Ed Servais and the Creighton Bluejays baseball team begins their season Saturday, February 19, in Cary, North Carolina. The Jays will play Toledo and Canisius (twice) at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. White & Blue Review takes a look at the team all this week, ahead of the season opener.
Let’s lead with the good news for Ed Servais as it relates to his outfield picture: Trever Adams, the Bluejays’ best hitter in 2010, returns this season. After that, the sea of fake turf at the CU Sports Complex is full of question marks.
Creighton's Trever Adams
Adams, who earned honorable mention All-Missouri Valley Conference accolades after his first season at CU, shifts from left field to play right field for the Jays this season. He led Creighton in batting average (.356), at-bats, hits, home runs, RBI, total bases, slugging and on-base percentages, and walks. He finished in the top ten in the Valley in many of those categories, too.
“Trever is a good hitter with a lot of power and some good speed,” Creighton coach Ed Servais told WBR.
So who will patrol the left field spot Adams leaves? Even Servais doesn’t know right now.
“Left field is a bit up in the air right now. Mike Blatchford, Erik Mattingly, and Brad McKewon are all in the mix,” Servais said.
Of those three, only Blatchford has experience in the Creighton program. He started 3 games for the Jays last season, his first at CU, while appearing in 15 contests. He’s competing for the job in left with McKewon, a freshman convert form the infield, and Mattingly, a junior college transfer who also pitches
“Erik will range from left field to DH to a platoon player full time,” Servais said. “The big question will be how his arm holds up during the season. We’ll ask him to throw a bit during the week and we’ll see how he feels after throwing on a Tuesday or Thursday. If his arm holds up, I can see him contributing a lot.”
The center field job no longer belongs to second-team All-Valley honoree Robbie Knight, who graduated in 2010 after a record-setting career at Creighton. Freshman Mike Gerber steps in to take over the spot to start the season. Gerber chose Creighton even after being drafted in the 40th round of last year’s draft by the New York Yankees.
“It will be interesting to see him reach his potential, and how quickly he adjusts to the D-I level,” Servais said. “He has a lot of talent, but he has had some adjustments just like most freshmen. He’s had up and down moments, but his last 10 days of work have been really solid and he has shown sparks over that time. He has a very strong work ethic, and has the ability and talent to work through the time he has needed to make adjustments.”
Servais also mentioned junior Joey Bowens and freshman Jerry Mitchell as candidates to fill in for Gerber and the other outfield spots. They join back-ups Clay Cuno and Jordan Makovicka, a couple of former Nebraska Huskers, on the outfield bench to start the season.
“Clay is a bit banged up right now, with some lower back issues, and he won’t make our first road trip this weekend,” Servais said. “He was able to play last year so he will bring some experience to the table. He has a strong bat, so he’ll bring some power to the lineup.
“Jordan went to Nebraska to play football, so he is really trying to get back into baseball mode,” Servais said. “He is a very athletic player and will bring a lot to the table.”