AUBURN, Ala. – For the first time in seven months, Butch Thompson addressed the entire Auburn baseball team face to face when the Tigers began fall practice.
"That's pretty incredible to me to go that long as a head coach of a program," Thompson said. "We've been meeting six at a time or eight at a time, so that was a monumental moment having the entire team together."
After months of Zoom meetings and small group workouts, the Tigers will try to maximize their full-squad practices and scrimmages during the next month.
The 2021 Tigers, like most of their SEC peers, will feature an unusually deep roster, strengthened by veterans who normally would have already made the jump to professional baseball had the pandemic not reduced the Major League draft to five rounds and shut down the minor leagues in 2020.
Auburn's starting outfield from the 2019 College World Series remains intact: Judd Ward in left, Kason Howell in center and Steven Williams in right. Infield stalwarts Ryan Bliss and Rankin Woley also return.
"This is the deepest roster that we've had since we've been here," said Thompson, preparing for his sixth season on the Plains. "If you really believe in the narrative iron sharpens iron, we're really in a great place."Veteran shortstop Ryan Bliss (right), demonstrates a drill Despite the abundance of seasoned talent, there's still room for newcomers to find a spot in the lineup, Thompson says, mentioning freshman infielders Cole Foster and Bryson Ware, and sophomore outfielder Bobby Peirce among those making strong first impressions.
Auburn will replace two-thirds of its weekend rotation, having lost first-rounder Tanner Burns and fifth-rounder Bailey Horn to the Major League draft.
Left-hander Jack Owen returns, with right-handers Richard Fitts and Cody Greenhill primed to potentially join him. Mason Barnett shone in his Auburn debut last season, striking out more than two batters per inning while finishing six games.
Greenhill transitions to a starting role after winning eight games and earning 19 saves as Auburn's closer for three seasons.
"We feel like he's earned that right," Thompson said. "He has done a lot for our program for a long period of time, doing what's best for Auburn baseball. He's a leader for our young guys. And he can lead without opening his mouth just by the way he carries himself."
Fitts, another Omaha veteran, threw fastballs that registered 98 miles per hour in a recent intrasquad outing, a velocity increase Thompson traces to Fitts' quarantine creativity.
"He sent me a couple of pictures of him and his dad building a wooden mound," Thompson said. "A perfect example of how somebody took full advantage of this time, was able to self-motivate, be creative and figure things out.
"Richard Fitts had his brain wired to be like, 'How do I capture this moment here, this break, and what can I figure out to continue to grow?' I don't think there's any doubt that he's been working and has put as much into the last six months as any player in our program."
Four freshmen will compete to replace catcher Matt Scheffler. Ryan Dyal, returning from Tommy John surgery, and Nate LaRue were part of Auburn's program in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
"From a success standpoint of how good we can be, it's going to be the catching position," Thompson said. "It's a huge position for us. It'll have a lot to say with the quality of our team. We feel great about LaRue. We feel great about Dyal. The other guys will develop."
Perhaps a fifth catcher candidate will emerge in the versatile Brody Moore. After all, he's played almost every other position on Hitchcock Field.
"I'm convicted this year that I will play him at every position," Thompson said, maybe only half-joking. "We've got two or three more to go. We've got to play him in centerfield, he's got to pitch an inning, and he's got to catch an inning. I want him to have played all nine positions. I won't force that, but hopefully I find the time to make that happen because that's how valuable Brody has become to our program and how proficient he is at playing in all these positions."
On Oct. 22, Butch Thompson celebrates his fifth anniversary as Auburn baseball's head coach. He helped the Tigers reach the World Series for the first time in 22 years. Now, he's guiding the program through a pandemic that's altered games, meetings, practices and workouts.
"You don't know what's ahead," he said. "You just want to be prepared for what may be ahead."2021 will be Butch Thompson's sixth season as Auburn's head coach
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer
