Baseball season prediction thread...
- Thread starter dawgstudent
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That's one I can believe. Reminder to others, everybody makes it this year and its single elimination
Iffy. The conference may relegate us by easter.
I don't disagree with anything you said but I still think we have a lot to work with. Here's how I break it down by position.
- 1B: Better. 2025 Hunter Hines > 2024 Hunter Hines. He's been here 3 years and 2024 was easily his worst. I'm confident he'll be better in 2025.
- 2B: Push. Larry hit .252 last year with a .952 fielding percentage. I'd say some combination of Reeves/Sanders/Pulliam certainly wont be worse.
- SS: Worse. Mershon was a gamer. He will be missed, but I do think Cupp & Bukner will be solid.
- 3B: Better. Ace Reese has a big time bat. He may have some deficiencies defensively, but his bat is going to be substantially better than Kohler's .244 from last year. Worst case scenario is he moves back to the outfield and Frei plays 3rd.
- C: Better. Highfill & Powell is a better combo than Long & Powell.
- LF: Push. Bryce Chance/Aaron Downs
- CF: Worse. Hujsak was our top hitter by the end of the season and solid defensively. He'll be missed.
- RF: Obviously worse. Even with his struggles down the stretch, Jordan was an emense talent and lossing him will be felt.
- DH: Better. Sullivan will likely get the most opportunities here, but we have several good options behind him as well (better than last year)
- Starting pitching: Worse. Khal & Loo were outstanding.
- Bullpen pitching: Better. We should have much better depth than last year. We lost several key games due to the bullpen in 2024.
Worse: x4
Push: x2
ETA:
- Schedule: Better. Much much Better. I think we drew the easiest SEC schedule possible.
the worse in missing 2 guys that basically carried the staff in Lo and Khai. That pitching is what carried the team. Made the sunday games and mid-week games easy. Its the key to winning in the SEC. Years we've won or any team for that matter... its because they've had top of the line starting pitching. We had that last season and that covered up many of our deficiencies. Thats the big worry.. can we do a suitable job replacing them.
I think the rest of your take is a solid one at this point... but the starting pitching being worse is a MUCH bigger question mark than the SS being worse... and we didnt exactly go out and land any big fish to replace either.
I fully agree that the starting pitching is the biggest loss, but let's keep in mind this: last year Loo was coming off a freshman campaign where he had an 8+ era and Khal was a transfer from a "crappy Big Ten school" that people were upset we took after missing out on Luke Holman choosing LSU.
yep tons of credit for developing the staff.. without that lemonis is likely looking for a job.
I second this, and will add who anticipated guys like Hardin, Davis, and Auger performing like they did? This year is no different, the potential is there. Justin Parker did a great job turning the staff around. I guess this year we'll find out if it was Parker's doing or just a lot of individual effort from a lot of different guys last year.
I hope for the best like everybody else, but I did not see anything that got me excited about the upcoming season. I hope I am surprised.
Thought I remembered Khal catching a lot of grief leading into the season being a "crappy B10 guy" and providing an opening for the Lemonis detractors to take another swing. Also thought I remembered a rough start and sure enough, the Ga Southern game only added fuel to the fire.
Pretty solid from there on so who knows. Hopefully we'll have a few pleasant surprises this year. Only time will tell.
The real question is, how many games before this board starts calling for his head? I’ll set the O/U at 5
Saying the pitching units are the same as a position player is kinda misleading. Plus, I'm going with a push on Hines. You rarely see these 4th year players get significantly better. And he's got less around him to protect/help him.
I hope we all have some patience, but considering our track record, I wouldn't count on it.
The Athletic has MSU & 21 and Southern Miss at 25
Teddy Cahill wrote a decent article about it.
I shared the link in a thread earlier this week.
All true.
But his baseball writing background is still solid.
Besides there are many people who thought about or attended law school who become disenchanted with the profession.
Keeping his alternate options open is a good call.
Will happen whenever we make our first base running mistake. However many games that takes
very underestimated ......this is huge...youre going to see more Coastal Carolina's in Omaha bc of this....the transfer portal is one thing....this will change the parity tremendously
If that happens (not making Hoover) we’ll be looking for a new coach. Best SEC schedule we’ve had in years and don’t play Vandy, UT, Arky, or A&M.
Undefeated in regular season, regionals and super. 0-2 in CWS.
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