Ole Miss opens the season on Friday against Arizona in Arlington, Texas, and continues the weekend against Texas on Saturday and Clemson on Sunday. All three broadcasts can be found on our old friend Flo Sports. The Rebels are expected to put out a left-handed-heavy lineup as the first group to get the chances for a lot of playing time. I do expect a lot of players to get at-bats and innings early in the season, but the projected lineup Ole Miss sent to the publications for preview items included six left-handed bats.
This isn't crazy scientific because you'd expect players to improve, especially sophomores following freshmen seasons, but for a baseline, here are the 2024 left-right splits for the expected players in Ole Miss' everyday lineup. I also included Luke Cheng and Austin Fawley since they will likely get notable opportunities. Note that Isaac Humphrey (Louisville), Mitchell Sanford (UNO), Fawley (UK), Cheng (Illinois State) and Ryan Moerman (Illinois) played at other schools and faced different schedules last season. I noted at-bats for Fawley and Cheng since they were more limited than the other players.
Freshman Owen Paino is expected to start at shortstop. He's a left-handed hitter. Freshman Hayden Federico is a switch hitter.
This isn't crazy scientific because you'd expect players to improve, especially sophomores following freshmen seasons, but for a baseline, here are the 2024 left-right splits for the expected players in Ole Miss' everyday lineup. I also included Luke Cheng and Austin Fawley since they will likely get notable opportunities. Note that Isaac Humphrey (Louisville), Mitchell Sanford (UNO), Fawley (UK), Cheng (Illinois State) and Ryan Moerman (Illinois) played at other schools and faced different schedules last season. I noted at-bats for Fawley and Cheng since they were more limited than the other players.
Freshman Owen Paino is expected to start at shortstop. He's a left-handed hitter. Freshman Hayden Federico is a switch hitter.
| Name - Handed | Overall BA/OBP/SLUG | Vs. Right BA/OBP/SLUG | Vs. Left BA/OBP/SLUG |
|---|---|---|---|
| Luke Cheng - Right | .373/.522/.431 - 51 at-bats | .410/.564/.487 | .250/.357/.250 |
| Austin Fawley - Right | .222/.263/.611 - 18 at-bats | .091/.091/.182 | .429/.500/1.286 |
| Will Furniss - Left | .236/.350/.473 | .264/.398/.575 | .167/.205/.214 |
| Luke Hill - Right | .291/.404/.378 | .278/.410/.368 | .317/.392/.397 |
| Issac Humphrey - Left | .310/.412/.565 | .248/.363/.537 | .429/.507/.619 |
| Ryan Moerman - Right | .259/.370/.580 | .285/.393/.662 | .167/.286/.286 |
| Brayden Randle - Left | .204/.316/.310 | .241/.330/.380 | .118/.286/.147 |
| Mitchell Sanford - Left | .381/.460/.708 | .375/.460/.738 | .394/.461/.636 |
| Campbell Smithwick - Left | .266/.449/.367 | .267/.451/.383 | .263/.440/.316 |
| Judd Utermark - Right | .230/.313/.440 | .226/.273/.387 | .237/.370/.526 |
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