Shaffer proven bat in new-look lineup

CLEMSON -- Clemson has offensive question marks as the No. 16 Tigers open their baseball season at 4 p.m. today hosting Alabama-Birmingham.

Fifty-five percent of last year's runs have graduated along with 28 of the team's 48 home runs. The entire starting outfield has departed and ACC player of the year Brad Miller turned pro.

Left to carry much of the offensive load on what is expected to be a team better at preventing runs than scoring them is third baseman Richie Shaffer.

Shaffer is a legitimate middle-of-the-order bat. He's a Baseball America preseason All-American and was named to the Golden Spikes Award watch list Thursday. The junior led Clemson in home runs (13), RBIs (55), total bases (128), slugging percentage (.577) and walks (55) last season.

"You hear the word question mark," Shaffer said of the offense. "I don't really view it as that. It's just a lot of guys that are excited to try and prove themselves." Shaffer, a Charlotte native, has his own proving to do.

After playing first base the last two seasons, Shaffer is moving across the diamond to third base to make room for sophomore Jon McGibbon's promising power bat at first base. McGibbon batted .339 last season in limited playing time.

"That's my natural position," said Shaffer, who played third in high school "There's no learning curve. It's just the split-second decisions: 'Do I dive after this ball or do I try to get in front of it?' "

Jason Stolz will move from third base to his natural shortstop position to replace Miller. Spencer Kieboom and Phil Pohl will split the catching duties. The only infield position up for grabs is at second base, where freshman Jay Baum is expected to start today, but Steve Wilkerson is also in the mix.

Coach Jack Leggett said the new-look lineup compels him to play a relatively new-style of play in college baseball: small ball.

"In order to score some runs, we are going to have to be very good at execution," Leggett said. "We have got two guys who can bop the ball around (Shaffer and McGibbon), but we don't want to totally build our game around that because if you are sitting around and waiting for that with these bats, it's not going to happen."