Monte Lee going with guys "with stripes on their sleeves" in rotation

Lee and the Tigers take on Indiana this weekend.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Thu Feb 17 08:00:05 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Indiana is coming to town to open the 2022 baseball season, and Clemson head coach Monte Lee is throwing a new-look, old-look rotation at the Hoosiers.

The Tigers are set to host Indiana this weekend in a three-game series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and look to improve on last season’s disappointing 25-27 finish.

This is Indiana head coach Jeff Mercer's fourth season at the helm at Hoosiers. Indiana finished 26-18 a year ago during an all-Big Ten schedule, good for a tie for fourth in the league. The Hoosiers were 9-6 in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, and in Mercer's first year, the Hoosiers went 37-23 and 17-7 in the Big Ten to win the 2019 conference title. Mercer is 72-47 overall with the Hoosiers, and went 77-36 in two years at Wright State before joining the Hoosiers.

Lee told the media earlier this week that he wants to take a look at this weekend’s rotation.

"We're gonna go with (Mack) Anglin in game one," Lee said. "We're gonna go with Nick Clayton in game two. Nick has been our best starter. I mean, he has been very, very good in all of his starts in the preseason. And then on Sunday we're gonna go with Nick Hoffman."

While it is a new-look rotation, all three have experience. Anglin was limited to just six starts a year ago, but he still struck out 75 batters in 56.1 innings pitched. Clayton did much of his work out of the bullpen in 2021 and started just one game, but led the Tigers with a 6-2 record.

Hoffman appeared in 17 games a season ago, including four starts. One of those was a complete game win against Boston College. It was the first for a Clemson pitcher since 2017.

"He's one of the best pure strike throwers in the league and his command is exceptional," Lee said. "He doesn't walk anybody and on Sunday that's a pretty calming presence to be able to run out there. As a Sunday starter, you know that he is going to fill up the strike zone and pitch to contact and has the ability to get you deep into the game."

While it’s a new-look rotation, it’s filled with pitchers who have experience.

"We feel like going into week one we wanted guys with stripes on their sleeves to go out there and start for us," Lee said. "And feel like those are the best three guys for those spots. We feel like we want to go with our veterans. Those guys have thrown the most innings for us outside of (Geoffrey) Gilbert."

Gilbert, who has spent two seasons as the closer, is transitioning into a new role this season in which he will be used out of the bullpen for longer stints earlier in games.

"We need that strong left-handed presence out of the bullpen," Lee said. "Geoff's a guy that has done it. We've developed Geoffrey as a starter with the mindset that Geoff could go out there and throw three to four innings out of the bullpen if needed. So we built him to be a long reliever, sort of a piggyback option behind one of those starters, or be able to use him multiple times over the weekend."

Lefty Ryan Ammons has earned the right to be the closer.

“Ryan Ammons will close the game for us in the ninth," Lee said. "He's been, just again, absolutely dominant throughout the whole course of the season. So he'll be the guy that gets the ball in the ninth inning when we're in a save situation."

The series opener is Friday at 4 pm, game two is set for 3 pm Saturday, and the finale is scheduled for 1 pm Sunday. All games are at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers host the College of Charleston next Tuesday at 4 pm, and then Hartford comes to town for a three-game series that starts next Friday.