A quick, cursory glance at the baseball diamond last weekend let you know this was a different UCLA baseball team.
Faces that had become recognizable over the years ““ Jermaine Curtis, Brandon Crawford, Alden Carrithers, Ryan Babineau, Tim Murphy ““ have been replaced with new ones. The players who had come to define what UCLA baseball was and the direction the oft-forgotten program wished to take are gone, having departed for Major League Baseball last season.
There is no question that this is a different UCLA team.
But is it a worse team?
While it may seem ridiculous to assert that a team that lost nine players, including five starters and the staff ace from last year, is an improvement, the No. 9 Bruins are a better team than the one that was a game away from the Super Regionals.
For one, the pitching is better. The only significant departure from last season’s staff was Murphy, leaving the Bruins with a plethora of arms to fill his shoes.
There is sophomore Rob Rasmussen, who, in just his third collegiate start last Friday, threw five innings of two-hit and no-run ball.
There are experienced starters Gavin Brooks and Charles Brewer, as well as solid middle relievers Jason Novak and Brendan Lafferty. Freshman Trevor Bauer, with a Tim Lincecum-esque delivery, provides the Bruins with the legitimate closing threat they lacked last season.
But the one player who elevates the Bruins from outside-Omaha contenders to a team with serious national title aspirations is freshman pitcher Gerrit Cole.
It’s not every day that a player gets drafted in the first round of the MLB Draft out of high school yet decides to forego the millions of dollars to come to college. Cole made that decision, choosing the blue and gold over pinstripes, after being selected by the New York Yankees with the 28th overall pick last June.
Cole did not disappoint in his collegiate debut Saturday, pitching an efficient six innings, allowing one unearned run on two hits while striking out seven and walking two.
It is uncommon for a freshman to break into the weekend rotation, let alone the Saturday spot on the opening week.
Yet Cole did it, and with his presence in the rotation, he provides a solid anchor for the Bruins’ starting rotation.
His 98-mph fastball isn’t too bad either.
In terms of hitting, the Bruins should be better; it largely depends on how Gabe Cohen and Cody Decker rebound. Cohen and Decker were two of the main culprits in a Bruin team that largely failed to live up to expectations last season.
After impressive 2007 seasons, the two showed declines in all the major categories in 2008. Cohen’s batting average dropped from .345 in 2007 to the lowest among Bruin regulars (.204) last season. Decker similarly struggled, with his average dropping from .307 to .218 and his slugging percentage dropping from .583 to .382.
If Cohen and Decker are able to recover from dismal seasons and provide protection for the Bruins’ top hitting threat, junior Casey Haerther, the capabilities of the Bruin offense are enticing for Bruin fans to contemplate.
In the first three games of the season, Cohen and Decker have shown signs of improvement, with both in the top five on the team in batting average.
For the Bruins, they will find out their mettle as a team very quickly because the schedule, tabbed the toughest in the nation by Boyd’s World, offers little sympathy.
After the Bruins conclude their opening games against UC schools tonight against UC Riverside, they face five top-25 teams in a row ““ No. 10 Rice, No. 6 Baylor, No. 5 UC Irvine, No. 17 Pepperdine and No. 16 Oklahoma ““ with the game against Pepperdine the only one at home.
The daunting schedule begins this weekend when the Bruins travel to Texas for the Houston College Classic, where they will face Rice on Friday, Baylor on Saturday and UC Irvine on Sunday.
“I think we’re going to learn pretty quick about our team,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “We’re going to have tremendous challenges. We play one of the toughest schedules in the country, and we better grow up in a hurry.”
With all of us watching.
E-mail Howard at
ahoward@media.ucla.edu.