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Associated Press

Clemson’s Chris Epps (26) is greeted at home plate by his teammates after he scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth against Tennessee Tech during the NCAA Clemson Regional on May 29 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers finished the season 44-22 after falling to Arizona State in the super regionals.

CLEMSON — After a four-month, 66-game baseball season that finished with a cross-country road trip, it would be understandable for anyone to want a nice long vacation, or at the very least, a little downtime.

Jack Leggett, however, isn’t looking for any R&R.

He’s already revved up for next season.

“We’re ready already, looking forward to next year,” said Leggett, who just finished his 16th season as Clemson’s head coach, in a teleconference Thursday. “We’ve got a great nucleus of kids coming back and coming in, and I’m excited about next year already.”

After missing the NCAA Tournament in 2008 for the first time in 21 years, Leggett and Co. rebounded with a stellar season this year, winning 44 games all told, fending off elimination in three straight games to win the NCAA Clemson Regional and make a trip to the Tempe (Ariz.) Super Regional, where their season ultimately ended at the hands of No. 2 Arizona State.

And as good as the 2009 season was, the future appears even brighter in Tigertown.

None of the team’s top nine hitters, in terms of batting average, and only two of the nine Clemson pitchers that made at least 15 appearances, will graduate.

“I really feel that we’re going to be well balanced (next season),” Leggett said. “We’re going to have a year of experience under our belts for the young kids, which was something we had to battle early in the season this year, but I think they tasted getting to the super regional and this close to going to Omaha and I think they’ll be very highly motivated coming back next year to go a few steps further.”

But while the team will lose just five seniors, that almost certainly won’t be the only attrition, as the Tigers had five players, along with two high-profile signees, chosen on the first two days of this week’s Major League Baseball amateur draft.

Leggett admitted that the money and prestige of pro baseball could be hard to turn down, but said he believed most, though almost certainly not all, of the team’s draftees would ultimately end up playing in Clemson next season.

“I think (first baseman) Ben Paulsen’s probably going to sign and he’s probably got something squared away there, but other than that I think the other guys could benefit … by coming to Clemson,” he said. “They’ve got the opportunity to improve and be successful, and if they’re patient and confident enough and realize they’ve got to work hard enough, then I think some really good things could happen to all of them.”

Paulsen, a left-handed junior slugger, was chosen in the third round of the draft by the Colorado Rockies. Other draftees that may or may not play for the Tigers next season include freshman lefty Chris Dwyer (fourth round, Royals), Mauldin High School star Madison Younginer (seventh round, Red Sox), sophomore righty Graham Stoneburner (14th round, Yankees) and Charlotte, N.C. high schooler Richie Shaffer (25th round, Dodgers).

Leggett said he had not received any indication one way or the other which way the two highest draftees out of that group, Dwyer and Younginer, were leaning, but said he believed returning to school would be in the best interest of both.

“I really feel that both of them and the other kids who were drafted could benefit by coming back to school,” Leggett said. “Graham Stoneburner’s another one, and so I hope as time settles down and things settle in, that they look at things clearly and hopefully will come back and help us get to Omaha, and at the same time, put themselves in a great position next year because they all have positions of leverage coming up for them.”

Regardless of the decisions of that group of players, the Tigers appear to be stocked with talent for 2010, both in the lineup and the rotation, with the return of leadoff man and regional MVP Chris Epps, first-team All-ACC slugger Jeff Schaus, two-sport star Kyle Parker, lefty starter Casey Harman and talented freshman righty Scott Weismann, among others.

Leggett agreed that the return of a majority of the team’s draftees would certainly make things easier moving forward, but noted his goals were lofty one way or the other.

“Not at all, it doesn’t matter to me whether they’ve been drafted or not, they’re still the same players,” he said. “If Stoneburner comes back and Dwyer comes back, then obviously that’ll help us. Now if they don’t come back, there might be a few more question marks about our pitching going into the fall and then we’ll have to try and develop and work and figure out who can do the job.

“It might affect a fan’s expectations or somebody else, but it doesn’t affect mine because either way we’re expecting to try to get there — it’s just two different avenues to getting there.”

And if anyone had any doubts about the exact destination to which Leggett is referring, he doesn’t mind clarifying.

“They’re all motivated and got off the bus (after the super regional) saying, ‘Okay, we’ll be back next year, Coach, we’re going to get to Omaha and we know what it takes and we’ve seen it,’” he said.

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2009 Clemson Draftees

Player, Pos. Class Rd (Pick) Team

Ben Paulsen, 1B Jr. 3 (90) Rockies

Chris Dwyer, LHP Fr. 4 (122) Royals

Ryan Hinson, LHP Sr. 10 (294) Padres

Graham Stoneburner, RHP *So. 14 (435) Yankees

Trey Delk, RHP *Sr. 29 (883) White Sox

Mike Freeman, INF Jr. 36 (1,086) Diamondbacks

Matt Sanders, INF Sr. 41 (1,231) Rockies

Clinton McKinney, RHP Sr. 48 (1,441) Rockies

Addison Johnson, OF *So. 48 (1,443) Athletics

* — Spent one season as a redshirt player