Senior Kenny Yoo had played varsity baseball for the first three years of his college career.
But this year, he decided to play for the club team instead.
And Yoo is not alone in his decision - former varsity teammate and pitcher Wes Donehower has also elected to play club baseball this season.
In fact, excluding graduated seniors, more than one quarter of last year's baseball team is not on the squad anymore.
Four of the six players no longer on the team are pitchers. Yoo thinks this might be at least partially a result of the stringent conditioning routine of baseball coach John Cole, who is entering his second season as coach.
Cole "had a very strict schedule of what he wanted to do, so in terms of staying fit with endurance work and physical training, he was very good," Yoo said. "Sometimes the pitchers felt like we were running a little too much, more than trying to build muscle and strength."
Cole refused to comment, and declined to make current players available for comment for this article.
Some of the pitchers, according to Yoo, felt that this emphasis on cardiovascular instead of strength training may have even adversely affected their velocity.
"There were a couple guys throwing upper 80s, around 90 miles per hour, but by the end of the season they were throwing in the low 80s," he added.
Among the departed pitchers is junior Steven Schwartz, who transferred to now-No. 1 Vanderbilt.
Schwartz notched an ERA of 4.13 two seasons ago under former coach Bob Seddon before ending last year with an ERA of 10.75.
Senior Steve Belfiglio also left the team after, according to Yoo, Cole tried to experiment with his delivery, even suggesting that the senior drop down submarine-style. Belfiglio did not return a request for comment.
After starting their college careers with Seddon, the team had much to get used to when confronted with Cole's vision for the team.
Cole "positioned everyone's role from the beginning of the season; I think he had a mental image of where he saw every one on the field," Yoo said.
And for some, this posed an unsolvable problem.
"In my case, he saw me as a reliever and I wasn't used to that," Yoo said. "I need to settle into the groove, and by the second or third inning I'll be comfortable with my pitchers and I can throw them for strikes, . but I think starting from day one he saw me as a reliever and I guess it was just hard for me to adjust."
Schwartz did not return requests for comment. Infielder Alex Seyferth, who also left the team, declined to comment.
