Photo by Kavin Mistry
By Matt Weiner (@MattWeiner20) — BSB Beat Reporter
SJSU head coach Brad Sanfilippo has a roster filled with new faces and personalities, but his philosophy still remains the same.
“Each year is different because your personnel is different,” said Sanfilippo following practice on a calm and sunny 70-degree day.
“We still believe in playing the game the right way … pitching and defense wins games.”
Poor pitching was the difference in last year’s haunted COVID-19 season, which saw the Spartans go 6-30, 2-19 in Mountain West play and ended on a 17-game losing streak.
During the losing streak, the Spartans’ staff allotted 10 or more runs eight times and 14 or more five times.
The seven Spartans that hurled more than 20 innings had an average ERA of 8.39 and opponents hit .301 off them.
Redshirt junior Ben Polak is one Spartan who can shift these numbers into a respectable territory.
During the offseason, Polak “Worked a lot with [pitching] coach Seth Moir to keep my arm fresh and healthy, that’s the biggest thing and being confident on the mound to go execute pitches. Last year was a little unorthodox, we lost a bunch of guys to injuries and it was a tough year to begin with because of COVID.”
The uplifting of strict COVID-19 policies and the transfer portal are two of the biggest differences between last season and the forthcoming one.
I caught up with redshirt sophomores Ethan Ross and Joey Cammarata, who are two of five first-year Spartans from Washington State.
“Big difference for me is the trust,” said Cammarata. “Since I’ve gotten here, Moir has fully trusted me. The work I’ve been able to do with him has been awesome and I’ve completely changed who I am as a pitcher and he’s helped me a lot.”
Ross piggybacked on the trust aspect.
“I know the coaches and guys behind me all trust me if I have one bad outing and will still have my back … the culture here has definitely changed. Everyone’s buying in and it’s been a lot better than last year.”
In Ross’ first seven appearances for the Cougars in 2021, he compiled a stout 2.57 ERA, but in his eighth and final outing gave up three earned runs in 1.2 innings to UCLA, ending his season with a 5.19 ERA. He never made another appearance in WSU’s seven games after his lowly May 9 outing.
Offensively, the Spartans have a big hole in the lineup to replace, now that Ruben Ibarra is playing in Cincinnati for the Reds after getting drafted in the 4th round. Last season he slashed .381/.503/1.353 with 14 jacks and 32 RBI, all of which led the team by a wide margin.
Redshirt junior Jack Colette is the next best power threat to replace Ibarra after sitting in second place in hits (32), home runs (4), runs batted in (18), total bases (57), SLG % (.435) and tying him for first in doubles (9).
Reese Hernandez, redshirt senior, balances out Colette’s high K rate as his 27 BB were second on the team behind, you guessed it, Ibarra and was third on the team with a .431 OBP.
Swiss-army knife sophomore, Charles McAdoo, is one player Sanfilippo is particularly excited to watch.
“At some point in time, Charles McAdoo is going to be a pretty special player,” said Sanfilippo. “He’s a really good athlete, but he didn’t play much last year.”
He started in 10 of the 19 games he appeared in and hit .227 with two bombs.
“He shows a lot of promise and that he’s got a bright future.”
Sanfilippo has compiled a 58-106 record in his time as the Spartans’ skipper, but with 23 new faces and some gifted old ones, the time to flip a narrative and culture has never looked better.