Didn't think this team had any fight left in them after Arkansas and game 1 against LSU, but the last three games they have showed grit, toughness and the desire to fight. It's not going to help this year, but those qualities can be built on. As bad as this year has been we are not as far away as the record shows.
I was wrong...
- Thread starter Theconnormead
- Start date
Good for you @Theconnormead. You're one of the few that will admit this.
The first thing they will do is accuse people like me of being sheep. Just like anything in this could, it's black or white, no gray. I really don't see how this situation CAN'T be gray, considering we've got a coach that, in 4 years, has 2 elite seasons and 2 bad ones. No one side has all the evidence in their favor.
The first thing they will do is accuse people like me of being sheep. Just like anything in this could, it's black or white, no gray. I really don't see how this situation CAN'T be gray, considering we've got a coach that, in 4 years, has 2 elite seasons and 2 bad ones. No one side has all the evidence in their favor.
We are on fire right now. We have a good chance to reach double digit conference wins this year.
We are 14th in ERA at 9.50
Ole Miss is 13th a full two runs ahead of us at 7.53
I can't find a stat for it but we've got to be flirting with an all-time record for earned runs/9 innings. If we brought that back down to just middle of the pack in the 5.0's we'd be a 2 on the road and maybe hosting.
All the fight is in the young players and new transfers. It's their team next year. Hell, it was their team THIS year... and that was the problem.
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I checked last night, I think our opponent runs per game with Foxhall were 9.8 - without Foxhall 9.7 (SEC only, not including UM game in Pearl)
Baby steps... look out if we make the tournament. May get that down below 9.5
We’ve started to win in spite of our pitching rather than it destroying us day after day. It’s probably not sustainable for long, you can’t keep getting behind 5+ runs and coming back to win very often. But it does show character.
I think we have good offensive pieces to work with. But the pitching will clearly have to be overhauled basically from scratch.
I think we have good offensive pieces to work with. But the pitching will clearly have to be overhauled basically from scratch.
We are still not a good baseball team but I'm glad they haven't just thrown in the towel like Ole Miss. And there is really no way to be a good team right now with this pitching staff but no doubt we are still playing with effort. Fifteen walks and a hit batter last night allowed TA&M to score 8 runs off of only 8 hits which is par for the course for us. So right now if grading you could probably say our pitching is currently an F, our defense is a D, and our offense is a B. If Lemonis is back he has a BIG hill to climb to improve this team enough to get a 4th year. We've lost some close games this year in conference but we've also won some very close ones as well including the last two. If we can sweep this series it will be the best thing we've done all year and will at least give a little hope going into the offseason.
We need a stud Friday night pitcher. Bonus points if we get a stud closer. I have not idea what the NIL costs would be, but we also have to pay our best players to stay (Hines, Mersohn, Larry, Johnson and I'm probably missing someone - or a couple).
Give the kids credit for fighting.
But we arent good or even close to being good.
Unless we get 4 arms that can come in and move our top 4 arms this year down pegs, we'll be right in this same boat next season. Bonus points if we get a SS and CF that can actually defend their positions at an SEC level.
But we arent good or even close to being good.
Unless we get 4 arms that can come in and move our top 4 arms this year down pegs, we'll be right in this same boat next season. Bonus points if we get a SS and CF that can actually defend their positions at an SEC level.
It’s incredible that we have to find hope in a teams willingness to play hard. And yes we are very much as bad as our record. We issued 16 free passes last night and gave up 8 runs. We have won our last two games by having to score 9 and 14 runs. Thats not a recipe for success.
RIght. I mean we could have very easily lost all 3 of these games, and quiet frankly should be 1-2 instead of 3-0. If that was the case, we'd all be hollering about firing LEMO.
Even though we won doesnt change the fact of how we played and the talent on display.
You cant win games in the SEC this way, and agreed no way we are 1 iota better than our record says
Even though we won doesnt change the fact of how we played and the talent on display.
You cant win games in the SEC this way, and agreed no way we are 1 iota better than our record says
agreed. Much better than Forsythe. But serviceable isnt going to cut it, need a good one there. Mershon needs to be at second.
One of the announcers noted last night that when we throw fewer than 5 walks in a game we were something like 19 -4. I still can't believe we won despite 15 free bases. That's insane.
I've always had respect for people who don't quit when the chips are down. Quitting is easy. I was a quitter when I was a kid. Thankfully, I grew out of it. Keep battling, fellas, and beat schit out of them Aggies so I can rub it the faces of my Aggie daughters! Dad don't pull no punches when it comes to beating the Ags.
2 top flight SS recruits next year, both GA boys. Hope they both dont go in the draft.
I will clarify this by saying our hitting is on fire. Pitching is still wretched and defense is still suspect. The offense has just been good enough to carry us.
Yep a stud SS should be one of the top priorities along with finding some pitchers. As far as pitchers go, we need a couple of change of pace , ground ball pitch to contact pitchers to go with the Velo guys.
Need an effective Lefty as well... and No "Lo" isnt a lefty.
The entire staff is in shambles. As stated before, unless we can get at least 2 guys to come in and be weekend guys, and 2 more that are quality pen arms. We wont be much better if ANY better than we are now.
A&M said hold my beer. They had 2 runners picked off and messed that up. Couldn't catch a pop fly on the infield and hit a batter on a pitch that bounced once and barely made it to the batters box.
I think KC and Cade have shown fight. KC wasn't perfect last night (5 BB) but he didn't lay down either, one earned run over 4,2 innings
Thats bc the pitchers are getting the same coaching now they were with Foxhall. Nothing. He wasnt doing anything. And Lem just let it happen.
This is a good synopsis of how I also see our team. I pay the most attention to how a team finishes and whether they have improved. We have seen glimpses of a better team in the past few weeks. It still hasn't changed the way I feel about our coaching but I'm glad to see we may not have to start from scratch next season.
This could be an interesting debate. You've got to spend NIL money to compete. But do you invest it with the next Landon Sims - and then 2022 happens? Or do you invest more in bats and try to slug it out?
No doubt you've got to have the arms to have a good season. But the injuries have become so common that it makes pitchers a more risky investment, especially since the best ones are going to be drafted after 2-3 years. For pretty much every pitcher these days it's not a matter of if, but when will it happen.
Agree. Apparently we cant stop the injury bug, and not just the hang nail kind. Saw a pic of Loftin in the dugout last night with his arm in a sling. Havent seen an official diagnosis but probably isnt great. Seems like 2 or 3 TJs a year now.
Not mentioned directly in the thread is our need for a terminator behind home plate. Highfill is serviceable now as the catcher but he is not showing me signs of greatness. TAM was pretty much running at will on Highfill and in most cases he didn't even attempt a throw. Of course, its a coordinated effort between the catcher and 2nd baseman but I didn't see it last night.
Granted he is only a freshmen and he was probably thrown in the game to early but it really stands out with our walk throwing pitching staff.
Granted he is only a freshmen and he was probably thrown in the game to early but it really stands out with our walk throwing pitching staff.
They left 16 on base last night. We had good pitching when it counted.
Once Hines starts using the whole field at the plate, he is gonna be dam near unstoppable. That double play he hit into last night was a great pitch to go oppo field with. Look at Kellum, he started hitting pitches where they pitched finally and his at-bats have improved tremendously. Most of his hits are to oppo field lately.
Is this Highfill‘s first year to catch? He’s made big improvements as the season has gone on, thankfully, but that passed ball strikeout, he had Dohm covering the plate. The easy force was right there, he made it too close throwing to first. It’s obvious he’s put in lots of drills as the season has gone on, he’s breaking out of some of those early season failures behind the dish.
We have Made some improvements for sure, but we’re still not a solid baseball team. We came into the season in bad shape, fundamentally. Someone was asleep at the wheel.
Just not a well coached team. Seems like the LSU series has bought Lemonis another year. I’m pulling for him but this team is not just a few pitchers away from competing. There are more problems than good on this roster.
It's a really poorly constructed and not well thought out roster. A lot of people need to be shown the door, but I'm not sure we can fill all of those holes with enough quality portal guys. This staff has shown that they are clueless at how to pull big fish in the portal. They go after overlooked guys. That may work at Indiana. But it won't work in the SEC of today. One or two hole fillers is fine, but you can't build an entire roster around that type player. And that's what we've done. Really pitiful evaluation
We played hard. And thats what matters in coaching.
In fairness to the kids I hate it for them. Their coaches have failed them miserably
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