In 2016, Georgia will have some serious rebuilding to do on their pitching staff. Top pitchers Jared Walsh (5-2, 2.60), David Sosebee (4-3, 2.98), Ryan Lawlor (5-7, 3.67), and Sean McLaughlin (4-5, 4.67) have all departed.
Those are some heavy personnel losses, but that’s not to say that the cupboard is bare. Although he threw just 23.2 innings last season due to injury, big-armed righty Robert Tyler is a key piece returning for Scott Stricklin’s Bulldogs.
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Two years ago, in 2014, Tyler was a big part of the Bulldogs’ staff. In that season, he went 6-4 with a 2.68 ERA. In 80.2 innings, he struck out 64, walked just 22, and opposing hitters had a .199 batting average against him.
Coming off that performance, Tyler was on the verge of developing into one of the true aces in the SEC, and in the big picture, a potential Tyler, Sosebee, Lawlor starting rotation, in some order, had the potential to be one of the best in the league as well.
It was not to be, though, as Tyler struggled a little bit, both on the mound and with a forearm strain that kept him out of action for much of the season, going 1-1 with a 5.32 ERA. In his 23.2 innings of work, he still managed to do a fantastic job of missing bats, as he struck out 29, but he really had trouble establishing consistency.
His body of work and a fastball that makes a habit of sitting in the mid-90s were enough to get Tyler an invitation to play with Collegiate Team USA over the summer, however, and according to reports, he’s 100% healthy and he had a strong showing on the elite international stage.
Georgia has been building under Stricklin for a few years now, and that program, with all of their history, is itching to get back into the postseason. The health of Robert Tyler, and his ability to harness his raw stuff, will have a lot to do with how close the Bulldogs get in 2016.
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