior season and gives the Rebels another option behind the plate.
The kryptonite for the Rebels in ’21 was their inability to get outs when starters Doug Nikhazy and Gunnar Hoglund weren’t on the bump. Bianco believes that despite losing the two stars to the draft, this year’s squad has more depth on the mound.
The Rebels return junior Derek Diamond, who Bianco has announced will get the nod to start on opening day. Diamond is a hard-throwing right-hander who relies on his fastball, which can get up to 97 mph, but also puts a filthy break on his slider.
Despite showing signs of being an elite pitcher, Diamond struggled with his control and seemed to have confidence issues last season. If he can get it together, he can be a reliable Friday-night starter for Ole Miss.
During the offseason, Bianco and his staff knew they had to bring a number of new guys in to provide them with the pitching depth to compete in the SEC, and that’s exactly what they did.
John Gaddis, the graduate transfer from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, is someone who the staff expects to make an impact right away. It is likely that the lefty will start for the Rebels, whether it be on Saturdays or Sundays.
Jack Washburn, a transfer from Oregon State, is also expected to make an immediate impact. He’ll most likely come out of the bullpen when the team needs several innings from one pitcher and can step in and make spot starts during the postseason.
Brandon Johnson and Jack Dougherty became two of the Rebels’ go-to relievers at the end of the 2021 season. Both are hard-throwing right-handers who had great falls and will be put in some big-time situations this season. Johnson will most likely replace Taylor Broadway as the closer, while Dougherty can be used for any role where he is needed.
Bianco made sure to make a point of how well Drew McDaniel did in the fall. The sophomore right-hander started most Sunday games for the Rebels last season, and while his performance was underwhelming at times, he did show signs of being a really good pitcher. He seems to have improved as much as anyone over the offseason, and fans should expect him to provide several innings of work this year.
Other players Bianco mentioned were Hunter Elliott, a left-handed freshman from Tupelo, Mississippi, as well as Riley Maddox, a right-handed freshman from Pearl, Mississippi. Because the team found itself with very few left-handed options out of the pen last season, expect Elliott to play right away as a freshman.
Wes Burton and Jackson Kimbrell also pitched in big games last year and provided the team with some much needed extra depth on the mound.
Another player who could turn out to be a great pitcher is right-hander Max Cioffi. Cioffi is a senior who missed all of last season due to injuries. He pitched in several big games in 2018 and 2019 and appeared to be someone who would end up being a great pitcher. Not having him last year really hurt the Rebels on the mound. He will miss the first month of the season as he finishes his rehab, but when he comes back, he could really take this pitching staff to the next level.
If the new pitchers can be serviceable to the team by getting off the field when they need to and the position players play to their potential, Ole Miss has a real shot to be the best baseball team in the country this season.
“It’s not a secret, we haven’t been (to Omaha) since 2014, but we’ve been really close. It’s one game and you have to play a little better. You have to pitch it a little bit better, you have to swing it a little bit better,” Bianco said. “But I see no reason why this team doesn’t have an opportunity to get to Omaha and be the first team in a few years to get there. I think we have all the pieces. Obviously the offense is there, but on the mound, I think we will surprise some people. I think we will pitch better than most people probably expect us to.”
Projected lineup
- Peyton Chatagnier, 2B
- Jacob Gonzalez, SS
- Kevin Graham, LF
- Tim Elko, 1B
- Justin Bench, CF
- TJ McCants, RF
- Hayden Dunhurst, C
- Calvin Harris, DH against RHP, Ben Van Cleve DH against LHP
- Reagan Burford, 3B
Pinch Hitters: Tywone Malone, Hayden Leatherwood, Kemp Alderman, Knox Loposer
Projected Pitching Rotation
Starters
Friday: Derek Diamond
Saturday: John Gaddis
Sunday: Drew McDaniel
Midweek: Jack Washburn
Bullpen
Jack Washburn: LRP Brandon Johnson: CP
Jack Dougherty: LRP
Dylan Delucia: MRP
Max Cioffi: MRP
Jackson Kimbrell: MRP
Hunter Elliott: MRP
Riley Maddox:MRP
Wes Burton: MRP
Josh Mallitz: MRP
