The 2015 Oregon Ducks sat pretty at 13-2, generously ranked as high as No. 5 nationally. Then they sat stunned as eight of the following 13 games slipped through their fingers. They knock off Oregon State in wild, anomalous fashion, get clobbered by USC, then clobber them right back. Will the real Ducks please stand up?
In hindsight, perhaps George Horton would not have called this group the best roster he’s ever managed, on paper. He set the expectations for his incoming players unjustly high. Paper is a treacherous foundation on which to build players’ expectations, because in turn players are pressured to excel beyond the numbers that got them recruited.
Oregon is still trying to fill the hole left behind when Shaun Chase left the starting lineup. Chase hit .283 and slugged a whopping .634 as a junior, claiming the clean-up slot in the batting order. His home run every 10.36 at bats in 2014 ranked second nationally and earned him Louisville Slugger preseason second-team All-American honors by Collegiate Baseball. Since then, he’s hit just .198 and struck out more than anyone on the team, despite starting fewer than two thirds as many games. Chase has taken many mighty hacks with the bases loaded but has produced fewer RBIs in 2015. Consequently, Horton has demoted him to a secondary role on the team.
Cole Irvin was another hopeful Duck who has failed to meet his expectations thus far. He was named a Baseball America first-team Freshman All-American after setting the school record with 12 wins. Irvin redshirted his sophomore season to recuperate from Tommy John surgery, but earned the same preseason honors as Chase this season, in anticipation of another standout year. His recovery, however, has lasted longer than originally foreseen. Hampered by a pitch limit, Irvin has had just one quality start to his name in 2015. Irvin bit off more than he could chew in his last start against USC, in which he walked in the tying run and conceded a grand slam in his final pitch.
Irvin was supposed to lead the offense and Chase was supposed to lead the defense. Instead, Oregon has employed a “next-man-up” mentality all season long. Newcomers Matt Eureste, Brandon Cuddy and Phil Craig-St. Louis have filled that void intermittently.
On paper, 2015 has been a wash for Oregon baseball. The Ducks have posted their worst team batting average, fielding percentage and earned run average since 2009, when Oregon fielded its first team since cutting the baseball program in 1981. Winning games is a Sisyphean task for a baseball team that can’t hit, pitch or play defense.
Oregon may have gathered more former draftees, hardware-winners and high-caliber recruits onto one roster this year than in those previous, but this team has fallen short of expectations.
Follow Kenny Jacoby on Twitter @KennyJacoby