Rutledge, Wolfe Named Players of the Week
3/8/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 8, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama coaching staff has selected junior shortstop Josh Rutledge and freshman pitcher Taylor Wolfe as its players of the week, head baseball coach Mitch Gaspard announced Monday afternoon.
Alabama went 3-1 in its four games last week to improve to 8-1 on the season. The Crimson Tide is ranked in three of the major polls this week, including USA Today/ESPN Coaches (No. 25), NCBWA (No. 27) and Collegiate Baseball (No. 30).
Rutledge started all four games for the Crimson Tide and hit .353 (6-for-17) with two home runs and six RBI. He led the Crimson Tide in runs scored (7), extra base hits (4) and home runs (2) last week and also stole three bases. He was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two RBI in the 13-2 win over No. 25 Georgia at Regions Park on Tuesday. The Cullman, Ala., native went 2-for-5 with two runs scored, two home runs and four RBI in the series finale at the College of Charleston. It was his first career multi-home run game and both home runs gave the Crimson Tide the lead.
"Rutledge had a big week for us," Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard said. "He created a lot of offense in a lot of ways, getting on base, stealing bases and hitting home runs. He had a big game on Sunday and allowed us to get back into the game with late-inning home run."
Wolfe earned his first collegiate win in his first career start against No. 25 Georgia on March 3 at Regions Park. The Fortson, Ga., native held his home state team to two runs and four hits in four innings of work. He struck out a career-high seven batters in the win. Wolfe struck out the side in the second and fourth innings.
"I thought Wolfe did a nice job in his first start," Gaspard added. "He threw strikes and held a really good Georgia offense to two runs and four hits. He was one of the reasons we were able to win the game against a quality SEC opponent."
2010 Alabama Baseball Coaching Staff Players of the Week
Feb. 22 - Taylor Dugas and Adam Morgan
March 1 - Brock Bennett and Jimmy Nelson
March 8- Josh Rutledge and Taylor Wolfe
*Alabama head coach Mitch Gaspard met with the media on Monday to talk about the 2010 Capital City Classic. Here are those comments:
Alabama Baseball Coach Mitch Gaspard Transcript
Opening comment:
"Well, for starters, last year this was one of the more exciting games to play in and the (Montgomery) Biscuits and the city of Montgomery do a great job of putting the game on and it really has more of a football atmosphere than a baseball one, with the bands and the cheerleaders there. Obviously it's also a rivalry game and an important game for us. I know our coaching staff and players are excited about the game and we're looking forward to a very competitive game. Auburn certainly has a good offense, a hot offense, right now and they've won six games in a row. Obviously we also like the way we're playing right now, so I'm excited to play this game tomorrow night."
On the team's success early in the season:
"From a coach's perspective, we're pleased with where the team is at right now. Obviously our pitching really jumps off the page right now. You can see how well they've pitched. There are some areas we have put a lot of concentration in, specifically pitching and base running are two of those. Offensively we felt good, with the guys we had coming back, that we would be a strong offensive team. We've shown spurts of what we can do offensively. We're certainly not in tune with where I think we'll be at but I think the thing I'm most pleased about is our energy and concentration. Our team chemistry is really good, I think it's obvious when you watch us play that our guys really rally around each other, they play with a real passion, and they play to win the game. They understand what we're trying to get across in all aspects of the game."
On the catching situation:
"Well, right now, in the first month the plan was to catch all three guys and that's what we've done. I think as we get into conference play, certainly I could see us settling in on two. Brock Bennett is a guy who's been in the program for a few years and we felt pretty good about him coming in but he's really been the guy, in my eyes, who has emerged as a guy in that mix. Although he may not be the strongest offensive catcher in the league, he has tremendous defensive skill and I think that's very important to our pitching staff. We need a good defender back there that can throw runners out and he certainly has the ability to do that. I think Cody Trotter and Chris Smelley are both guys that are going to be able to contribute and play. We're going to catch two guys the whole year, and I think all three guys are going to continue to contribute and play a lot. I just think as it gets into conference series we'll settle into just two guys."
On Jimmy Nelson:
"Jimmy has been a guy that's been through just about everything here. We've put him in closing situations, starting roles, middle relief to try to find what works best for him. I think the experience has helped him at this point. I think a fresh start with Kyle Bunn has helped and a new focus on what he wants to do. We thought it was important for him to get off to a good start and he's certainly done that. I think we would all be in agreement that his stuff has been number one, Friday night in the SEC-type of stuff, but there's a certain confidence that Jimmy has now. He's gained that through three years of pitching and he's a worker. Every summer he's come out and pitched and he's stuck with it even in the lowest of times. I think he's set up to have a really big year."
On the running game:
"When I talk about the running game, I don't necessarily mean running out there and stealing a bunch of bases. Running game to me is offensive pressure. That's hitting-and-running, that's bunting, creating more offense, going first to third on a single, just really pressuring the defense. Now, if we find a weakness which we did on Saturday against Charleston then we have the ability to steal four or five bases, but we went from 3-5 in stolen bases to I think 15-19 so we stole twelve bases in the last four games. There has to be a weakness to do that though. During the first few games, with South Alabama and Illinois-Chicago, they were 1-1, 1-2 to the plate and slide stepping which really prevents base runners from being able to run. On the flip side of that, when you get guys really caught up in your running game and they start trying to be really quick to the plate, you get balls up in the strike zone and they get uncomfortable because of what you're doing. The same thing happened over the weekend at Charleston, we affected them with some of the things we did offensively to put them in an uncomfortable position. Many times, believe it or not, the SEC can be better times to run than in the mid-week. In mid-week games you just don't see the power arms that you do on the weekends, and so they have to hurry to the plate anyway. If you get a kid who's throwing 90-95, they aren't going to be as concerned with that guy over at first base. They're just going to try to throw a fastball by you; they aren't going to worry about trying to change it up a whole lot. So many times, the times to go are going to be in the bigger games. The key for us is that I want us to be able to steal a base when we really need to steal one. I'm not looking to rack up a bunch of stolen bases that are meaningless. I want the ones that help you score important runs late in the game."
On if the Auburn game is an important game:
"Yes, it is. Last year Auburn was 3-1 against us. Our players are very aware of that and this is an opportunity for us to establish ourselves in the state, and we've got recruiting wars going on between us for kids coming up in the state, so it's a very important game. It's a game that we are going to get after tomorrow. It is a mid-week game so we are going to throw the pitchers that typically throw in our midweek games but certainly our bullpen is going to be fresh and ready to go. We're going to ask our freshman to try to give us five innings tomorrow, and we'll hand it over to the bullpen from there. Our guys understand that we've got Auburn tomorrow. As disappointing as that loss was yesterday, our focus went right to Auburn after the game yesterday."
On the starter Wednesday:
"We're going to throw Jason Townsend on Wednesday. Jason's been in the bullpen for us so far this season, but we feel like he's a guy who can be a starter down the road so, many of our bullpen guys we see as starters later in the season. We've just been trying to get them out there to get them some appearances. As the season moves on we'll start settling them into roles."
On the team's confidence:
"One thing that we've really done a good job with is what we call rebound runs. When the other team scores we've been able to answer. There have been a couple of times now when we have been down multiple runs in the later third of the game where we've not only come back and tied the game, but we've actually had the ability to lead. That's an important quality of the team and that lends a certain confidence. One thing as a coaching staff we try to teach the guys to play with great energy but also to play with great confidence. There's a certain confidence with the players and the coaching staff that we believe in ourselves as a team. Our pitchers know that we are going to make a run as an offense. We have an offense that has the ability to score a lot, so we know if we'll just stay the course and have good at-bats we'll have an inning when we will score multiple runs. From a pitching standpoint we want to give up four or less runs. Yesterday was the first game we gave up more than four runs and it was also our first loss. As an offense we want to score more than four runs, that's the formula going into every game; four or less for the pitching and defense and five or more from an offensive perspective. Obviously, if you can do that, you can win. Those are numbers through the years that have been the difference between wins and losses. That's what we're looking for on both ends."
On whether the Capital City Classic will continue:
"I think it will, I don't exactly know where we are at with that right now, but obviously we're looking at close to two sell-outs state-wide for an early baseball game, the fan interest should certainly allow it to continue. Also, I should add that the Biscuits have just been tremendous on both ends. I know they treated us as well as Auburn last year as AA teams. We had the locker rooms set up for both teams. We went in and had the pregame and the postgame. It was a lot of fun for our players and I thought they did a nice job of getting the ball rolling."
