I’m [More / Less] Excited About This Baseball Team

[pseudonym]

but our offense against a bad team left a lot to be desired. I'm hoping that will come over time.

One reason to think our offense will be better than this past weekend: Hunter Hines had one extra base hit (2B) and 2 RBI. His OPS for the weekend was .786. Last year, his OPS vs. SEC pitching only was 1.053. Over the course of a season, Dakota Jordan followed by Hunter Hines is going to produce.

 

[HuntDawg]

One reason to think our offense will be better than this past weekend: Hunter Hines had one extra base hit (2B) and 2 RBI. His OPS for the weekend was .786. Last year, his OPS vs. SEC pitching only was 1.053. Over the course of a season, Dakota Jordan followed by Hunter Hines is going to produce.

An offense with only 2 guys isnt going to produce over time. And those two hitters have major issues with strikeouts. They combined for 8 against AF. Hines was in the top 5 in the league in strikeouts last season, and Jordan strikes out at a HIGHER rate. There are more polished combos in the league.

Using your SEC stats as a barometer: Larry and Mershon were roughly league average hitters last season. Chance/Highfill/Hujsack-- all poor hitters last season. Chester and Downs were laughably bad.

We lost 3 of our top 5 hitters last season (alford, ledbetter, clark)

Others are going to have to step up. And hitters (6-9, even 5 after the injury) looked very average this past weekend

 

[Mr. Cook]

I think I’m ‘more’ excited. Gotta like the staff’s ability to keep it in the zone this weekend. The bats will come around.

I'm more "week" to "week"*********************************************

 

[pseudonym]

An offense with only 2 guys isnt going to produce over time. And those two hitters have major issues with strikeouts. They combined for 8 against AF. Hines was in the top 5 in the league in strikeouts last season, and Jordan strikes out at a HIGHER rate. There are more polished combos in the league.

Using your SEC stats as a barometer: Larry and Mershon were roughly league average hitters last season. Chance/Highfill/Hujsack-- all poor hitters last season. Chester and Downs were laughably bad.

We lost 3 of our top 5 hitters last season (alford, ledbetter, clark)

Others are going to have to step up. And hitters (6-9, even 5 after the injury) looked very average this past weekend

I'm not saying that will be our only production. Most good offenses have a good 1-2 punch somewhere in the lineup.

I'm just saying I would be a lot more concerned if I thought we were going to get one extra base hit per 14 ABs from Hunter Hines instead of one extra base hit per six ABs like last year. I don't believe that after one weekend of baseball.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Air force is one of the worst programs in ncaa history (1 tourney appearance in 55 years). They played just as poorly. They have 1 or 2 players worthy of even being on real program rosters. They are terrible. They came to Starkville for the environment the lounge and as a fun trip for their players that will be defending this country in the coming years…..and to get drummed 3 games. We didn’t make that happen.

Losing a game to a team we should have run ruled 3 times and is one of the worst programs in ncaa history.

can’t see how anyone would get excited about that.

however I’m willing to give it a few weeks to see if things improve. Mainly to see if the pitching is truly improved or Air Force is simply that bad.

I suggest taking this guy's posts with a grain-of-salt. He loves to use selective stats to "prove" inaccurate or misleading statements.

While it is true AF has historically been bad at baseball, I think most would agree the past 3 seasons hold considerably more weight & relevance as it pertains to the state of their program right now.

They've been at least decent the previous 3 years, including having beaten #7 Texas at Texas 14-2, then losing the next day 12-10 after being tied in the 9th in 2022, the same year they made the regionals where they went 2-2, losing the CG to eventual CWS participant Texas. That was the same Texas team that gave us 1 of our 2 losses that year in the CWS.

So, while it is far too soon to say whether this AF team is as bad as Hunt assumes based on the previous 59 years, I'd advise holding off judgement for a bit. A lot of good teams have some pretty bad games early in the season. Sometimes it just takes time for things to gel.

 

[HuntDawg]

I suggest taking this guy's posts with a grain-of-salt. He loves to use selective stats to "prove" inaccurate or misleading statements.

While it is true AF has historically been bad at baseball, I think most would agree the past 3 seasons hold considerably more weight & relevance as it pertains to the state of their program right now.

They've been at least decent the previous 3 years, including having beaten #7 Texas at Texas 14-2, then losing the next day 12-10 after being tied in the 9th in 2022, the same year they made the regionals where they went 2-2, losing the CG to eventual CWS participant Texas. That was the same Texas team that gave us 1 of our 2 losses that year in the CWS.

So, while it is far too soon to say whether this AF team is as bad as Hunt assumes based on the previous 59 years, I'd advise holding off judgement for a bit. A lot of good teams have some pretty bad games early in the season. Sometimes it just takes time for things to gel.

The 2022 season they had a guy named Paul skenes. Look him up and get back with me.

they had a generational talent and were barely average. The likelihood that they return to the norm of the last 50 years is way more likely than them all of a sudden turning into a program that’s good. Their play this weekend cemented that fact. They are a bad program and a bad team. Sugar coat it all you want

 

[mcdawg22]

Wait and See. We lose 2 on a NonCon weekend I know where we are. Anything better than that result would have me waiting until 9 SEC conference games before I have any idea where this team is headed

I think I already have my answer.

 

[blacklistedbully]

The 2022 season they had a guy named Paul skenes. Look him up and get back with me.

they had a generational talent and were barely average. The likelihood that they return to the norm of the last 50 years is way more likely than them all of a sudden turning into a program that’s good. Their play this weekend cemented that fact. They are a bad program and a bad team. Sugar coat it all you want

I looked it up & am getting back to you.

Paul Skenes did not pitch in the win over Texas.
Paul Skenes didn't pitch in the walk-off loss vs Texas.
Paul Skenes did pitch in the 1st Austin regional loss to Texas and gave up 4 earned runs & 7 hits in 4 innings.
Paul Skenes didn't pitch in the regional win over Dallas Baptist.
Paul Skenes didn't pitch in the regional win over la Tech.

AF in the Austin regional without Paul Skenes pitching went 2-1.
AF in regional with PS 0-1.

In 2021 AF went 26-22 with Skenes going 1-1.
2020 Covid year
2019 AF 26-26 before Skenes

No doubt Skenes is and was a great player and outstanding pitcher for AF in 2022, helping AF win 6 games more over 2021. Still vs ranked opponents he was 0-1.

You've been calling AF one of the worst programs in NCAA history in an obvious attempt to make it sound like they are that bad lately. That is simply not true...not even when considering Paul Skenes contributions.

In college football Yale, Princeton & Harvard are in the Top 8 for # of NC's won. Are they programs almost everybody should fear playing today? I mean, historically their records speak for themselves.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Update: less

 

[Podgy]

Less but I didn't have high expectations to begin with. Happy to be proven wrong.

 

[HuntDawg]

I looked it up & am getting back to you.

Paul Skenes did not pitch in the win over Texas.
Paul Skenes didn't pitch in the walk-off loss vs Texas.
Paul Skenes did pitch in the 1st Austin regional loss to Texas and gave up 4 earned runs & 7 hits in 4 innings.
Paul Skenes didn't pitch in the regional win over Dallas Baptist.
Paul Skenes didn't pitch in the regional win over la Tech.

AF in the Austin regional without Paul Skenes pitching went 2-1.
AF in regional with PS 0-1.

In 2021 AF went 26-22 with Skenes going 1-1.
2020 Covid year
2019 AF 26-26 before Skenes

No doubt Skenes is and was a great player and outstanding pitcher for AF in 2022, helping AF win 6 games more over 2021. Still vs ranked opponents he was 0-1.

You've been calling AF one of the worst programs in NCAA history in an obvious attempt to make it sound like they are that bad lately. That is simply not true...not even when considering Paul Skenes contributions.

In college football Yale, Princeton & Harvard are in the Top 8 for # of NC's won. Are they programs almost everybody should fear playing today? I mean, historically their records speak for themselves.

You do realize that having a true ace backs every other pitcher up a day. Have you not seen how bad we’ve been without a Friday night guy. Having a guy like skenes has a large ripple effect on the entire staff and it’s much more than just a box score in a regional. If you don’t understand that, then there is no point in further discussion.

not going to argue if you want to walk around thinking that Air Force is some great program.. go right ahead.. I’ll be sure to bump this post and make you sure you see how good they are at the end of the year.

while you’re at it please let everyone know how good Austin Peay is as well.

 

[blacklistedbully]

You do realize that having a true ace backs every other pitcher up a day. Have you not seen how bad we’ve been without a Friday night guy. Having a guy like skenes has a large ripple effect on the entire staff and it’s much more than just a box score in a regional. If you don’t understand that, then there is no point in further discussion.

not going to argue if you want to walk around thinking that Air Force is some great program.. go right ahead.. I’ll be sure to bump this post and make you sure you see how good they are at the end of the year.

while you’re at it please let everyone know how good Austin Peay is as well.

You're right about one thing. There probably is no point in further discussion, a thing that seems common with you. It doesn't matter how many times your BS is called out with facts , or how many posters point out how wrong you are, you just decide to die on every ridiculous hill you climb.

And like most people who talk out of their ***, you create a straw man argument or badly twist words. That just shows how weak your logic is.

I never said AF is a great program, and you know it. In fact I said it is too soon to tell if they are possibly average-to-decent. What I correctly called you out on is your asinine insinuation that AF is horrible this year due to their decades-long all-time history. You completely discounted the last few years which are far more likely to be relevant to this thread than what they were in the mid-60's and the 4 decades after.

Going by all-time record is just plain stupid...period. But you go ahead and bump this later so everybody else can be reminded of just how crappy your arguments are.

 

[HuntDawg]

You're right about one thing. There probably is no point in further discussion, a thing that seems common with you. It doesn't matter how many times your BS is called out with facts , or how many posters point out how wrong you are, you just decide to die on every ridiculous hill you climb.

And like most people who talk out of their ***, you create a straw man argument or badly twist words. That just shows how weak your logic is.

I never said AF is a great program, and you know it. In fact I said it is too soon to tell if they are possibly average-to-decent. What I correctly called you out on is your asinine insinuation that AF is horrible this year due to their decades-long all-time history. You completely discounted the last few years which are far more likely to be relevant to this thread than what they were in the mid-60's and the 4 decades after.

Going by all-time record is just plain stupid...period. But you go ahead and bump this later so everybody else can be reminded of just how crappy your arguments are.

I’ll definitely die on the AF is a bad team and bad program hill. Their play this weekend backed this up with ease. It’s not too soon to tell if you know what good and bad baseball looks like. We can revisit at years end.

if you don’t like my views hit the ignore button and move on.

 

[HuntDawg]

Guess I was right. Stephens blowing away Air Force is bc Air Force sucks.

92 down the middle gets hit.