Weak West Coast baseball faces criticism over quality of game
Junior designated hitter Kort Peterson and the Bruins have an RPI of No. 73 in the nation, partly due to their .500 record and the weakness of West Coast college baseball this season. (Mackenzie Possee/Daily Bruin)
By Matt Cummings
May 5, 2016 12:31 a.m.
There were plenty of scouts on hand behind home plate, radar guns raised, to witness UCLA baseball’s sweep of Oregon a couple weeks ago.
That was a function not only of the marquee pitching matchups on display that weekend, but also the general lack of premier talent across West Coast college baseball.
The West’s two most intriguing 2016 college draft prospects – Stanford’s Cal Quantrill and California’s Daulton Jefferies – are sidelined by injuries, and teams across the region have put on middling performances thus far.
West Coast teams have hosted at least two of the NCAA’s 16 regionals each year since the tournament switched to a 64-team format in 1999, but there’s a good chance that won’t happen this year. It’s even possible that not a single West Coast team will earn a regional hosting spot this season.
No team has stood out as an obvious candidate – UC Santa Barbara has been impressive in the Big West, but the best RPI of any Pac-12 team is Arizona’s No. 33 ranking.
The national college baseball media has not been kind to the West Coast teams in its NCAA Tournament seeding projections. Baseball America’s most recent projection of the tournament field listed Pac-12 leader Washington as the only West Coast host, while D1Baseball gave hosting spots to Washington and UCSB. Neither media outlet included a West Coast team as one of eight national seeds.
A recent Baseball America article blasting the state of West Coast baseball cited an anonymous cross-checker that said, “It’s the worst in recent memory. The colleges are brutal. I’m actually about to head east so I can see all the good players.”
UCLA coach John Savage has heard the widespread criticism of West Coast college baseball this season, but said he’s not sure whether he agrees that the talent level is problematic.
Savage also pointed to the recent results of the NCAA Tournament, where West Coast teams have won the national championship in six of the last 12 years.
“I don’t know if it’s an up year (for the West Coast) – I wouldn’t say it’s loaded with great teams and great players, but right when people think that, you’ll see two West Coast teams in Omaha,” Savage said. “I’ve been around too long to say that the West is down because I know in the postseason, the history speaks for itself.”
Jefferies’ injury, which occurred shortly before his April 1 scheduled start against UCLA, has dropped Cal from a strong national contender that started the season 15-6 to a so-so squad that now sits at 10-11 in conference play.
Savage has generally used the word “parity” to refer to the region’s clustering of teams with mediocre records. That “parity” has kept the Bruins within theoretical reach of the Pac-12 title – though they’re in ninth place, they’re only two-and-a-half games out of first.
But, if UCLA does make a run at a postseason berth, it could be hurt by the general weakness of the region. The Bruins are currently No. 73 in RPI, and with the large number of automatic bids handed out to the winners of small conferences, they will have to significantly improve to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Email Cummings at [email protected] or tweet @mbcummings15.
