Florida State sophomore Lance Trippel has made the difficult transition from playing mostly catcher and in the outfield to setting up at 1st base for the Seminoles. And though he hasn’t been in the lineup much this season, Trippel has left head coach Link Jarrett impressed.
And after Trippel came up clutch with a walk off winner earlier this week, Jarrett had a chance to sing his praises. Aside from the game-winning hit, Jarrett raved about the way Trippel handled himself.
“He’s good at it,” Jarrett said. “There’s still some things that we work on, and he does it every day and I’m trying to help him. I hit him ground balls every day. And the progression is really good. I mean, he’s athletic. And you could see it. The play down the line was not an easy play, that he got to, handled. And clearly the pick wasn’t. And he handled the bunt play beautifully. And that’s tough, when that guy who can really run shows late, pushes it, it’s a little scramble for the second basemen at times, but Lance did it just right. That was not a play where he could tag the runner, that could’ve been dicey, you may not get an out.”
With more time, Jarrett is excited to see what can come for Trippel as a defender and with his bat.
“He’s solid, he’s athletic, he can play the outfield and clearly he’s taken to first base and does a really nice job,” Jarrett said. “And he’s just going to continue to learn and grow with it. And he’s physical enough where that ball comes off his bat.”
Jarrett also explained a key decision he made in the walk off win
The Seminoles found themselves trailing the Jacksonville Dolphins late in a mid-week game on Tuesday night. That’s when head coach Jarrett decided to shake the lineup up, bringing in catcher Jaxson West as a pinch hitter.
After the game, Jarrett explained what went into the decision to pinch-hit with West.
“I think it was [to] spark the offense,” Jarrett said. “I could tell McGwire [Holbrook] is giving us tough at-bats, but he was getting frustrated with his at-bats. Jaxson’s over there with a left-handed look, and I just thought the game was telling me it was time to make that move. Right or wrong, I felt it.”
The move worked from Jarrett. West was pinch-hitting for Holbrook, another catcher on Florida State who started the game. He immediately got a single that advanced a runner. After that, he stayed in the game as the catcher.
“I wasn’t really doing it for rest,” Jarrett said. “I just felt like you kind of listen to what the game’s telling you. You’re not always right, but I just thought we needed to try that.”
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