BY DANIEL LOCKE
FOR THE OBSERVER
AUBURN —
The Auburn Tigers have had an up-and-down season so far in 2023. The Tigers are 18-9-1 overall, and 3-6 in conference play at this point. The lack of depth in the pitching rotation is a large part of the reason why Auburn has experienced inconsistencies thus far.
Auburn has been missing star pitcher Joseph Gonzalez since he started the season’s first game. Gonzalez has been sidelined due to soreness in his right arm that has been persistent since early spring practice. Auburn head coach Butch Thompson said he was hopeful that Gonzalez would be ready to go during the series against the Arkansas Razorbacks a few weeks ago but then announced that Gonzalez would miss up to six more weeks.
The Tigers also lost a lot of important arms to the MLB Draft last season, which makes Gonzalez’s absence even more detrimental to the team. Blake Burkhalter, Mason Barnett, Trace Bright, Carson Skipper and Hayden Mullins were all important pieces of the Auburn pitching staff, both in the starting rotation and out of the bullpen. The lack of experience in the position has been evident as the Tigers have not been able to hold leads consistently since starting conference play.
On March 25, Auburn was facing off against the Georgia Bulldogs in the finale of a three-game series. The Tigers won the first two games and were looking for their second sweep of a conference opponent since 2019. The Bulldogs took an early lead, but the Tigers battled back and only trailed by one run going into the eighth inning. Georgia ended up scoring 16 runs in that inning and run-ruling Auburn 24-7 after eight innings.
If Auburn had more depth in its pitching staff, this likely would not have happened. Experience matters the most when working out of a jam, and it takes no expert to see that the Tigers clearly lack it.
Auburn traveled down to Gainesville this past weekend for a three-game series with the Florida Gators. The Tigers picked up a convincing 10-1 victory to get the series started on Friday night. The Tigers held a 3-2 lead going into the bottom of the third inning in the second game, however, the pitching gave way again and the Gators took control with a five-run rally and never gave control back. Florida went on to win 12-5.
The series had been acceptable up to that point. Auburn had gone into one of the toughest places to play in college baseball and managed not to get swept. The series finale, however, revealed just how problematic this pitching staff is. The Tigers held an 8-3 lead going into the bottom of the fifth inning. The Gators went on to score 13 unanswered runs and secured the game three and series victory by a score of 17-8.
A large part of the problem stems from inexperience. Thirteen of the 20 pitchers on Auburn’s roster are underclassmen. Missing Gonzalez is also hurting as Auburn must rely increasingly upon pitchers such as freshman Drew Nelson and sophomores Will Cannon, John Armstrong and Chase Allsup.
The pitching staff will likely improve as it gets more innings under its belt, and Gonzalez will provide a spark when he returns from injury. The SEC is arguably the toughest conference in collegiate baseball, so solid pitching is a must-have if Auburn wants to make another trip to Omaha in 2023.