I noticed we already have 10 passed balls on the young season. That is more in 12 games than the last two years combined (124 games). Seems to be a pick your poison behind the plate. One guy struggles to catch it and the other struggles to stop base stealers.
Another contributor to the free bases total that may be overlooked...
- Thread starter thekimmer
- Start date
Apparently our catchers are making the mistake of assuming that our pitchers will throw strikes
We have catchers? I thought they were just players caught pitches and toss it back to the pitcher. Don't catchers throw out base stealers sometimes? I guess it be better to ask if anyone is actually been thrown out attempting to steal against us.
So far I haven't noticed a difference between Hancock and Highfill behind the dish. The only way I can tell which is which back there is whether or not the guy playing first is big or small. For all the touting of Highfill about being such a defensive stud, haven't seen the production yet.
According to latest stats on HailState.com 1 of those is Hancock's and 9 are Highfills. Highfill is 0-6 throwing out baserunners stealing and Hancock is 1-20. Hancocks came against VMI, I remember him throwing out a runner at 2B
Regarding current stats vs other SEC teans…..Not to gloss over our issues, of which there are many, but we have played by far the toughest OOC slate of any SEC team. Current SOS is #27. Next closest SEC team is Florida at #40, then UGA at #56.
We’ll know plenty more in a few weeks. We have an awful staff ERA right now due in large part to only 3 or 4 guys who frankly shouldn’t see the mound again this season in any critical spots. Its on Foxhall to see to that. If he doesn’t then 17 him. The fielding issues will regress towards the mean over time. That generally always happens as players get more comfortable in their roles throughout the year.
We need to finish strong in these last 7 OOC games before SEC play….no two ways about it. We’re talented enough to go anywhere from 5-2 to 7-0 against those teams. Anything less will put us behind the 8-ball to where we’ll have to win 15-16 in SEC play to make a regional.
We’ll know plenty more in a few weeks. We have an awful staff ERA right now due in large part to only 3 or 4 guys who frankly shouldn’t see the mound again this season in any critical spots. Its on Foxhall to see to that. If he doesn’t then 17 him. The fielding issues will regress towards the mean over time. That generally always happens as players get more comfortable in their roles throughout the year.
We need to finish strong in these last 7 OOC games before SEC play….no two ways about it. We’re talented enough to go anywhere from 5-2 to 7-0 against those teams. Anything less will put us behind the 8-ball to where we’ll have to win 15-16 in SEC play to make a regional.
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Man I miss Logan Tanner. I really can't believe we wiffed on his replacement so badly. Makes you realize just how important a solid catcher (or 2, God forbid!) is for a team. Could also have a lot to do with our pitching problems.
ETA Example:
For what its worth these are next 5 opponents:
Valparasio took 1-3 from Kansas, swept 3 from UT Martin and took 2-3 from U of AR LR
Lipscomb took 2-3 from Notre Dame, 2-3 from U IL Chicago, lost to TN Tech and was swept by Auburn this past weekend
I looked this up yesterday too.
Through 12 games:
79 walks
12 wild pitches
10 passed balls
14 hit batters
When you add all that up I wonder how many free bases we’ve handed out.
Well, there isn't a statistic in baseball that tracks what I'm talking about.
Walks, HBP, steals, WP, etc.. are not calculated into the total bases statistic.
I'm referring to the actual number of times an opposing player advanced a base due to something we did rather than them hitting the ball. And trust me.. it's a helluva lot more than 1 base per inning.
I understand and realize you meant total bases affected. I just added all of those up and divided by the number of games (just for a little context of the frequency) and came up with 9 and some change per game on average.
And if we then consider that we’re also giving up hits at a clip of roughly one per inning as well, then this means we’re either putting two runners on base or at the least moving one into scoring position every single inning that we’ve played.
My gosh, that has to be a historically bad number, and this is without even considering fielding errors
That's just pitiful. Add this: team ERA is 5.75 and the team WHIP is 1.65 (should be closer to 1)... even more disturbing is the team is fielding at .949, with 23 errors in 12 games. So what happened after we won a Natty?
A really bad team has these stats.
Even with the criticism on this site, sixpackers by and large seem quite forgiving and patient.
Except for when there are two runners on and we walk a man and then throw a wild pitch. That's 6 free bases in two pitches.
I am going to the Valpo game to watch our catchers, defense and pitching. The last time I went to a mid/week game it was 13-0 Louisiana Monroe at the end of 5-ish. No offense!!
We actually know plenty now relative to our pitching and defense. Walks, wild pitches, passed balls and errors have almost nothing to do with the opponent. Those things are basically like free throw % in basketball. That being those stats are all about US. We either get these things corrected quickly or not only will there be no postseason, we will almost assuredly end up.with another losing record.
Obviously agree….the SOS commentary was geared more towards hitting. But I also think we do have a few guys to build around on the mound, which is something we did not have last year. Cjintje, Gartman, and Dohm have generally been good every time out. Tapper has been a surprise and Gibbs has been decent in limited opportunities. If you add a healthy Cade, Pico, and Nixon to that group (and who knows what is going on with any of them), you’d only need one or two more guys to have a solid staff.
But the time for experimentation should be over at this point. Of the 18 non-TJ pitchers on the staff, we really just need 8-10 guys we can count on. To be blunt, Davis, Hunt, and Hardin don’t need to be doing anything besides warming up the catchers unless the game is way out of hand. And there are a few others who should be probably added to that list as well.
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