The 2025 season is in the rearview and the Flames set their sights on 2026. Liberty lost pitching coach Andrew See who led Liberty to the 2nd best ERA in CUSA in his lone season with the Flames. Virtually the entire pitching staff had their best year of their career with the Flames and See. Kendall Rogers reported today that the Flames were able to make a huge hire and pull Keller Bradford away from his role as Pitching Coach with Southern Miss. Bradford finished his collegiate career at Southern Miss and spent the last 2 seasons as the PC for the Golden Eagles. The Golden Eagles had a team ERA of 4.03 and held opponents to a .242 team BA which resulted in being ranked 2nd in the Sunbelt in overall pitching. Southern Miss has always been a quality program and this is a very nice pull for Coach LeCroy and Liberty.
Schedule wise we've started to hear of a few games on the schedule next year. As it stands now the Flames will open in Charleston in a tournament with College of Charleston and the Citadel. The Flames could have a very nice weekend home series against a P4 opponent if things hold. Chris Pollard left Duke to take the job vacated Brian O'Connor at UVA. Liberty should be able to keep UVA on the schedule but will see what that means for the Duke games. The Flames have played Duke twice a year for a quite a while.
Roster wise it sounds like the Flames hope to add another Outfielder and 3 or 4 pitchers from the portal to supplement the additions below. The Flames have made 1 key portal addition and 2 excellent JUCO additions that should be ready to contribute immediately. The 2 biggest defections were Jack Frankel and Joseph Webb who went to Tulane and ECU respectively. Beyond that Michael Gibson was really the only other Flame that entered the portal that contributed a bit. Gibson was up to 95 mph on the mound but struggled to carve out a consistent role with the bat or on the mound. He wound up at the Citadel. Other players that entered included Peter Johnson, Jackson Kendall, Brayden Hill, Jack Mcmullan, Seth Christmas & Bryce Lane. Dylan Mathiesen's injury turned out to be a little less than initially thought but he's firmly on the MLB draft watch at this point. I've heard that Lingenfelter is out of eligibility and won't be back. Roster limits are going down to 34 with the proposed changes so we will see how things shake out over the next 30 days or so.
Harrington, Swink & August are all pitching on the cape. Blair and Mathiesen were supposed to be pitching as well but I've not heard any updates recently on their status and they don't appear to be on a roster as of Monday evening. Speaking of Blair, you can't give him enough credit. Blair could go to virtually any school he wanted but he's sticking with Liberty for his Junior year. Starting pitching is the most valuable commodity on the open market so take a moment to appreciate this young man's commitment to the program.
HS
Xavier McCoury - McCoury is a LH hitting MIF from Providence High School in the Charlotte area. McCoury is 5'10 160 LB's and was a former USF commit. McCoury is an elite athlete and features an above average hit tool. He could impact the club day 1 as he comes from a powerhouse HS program.
Jackson Evans - Evans is a 6'3 205 LB RHP that committed to the Flames and Tyler Robinson back in May. The 2 sides stayed together after the coaching change and Evans wound up signing with the Flames. Another big physical righty with an over the top delivery that has topped out at 91 MPH. He had 90 K's and a 1.30 ERA in 53 1/3 IP in his senior year of HS. Evans has big time upside as he continues to develop.
Kaleb Smith - Smith is a 6'2 190 LB LHP from Mechanicsville, VA that committed to the Flames all the way back in August of 2023. Smith has topped out at 90 MPH and has exhibited above average control and solid movement throughout his HS career and in travel ball. Smith has featured an above average breaking ball as well.
Ethan Barnes - Barnes is a 6'1 200 LB Catcher from Hernando MS. Barnes featured a 7.5 grade from PG. Barnes exhibits quite a bit of mobility and athleticism from behind the plate and was called a "late bloomer" by several publications. He was listed as a top 30 prospect in the state and the #4 catcher. The coaching staff went out to the SIP to find this year's catching prospect. Haven't seen a lot of players from there over the years but it's usually a pretty strong state in terms of talent. The Flames beat out Memphis & South Alabama as finalists for Barnes services.
Kaleb Williams - Williams is a RH hitting & throwing IF from West Springfield high in VA. He was named 2nd team all state as a 2B. Williams was 1 of LeCroy & Co's top targets when they took the job and Williams committed in September. He's 1 of the top players in VA and was committed to LeCroy at VCU before following him to Liberty. He's a bat first middle infielder.
Riley Gibson - Gibson is a 6'2 RHP for PDG Academy near the OBX in North Carolina. He's a fastball slider change pitcher that's been up to 94.
JUCO
Dylan Grabowski - Grabowski is a physical 5'10 200 LB infielder that hits and throws right. He played right down the road at PHCC. Grabowski hit .426 with 9 HR and 25 RBI's in 23-23. He also added 9 SB;s. Grabowski offers plus power and bat to ball skills from the MIF positions. He's been up to 92 on the mound and could be a 2 way player. Grabowski just completed the 2024-2025 season that saw hit him .394 with 12 HR's and 79 RBI's with a .469 OBP. Grabowski was a 2nd team NJCAA All American.
Josh Campos - Campos is a RH hitting LH throwing OF prospect from Florence Darlington Tech. He hit .358 with 7 HR's and 52 RBI's to go along with 29 SB's. Campos is a plus defender in CF as a 6.5 runner. He serves as the leadoff hitter for a nationally ranked JUCO power that also played in the JUCO WS last year. He hit .340 with 4 Hr's and 33 RBI's before missing a third of his final JUCO season with injury. Campos should have a great shot to crack into the OF rotation.
Portal
Kyle Hividsten - The Flames add 1 of the talented WKU transfers. Hvidstein is expected to catch for the Flames. He hit .282 with 6 Hr's and 22 RBI"s in just 103 AB's. The Tops were gutted in the portal and Liberty is able to snag a key commitment at a position of need. Hvidsten was 10-11 in SB's and had an incredible .497 OBP which led a loaded Tops lineup.
Comments
Post a Comment