I suspect most followers of the UConn baseball team would probably agree the most unsettled part of the team at this point going into the Presbyterian series this weekend is the starting pitching. Nick Krauth has been better than anyone could have expected, he has been terrific. So much so that Coach Penders in the last postgame interview in New Orleans indicated that Krauth was probably going to get shifted to starting games before Sunday. It would not be a surprise if he gets to start the Saturday game this weekend. He could very well keep moving up all the way to Friday. I suspect that one of the reasons Penders likes to have his best starter going first in a weekend series is that it makes it a bit easier to manage the innings the guys out of the bullpen get the rest of the way in a series.
After being very good in his first Saturday start this season, Colby Dunlop has been pretty poor the last two games, getting hit all over the field in those two contests. Coach Penders said twice in weekend postgame interviews that the coaching staff thought Dunlop was tipping his pitches, and that the problem was correctable. We'll see how that goes.
Based on how he performed in summer ball this past year, I have some confidence that Joe Simeone can become a quality and consistent pitcher for the Huskies. Of course, he still has to perform. In his first start, Simeone was quite good in a 4 inning stint in his first start. In his second start, Simeone pretty much showed such a complete lack of control that he could not get out of the 1st inning against Michigan. In his last start, even though it seemed that Simeone struggled through 4.1 innings, giving up 3 hits, 4 walks, and a hit by pitch in that time, but he also only gave up 1 run, so it wasn't all that bad after all. Still, I would like to see him improve on this and be able to through 5 innings consistently. I like to think it can happen with Simeone, but that doesn't mean it necessarily will happen.
After this weekend UConn will start playing midweek games, so midweek starters will be needed. Obviously a guy who does well in the midweek could potentially move up to a weekend starting spot if Simeone and/or Dunlop keep having more problems. One midweek starter will be need next week, and two the week after that. I'm not sure who at this point is slated to get these starts, but I would think one candidate would be Jimmy Wang, even though he had a tough time this weekend after coming back from a sore back and an illness. I had the impression that Wang did well during fall ball, so that could impact the decision. Among the other returning pitchers on the staff, another candidate could very well be Kenny Haus, who at this point has emerged as something of a fixture of the in the bullpen in the early season. Still, it seems UConn's bullpen depth could be pretty good this season, and with the highly regarded Justin Willis slated to return soon, it seems that Haus could be spared from some bullpen duty and get some starts as well.
One thing I've always liked to see is that the midweek starter be one of the youngster on the staff, sort of a guy in training for one of the weekend starting roles in the next season or two. Given that he had some good outings in summer ball including a couple as a starter, it is possible that someone like Patrick Gallagher could be a candidate to start as well. Obviously, anyone who has success in the midweek start could end up moving up to the weekend if the need is there.
