With the exception of the transfer portal maybe not being used as extensively for the pitching staff, us being thin there isn’t the fault of the current staff. It is mostly on Cannizzaro and the MLB draft getting some guys from 2019 and 2020 classes. And of course you aren’t going to just up and find a Landon Sims in the transfer portal anyway, so it was always going to be a major kick in the nuts when he went down. No way around it.
I intentionally left it at "coaches" rather than Lemonis. Not sure how much blame Lemonis should shoulder the blame. Can't blame him at all for our junior class I don't think. Realistically any sophomores would have depending on finding some late bloomers or overlooked players, or cashing in on the fact that more players than usual went to college. Really sucks we werent' in better position for that class. That's probably going to hurt us for next year too.
With the hitting, I haven’t checked the latest numbers but as of a week or two ago we were hovering at around the same number of runs per game in SEC play as last year. Yeager / Hines / Forsythe have all been positive surprises. Cumbest took a big step forward.
Those are the four players I noted, and two of them the staff has only had for a year.
Logan Tanner has hit for less power but more average. James seems to have been the same. Clark has basically been the same player as last year, but with his numbers projected out over the course of the full season where as he wasn’t a regular until late in the year last season. Hancock has been pretty much the same, but less clutch and not as adept at working counts and having plate discipline.
I read that a senior didn't progress and maybe regressed slightly (which is understandable; lots of players are who they are by their senior year), two juniors (Tanner & James) not get better (which is also not a red flag, but considering how limited their freshmen year was, would have hoped they'd still get a good jump, although to be fair, James stats actually are up some), and then a true sophomore that hasn't gotten better, which is a little more troubling, although obviously the sophomore slump wouldn't be a term if it didn't happen.
So nothing individually that is a huge red flag, but it's concerning that we have so many returning players and none of them got noticeably better at the plate other than Mule and I guess Forsythe.
We’ve regressed at the CF spot offensively with Rowdy being replaced by Davis / McGowan, but that’s about it. Pitching has been the much bigger problem.
I'm not worried about new players not being as good as the people leaving the national championship team. That was a given. I'm worried about the fact that so few of our players seem to have gotten better at the plate when we had lots of candidates as far as young players an/or players that didn't have as much experience because of the limited 2020 season.
