Oregon baseball coach Mark Wasikowski provided a few injury updates Wednesday, most notably that freshman Dominic Hellman is likely done for the season.
Wasikowski has spoken very highly of Hellman, indicating that he has some of the most impressive power he’s ever seen from a young player in his career. Hellman was battling a leg injury of some kind earlier in the season, and played through it on a few occasions. The freshman has gone 8-for-32 (.250) to start his career with one home run.
“He’s probably going to be out, and might be out for the remainder of the season, which is unfortunate — a guy like that, as good as he is,” Wasikowski said. “He’d be obviously a guy that you want in your lineup because he can impact the game so quickly.”
Wasikowski declined to indicate the nature of Hellman’s injury.
In better news, Wasikowski said starting pitcher Isaac Ayon and shortstop Carate Garate are both continuing to progress. Ayon hasn’t pitched this year due to an arm injury — neither has RJ Gordon, who likely won’t pitch this year. But Ayon has begun throwing and is working his way back to a return before the end of the season.
Ayon was Oregon’s most reliable starting pitcher last year. But his role for when he comes back remains unclear considering how much time he’s missed.
“When a guy comes back from being out for a period of time, there’s usually a ramp-up process, and he would be in the middle of the ramp-up process,” Wasikowski said. “How long that takes, that’s up to the kid. We don’t really know. We just monitor it.”
Garate, meanwhile, last played in a game on March 25. The freshman burst onto the scene with an impressive series against Washington State, then hit his second career home run in his last game before tweaking something. He noticeably limped around the bases when he hit that homer.
“Trending in the right direction,” Wasikowski said of Garate. “He traveled with us yesterday. He’s been out there doing stuff every single day.”
With Hellman out, Oregon has been going with Jacob Walsh at first base, Bryce Boettcher in right field and Rikuu Nishida at DH. The No. 8 spot in the order has been a revolving door this year, with Owen Diodati, Jackson Jaha, Hellman, Garate and Boettcher all seeing time in that spot.
Boettcher, the two-sport athlete whose greatest skill is defense, has shown there might be a little more juice in the bat than some expected. He’s hit two home runs since taking over in right field, but has gone just 5-for-30 at the dish this year. Who will take over that spot in the lineup going forward remains to be seen.
“We love Bryce. He’s a great kid. He’s made of the right stuff,” Wasikowski said. “He’s shown that he can really run a baseball down in the outfield. And so his next step for his development is to show that he can do more than run a baseball down on a consistent basis. And as he does that, he’ll earn more playing time.”
Oregon takes on Cal in Berkeley, Calif. this weekend, starting Friday at 7 p.m.
