“Leadership” on the baseball team.

[Requiem For A Dawg]

One of the dumbest things I constantly read/hear when a team struggles is “this team has no leadership… X, Y, & Z graduated, and no one is stepping up to take their leadership role.”

Being a good player doesn’t automatically make you a good leader. Rowdey is a name that gets mentioned as someone whose leadership that we must replace. I guess by this measurement of leadership, due to his notorious slow starts offensively, Rowdey was a sucky leader all year until SEC play started then he became a great leader once he started hitting.

The truth is no one knows what goes on behind closed doors in the locker room, during practice, or in the dugout during the game. The whole team might be showing up early and staying late for extra reps because a teammate demanded it of them, or half the team may show up to practice hungover. The truth is… no one knows except the players on the team.

Leadership takes on several different forms some you can see as a fan but most you can’t. Just because a team sucks doesn’t mean they don’t have good leadership, and just because a team is a good doesn’t mean their leadership doesn’t suck.

Blaming leadership is just a tired excuse that fans can use to make themselves feel better when their team sucks.

 

[PuebloDawg]

Leadership comes from the top and trickles down. If it doesn’t, then when you lose good natural player leaders you are screwed. I think this is what we are seeing…we’re screwed this year for sure.

 

[57stratdawg]

I think we’ll hit this year. Without Sims, we have major issues on the mound.

 

[Mr. Cook]

I think we’ll hit this year. Without Sims, we have major issues on the mound.

The old adage of "staying healthy" is ringing true for us early in the season.

 

[M R DAWGS]

We lost our 2 main starting pitchers. We also lost our late emerging starting pitcher last year in Houston. Our elite closer turned starter will need Tommy John. Our best hitters are gone. We aren’t very good right now. It just plain sucks. This whole athletic year has sucked.

 

[Cooterpoot]

The leadership I'm most concerned with is the one that hasn't recruited sufficiently to fill big holes. And next year? Holy hell we lose a ton. We're looking at two years before things really have a chance to start turning around if this team flounders. Sims gone is a killer! We already moved our whole pen to the rotation basically and now one is gone. That pen is as bad as I can remember.

 

[Dawgtruc]

One of the dumbest things I constantly read/hear when a team struggles is “this team has no leadership… X, Y, & Z graduated, and no one is stepping up to take their leadership role.”

Being a good player doesn’t automatically make you a good leader. Rowdey is a name that gets mentioned as someone whose leadership that we must replace. I guess by this measurement of leadership, due to his notorious slow starts offensively, Rowdey was a sucky leader all year until SEC play started then he became a great leader once he started hitting.

The truth is no one knows what goes on behind closed doors in the locker room, during practice, or in the dugout during the game. The whole team might be showing up early and staying late for extra reps because a teammate demanded it of them, or half the team may show up to practice hungover. The truth is… no one knows except the players on the team.

Leadership takes on several different forms some you can see as a fan but most you can’t. Just because a team sucks doesn’t mean they don’t have good leadership, and just because a team is a good doesn’t mean their leadership doesn’t suck.

Blaming leadership is just a tired excuse that fans can use to make themselves feel better when their team sucks.

Not a leadership thing. The problem is CLUTCH HITTING.

Cumbest was up 3 times with either bases loaded or 2nd & 3rd and was 0 for 3. (I think one run scored on a fielder's choice.)

 

[Smoked Toag]

Why don't ya'll just STFU and watch it play out this year? We have no idea who might come to the forefront and be a leader at the end of the season, which will carry over into next year. One thing is for sure - we have talent. We don't have a lot of talented older guys, especially compared to the rest of the SEC which has some COVID seniors.

Relax and let them struggle, for God's sake. It's early in the year. They'll be better for it.

 

[DoggieDaddy13]

They struggled last year and got BLOWN THE 17 OUT in the SEC tournament and guess what still happened? anyone?

The hitting is concerning, but we've got one of the best coaching staffs in the country and we have good players. We will make some noise at the end of the season and hopefully get back to Omaha to defend our 17n NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP.

This is a message board and all complaints and comments are immediate, urgent, CRITICAL EVEN. Let's acknowledge that. Let's also acknowledge that, while it is not likely, it is quite possible we could really stink it up for the entire season, be under .500, and unable to sniff a regional....

... that's baseball.

 

[johnson86-1]

One of the dumbest things I constantly read/hear when a team struggles is “this team has no leadership… X, Y, & Z graduated, and no one is stepping up to take their leadership role.”

Being a good player doesn’t automatically make you a good leader. Rowdey is a name that gets mentioned as someone whose leadership that we must replace. I guess by this measurement of leadership, due to his notorious slow starts offensively, Rowdey was a sucky leader all year until SEC play started then he became a great leader once he started hitting.

The truth is no one knows what goes on behind closed doors in the locker room, during practice, or in the dugout during the game. The whole team might be showing up early and staying late for extra reps because a teammate demanded it of them, or half the team may show up to practice hungover. The truth is… no one knows except the players on the team.

Leadership takes on several different forms some you can see as a fan but most you can’t. Just because a team sucks doesn’t mean they don’t have good leadership, and just because a team is a good doesn’t mean their leadership doesn’t suck.

Blaming leadership is just a tired excuse that fans can use to make themselves feel better when their team sucks.

Yea, the reality is that sometimes players just inexplicably suck, even when they're doing the right things. I have never heard anything negative about Hatcher as far as how he acted off the field or during practice or workouts. He just went into a funk and couldn't get out of it. I don't think it was lack of leadership by him or people around him.

We have had basically no good surprises this year and a lot of underachievement by people we thought would at least be decent. Mule is probably the only player that has stepped up, and he has struggled with RISP, so his improved hitting hasn't impacted the win column as much as it could have. I am more inclined to believe there is a coaching or culture or leadership problem when basically nobody is overachieving and lots of people are underachieving, but we didnt' look that much different last year at this time. Nobody had stepped up yet (except for I guess Tanner Allen) and we had a lot of downside surprises, and we eventually had players emerge at the plate and on the mound.

I'm still expecting a lot of these players that are struggling to either figure it out or get replaced and for us to be pretty good by the end of the year. I don't think we're going to have enough players to emerge to be elite, but I didn't think we would last year either at the start of SEC play. Of course then we had Sims and TA, and I don't think we have either of those types of pieces in the field or on the mound, but maybe we will be surprised.

 

[Trojanbulldog19]

Not a leadership thing. The problem is CLUTCH HITTING.

Cumbest was up 3 times with either bases loaded or 2nd & 3rd and was 0 for 3. (I think one run scored on a fielder's choice.)

I was chastised last week for saying that if cumbest had a more consistent bat he would be a big time pro. Well this weekend he had several opportunities to do big damage but he folded big time.

It's not just him though. Guys like kam James. LT. Clark. All supposed to be big hitters have not been much this season outside of Friday and early Saturday.

Like I said yesterday many of the guys gorbtildne had averages in the 400s. Many of ours were 200s or less. Some of our so called hitters are in 100s. For the pitchers we have faced that's terrible.

Gautreaux needs to figure something out or he needs to be gone.

That's two season in a row these so called hitters have been extremely flashy. We caught on near the end of the season last year snd last year we found a lot of ways to come back snd win.

That's where the leadership snd clutchness comes in. We need someone to step up and pull the team through when we get behind.

 

[thatsbaseball]

Clutch hitting IS what makes a baseball player a leader.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

Na, leadership is a thing and it's real. Look at TA and Rowdey. And throw in

Riley Self as well. Look at what they went thru, two of them as freshmen. It took a team of strong willed guys to hold it together in 2018. Who did they look up to? Just some guy named Jake Mangum. The most decorated player in school history. Certainly some of that rubbed off on them. Work ethic for one but stuff we don't see that happen behind the scenes. That's what great programs do. Coaches stay out of the way until drastic things need to be taken and players lead. I'm not faulting the veterans on this team since they may be trying their best to lead. I think it's just too much to overcome. We are getting next to nothing hitting wise from our middle infield. No matter who we put out there. And aside from Cumbest, no real consistency from the outfield. Clark's weekend is promising though. And I think Downs will be a player once he gets more at bats. Then there's the bullpen. Possibly the worst performing group in memory. No amount of leadership can overcome a group that blows an 8 run lead one day then balks in the tying run yesterday.

 

[Cooterpoot]

This pen is a dumpster fire. There's limited talent there. Now the rotation is in trouble. I feel ok about the hitters (to a point). They hit a lot shots at people this weekend. The disappointing part was the veterans not showing up when they had the chance.

 

[Smoked Toag]

Clutch hitting IS what makes a baseball player a leader.

Not true. Over time, a player who has good numbers will come through in the clutch. It's a matter of numbers. Coaches and fans alike are really dumb to this idea, no offense to you in particular.

A leader is someone who has had success (thus earned respect) and also goes out and shows effort, repeatedly, and ultimately influences the rest of the players and makes them better. Got nothing to do with clutch, you do the aforementioned things, clutch will take care of itself.

Cumbest has a 1.087 OPS and leading the team in HRs. He was successful last year and now has become and everyday starter. The clutch hits will come over time. We will see if he takes that next step and influences the rest of the players around him, or becomes just another guys with good stats. But clutch has nothing to do with leadership. Leaders are always ready to be clutch, but sometimes even they fail.

 

[Cooterpoot]

Not true. Over time, a player who has good numbers will come through in the clutch. It's a matter of numbers. Coaches and fans alike are really dumb to this idea, no offense to you in particular.

A leader is someone who has had success (thus earned respect) and also goes out and shows effort, repeatedly, and ultimately influences the rest of the players and makes them better. Got nothing to do with clutch, you do the aforementioned things, clutch will take care of itself.

Cumbest has a 1.087 OPS and leading the team in HRs. He was successful last year and now has become and everyday starter. The clutch hits will come over time. We will see if he takes that next step and influences the rest of the players around him, or becomes just another guys with good stats. But clutch has nothing to do with leadership. Leaders are always ready to be clutch, but sometimes even they fail.

There's literally a metric for clutch hitting if you're into metrics. A hitter hitting .300 and also hitting .300 in high leverage situations isn't considered clutch. He's considered average.

 

[Smoked Toag]

There's literally a metric for clutch hitting if you're into metrics. A hitter hitting .300 and also hitting .300 in high leverage situations isn't considered clutch. He's considered average.

Sure, because you have numbers for it and you can measure situations with runners on base. But it'll regress to the mean over time. A good hitter is a good hitter.

 

[johnson86-1]

Sure, because you have numbers for it and you can measure situations with runners on base. But it'll regress to the mean over time. A good hitter is a good hitter.

I think there are non-clutch hitters. Some people just don't have it mentally. I'm more skeptical that there are clutch hitters. I think the type of player that would thrive under the pressure is also going to be the player that stays relatively focused all the time.

 

[Smoked Toag]

I think there are non-clutch hitters. Some people just don't have it mentally. I'm more skeptical that there are clutch hitters. I think the type of player that would thrive under the pressure is also going to be the player that stays relatively focused all the time.

I could see that. Definitely agree with the last sentence.