PROVO — The biggest reason why BYU baseball coach Mike Littlewood feels his team can improve significantly on last year's 22-28 team that was one-year removed from a rare NCAA regional bid is culture.

It has nothing to do with a half dozen pitchers who can throw 90 mph fastballs, a senior-laden squad that includes nine fourth-year players like WCC all-preseason pick Brock Hale, or a freshman quarterback making the transition to baseball after a star turn on the diamond in high school.

Those things all help, of course.

But it’s not the main reason Littlewood likes this year's team.

The main reason is culture; the fit of the club is almost completely different from a year ago.

And it took some shifting, some moving, and — at times — some painful decisions, to accomplish that culture.

"We let 25-30 percent of our roster go from last year because of culture, whether it was guys not buying in or whatever," Littlewood said this week before Friday’s season opener against Northwestern in Mesa, Arizona. "Not much of it was performance-based, and we brought in a bunch of new guys who wanted to play and compete — no matter what their role was. That’s what we have here.”

The Cougars will spend the first month of the season on the road, with road trips to Arizona to face Northwestern and Cal; a four-team tournament that includes host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Ohio State and Oral Roberts in Texas; and a three-game series at Lamar before arriving back in Provo for the home opener March 5 against Utah Valley.

It’s all part of helping prepare BYU for a return to the postseason — at the very least, a spot in the West Coast Conference Tournament, after the Cougars slumbered to an 11-16 record in conference play a year ago and were left outside the four-team event.

"I guess the catchphrase in athletics is to 'trust the process,'" said Littlewood, channeling his inner-Nick Saban. "We do that … but I told the team this past weekend, I get paid to win games and not to trust the process.

"That's what it’s about this time of year. The process that we work on is in our subconscious, but only so we can go out, have fun and play."

The Cougars’ lineup should be buoyed by the return of Danny Gelalich, Brian Hsu, Keaton Kringlen and Hale, who was recruited out of high school by every major school in his native Arizona but surprising went undrafted in last year’s Major League Baseball amateur player draft.

Defensively, the Cougars start with one of the deepest rotations Littlewood has put together in his five seasons at BYU — and he’s brought in former Arizona pitching coach Michael Bradshaw to bolster a rotation that includes ace Jordan Wood, who had a 2.66 ERA with 63 strikeouts en route to all-WCC honors a year ago. He’ll be backed up by sophomore Drew Zimmerman, a 2018 freshman All-American, and sophomore Justin Sterner, as well as a closing staff that includes seniors Bo Burrup, Riley Gates and Blake Inouye.

"I feel like we have a lot of depth, and a lot of kids who work hard," Wood said. "They put in their time on their own so that we can have that depth.

"A lot of them know their role, as well. They understand being a middle-relief guy, or whatever it is, as well. That's helped a lot."

Next Kyler Murray?

Draft pick or not, BYU QB Jaren Hall enjoys juggling spring ball with baseball

Let’s get one thing out of the way: Jaren Hall is not Kyler Murray. But the comparisons came almost naturally between the BYU quarterback and Oklahoma's Heisman Trophy winner who is currently trying to eschew a contract with the Oakland Athletics in favor of the NFL Draft.

The squad will also get a boost from Jaren Hall, the BYU backup quarterback who has joined the roster "50-50" while the Cougar football team is getting ready for spring ball and will be available more consistently after camp wraps up at the end of March.

Hall won't need to be an every-day starter roaming the outfield, Littlewood said, but he’ll certainly take advantage of a five-tool prospect who was a .400 hitter at Maple Mountain High School.

Anything to win — which is exactly what Hale wants out of his senior season. Even the undrafted nature of his own personal future takes a backseat to winning, he added. Hale was graded by several MLB scouts as a fifth-to-seventh round draft pick a year ago, but saw the annual 40-round event pass without hearing his name called.

Hale, a reigning all-WCC first-team selection who hit .342 with 40 runs, 31 RBI, 15 doubles and eight homers as a junior in 2018, had enough to work on in returning to BYU for his senior season, and one of those qualities was leadership. A naturally quiet leader, Littlewood has seen the 6-foot outfielder with a big bat take a more active, vocal and outspoken role amongst his teammates during the fall and winter workouts.

"I guess I've always been opinionated; I'm really sarcastic. But this year instead of just keeping it to myself, I had to open my mouth," Hale said. "There was a little bit of an adjustment there, and sometimes it’s difficult to do. But as long as everyone knows that you have good intentions and we want to win, then it’ll come naturally."

Hale isn't alone in his newfound leadership role. Littlewood has not named team captains for the 2019 season, and doesn't plan to do so. He said there are at least a dozen players who he could legitimately pick for that role.

Instead, the team's leaders have jumped up voluntarily.

"I feel like everybody can be a leader," Wood said. "The best leaders I've known growing up are the ones that lead by example.

"It makes all of us take on that responsibility of producing and putting this team further ahead."

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