Sidearm Delivery Ep. 19 | Stanford’s David Esquer + A Tight Pac-12 Race
PodcastsWe’re back for another episode and this week we’re heading out West to talk about the Pac-12 for the first time this season. Last episode, we talked to Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn and D1Baseball regional reporter Patrick Ebert about the Terrapins and the Big Ten. This week we’re virtually heading to California to chat with Stanford head coach David Esquer.
The Cardinal opened the season as the highest ranked Pac-12 team at No. 6, but completely fell out of the rankings after starting 9-7, taking a series loss and getting swept in their first two conference weekend. But since then Stanford has been able to bounce back winning four straight Pac-12 series, including trips to Oregon State and UCLA. It is now 21-11 overall and has risen back up the top 25 rankings to No. 7 (thanks to a little help from all the other teams scuffling the last couple weeks).
The Cardinal offense has been led by newcomers to the starting lineup with sophomore Carter Graham and junior Brett Barrera making the most of their first opportunities to be regular starters and freshman Braden Montgomery showing his dynamic ability from both sides of the plate hitting .303 with 9 homers and 27 at-bats. On the mound, Alex Williams has been a stud at the front of the rotation with a 4-1 record, a 2.49 ERA and more than a strikeout per inning. Lefty Quinn Mathews has really taken a step forward and been used in a swing role as a part-time closer and weekend starter.
Esquer joins the Sidearm Delivery podcast, hosted by Shotgun Spratling, to chat about how he’s been deploying Mathews, the breakout of Graham and Barrera, Montgomery’s potential as well as how his club is learning to play with expectations and what lessons he took away from winning a College World Series title as a player that he’s implemented into his coaching.
Later in the episode, we talk with D1Baseball national analyst Mike Rooney about the Pac-12, getting his take on Stanford as well as all the contenders at the top of the conference. We’ll also discuss what impact the inaugural Pac-12 tournament will have on the conference and the bubble teams and Rooney closes out the show giving us his Pac-12 award winners so far this season.
You can also check previous shows from this season, including our last episode which featured Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn and D1Baseball regional reporter Patrick Ebert:
Ep. 18 – Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn
Ep. 17 – Georgia head coach Scott Stricklin
Ep. 16 – St. Peter’s head coach Lou Proietti
Ep. 15 – Long Beach State’s Eric Valenzuela, Sacramento State’s Colin Hunter
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