Returning pitcher, sophomore Chase Herrell (3-1, 4.50) should be a central figure in competition for the starting rotation by the end of fall practice. (Press Pros Feature Photos)
Finally moved in to his new surroundings, Buckeyes baseball coach Justin Haire moved onto the AstroTurf of Bill Davis Stadium this week for the first look at what he’s inherited.
Columbus, OH – It may come as a surprise, but the first words about new Buckeye baseball coach Justin Haire this week were missing of the traditional, anticipated, ‘coach-speak’.
You can take that two ways.
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One, he knows that there are giant holes to fill with the pitching and middle infield, and his focus is more directed to that than talking about what’s yet to become something to talk about.
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Two, he simply hasn’t had the time to assess much. The office at Bill Davis was hardly decorated for him, and what things he brought of his own were sitting on the floor leaning against the wall.
Fall workouts started this week, and this much Haire does know, and talked about…there’s 46 potential roster names out there, and he can only keep 34 by the time opening day rolls around in February.
“And about 25 of those guys are pitchers,” Haire said Wednesday. “We brought in some good arms…guys looking for a second chance, a better opportunity, a little bit of everything. And we’ve got some good arms back from last year.”
What Haire didn’t say, reserve infielder Will Carpenter was more than willing to address on the first days of Justin Haire as head coach.
Central figure…catcher Matt Graveline returns (.281, 5 HRs, 25 RBIs) for his junior season in 2025.
“I think he’s a good guy (Haire),” said Carpenter. “Guys seem to like him, like coming to the ballpark, and obviously he knows what he doing from all those wins he had at Campbell.
“And there are a lot of new faces, for sure, and a lot of new pitchers. I’ve seen some of them and I was impressed. There’s talent here, for sure. I think people may be surprised.”
Actual fall scrimmages won’t begin until the first week of October, which gives Haire and pitching coach Tyler Robinson (from Liberty University) just a month to assess a priority among candidates and roles for 2025. One would hope they can do it in a month.
Pitching was the achilles heel of the ’24 Buckeyes – a cumulative earned run average of 6.35. And in their 55 games played they scored 403 runs, an average of about 7 per game. That’s cutting things pretty close when your ERA is almost the same as your offensive average.
And contributing to that fact was this one. Buckeye pitchers walked 261 hitters last year in 475 innings (including the leadoff hitter or first hitter faced by a reliever 51 times), an average of five walks per game. And of the 51 leadoff walks…every one of them scored, or so it seemed. Tyler Robinson, take note!
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But Haire was far from obsessing about any glasses being half empty, speaking of some of his priorities.
“The difference in taking this job and being the head coach at Campbell when Coach Goff left (now at Purdue) was that I knew all the players’ names back then. I’m still trying to learn their names, here.”
But on a more poignant note….
“I know we have talent here,” – Buckeye baseball coach Justin Haire
“But I know we have talent.”
And that talent includes leading hitter and incumbent third baseball Tyler Pettorini, catcher Matt Graveline, first baseman Ryan Miller, left fielder Tre Lipsey, Mr ‘do-everything’ Nick Giamarusti, and pitchers Chase Herrell and Blaine Wynk.
“A big part of what we need to do is teach the way we want things done, compared to the previous staff,” said Haire. “There’s going to be some things that we teach differently. And there’s going to be competition, and competition can be messy.
“But we want players to relax and believe in themselves. That’s a big part of their being successful.”
And this observation…of the familiar players we saw returning from 2024 they did appear happy, relaxed, and they all said the same thing.
“We may surprise some people.”
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