The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
2007 Season Preview: Hitting
2/5/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 5, 2007
Each Monday and Wednesday leading up to UAB's first game of the season with Central Michigan on Feb. 16, UABsports.com will preview the 2007 Blazers. We now sit down with UAB assistant coach Perry Roth to preview the team's offense, while on Wednesday we will preview the pitching staff.
UAB returns a great deal of offensive experience this season after losing just one starter from last season in shortstop Ryan Metcalf. The Blazers will suit up their six leading returning hitters in 2007, including senior catcher Danny Sawyer and senior outfielder Steven Turner who each hit better than .300 in 2006.
In addition to being the team's leading hitter in batting average, Sawyer (.305) led the team in RBI with 47 and in doubles with 16. Turner was equally impressive as he hit .304 with a team-best on-base percentage of .406, while stealing 13 bases to top the team.
Other notable returnees include senior infielder Ryne Lovdahl, who led the team in home runs last season with eight, while driving in 29 runs. Senior outfielder J.R. Bond looks to show continued improvement this season after hitting .276 in 2006, while junior outfielder Phil Bell has also made steady progress at the plate and is coming off a season in which he hit .280 with nine doubles.
First-year assistant coach Perry Roth is one of three assistants to make the move from Birmingham-Southern to UAB and has been appointed as the team's hitting coach by head coach Brian Shoop.
After working together for three seasons at Birmingham-Southern prior, Shoop says he has developed a sense of trust and confidence in Roth to turn the hitting responsibilities over to him.
"I think Perry and I are coming from the same page when it comes to our hitters," Shoop said. "I've really turned the hitting over to Perry and I think he and Jared (Walker) have done a great job getting our guys ready for some very good pitching we'll see this spring."
"I'm so thankful everyday for being able to come work with Brian Shoop and to learn from him," Roth said. "I think he's one of the best minds in all of college baseball. It's an honor to have his trust and belief in me in trusting me with the offense. It also helps me a lot having Jared Walker, who is another outstanding coach, right beside me working with our guys everyday. That's a blessing most coaches don't have."
Jared Walker is also in his first year as an assistant coach with the Blazers after both coaching and playing for Shoop at Birmingham-Southern. With the strong ties between Shoop, Roth and Walker, it's no wonder they all approach the game with the same philosophy.
"I think all three of us are on the same page with everything and if there is one philosophy we try and instill in our guys it would be that we have aggressive, disciplined hitters that have a plan," Roth said. "It's broad, but we want guys that are aggressive at good pitches, are disciplined enough to lay-off of pitches that aren't drivable balls and that we have a plan for every situation."
Roth has a proven track record of developing successful and disciplined hitters. In 2006 at Birmingham-Southern, his Panther hitters boasted a team-average of .298, while hitting 52 home runs and driving in 96 more runs than their counterparts.
In 2005, Birmingham-Southern's Addam Tucker led the Big South Conference in home runs (25) and was second in RBI (73) and total bases (167) under Roth's tutelage.
The Blazers enter 2007 with aspirations of erasing the memory of their 19-38 season a year ago. To do so, Roth says the offense will need to carry itself with a regained confidence at the plate, a task that is never easy when you play as tough a schedule as the Blazers will once again play this season.
"I think you're always focused on the type of arms you're going to see, but more than anything, I think you try and get them to a point where their confidence can't be shaken," Roth said. "Every hitter goes through ups and downs throughout the year and we'll see great arms from the beginning of the year to the end of the year, but after awhile the velocity should become second nature for our guys. We'll try and do a great job with the scouting report and try and do a great job of having a good plan against those guys. We talk constantly about what our approach is and what our plan is and about getting good pitches to hit."
A key focus for the team throughout the fall and spring training has been to build their level of confidence and focus on how they carry themselves on the field. With confidence and composure being such key ingredients to being a successful hitter in a league as strong as Conference USA, Roth said it's not just technique, but an attitude that could take the team's offensive production to the next level.
"There's always that question of do you need success to have confidence or do you gain confidence and then the success comes?" Roth said. "Sooner or later you have to believe in your ability and as you begin to have success I believe your confidence increases. One of the things I'll say from time-to-time is you either believe that you're a .400 hitter or a .040 hitter and either way, you'll be right. It's really about how you carry yourself."
Having gone through fall camp and now spring training, Roth said several players have demonstrated strong talents that will help shape the offense this season. Of those receiving high marks from Roth include power-threat Lovdahl and speedster Turner.
"From day one Ryne Lovdahl has really stood out to me," Roth said. "He's a ball player, the way he carries himself on the field and the way the ball comes off his bat, he's an impressive hitter."
