‘It’s been great’: Auburn baseball fall notebook

‘It’s been great’: Auburn baseball fall notebook‘It’s been great’: Auburn baseball fall notebook

AUBURN, Ala. – Having recently completed its fall schedule, which included hosting the Banana Ball All-Stars, an exhibition win against Kennesaw State and the annual Fall World Series last week, Auburn baseball turns its full attention to the 2026 season. First, let’s take a look at some of the standouts this fall.

“It’s been great. We had some great competition and we’ve seen some growth in some areas,” head coach Butch Thompson said. “I think the biggest thing for me is we’ve outlined some things that if we can do this we feel like we can be competitive, and if we don’t we feel like we absolutely will have some challenges.”

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER / POSITION PLAYER OF THE FALL

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#7 Todd Clay | Sr. | IF | Auburn, Ala. 

A local product entering his first season back on the Plains, Clay was the offensive standout for the Tigers. After earning American Conference Co-Newcomers of the Year and Second Team All-American Conference honors at UAB last season, Clay led Auburn in nearly every offensive category for the fall, turning in a .452/.528/.919 slash line with 28 hits, including six doubles, a triple and seven home runs, and 21 RBI. The senior infielder also led the team in average exit velocity (94.4 mph).

In the team’s doubleheader sweep of Kennesaw on Nov. 8, Clay collected three hits, including one of the team’s four home runs, and reached four times while driving in a game-high four runs.

MOST VALUABLE PITCHER OF THE FALL

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#32 Griffin Graves | Jr. | LHP | Jackson, Tenn.

Entering his third season with the program in 2026, Graves led Auburn in intrasquad and exhibition action with 18 strikeouts in 17.2 innings and ranked second on the team with a 2.09 ERA. He held hitters to a .200 batting average and .338 slugging percentage against and also led the team with a 1.16 WHIP. Graves’ 3.07 FIP (Fielding Independent Pitching, a baseball statistic that measures a pitcher's performance based only on the events they can control) ranked second on the team and his 64.7 percentage strike rate was good for third.

The junior lefty earned the start in the exhibition at Kennesaw State and turned in 3.0 scoreless innings with four strikeouts before leaving game one with a 5-0 lead.

TEAMMATE AWARD WINNERS OF THE FALL

On a scale of one to five, the following five players were rated the highest by their teammates based on their character, integrity and trustworthiness.

  1. Eric Guevara – 4.70
  2. Chris Rembert – 4.68
  3. Alex Petrovic – 4.63
  4. Eddie Madrigal – 4.55
  5. Lucas Steele – 4.55