Baylor Baseball Fall Notebook: Gearing Up for Fall Ball

[Calderone, Max]

BAYLOR ATHLETICS COMMUNICATIONS – Oct. 1, 2024

Baylor Baseball Fall Notebook: Gearing Up for Fall Ball
Bears open fall slate of intrasquad scrimmages
For more information contact: Max Calderone, 254-265-1639, Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu<mailto:Max_Calderone at Baylor.edu>

WACO, Texas – Baylor Baseball began its 2024 fall season on Thursday with the first of two intrasquad scrimmages from the opening week of practice. Head coach Mitch Thompson, senior outfielder Ty Johnson and junior left-handed pitcher Ethan Calder met with the media on Monday to discuss their excitement for the upcoming year.

“This is a huge time for us as coaches, huge for us to see our team, to kind of experiment with some guys,” Thompson said. “Can this guy do this? Who gives us the best options here and there? You're trying to do that, number one, for competition, but number two, for injury purposes in the spring time, too. Who do we know that we can go to if we need to do that? And so [fall ball] is huge for us.”

With a roster made up of as many newcomers as there are returners, the Bears are looking to turn the page from a 22-31 season in which they were hampered by injuries throughout most of 2024. The competition of fall camp is progressing towards giving the Bears a deeper roster for a long spring season.

“Without question, in my view, I think this is the most depth we've had, both on the mound and with position players,” Thompson said. “It's exciting to see. And when I say there's competition on the field, there's definite competition at every position, and it'll be fun.”

Johnson, who returns alongside redshirt senior Enzo Apodaca and senior Wesley Jordan, leads an experienced group of BU outfielders that combined for nearly 36% of the team’s offense a year ago, amassing 176 hits including 33 doubles, seven triples and 17 homers among the trio.

“I’m really confident in what we have,” Johnson said. “We’ve got a lot of old guys returning, but we also have a lot of new guys—young guys who are pushing the older guys to be better.”

Among those newcomers are nine right-handed pitchers, five left-handed pitchers, five infielders, four outfielders and two catchers. Of the new additions to the pitching staff, freshman Carson Bailey has been turning heads with his performance on the mound during camp.

“We've seen some really good things,” Thompson said. “I'm excited about what we saw in the first scrimmage on the mound. Carson Bailey was exciting to watch, but we've also got some transfers like Caleb Bunch [Northwestern State] and Bryson Bales [Hendrix College], who I’m anxious to see get going as we ramp him up. Stefan Stahl and Lucas Davenport have been good as well.”

Calder, who led the Bears with a 3.23 ERA a season ago, also praised the new additions to the staff.

“Carson Bailey has been a really good arm,” Calder said. “A lot of the JUCO transfer arms are really good and can fill up the zone. [Tyler JC transfer] Grayson Murry is a different look. So, we have a lot of different things that we've added, and a lot of strike throwers, which is definitely good.”

In addition to the 25 newcomers, Thompson also added a new pitching coach in 31-year coaching veteran Sean Snedeker, who has led four squads to top-10 national ERA’s at each of his previous collegiate stops at Oral Roberts, Duke and most recently Lamar.

“We've known ‘Sned’ for a long time,” Thompson said. “He's an ultra-successful guy that is an excellent communicator. He's had all the success that you can at his previous stops. I think he’s developing a great relationship. He's communicating well. He's got a plan for every guy, and I think there's going to be a lot of growth as they go through the fall.”

“He’s brought a lot—just his demeanor changes things,” Calder said. “Guys are filling up the zone, and he’s teaching me new things. He’s also using a lot of technology to tie everything together, but he’s also bringing that ‘we've got to throw strikes’ mentality.”

This year’s group has hit the ground running with a combination of veteran leadership and new talent, with half of the squad’s total hits from the first week of scrimmages coming from returners, while four of seven multi-strikeout outings on the mound came via newcomers.

“I’d say in the past few years it’s taken a fall [to gel], but this group has been really close,” Calder said. “We’re hanging out after practice or in the morning, eating breakfast together. This group is really close, really early on, and it’s good to see.”

With the 2025 season still a little over four months away, the Bears are focusing on taking things one day at time and paying close attention to detail in striving to improve.

“I think that [attention to detail] has been preached to us all fall so far,” Johnson said. “I think guys are really taking to that, you know, how you do anything is how you do everything. And I think that that's really building a culture around here that's going to get us more wins.”

Baylor continues its fall slate and scrimmage up to three times each weekend through the second week of November. All scrimmages are free and open to the public, with dates subject to change. First-pitch times will be announced on Baylor Baseball’s social media channels weekly.

To stay up to date on all things Baylor baseball, follow the team on its official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts: @BaylorBaseball.

Baylor Baseball Upcoming Fall Intrasquad Scrimmage Schedule
Week 2 – Thursday, Oct. 3; Friday, Oct. 4; Saturday, Oct. 5
Week 3 – Thursday, Oct. 10; Friday, Oct. 11; Saturday, Oct. 12
Week 4 – Thursday, Oct. 17; Friday, Oct. 18; Saturday, Oct. 19
Week 5 – Thursday, Oct. 24; Friday, Oct. 25; Saturday, Oct. 26
Week 6 – Wednesday, Oct. 30; Thursday, Oct. 31; Friday, Nov. 1
Week 7 – Thursday, Nov. 7; Friday, Nov. 8; Saturday, Nov. 9

All dates are subject to change
First-pitch times to be announced weekly on Baylor Baseball’s social media channels

-BaylorBears.com-


__________________________________

Max Calderone | Director of Athletics Communications (Baseball, Football)
Department of Athletics | Baylor University
C: 254-265-1639

[signature_1167195886]<http://baylorbears.com/>

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