The Rest of the Freshmen in the Mountain West
Ok, so I led off with San Jose State’s freshmen and that was a while back. I’m biased, of course but it’s been a long time since the Spartans have shown much in the way of freshmen performing. I’ll revisit them here to see how they’ve held up. The rest of the frosh in the conference? Here goes.
San Diego State
Aaron Eden, P
He’s 2-0 and 3.00 in 48 IP which leads the team as does his 8 starts so coach seems to believe in him – a lot. He’s not a strikeout pitcher but, for the most part, the players behind you like that. He’s a keeper.
Michael Paredes, P
He’s 1-2 and 3.65 in 24 IP. He works strictly out of the pen at this time (10 appearances with 1 start). Guess what? He’s walked only 6 in those innings and I do like that. That goes along with 31 strike outs. Throw strikes, kid.
Fresno State
Kevin Larson (redshirt freshman) P
He’s 1-0 and 1.67 in 16 IP with 23 K’s. But, he also has 15 walks. It appears he’s hard to hit but you can wait him out. If he ever straightens out his command, he’ll be really good. All bullpen by the way.
Nevada
Julian Boyd, OF
A part-timer mostly but he’s hitting .308 in 26 AB’s. The team is hitting .254 overall so maybe he’ll get a little bit more playing time.
Tyler Smith, P
He’s 1-3 and 3.49 in 28 IP. Nothing spectacular to mention other than he appears to get people out which is all you need.
New Mexico
Ediberto Reyes, C/INF
Another part-timer but he’s raking. He’s hitting .340 in 50 AB’s. Besides the hitting it seems as if he’s versatile; catcher and infield?
Tyler Kelly, INF
He’s hitting a healthy .314 in 102 AB’s which says fairly full time play.
Air Force
Alexander Pup, INF
A part-time player that’s hitting .298 in 94 AB’s. This on a team that’s a little down on hitting this year. I always expect the team BA to be in the mid to high .300 range but this year it’s .275. Certainly not typical.
Nathan Price, P
The Falcons have two good freshmen arms that will pay dividends in the future. Nathan is 4-2 and 2.03 with 31 IP and no starts.
Zach Argo, P
He’s 1-1 and 3.81 with 5 starts and 26 IP. Great name, too.
UNLV
Edarian Williams, INF
Full time player and he’s showing why as he’s hitting .331 and 1 in 136 AB’s. I feel he’s in the running for Freshman of the Year if he continues.
Austin Pfeifer, 1B
He’s doing well at .321 and 1 but in limited AB’s. Still, that BA is nothing to dismiss just because of limited AB’s, so I didn’t.
Chase Hanson, OF
He’s hitting .308 and 1 but he’s in the same boat as Pfeifer with limited AB’s. Both Chase and Pfeifer are .300 hitters on a team full of .300 hitters; eight to be exact.
San Jose State
James Shimashita, OF
He’s still the freshman leader on the team at .324 and 1 in full time duty. I’d put him up there with UNLV’s Edarian Williams for end of the year awards.
Brandon Peterson, INF
He’s hitting .311 in only 45 AB’s as he’s continued doing well at the plate but can’t crack the starting lineup.
Jonathan Clark, P
He’s 2-0 and 4.33 which doesn’t really jump out at you. His 35 IP and 4 starts did, however, so I suspect he’ll get more work down the road.
How does the MWC shape up in terms of the freshmen and the future? I’m thinking that it is a little light in depth of talent as there are no “holy cow” stats for either pitchers or hitters. That adds up to a year where there are no really outstanding teams in the MWC. UNLV might as they are hitting .298 as a team but the usual suspects are having down hitting years. Overall, a one bid year.