The Halfway Point

#76
#76
vol66 said:
Now that I've doled out a healthy dose of criticism I think the thing to do is dole out some positives...

We have a great relationship with USA Baseball and for CDS to be able to point that out to recruits can only be a positive and that is something that Coach brought with him and has developed and obviously has maintained.

The academic side of things is in the best shape it's been in a long time and he seems to get a lot of compliments on how the players behave. He also doesn't seem to put up with any BS in that department.

He's repaired a lot of relationships.

Last year's MLB draft and the upcoming one. He can/will be able to show examples of how a kid can come here and really improve his stock.

Probably the biggest compliment I can put forward for Coach is that he's made changes to his staff all along the way and I'm not sure we can quite grasp how painful that probably was and he basically dumped a philosophy that was part of the reason he had been successful. Hiring Slim and the turn around in hitting is quite obvious. There have been others that fly below the radar. Bringing Chip Dill aboard to help with pitching. Last year for the first 2/3rds or so Dill did the visits and CDS only brought the hook. For whatever reason, that changed and that's just one example.

Sure, maybe it took too long, but many coaches would have just gone down with the ship, many do...that may only prove one thing. He really wants to be here and he really is trying his level best to be successful.

I've heard Coach Glanville say something along the lines of, before you tell me what a player can't do, you have to tell me three good things about the player. That one stuck.
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Spot on....
 
#77
#77
Here's another question for anyone...

How many times have you questioned a decision CDS has made this season compared to previous seasons?

For me, that's down quite a bit and he's been making lot's of interesting ones like Benito leading off. Just something I was thinking on.
 
#78
#78
vol66 said:
Here's another question for anyone...

How many times have you questioned a decision CDS has made this season compared to previous seasons?

For me, that's down quite a bit and he's been making lot's of interesting ones like Benito leading off. Just something I was thinking on.
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Benito leading off was interesting and it has worked out pretty well so far. He kept Bartlett at short while he was struggling in the field and he has played much better defense recently.

I questioned a few times why he was leaving pitchers in the game, but we have seen by the bullpens performance that he probably felt it was his best option.
 
#79
#79
I just watched a few innings of Louisville vs, Va. Tech...good grief...had a guy in there consistently hitting 97, then brought on Burdi to close, 96 mph with a 90 mph change...oof...
 
#80
#80
vol66 said:
I just watched a few innings of Louisville vs, Va. Tech...good grief...had a guy in there consistently hitting 97, then brought on Burdi to close, 96 mph with a 90 mph change...oof...
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Yep the gap is huge

Way to wide
 
#81
#81
BruinVol said:
Yep the gap is huge

Way to wide
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I've been starting to think about it...it's almost like a vicious circle...

You gotta be able to offer regionals or you can't get the pitchers but to get to regionals consistently you gotta have the pitching.

And I'm starting to think just to get into the middle of the league and finish somewhere around .500, it's the same thing, maybe on a different scale, but I think we have to get there first to be able to offer the opportunity of regionals.

In other words, I don't think we can catch the guys at the top until we've caught up with the teams that finish 5,6,7,8 in the league that get those remaining bids. I guess that seems kind of obvious but...
 
#82
#82
vol66 said:
I've been starting to think about it...it's almost like a vicious circle...

You gotta be able to offer regionals or you can't get the pitchers but to get to regionals consistently you gotta have the pitching.

And I'm starting to think just to get into the middle of the league and finish somewhere around .500, it's the same thing, maybe on a different scale, but I think we have to get there first to be able to offer the opportunity of regionals.

In other words, I don't think we can catch the guys at the top until we've caught up with the teams that finish 5,6,7,8 in the league that get those remaining bids. I guess that seems kind of obvious but...
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Agreed. Zero shot to get the top at first

In all honestly I think the ceiling for this program is.

7 regionals every 10 years with 1 CWS in that time frame where a top 3 finish in the sec is that year.

That would be a great job by a coach IMO
 
#83
#83
BruinVol said:
Agreed. Zero shot to get the top at first

In all honestly I think the ceiling for this program is.

7 regionals every 10 years with 1 CWS in that time frame where a top 3 finish in the sec is that year.

That would be a great job by a coach IMO
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You are far more optimistic than I my friend.
 
#84
#84
vol66 said:
You are far more optimistic than I my friend.
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Finishing 5-11 6 times in a decade gets us in a regional

Finishing top 3 once would mean talent enough to make Omaha

Curious to how many regionals kentucky has been to the past 5 years. That job is harder than ours
 
#85
#85
BruinVol said:
Finishing 5-11 6 times in a decade gets us in a regional

Finishing top 3 once would mean talent enough to make Omaha

Curious to how many regionals kentucky has been to the past 5 years. That job is harder than ours
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Off the top of my head, didn't make last year, but were a bubble team, made it in 2014...
 
#86
#86
vol66 said:
Off the top of my head, didn't make last year, but were a bubble team, made it in 2014...
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They have been twice in last 5 years.

4 times in last 10 with 1 SEC championship but didn't make it to Omaha that year

Zero reason we can't do better than that
 
#87
#87
BruinVol said:
They have been twice in last 5 years.

4 times in last 10 with 1 SEC championship but didn't make it to Omaha that year

Zero reason we can't do better than that
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Over that 10 years have they had the same coach...I could look it but I'm watching one of those 30/30 thing on Will Clark and Palmero when they were at MSU...pretty cool.
 
#88
#88
vol66 said:
Over that 10 years have they had the same coach...I could look it but I'm watching one of those 30/30 thing on Will Clark and Palmero when they were at MSU...pretty cool.
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Cohen would have been the coach at the start of that decade I think

Will check
 
#89
#89
BruinVol said:
Cohen would have been the coach at the start of that decade I think

Will check
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I got...Henderson has been HC the past 7 seasons, but was an assistant since 2003...got to a regional in his 4th year...
 
#91
#91
NorCalVol67 said:
Benito leading off was interesting and it has worked out pretty well so far. He kept Bartlett at short while he was struggling in the field and he has played much better defense recently.

I questioned a few times why he was leaving pitchers in the game, but we have seen by the bullpens performance that he probably felt it was his best option.
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66, you said something in your Morehead State by the numbers post that caught my eye, you said "no free passes". CDS has been preaching of late about our pitchers throwing with more command and 1st pitch strikes and the last few weeks there seems to be an improvement I believe. We've also been getting killed out of the pen. Maybe our guys need to "effectively wild" again, potentially keeping the ball out of the zone more often...just a thought and digging deep for answers!
 
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#92
#92
OldTimer said:
66, you said something in your Morehead State by the numbers post that caught my eye, you said "no free passes". CDS has been preaching of late about our pitchers throwing with more command and 1st pitch strikes and the last few weeks there seems to be an improvement I believe. We've also been getting killed out of the pen. Maybe our guys need to "effectively wild" again, potentially keeping the ball out of the zone more often...just a thought and digging deep for answers!
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Seems like the starting pitching has been better about not walking as many...but yeah...the next guys in...have not proven to be good pitchers with runners on base for the most part.
 
#93
#93
vol66 said:
Seems like the starting pitching has been better about not walking as many...but yeah...the next guys in...have not proven to be good pitchers with runners on base for the most part.
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Here is the "captain obvious" solution to our success the rest of the season and its not fair to put that much pressure on the offense however if we have any hopes to maker it to Hoover and beyond we simply have to score a lot of runs every game! If we don't score 7+ runs per game we will more than likely lose.

The good news is we are capable and shown we can produce some big numbers against anyone, probably not consistent enough for a sweep but hopefully enough to take 2 of 3...
 
#94
#94
OldTimer said:
Here is the "captain obvious" solution to our success the rest of the season and its not fair to put that much pressure on the offense however if we have any hopes to maker it to Hoover and beyond we simply have to score a lot of runs every game! If we don't score 7+ runs per game we will more than likely lose.

The good news is we are capable and shown we can produce some big numbers against anyone, probably not consistent enough for a sweep but hopefully enough to take 2 of 3...
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We'll know whether that kind of scenario will work against elite pitching at the end of this weekend...Holy Moly...without Will Crowe too...

Their main guys have started 21 games combined and they are 17-2. :eek:hmy:
 
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#95
#95
vol66 said:
We'll know whether that kind of scenario will work against elite pitching at the end of this weekend...Holy Moly...without Will Crowe too...

Their main guys have started 21 games combined and they are 17-2. :eek:hmy:
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and I think its 2 freshmen and a sophomore. Need to double check that however watching the tv broadcast it seems thats who they started.
 
#97
#97
vol66 said:
Schmidt is a So. in 50 IP, 7BB and 60 SO...good grief...
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Good grief is right. 2.52 team ERA to go along with a .303 team batting average is a nice little combo. Team fielding % of .978 is not too shabby either.
 
#98
#98
Ok, I am sure that I am going to open myself up to some ridicule but I think we are really close to being a good team. I am convinced that Simcox is helping a ton with the sticks and we have a lot of really good arms coming in next season. The league is full of freshmen arms that are contributing at a high level and we have a great mix of power pitchers and kids with high pitch ability coming in next year. South Carolina is proof of what kind of impact they can have. LSU had 2 of 3 weekend starters a couple of years ago that were freshmen. If Kyle can come back strong, along with Warren and these new kids we should compete. OK, fire away!
 
#99
#99
zachpack said:
Ok, I am sure that I am going to open myself up to some ridicule but I think we are really close to being a good team. I am convinced that Simcox is helping a ton with the sticks and we have a lot of really good arms coming in next season. The league is full of freshmen arms that are contributing at a high level and we have a great mix of power pitchers and kids with high pitch ability coming in next year. South Carolina is proof of what kind of impact they can have. LSU had 2 of 3 weekend starters a couple of years ago that were freshmen. If Kyle can come back strong, along with Warren and these new kids we should compete. OK, fire away!
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Kyle would be crazy to come back. Needs to take the $ now
 
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