A jam-packed fall season that saw wins over Florida State and Valdosta State, along with in-house scrimmages, gave head coach Butch Thompson and his staff a chance to evaluate the newest additions to the Tigers’ squad.
“It has been great to see a highly-rated recruiting class and see us try to get up off the mat and doing what we’ve done a couple of years prior. There has been a good healthy chip on our shoulders. The guys worked hard all fall. This is our last day of fall. Our attention as a staff and hopefully our players too turn to what do we outline for us now that we’re 86 days away from our season opener,” said Thompson.
After a lackluster season that saw the Tigers miss the SEC Tournament a year ago, Thompson and his staff made it a priority to bring in elite talent through the high school ranks, and they did just that.
According to Perfect Game, Auburn signed the No. 3 class in the nation and got all of those guys on campus for the fall despite Chase Fralick and Connor Gatwood getting picked up in the late rounds of the MLB draft.
“Right up at the top, said assistant coach Scott Foxhall when asked how the newcomers compare to other groups he’s seen while coaching. “Coach (Karl) Nonemaker did a great job of assembling this class, the freshmen that are here as well as the portal class. I think we’re near the top of the rankings for both of those from last year’s cycle and it showed in the fall.”
With pitching being a major struggle last season, the Tigers brought in a plethora of freshman pitchers – 17 in total – headlined by Gatwood, who missed a few weeks due to injury, Christian Chatterton and Jackson Sanders. Pitching coach Everett Teaford said Chatterton and Sanders have stood out throughout the fall, coming in and setting the tone for the group.
“I think whether it's the travel environment that they were in or whatever it was, they definitely have held themselves at a standard or level that is higher than most freshmen. And I think we were excited getting them, and now I think we're probably even more excited,” Teaford said.
To alleviate some pressure from the top-ranked freshmen group has been the transfer portal additions of Cade Fisher from Florida and Sam Dutton from LSU, who were both consistent on the mound in their respective showings this fall.
“I think he's definitely going to be a staple in our rotation as it sits today,” Teaford said of Fisher. “The one thing with Cade was he was more of a sinker, slider guy and now we're using a little bit more of the four seamer to right-handed batters. He's got a unique approach angle with his arm slot that kind of gives right-handed batters trouble.”
Dutton, who was up-and-down in his last season with the Bayou Bengals, finished the fall on a high note after having to figure some things out with Teaford at the helm.
“The stuff is really good and he throws a lot of strikes and it was kind of just, you know – and this is not necessarily negative on anything in the past – but just learning to call his own game and learning how to use his pitches, how his stuff profiles, what situations he should use it in, kind of took maybe a minute to kind of try to find the right mix. But I think obviously, the last outing, almost going five innings and 50 pitches, one bunt hit, we kind of were able to put everything together because you felt like it was right there.”
The Tigers open their season on Feb. 28 at Globe Life Field against the Ohio State Buckeyes with first pitch set for 3 p.m. CTS.
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Logan Fowler is a Senior from Sumiton, Alabama and is majoring in journalism. He joined the Plainsman in Spring 2024.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @loganffowler
