2015 College World Series

#101
#101
TNSportsman said:
Baseball is the only sport that I care to post about because there can be meaningful dialogue without being shouted down by the masses. There is a core group of Vol fans that care about baseball and I'm one of them.

Vol66, I know you are pro-Serrano and I respect that completely. I just think we are reaching the point where we have seen enough. He is about to enter year 5 and while there has been some improvement in roster talent I find myself looking at next year's roster and not seeing a team that will crack the NCAA tournament. That is discouraging for what looked like a really good hire 4 years ago.
Click to expand...

I usually hate this line of reasoning but who are we going to get to coach? Tennessee has had trouble getting coaches to consider us in football and basketball and those 2 sports are way more popular at UT than baseball. We really lucked out with Jones and to an extent Barnes, but baseball we're even more at a disadvantage.

I have no problem with letting him go if next year is the same thing, but really Serrano was the one "homerun" hire (based on name and resume) we've made and he's struggling. We go get another Todd Raleigh and you might as well just throw an intramural team out there.
 
#102
#102
TNSportsman said:
Baseball is the only sport that I care to post about because there can be meaningful dialogue without being shouted down by the masses. There is a core group of Vol fans that care about baseball and I'm one of them.

Vol66, I know you are pro-Serrano and I respect that completely. I just think we are reaching the point where we have seen enough. He is about to enter year 5 and while there has been some improvement in roster talent I find myself looking at next year's roster and not seeing a team that will crack the NCAA tournament. That is discouraging for what looked like a really good hire 4 years ago.
Click to expand...

I'm not the kind of poster that calls somebody out about a post count. I think valid points are valid points regardless of how many posts a person has. The constant comparisons to Vandy and Corbin was what I was pointing out.

I may be Pro Serrano and I definitely want what is best for the players, actually flip that, the players come first and what's best for the program.

I think people might ought to look at what we're actually replacing. Is it going to be difficult to replace the production of Stewie and Lee at the plate? Yes...

On the other hand, Owenby had a 6.00+ ERA in SEC play. Lee pitched 15 SEC innings out of 250 innings, or 1 inning in half the SEC games. We have to replace Marks, but that was gonna happen anyway.

Because Cox didn't go to the Cape, like Lee and Owenby last summer, and because he didn't start a game until 28 of them had been played, we retain the best pitcher over the last two years. Neely and Curl both pitch in the 90-92 range, other than Serrano, I'm not sure we've had that coming in before. We'll go into the summer with 15 pitchers on the roster, including Westphal and most of those guys are complete unknowns because of what happened at the beginning of this season. I don't know if it will last, but the guys as a whole, are off to the best start this summer of any that I've kept up with.

When I watch the CWS, it strikes me that everyone of the teams in it have impact freshman. If we can have that, we'll be okay and better than last year.

The other good thing is that we didn't lose EVERYTHING. We'll have to find a first baseman that can hit and due to the roster turnover, we're gonna have 3 or 4 spots, depending on what Cammarata does. CDS has proven he kind find JUCO position players, and I feel even more comfortable with Mr. Simcox being on board. Think Scott Price. Probably need a catcher, think Schultz and we have another spot or two if we need to pick up a pitcher. Langhorne, Rodgers and Lance could play key roles. VJax was off to the best start of his career, Hall and Pruett figured it out. So we've got the opportunity to have a good mix of experience and youth, which all these SEC teams in the CWS seem to have.

Finally, I realize for some Vandy is the measuring stick. All one has to do is look at the draft to see that. And though this was the best draft for Tennessee Baseball in some time, it's not what Vandy and UF are doing.

Baby steps. Take care of UGA, UK and Missouri, then worry about the big boys. Be humble making the schedule and hope mother nature cooperates. We'll be okay, and if not we'll move on.

I just don't see the reasoning in dreading the season the rest of the year and expecting the worst for some folks who seem to really be doing their level best.

It's not as bad as some make it seem.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 3 people
#103
#103
Firing a coach is like selling a stock. It's effective only if you can promptly make a wise investment elsewhere.

I said from the beginning I would withhold judgment until after the 2015 season, and I've consistently said he should get to fulfill his entire contract.

I'm sticking with both positions. I am officially disappointed in his performance.

I expected him to be better at player development, especially pitchers, but we really haven't seen him take any projects to levels above what was predictable from the talent and reputations his players arrived with.

I expected to see better coaching produce a consistent team whose hustle, smarts, and poise could close some of the talent gap.

And I expected better recruiting, especially in the area of managing draft risk. Several of the guys we lost to the pros were widely considered signable pro prospects all along, and the commitments of these players looked like marriages of convenience between players who wanted the leverage of a plan B and the coaches who didn't mind creating some buzz by getting known studs to "commit." Schools like Vandy do a better job of making sure pro-ready recruits really want to go to college before they let them commit. Losing Davila doesn't bother me--he had a major jump after his commitment, so that just says Serrano judged the talent right but got unlucky with the timing of when he bloomed. I think we're in for similar disappointment next year with Linginfelter.

Despite all this, I think he should get at least his fifth year and shouldn't be let go even next year without a legitimate hope of landing someone who can do better at this school in this conference.
 
#104
#104
vol66 said:
I'm not the kind of poster that calls somebody out about a post count. I think valid points are valid points regardless of how many posts a person has. The constant comparisons to Vandy and Corbin was what I was pointing out.

I may be Pro Serrano and I definitely want what is best for the players, actually flip that, the players come first and what's best for the program.

I think people might ought to look at what we're actually replacing. Is it going to be difficult to replace the production of Stewie and Lee at the plate? Yes...

On the other hand, Owenby had a 6.00+ ERA in SEC play. Lee pitched 15 SEC innings out of 250 innings, or 1 inning in half the SEC games. We have to replace Marks, but that was gonna happen anyway.

Because Cox didn't go to the Cape, like Lee and Owenby last summer, and because he didn't start a game until 28 of them had been played, we retain the best pitcher over the last two years. Neely and Curl both pitch in the 90-92 range, other than Serrano, I'm not sure we've had that coming in before. We'll go into the summer with 15 pitchers on the roster, including Westphal and most of those guys are complete unknowns because of what happened at the beginning of this season. I don't know if it will last, but the guys as a whole, are off to the best start this summer of any that I've kept up with.

When I watch the CWS, it strikes me that everyone of the teams in it have impact freshman. If we can have that, we'll be okay and better than last year.

The other good thing is that we didn't lose EVERYTHING. We'll have to find a first baseman that can hit and due to the roster turnover, we're gonna have 3 or 4 spots, depending on what Cammarata does. CDS has proven he kind find JUCO position players, and I feel even more comfortable with Mr. Simcox being on board. Think Scott Price. Probably need a catcher, think Schultz and we have another spot or two if we need to pick up a pitcher. Langhorne, Rodgers and Lance could play key roles. VJax was off to the best start of his career, Hall and Pruett figured it out. So we've got the opportunity to have a good mix of experience and youth, which all these SEC teams in the CWS seem to have.

Finally, I realize for some Vandy is the measuring stick. All one has to do is look at the draft to see that. And though this was the best draft for Tennessee Baseball in some time, it's not what Vandy and UF are doing.

Baby steps. Take care of UGA, UK and Missouri, then worry about the big boys. Be humble making the schedule and hope mother nature cooperates. We'll be okay, and if not we'll move on.

I just don't see the reasoning in dreading the season the rest of the year and expecting the worst for some folks who seem to really be doing their level best.

It's not as bad as some make it seem.
Click to expand...

your last sentence is dead on. I'm not saying its going to be great next year but it might be enough.........
 
#111
#111
vol66 that was a really good post in response. Thanks for taking the time for laying out your reasoning on the program and Serrano. 12 months from now I hope we are looking at a team that has just been to a NCAA Regional and we both can feel great about the direction the program is heading.
 
#112
#112
TNSportsman said:
vol66 that was a really good post in response. Thanks for taking the time for laying out your reasoning on the program and Serrano. 12 months from now I hope we are looking at a team that has just been to a NCAA Regional and we both can feel great about the direction the program is heading.
Click to expand...

I apologize if I came off as trying to shout you down and just so you and others know, there are a lot of reasons to doubt Coach Serrano. I don't think one has to look any further than his record versus UGA. He's 2-8. UGA is a program that is down and has gone through a coaching transition much like us. Getting swept by them, at home, this past season is...unacceptable...Kentucky lost a lot from a good offensive team the year before and they swept us. Just winning those two series would have had an impact on the perception of where the program is headed.

As a team we hit .263, that's not going to cut it.

We should have been a better baseball team in 2015. No doubt about it.

How do I square the reality of what happened in 2015 and my optimism for the future. I look at South Carolina. Holbrook took over a program in good shape, certainly better than ours. A few key injuries wrecked their season and I think that played a huge part for us as well. Cox and Martin weren't healthy to start the season. Owenby and Marks both missed games. Vincent Jackson got hurt. Lance got hurt. Westphal...Whatever was going on with Houser, Maggio and Plunkett...the weather at the beginning, too many road games...just a confluence of things...

That may sound like I'm making excuses, but we don't have the depth to replace starting pitchers and there not be a drop off. Neither did South Carolina.
 
#113
#113
vol66 said:
As a team we hit .263, that's not going to cut it.

.
Click to expand...

Serrano is to blame for this for letting Bergeron run the offense like he did. This includes:

--Bunting from the first inning on
--Making hitters take until late in the count (2 strikes)
--Hitting behind runners to move them over from 1st inn
--Negative, negative, negative attitude towards players
--Taking too many chances on the bases (giving away 3+ outs per game)
 
#114
#114
Backwards K said:
Serrano is to blame for this for letting Bergeron run the offense like he did. This includes:

--Bunting from the first inning on
--Making hitters take until late in the count (2 strikes)
--Hitting behind runners to move them over from 1st inn
--Negative, negative, negative attitude towards players
--Taking too many chances on the bases (giving away 3+ outs per game)
Click to expand...

I don't disagree. Serrano is the Head Coach, ultimately, he is responsible.

I don't recall the game or exact situation but I remember a game where Senzel was asked to bunt. Senzel at that moment and even now, has not a sac hit to his name. And i believe AJ was on deck, the UT career leader in that category.

You could tell a lot just off of Senzel's facial expression. The rest of the season, that was always there in my mind, some kind of pride thing about Bergeron running HIS offense.

He's gone and Simcox is on board, another reason for optimism.
 
#115
#115
I just realized how unfair the set-up for the CWS series is.

Florida won its loser's bracket game on Wed and got a day off (thursday).

TCU won its loser's bracket game on Thur and did not receive a day off.
 
#116
#116
99gator said:
I just realized how unfair the set-up for the CWS series is.

Florida won its loser's bracket game on Wed and got a day off (thursday).

TCU won its loser's bracket game on Thur and did not receive a day off.
Click to expand...

Way too spread out and now they have to merge the sides to try to eliminate advantage of the side that started first
 
#117
#117
The winner of the winner's bracket should be rewarded by playing less games and getting to face a pitcher deeper in the rotation from the team returning from the losers' bracket. This advantage is negated by this set up because the teams coming back from the losers' bracket can now return to the top of their pitching rotation and use their 1 and 2 to get to championship series.
 
#123
#123
This isn't hindsight talking, but I remember thinking it was a complete joke that Vandy was not a national seed.

I mention this because, if they win the national title, people will throw out the stat that yet another team that was not a national seed won the national title.

Well, I'm sorry. They should have been a national seed.
 
#124
#124
Why on earth wouldn't Vandy take Buehler out to save him for game 3??

Should have come out after 6 IMO
 
#125
#125
UVA is the team I want to win it all but if they make the finals I think we can just gift wrap the title to Vandy. UF is the only team that can go toe to toe with them offensively.
 
New posts
You must log in or register to reply here.

VN Store



Back
Top