Quick chat with John Savage
UCLA got a late holiday gift today with the announcement that freshman Eric Jaffe was eligible after transferring from Cal following the program's elimination.
I caught up with UCLA coach John Savage for a few minutes today, and obviously he's quite excited about the edition of the hard-throwing Jaffe, who should slide into a retooled bullpen.
Gold: So how did this go down?
Savage: "It went down, obviously, unexpectedly. You never think a program is going to announce that they're dropping the sport. Eric was a guy who felt it was in his best interest to leave now. He appealed the NCAA, and they voted in his favor to make him eligible right away. We're very fortunate to have Eric. He gives us another power arm out of the bullpen. A guy who was a draft pick of the Boston Red Sox. A strikeout pitcher in highschool, and a guy who can make an immediate impact."
Gold: So he goes bullpen? So you have your rotation set?
Savage: "We don't. (Gerrit) Cole will go Friday, (Trevor) Bauer Saturday, and then it's a fight right now between (Scott) Griggs, (freshmen Adam) Plutko, (Zach Weiss) and (Nick) Vander Tuig. Jaffe will give us another major arm out of the bullpen."
Gold: The bullpen seems to be the unsung hero of last season:
Savage: "It's huge. We loss 54-percent of our innings from last season, and if you do the math, 300-something out of 600-something. A lot was (Rob) Rasmussen and (Garett) Claypool, but the rest were bullpen guys. We turned it over to them after six innings and felt pretty good. They were a major part of what we did last year. You have to have roles, as on any pitching staff. You need a 7th inning guy to step up, an 8th inning guy and even a closer. To be able to turn it over to such a reliable set of arms; not many people have that. That bullpen is going to be counted on as heavily as it was last year. That's where a lot of the questions are, but there's no question they can do it. It's a matter of them maturing."
Gold: One last thing; after the hot start last year and the World Series finish, how are the guys handling this year? Hungry?
Savage: "They're definitely hungry. The experience of Omaha makes you hungry. The fact we lost the last two games of the year to the eventual national champions, I think we have a hungry team, a hungry program. It was the best year in UCLA baseball history by the numbers and by the finish, but we're very motivated. Certainly the X is on our back a little more, the Cole-Bauer factor, the freshmen and how much contribution they had last year. But we're mature, we're hungry. I don't think there will be any complacency. They know we didn't finish the job last year. They know the process."
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