This has been quite probably the worst season in UCLA baseball history.
On the bright side, next year may turn out to be one of the most exciting.
With his first recruiting class at UCLA, coach John Savage secured what national collegiate recruiting Web site Rivals.com ranked as the third-best class in the country.
Savage ultimately expects 15 or 16 new faces on the squad next season.
“It’s kind of like the basketball situation,” Savage said. “Coach (Ben) Howland played a bunch of freshmen this year and everyone saw the promise in his second year.
“We look at other programs at UCLA and see how they develop players. We’re going to try to follow in their footsteps.”
If that’s the case, then – like basketball – Bruin fans can expect a second-year renaissance after a renowned new coach suffers through a pitiful first year.
It also follows that next season, Savage’s rookies should expect as prominent a role as Howland’s heralded freshmen received this season.
“A lot of freshmen will play next year,” Savage said. “It’s a situation of how the roster was created and how the roster is going to be created. We’re going to be very young, but very talented.”
That the Bruins (15-41) suffered through a largely forgettable 2005 season wasn’t a complete surprise, considering almost every regular starter from last year’s playoff squad left for the professional level.
While the resulting talent gap contributed to some tough times, it became a selling point that Savage used to procure many of his recruits.
“The chance to play right away was one of the issues in deciding to come to UCLA,” said Brian Kirwan, an incoming right-handed power pitcher ranked by Rivals.com and TeamOne as the 17th best high school right-handed pitcher in the nation.
“I like coach Savage a lot, plus he has such a good reputation. He sold me on the idea that I could come in right away and get a chance at starting.”
However, Savage can’t start penning names into his 2006 lineup and rotation just yet.
The downside of luring such high-profile recruits is that many will be drafted next week in the Major League Baseball draft and may rethink moving to Westwood when hundreds of thousands of dollars are flashed in their faces.
While Kirwan indicated that he has every intention of donning the Bruin blue, UCLA’s top signee, outfielder John Drennen, says he is almost certain to sign with whatever team drafts him on June 7th.
“I want to sign and get out there and get on the field and get to the big leagues as quickly as I can,” said Drennen, who Baseball America projects will be picked in the first round, which would probably mean a contract paying over a million dollars.
In addition to Drennen, the Bruins are also worried about three other top recruits who are likely to be drafted high and may decide to sign pro contracts – catcher Ryan Babineau, left-handed pitcher and outfielder Tim Murphy, and left-handed pitcher David Huff.
The uncertainty surrounding these players is a common problem that top programs must consistently deal with.
“College baseball always deals with this, and we’ll be dealing with this year in and year out,” Savage said. “We have to make sure we do our homework and get guys committed to going to college.”
Despite Drennan’s likely absence, next year’s newcomers are still expected to have a signficant impact.
And while Savage hopes his recruits will render this disappointing season a distant memory, it’s not one he wants to completely forget.
“We have to make sure that we get better as a program as we’re going through this,” Savage said. “It would be a mistake to sit back and say we haven’t gotten anything out of this because there have been glimpses of guys really coming along.
“We still have plenty of reason to be excited.”