WVU’s Sabins Recaps Fall Baseball, Touts New Biomechanics Center
October 30, 2025 04:24 PM | Baseball
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By: John Antonik
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University baseball team concluded fall practice last Sunday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, with a pair of games against Wake Forest.
Second-year Mountaineer coach Steve Sabins said the two teams played 10-inning and eight-inning contests in front of a large contingent of Major League Baseball personnel, including some general managers interested in watching Demon Deacon junior righthander Blake Morningstar pitch.
Sabins, who led West Virginia to a school-record 44 wins last year, a Clemson Regional championship and a top 25 finish, thought his hitters held their own against Morningstar, considered one of the top righthanders in the 2026 draft.
"It was kind of the who's who in the scouting world," the coach said yesterday via Zoom. "Everybody was in attendance - GMs, scouting directors and scouts. The director who selects for Team USA was there, so it was kind of an exciting feel."
Earlier this fall, Sabins mentioned that his team also traveled to Lexington, Kentucky, to play a couple of games against the Wildcats, who faced West Virginia in last year's Clemson Regional. Scrimmaging also made up a significant chunk of the 45-day window that the team had to get its on-field work completed this fall.
"The best way to evaluate players is in a game setting," the coach explained.
Sophomore utility man Gavin Kelly was one of the players Sabins singled out for his fall performance. The Pittsburgh Central Catholic product is budding "star," according to the coach. In addition to catching, Kelly can play just about any position on the field, including shortstop, centerfield, second base or third base depending upon what's needed.
Ohio State transfer Matthew Graveline was the team's most consistent hitter, and it was his first inning double off Morningstar that got the Mountaineers off to a good start in the Wake Forest game.
Graveline smacked 19 home runs in three seasons with the Buckeyes and will also man the catcher position.
Junior Armani Guzman, who really emerged in last year's NCAA Tournament, is still listed as a utility player on the team roster, but Sabins indicated that he could wind up at either centerfield or second base.
"I don't like changing middle defenders much," he admitted.
Junior right hander Chase Meyer, who posted a 9-2 record last year, returns and should be one of the top arms in the Big 12 in 2026. The Daytona Beach, Florida, resident got the starting nod in the first game against Wake Forest and pitched well in front of scouts and pro personnel.
Regarding injuries, Sabins said senior Brodie Kresser took some at bats this fall but hasn't been cleared to throw yet, while redshirt freshman infielder Jackson Ingram is recovering from a knee injury and will be out for the season.
"We've seen lots of growth from our guys from the very beginning, starting with summer bridge with those freshmen and transfers starting to trickle in," Sabins said.
"We had a ton of at bats and a lot of games, and I think our at-bat leader from a position player side got 84 at bats, so we felt really good about how many ABs our guys were able to get over the course of the fall semester," he explained. "We saw some ups and downs and a ton of growth. On the pitching side, we are deep with pitchers, so we were able to scrimmage a lot and really evaluate our guys."
Now, the team transitions to its developmental season where the new Biomechanics and Performance Center made possible through Arizona Diamondbacks owner and WVU graduate Ken Kendrick's generosity will give the Mountaineers a leg up on their regional competitors.
Sabins estimates that there are less than a dozen teams in college baseball taking advantage of cutting-edge technology the center provides, including Trackman, force plates, motion capture systems and advanced data analysis tools.
The center opened last March, but November and December are when the Mountaineer players will really benefit from all the facility has to offer.
"We have certain checkpoints throughout this fall semester," Sabins noted. "Right now, we are using motion capture every three weeks for a month. You are having someone throw a bullpen using that technology and seeing where they are and implementing drills to make small changes along the way.
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes was a visitor to the new Biomechanics and Performance Center in August (Submitted photo).
"All of the technology that we have is a deeper, more thorough understanding of what the body is doing and then we are going to prescribe drills in order to make some changes that we think will be beneficial for that player," he explained. "It's just another way to get players better."
After meetings with his staff, doing a thorough analytical and statistical breakdowns of each player, Sabins said they will transition to the player development aspect of things.
"We get a scouting perspective from coach (Christopher) Reilly and a player personnel perspective. That's more about where is this guy's floor? Where is his ceiling? Where do we think he can get to? What's holding him back? How do we unlock him to be great?"
From there they move on to consult the data being acquired by Courtney Semkewyc, the team's biomechanist, and Nathanael Rorie, director of technology, analytics and player evaluation.
The West Virginia University School of Sports Sciences is also part of this process.
"Our final piece of this is what does the motion capture say? What do we need to do to get that person better from a movement standpoint?" Sabins said. "It's specific body movement stuff and basically every player has those, and you are piecing this puzzle together."
Strength and conditioning coordinator Chandler Geller will use the performance center data to formulate a workout plan for each player leading into the start of the season in February.
"I try to steer away from it being a magic sauce because it's exciting and new for us, but it's another piece of this puzzle, which is here to stay," Sabins said. "It's like strength and conditioning was 30 years ago when people said it's not important. This is here to stay, and we just happen to being doing it a lot earlier than others."
The word is certainly getting out in baseball circles.
Pittsburgh Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes was a visitor to the Biomechanics and Performance Center in August and spent some time with the Mountaineer players. He also got on the mound to take advantage of the new technology.
Getting elite performers like Skenes to Morgantown to sample the new facility is really just the tip of the iceberg.
Sabins is hopeful the facility can give his program an advantage in regional recruiting, particularly those players from this part of the country who want to play high-level college baseball closer to their families.
