Photo Credit: Brody Hannon (Boston College Athletics)
It is past the halfway mark in the ACC conference slate which means it's time for midterm grades to go out on all 14 ACC teams. Next up is the Boston College Eagles.
Boston College has been a fringe Field of 64 team all season long. At the time of writing this (Thursday, April 18, 2024) the Eagles sit at 20-16 overall and 7-11 in ACC play. The Eagles find themselves with an RPI of 44 which is one spot behind last year’s national runner up Florida. After getting swept in two of their first three ACC series, the Eagles have responded well with a series sweep at Georgia Tech and taking a game in the last two ACC series of Wake Forest and Florida State, both Top 15 teams this season.
Offense: C
First year head coach Todd Interdonato brings his very aggressive, “small ball” approach to Boston College from Wofford. With that has come with some struggles for the Eagles early. Boston College finds themselves 10th in the conference in average and tied for last in slugging percentage with Pitt. No team in the ACC has struck out more than Boston College as they lead the ACC with 338 strikeouts. However, only Louisville has stolen more bases than the Eagles this season. It is very rare you see a team in the bottom of strikeouts also be near the top in walks, but the Eagles are 5th in the ACC when it comes to reaching base via the walk.
The Eagles are led by first baseman Kyle Wolff and CBC Midseason All-Star LF Cameron Leary. Leary leads the ACC in walks and has hit walk off homeruns in consecutive weekends for the Eagles. Wolff leads BC in batting average, RBIs, and hits. A very underrated part of this BC lineup is 3B Nick Wang who has nine home runs on the season, 2nd to Leary, and a slugging of .577.
Rotation: C
While this stat factors in both the bullpen and rotation, Boston College has the 2nd worst team ERA in the conference. John West has been the ace of the staff this season, though only boasts a 4.70 ERA and has hit 11 batters. Michael Farinelli has been a solid addition to the rotation after transitioning from a bullpen role. The third main arm, A.J. Colarusso, has been the only other consistent starter for Boston College where he leads the rotation in wins and is one strikeout behind John West for the team lead.
Bullpen: C-
This Boston College bullpen has been shaky for most of the season. Losing bullpen ace Tyler Mudd early in the year really required this Eagles pitching staff to try and figure out who their go to guy will be. Led by Jordan Fisse and Gavin Hasche, the Eagles see a lot of their bullpen arms carrying high ERAs. Fisse has made 16 appearances and allowed 18 earned runs, whereas Hasche has 14 appearances with 12 earned runs allowed.
A bright spot for the BC bullpen has been the emergence of Brad Lombardi. Though I am not entirely sure why he didn't throw in February or March (I will assume injury), the senior has made 5 appearances in April allowing just one earned run and three hits. It will be interesting to see if he gets more innings in high leverage situations, as most of his appearances have been in the midweek.
Overall: C+
Boston College deserves a passing grade at the midpoint of the year. Depending on which “bracketologist” you prefer (hopefully it's me), the Eagles are a last four in or first four out team at this point in the season. The first season for Todd Interdonato has gone better than many had expected and if Boston College can get a little more out of their lineup, this team could be a tournament team. With a lot of what BC is best at (fielding, stealing bases, and small ball) not being listed as a category in this report card, the overall grade is higher than the individual categories. I like this Boston College team and am very excited to get my first in-person look at them this weekend in South Bend.
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