#Risewithus

August 16, 2021

Today, on our first post of the new athletic year we will focus on Liberty Baseball and the transfer portal.  Last year the Flames filled in the roster with pieces that played a crucial role in what was arguably the best season in program history.  Stalwarts like Fraser Ellard, Trevor Delaite, Dylan Cumming, Aaron Anderson & Jake Wilson all came to Liberty from the portal and made huge impacts on the 2021 version of the Liberty Flames.  Turn the page to 2022 and it's time for the flames to dip into the talent rich portal again to supplement a very deep and talented roster.  

The first major addition to the 22 class comes in the way of Max Alba who is an uber talented 6'5 RS sophomore transfer from UNC.  Alba made 9 starts for the Tarheels in 2020 with a 6.96 ERA.  He flashed brilliance at times while featuring a fastball that topped out at 95 mph.  Max pitched 7 2/3 innings of 3 run 9 K ball against Clemson on March the 14th.  He also had a 5 inning 3 run 5 k start against UVA  on February 28th.  Alba was hurt by the longball as he allowed 10 homeruns in 32 1/3 innings on the season.  This is just the type of arm that pitching coach Matt Williams can make a few mechanical adjustments and turn Alba into a work horse arm that the Flames can rely on.  I would expect Alba to compete for a weekend role with Trey Gibson, Dylan Cumming and Joe Adametz who is coming off TJ surgery.  

Alba should also benefit from the pitcher friendly dimensions of Liberty Baseball Stadium.  If things go as he and the Flames hope it's very likely he will be a 1 and done draft player as he will be draft eligible and he has the frame and stuff that scouts salivate over.  He has plenty of talent as he was the #1 RHP  in Wisconsin in 2018 and #5 overall player and was also drafted by the Angels in the 39th round.  


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who's In & Who's out

  When a coaching change takes place in 2024 in any sport there's going to be all kinds of roster movement.  Ian Mccaw moved about as quickly as he possibly could to make a new head coach hire in Bradley LeCroy but that didn't stop a good portion of the top returning production from entering the portal.  The Flames faired fairly well in keeping their incoming commitments together other than their top HS signee Sawyer Black.  Coach LeCroy continues to work to finalize his coaching staff and the roster and we're just a little over 3 weeks away from the start of classes.  There's always the potential for some of those that have entered the portal but have not yet committed or found a home to their liking to return.  Here's a look at below on where things stand as of late Sunday evening. Portal - Entered Todd Hudson - Hudson entered the portal and committed to Miami even before Scott Jackson had resigned Brayden Horton - Horton entered the portal after the chan...
Read more

2024 Transfers & Signings

  We're now a few weeks removed from the end of the 24 baseball season that saw the Flames go 24-34 including 11-13 in CUSA play and 2-2 in the CUSA tournament.  It's time to turn the page to see who is coming and going for the 25 version of the Flames.   First, we start with those that are in the portal. Todd Hudson - Hudson is by far the most impactful player lost in the portal.  Hudson showed flashes on the mound the last 2 years but was inconsistent.  He did however make a quite big impact in the lineup as the DH as he hit .284 with 11 HR's and 40 RBI's and .975 OPS.  He was pretty much locked into the DH spot.  Hudson has transferred to the Miami Hurricanes.   Brian Mclellin - Mclellin was a JUCO transfer that played quite a bit in the first half of the season at 1B where he played excellent defense.  His bat faded as the season wore on as he ended at .246 with 6 HR's and 24 RBI's.  He was a solid depth piece for the Fla...
Read more
  The weather has turned a bit and Opening week is here.  Liberty Baseball has been ready to turn the page for quite a while on what proved to be one of the more disappointing seasons in 2023 in the programs history.  Very little went right in 2023 other than the development of a young core that the Flames could build around along with a handful of veterans.  The offseason also saw quite a few changes including the departure of both assistant coaches in Tyler Cannon and Matt Williams.  However,  as usual the Flames reloaded with Tyler Robinson from Campbell and former Flames SS Matt Williams who had spent the last several years as a scout following a successful MILB career with the St. Louis Cardinals.  Head Coach Scott Jackson moved quickly to get his top target in each situation.  Robinson's name has really exploded onto the seen with the development of power arms like Cade Kuehler and Thomas Harrington among others.  Williams had been a sl...
Read more