Auburn Tiger's pitching staff looks to improve after rocky 2024 campaign

Preseason practice is gearing up on the Plains for Auburn head coach Butch Thompson ahead of his 10th season as head coach for the Tigers.

The Tigers are coming off a disappointing season in which they finished with a 27-26 record overall and didn’t see postseason play and missed the SEC Tournament for the first time since 2016.

A key contributor to Auburn’s struggles was inconsistent play on the mound under first year pitching coach Everett Teaford. The Tigers struggled to find a true Friday night starter for most of the season, resulting in Teaford to rely on his bullpen early and often. The Tigers pitching staff finished dead last in innings pitched and was 13th in the league in ERA. 

“That’s still the biggest elephant in the room - question mark with the program - is trying to return to the standard of play on the mound,” Thompson said. “But every one of those guys (returning) got some innings and experiences and, you know, can they (improve)?

Thompson believes that continuity within the staff, after having a changeover from Tim Hudson’s previous three-year stint as pitching coach, will be beneficial for the guys on the mound in Teaford’s second year on staff. 

“I don’t think I’ve seen all the growth yet. I think that’s what’s exciting to me going into his second fall for him,” Thompson said of Teaford. “My early results with Teaf is he’s a fighter, and he’s absolutely stayed in the fight, he’s been adjustable, flexible to where we’ve partnered on some things and trying to figure out the strategies of seeing it one time and going through it a second time. I think he’s a fighter, adjustable and has great knowledge.

“And the reason why we brought him here was to keep us second to none with the advancement of the analytics and technology.” 

Losing Chase Allsup, Christian Herberholz, Will Cannon and Joseph Gonzalez from last year’s staff, Teaford will have plenty of new faces to trot out on the mound and aim to provide a spark this season. The Tigers brought in a trio of experienced arms through the transfer portal in Florida transfer Cade Fisher, LSU transfer Sam Dutton and Mason Koch from Creighton. 

Fisher, an experienced left-handed pitcher that the Tigers will rely on to provide some valuable innings on the mound, landed at Auburn this offseason after spending his first two years at Florida.

“We needed more left-handers,” Thompson said. “We’re still in the same league that he was competing in. I liked his experience of being in Omaha both years. He’s already tried being a starter and maybe it didn’t work out for the whole season, but now, in a third year can he, you know, is it one thing? Is it finding that one thing to stick and go with? And I think it is. I think he’s a really good pitcher and has a chance to do well.” 

The Tigers brought in 17 new pitchers in a freshman class that was ranked No. 4 by Perfect Game, and highlighting that group is Connor Gatewood, Christian Chatterton, Jackson Sanders and Andrew Alvarez. To help bring those guys along are returnees John Armstrong, Carson Myers, Dylan Watts, Parker Carlson, Conner McBride, Cam Tilly and Hayden Murphy who all will look to improve after last year’s respective showings. 

“I'm ready for another Tanner Burns, another Cody Green Hill,” Thompson said. “I'm ready for some freshman all American action on the mound, and to the positive, the reason why they probably have to have decided to delay their gratification is because they know there's opportunity, and they know there's opportunity now, but we got to put the best guys out there. 

“The Southeastern Conference is the best amateur baseball on Earth. And whether you're a freshman, no matter what you were ranked, or whatever you are, you must earn it, and we'll start doing that today.”

Thompson will get to see his squad in action sooner rather than later with the Tigers set for a preseason scrimmage against Florida State on Oct. 12.