Every college baseball player has a dream to play in the majors one day. Florida State’s players will have perhaps the next best thing: A dream opportunity to play in an MLB ballpark this weekend.
“I think it’s cool — their eyes are going to be wide open. They're going to be excited,” FSU coach Link Jarrett said. “And in this case, how quickly can you return to this as a major league player? I think that's a really cool thought. I think that carrot out in front of you is a good piece of bait for you to keep working and understand what opportunities are there for you down the road if you perform properly.”
FSU (3-0) traveled to Dallas on Wednesday for the chance to practice at the Texas’ Rangers’ ballpark, Globe Life Field, late on Thursday morning.
The Seminoles will play Michigan on Friday (noon ET), No. 9 Auburn on Saturday (4 p.m. ET) and Nebraska on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET). All three games in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series will stream on FloSports, a premium service.
While Jarrett never made it to the majors, he has had the experience to play at the old Metrodome in 1992 with the FSU baseball team. And when he was Notre Dame’s coach, he brought the team to the Minnesota Twins’ new ballpark.
“I felt this way as a player, you walk in here and you want to return here as a major league player, so in the back of their mind, they're thinking, what is it like to park my car at this stadium if I'm a Texas Ranger? What is it like if I'm a Baltimore Oriole and I'm showing up to be in this dugout,” Jarrett said.
“Not easy to get that experience like it's not often Major League venues just open the gates and let you come play and practice and do all the things they let you do here.”
FSU’s first opponent, Michigan, is off to a 3-1 start with wins over No. 11 Oregon State, Stanford and Arizona at a tournament in Surprise, Ariz. The Wolverines dropped a rematch with Oregon State on Monday.
Auburn swept Youngstown State over the weekend before falling to Cincinnati 8-0 on Tuesday. Nebraska has defeated UConn, Northeastern and Grand Canyon before losing to Stanford.
While only one of FSU’s opponents is ranked, this will have a big weekend field in a big-league park.
“I feel like this has the bracket in Omaha-type-feel potential,” Jarrett said. “The guys are excited to get into the stadium, and you don't get many chances to play in a major league domed indoor stadium of this quality, cool little trip last night.”
FSU’s rotation
The Seminoles will start left-hander Wes Mendes (1-0, 0.00 ERA) on Friday against Michigan. Right-hander Bryson Moore (0-0, 16.20 ERA) will start on Saturday vs. Auburn. Sunday’s starter is to be determined, but the Seminoles are hoping FAU transfer left-hander Trey Beard can make his FSU debut.
“When you have that stomach virus bug, it just takes you a while to get your strength back,” Jarrett said. “He’ll jump on the mound today and throw. It’s more just the strength and the overall body than anything else.”
Jarrett said Moore “has to be better.” The Virginia transfer ran into trouble early in Saturday’s start and didn’t make it out of the second inning.
“We had a good session in the bullpen yesterday, it's got to be a little bit better — that wasn't sharp enough,” Jarrett said. “There wasn't enough conviction and the finishing of the pitches and the command.”
One option for Sunday would be left-hander Payton Manca, who was on a limited pitch count (50 over three innings) in Tuesday’s win at Jacksonville.
Still mixing and matching in lineup
Jarrett said he is still tinkering with FSU’s options at second base and third base, although Cal Fisher is settled in at short and Myles Bailey at first.
“I'm not settled on any batting order. I'm not settled on any lineup. I do recognize that there are guys that are waiting, that have earned a chance for maybe a little bit more, and we're going to see that.”
The park is ‘massive’
Jarrett had not stepped into the Rangers’ park, although he said Bailey and Chase Williams had played there as an amateur.
The park is massive, Jarrett said. Globe Life’s dimensions are 329 down the left-field line, 372 to the left field power alley, 407 to center, 374 to the right field power alley and 326 down the right-field line.
“I've got a lot of friends that coach, and they say big,” Jarrett said. “It's big and plays really fast. So the athleticism of our team, I think that has shown up in the first three games, and it's really going to be a factor when you get into a place that's so spacious and so fast, because there's just more ground. …
“I've been told it's hard to hit balls out of here. So that tells you, your outfielders have to be able to go get it.”
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