On Friday, UVA Baseball coach Brian O’Connor will begin his 22nd season at the helm. He has established himself as a coach whose staff care deeply about the lives of the young men parents have entrusted them for a part of their sons’ development.
The conduit of that runs through the amazing game of baseball.
Winning is an important part of that development. O’Connor likes to win, and he and his staff of Kevin McMullan, Drew Dickinson and Matt Kirby are winners. That said, what drives these men every day is to ensure that when these young men leave the Grounds of the University of Virginia, yes, they are better baseball players, more important, they are better human beings.
This is the reason to be excited about UVA Baseball. Many of the players who walked out of Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, heading back to Charlottesville following a disappointing 0-2 trip to the College World Series, are back this season. For some, they had the opportunity to be drafted and play in the major leagues. A majority of them decided to come back to take care of unfinished business: winning a College World Series Title.
What these players need to realize is they are already winners because they chose to make the effort, to sacrifice and join their brothers in one more attempt to finish what they started. That character already makes them better human beings.
Virginia will have a lot of fresh faces this season, but they will also have an outstanding group of returning players who understand the Virginia Way and can encourage and teach the rookie players what makes this team special.
“It’s a veteran group and we return a lot of players from last year’s College World Series team,” said O’Connor. “We injected some outstanding recruits both from the high school standpoint and some transfers.”
Everyday lineup
Those returning veterans include a wealth of offensive talent and power from O’Connor’s 2024 squad, but a lot of talent from last season has departed. Ethan Anderson led the club in runs scored and tied for first with Griff O’Ferrall with 20 doubles. O’Ferrall paced the ‘Hoos in total hits and led the team with 17 stolen bases in 21 chances. When you add Bobby Whalen, Anthony Stephan and Casey Saucke, these five players combined for .333 batting average and recorded 48% of UVA’s hits.
“It’s very much going to be an offensive group, and this will be another really good offensive ballclub,” said O’Connor.
When the 2024 season concluded, Virginia finished the season in the top 11 in the NCAA in eight categories. They landed second in hits, third in batting average, fourth in doubles, fifth in slugging and runs, sixth in scoring, seventh in on base percentage and 11th nationally in home runs.
The biggest question surrounding the Cavalier defense and offense entering the 2025 campaign was, who would replace O’Ferrall at shortstop? The consensus is forming around Eric Becker. In 2024, Becker sported a .362/.468/.669 slash and his .468 OBP and his .669 slug were the second highest for any player who started in 39 or more games.
“He’s ready,” says the Virginia skipper. “Eric Becker made the U.S. National team playing only [39 starts last season]. “I think he’s going to have a huge year for us and a huge career because he’s that talented and has the intangibles to be successful.”
A trio of returning Cavaliers have already been adorned with some significant hardware: Evan Blanco, Harrison Didawick and Henry Ford are all on the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watchlist. Blanco is expected to be the Friday starter, and Ford will join Didawick in the outfield this season. The trio also earned preseason All-American honors from the NCBWA, with Ford and Blanco earning second-team recognition and Didawick third-team.
Second baseman Henry Godbout claimed preseason recognition from four watchlists, including first-team accolades from Baseball America, D1Baseball and NCBWA, and second-team honors from Perfect Game.
Godbout led the ‘Hoos with a .372 batting average and ranked sixth in the ACC. He also committed just four errors in 224 opportunities.
Joining Godbout with multiple first-team recognition is catcher Jacob Ference, receiving acclaim from D1Baseball and the NCBWA. Ference paced the Wahoos with a .716 slugging percentage, he tied for second with 17 home runs with Ford, and enters the season rated as D1Baseball’s top catcher.
Returning at the hot corner is fan favorite Luke Hanson. He comes into the year ranked the 33rd best third baseman by D1Baseball. Hanson hit at a .292 clip and had a solid .500 slug.
One of the names to watch includes outfielder James Nunnallee, who O’Connor said in the fall “proved to his teammates that he was a high-caliber player” and the Virginia head coach expects him in the lineup on opening day.
Another newcomer that made an impression in the fall is Chris Aroyo.
“He had an incredibly impactful fall,” O’Connor noted, calling the transfer phenom “the MVP from the fall from the offensive standpoint.”
Aroyo will likely be slotted at first base.
“It’s a group that had solid leadership since they’ve been on grounds the last five months and just looking forward to watching them compete in Puerto Rico,” O’Connor added.
The pitching staff
A key to Virginia’s success in the postseason last summer was a late surge by the Cavalier pitching staff: both starters and relievers. Virginia entered the ACC Tournament with a 5.57 earned run average. But heading into the College World Series, Cavalier pitching boasted a 3.00 ERA in five Regional and Super Regional contests and a 3.90 in their last 10 games, all but one played against post season competition. This season, Drew Dickinson’s crew may contain the most depth for a UVA club in the last five seasons.
In an interview with former NCAA head coach Walter Beede on his “Coaches Corner” podcast, Dickinson shared some of his process for ramping up for spring following winter break.
“We like to have a good, solid 6-8 weeks of a throwing program leading into what we would call our first ‘live’ outing. That first week would be three days of throwing, then week two is three days, week three is four and week four is four, and you can see the pattern goes three-three; four-four; five-five, slowly building.
“At that moment, guys are excited, they feel great as they should coming off a break and they want to push the envelope,” Dickinson continued. “That’s the time where you can’t push the envelope. You have to stick true to the plan.”
Dickinson says it’s critical that the volume is gradually increased with daily and weekly throwing.
“There’s a reason and a method for that will help prepare you to get to those high intensity throwing days, your body and your arm is prepared to withstand what that brings.”
Asked about his plan for getting on to the mound, Dickinson affirmed, “They’re not going to touch the mound until the end of week four, usually the Tuesday of the first week five. That first week of three days is going to be 90 feet three times. I add a little volume to get some actual throws in. The following week we go from 90 to 120 to get that distance built up which is intensity and volume together.”
That progression, Dickinson notes, is the key factor in building that arm health and stability. UVA’s sixth-year pitching coach added that the first three weeks are pure 2-seam, 4-seam fastball only.
“We don’t start throwing our changeups until week three, and week four is when we start spinning our breaking balls to build that in,” notes Dickinson.
The ‘Hoos return some heavy hitters as they welcome back Evan Blanco and Jay Woolfolk. Both are expected to be headlining on the bump on Friday and Saturday nights, but there may be some competition for Sunday.
D1 Baseball’s Aaron Fitt highlighted two newcomers on “1186 | The Pod with Damon Dillman” that may also have a chance at some starting opportunities.
Fitt was high on southpaw freshman Tomas Valincius from his scouting.
“Physically, athletically, the way he moves, the way his arm action works that was the first thing. He’s got that feel for the pitch, that advanced feel for the changeup or the breaking ball, the ability to spot the fast ball with some life, it feels like it plays up above his velocity. The caliber of his stuff, velocity it’s similar to Danny Hultzen when he was a freshman, kind of 89-91 [speed].”
Two-way standout Aroyo also impressed Fitt.
“He’s another All-American, and I love that guy. There’s a JUCO transfer whose another All-American, it shows you’re a very special talent. I think he rakes and it sounds like, I heard he did some pitching in the fall and I heard some good things about the pitch ability from the left side,” Fitt stated. He has a “starter profile, a classic three-pitch, 88-92 with mix and will keep you off balance”
Right-hander Bryson Moore will definitely see starting action, likely mid-week work but maybe weekends might be a possibility at some point. Kevin Jaxel had four starts last season and fought through some struggles. This is a new season, however and he will be a versatile resource to have in the dugout as a starter or reliever. Also, don’t sleep on Matt Augustine. I’m hearing some good reports about him.
Virginia is also expecting some very experienced help later in the season when Jack O’Connor and Bradley Hodges return after recovering from 2024 injuries.
Final analysis
There are lofty expectations for this ballclub and there is the talent, the experience and the desire to be an outstanding ball club and exceed those expectations. This may well be O’Connor’s best team.
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