Erik Bakich didn’t want to give too much away publicly in regards to where things stand with Clemson’s starting rotation heading into the 2023 season.

That’s because Bakich wants to tell all of his players their roles privately first. As of Tuesday afternoon, the Tigers’ first-year coach had not met with them to do that. But with Clemson’s opener against Binghamton just three days away, that will happen soon.

“I’ll do a PowerPoint and put everyone’s role on the board so that there’s zero ambiguity and everybody knows going into the opening weekend what their role is,” Bakich said.

But Bakich dropped some not-so-subtle hints as to who will and who won’t be getting the ball in a starting capacity at Doug Kingsmore Stadium this weekend.

While Bakich said there are still anywhere from five to seven pitchers that he and his coaching staff are considering for starting roles, Ryan Ammons has long been expected to begin the season as the Friday starter as the junior lefty makes the transition from the bullpen. Bakich suggested that’s still the case.

“Moving him from a closer role to a starting role, we didn’t move him to that role to start on Tuesdays,” Bakich said. “His makeup, his character, his toughness, his work ethic, his leadership, that’s the type of guy you want setting the tone every single weekend. So I would expect you’re going to see him on Friday, but we have the pitching staff this year where we don’t need to go seven or eight innings. We’ve just got enough depth where we may not need that guy to go through the lineup that third time or the fourth time.”

Bakich didn’t offer up any other names in regards to who he’s considering to fill out the rotation, though he has said in the past that Nick Clayton and Nick Hoffman, both of whom spent most of last season there, are being looked at more as relievers this season. As for touted freshman Tristan Smith, Bakich ruled the Boiling Springs native out for a spot in the rotation this weekend, though he said that could change later in the season.

“A guy like Tristan Smith could start from the physical ability standpoint, but philosophically, I’ve just never really put a freshman into that role on the opening weekend,” Bakich said. “We didn’t do that with (former MLB All-Star) David Price at Vanderbilt, but if you were to say to me Tristan Smith is going to be a weekend starter by the end of the year or the middle of the year, yeah, I could see that.”

Billy Barlow, Casey Tallent, Austin Gordon, Jay Dill, Rocco Reid and even Caden Grice have been mentioned in the past by Bakich as contenders for spots in the rotation, which was fluid for much of last season. Five different pitchers made a weekend start for the Tigers, who posted a team earned run average of 4.86.

Ideally, Bakich would like the three pitchers he ultimately decides to start this weekend to remain in those roles throughout the season. But with an array of experienced arms that he believes have made strides this season, Bakich isn’t making any promises.

“We’ve got a lot of veteran pitchers that they’ve always had the stuff from the neck down,” Bakich said. “Now it’s harnessing that stuff and being able to command it like they want to. They’ve made a lot of strides in that department.

“Hopefully we won’t have that fluidity, but it’s college baseball and those types of things happen at times. I’ve been very impressed with our overall pitching staff.”

Clemson’s first of three games against Binghamton will start at 4 p.m. Friday.

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