Baseball thoughts after Samford midweek

Lengthy but here are a few of my takeaways from tonight.

Kohn was not very good tonight. Neither was Colby.

Nolan Stephens was not good at the plate tonight at all. Looked very uncomfortable. Whatever it was, it was bad

Kohler is one of the worst hitters we have ever had. There is no way his defense justifies being this bad at the plate. And tbh, there were atleast two balls that he could have had a chance to make a play on tonight that he didn?t.

I?ve seen high school?s that had better videography that Samford does

Holcolm?s balk wasn?t a balk. Period

Leaving men on base with less than two outs is completely ridiculous. Against a freaking mid major at that.

I?m glad we got the out, but what was long doing on the safety squeeze. He ran up the line and tagged the guy on his back. I don?t get it

Hujsak seems to be slumping

Merchon can flat out play defense. He?s inconsistent at the plate but man can he play d

DJ seems to have been in a little bit of a slump but came out of it tonight it seems and that?s very good if so

Tyler Davis looked pretty good

Shulcke(sp?)did shulcke things. Can he be Ross Mitchell 2.0 for us?

We had more fans there than samford did

Samford not bunting in the bottom of the 7th in a tie game with runners on 1st and 2nd was big dumb.

Big time swing for chance. That?s one positive about him, he?s not a great hitter by any means yet, but he does put a long ball threat at the lower part of the order

I think we are a decent team. But, I don?t think We are quite as good as we thought we were after LSU. I LOVED our fight tonight late, but we I think the last 4 games showed us we overreacted a little after the first sec series. I think we are a tourney team for sure, but I just don?t see us being top half of sec.

This was a classic trap game for us and we came out with a win. I'm happy about that. This is Kohn's second appearance coming off of Tommy John. I'm actually happy he is back this early. He may be able to help the bullpen the second half of the SEC season and can help in midweek games. He'll likely improve. It's easy to poo on Holcombe and I get it but I'm happy he at least didn't walk anybody. It's two steps forward and one step back with him. He got squeezed right before he gave up the home run and the balk was iffy. My only concern is if he will carry it over into his next appearance or not. I'm kind of glad this happened in Samford and not Florida.

Kohler is our best third baseman. It is what it is. We just can't have Cupp and Kohler in the lineup at the same time.

If the batter misses the ball on a squeeze play the runner is more than likely dead.

Scheulke is more Ryan Rigby than Ross Mitchell to me.

We'll see what happens after Florida. It's still a challenging schedule but I feel like everything is setting up for us to have a strong second half of the SEC schedule. Just have to weather out this weekend and then we have BIG home series against Georgia.

6-6 over our next 4 series with Florida, Georgia, Ole Miss and Auburn and that would put us at 9-9 with Vandy, Bama, Arkansas, Missouri left.

Get 5 wins there and we are in as a two seed. I think that's very doable.

Kohler is dangerously close to dropping below the Mendoza Line. Currently hitting .208
He was a double digit HR guy at Memphis last year, but as of now he has ZERO HRs and the lowest slugging percentage of anyone on the team with more than 15 ABs.
If he keeps trending down, then you gotta sacrifice some defense and give Downs some starts at 3B to get Kohler out of the lineup.

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Originally Posted by MStateDawg

Kohler is dangerously close to dropping below the Mendoza Line. Currently hitting .208
He was a double digit HR guy at Memphis last year, but as of now he has ZERO HRs and the lowest slugging percentage of anyone on the team with more than 15 ABs.
If he keeps trending down, then you gotta sacrifice some defense and give Downs some starts at 3B to get Kohler out of the lineup.

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I know Stevens struggled at the plate yesterday, but perhaps move Chance to the outfield, Downs to 3B, and Stevens to permanent DH?

If Samford doesn't pitch to Dakota they win.

Kohler hit what- .330 last season? Not sure what GoTro has done to him but you have to think he will come around. We have only played 6 SEC games so dont give me the "he cant hit SEC pitching" line.

We are fielding at a .982 clip- 9th in the country. Dont change a thing. (I remember all the posts about how Lemon and Cheese werent coaching defense and how we were mediocre)

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

If Samford doesn't pitch to Dakota they win.

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This is why Hines needs to continue to hit the way he has the last couple of weeks. Dakota needs protection so that teams will not just give him the Barry Bonds treatment and intentionally walk him every time.

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Originally Posted by MStateDawg

Kohler is dangerously close to dropping below the Mendoza Line. Currently hitting .208
He was a double digit HR guy at Memphis last year, but as of now he has ZERO HRs and the lowest slugging percentage of anyone on the team with more than 15 ABs.
If he keeps trending down, then you gotta sacrifice some defense and give Downs some starts at 3B to get Kohler out of the lineup.

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As well as he hit last year, maybe he's a slow starter in the mold of Rowdey. Hope he gets his bat in gear.

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Originally Posted by StarkVegasSteve

This is why Hines needs to continue to hit the way he has the last couple of weeks. Dakota needs protection so that teams will not just give him the Barry Bonds treatment and intentionally walk him every time.

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Agree those two back to back are killer in the lineup. I think TAMU and LSU also have two big hitters lined up like that but not many teams in the country can do that. Hines makes them pitch to Jordan.

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Originally Posted by magrooder

maybe he's a slow starter in the mold of Rowdey.

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After this Saturday's game at Florida, we'll be exactly halfway thru the regular season. We are past the point of "slow starter".

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Originally Posted by MStateDawg

After this Saturday's game at Florida, we'll be exactly halfway thru the regular season. We are past the point of "slow starter".

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Yes, but not of one "in the mold of Rowdey"

I've never seen another player like Rowdey, that in multiple years looks bad all the way into the SEC schedule and then somehow starts hitting. I'm sure there have been plenty of inexperienced players that have had a light switch on late in the season despite facing better pitching, but he's the only one I can think of that did it multiple years.

I would assume Kohler (like most players) is what he is at this point in the season, except he wasn't a bad hitter last year. It's not like our OOC competition has been harder than what he faced at Memphis last year, so it's not that he just can't handle the better competition. No clue what has him screwed up but maybe he can get back to where he was last year.

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Originally Posted by Coach34

Kohler hit what- .330 last season? Not sure what GoTro has done to him but you have to think he will come around. We have only played 6 SEC games so dont give me the "he cant hit SEC pitching" line.

We are fielding at a .982 clip- 9th in the country. Dont change a thing. (I remember all the posts about how Lemon and Cheese werent coaching defense and how we were mediocre)

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At this point I'm just thinking we have a curse on our 3rd baseman whoever they are. Seems no matter who we play there they either end up having a major issue at the plate or in the field or both. How else do you explain a guy dropping over 100 points in his batting average from last year when the bulk of our games have been against our weakest opponents? Maybe his shoulder injury from early in the year is still an issue? Who knows?

I think it is still to early to crown SEC baseball the best in the country. We thought so many of the SEC MBB teams made us the best in the country and all but bama, TN, and aTm got embarrassed on the NCAA tournament level. Couple more series will separate the pretenders from the contenders.

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Originally Posted by Goldendawg

I think it is still to early to crown SEC baseball the best in the country. We thought so many of the SEC MBB teams made us the best in the country and all but bama, TN, and aTm got embarrassed on the NCAA tournament level. Couple more series will separate the pretenders from the contenders.

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Difference is, look at our past history in Omaha..... basketball not so much. Until someone takes the crown away, we are the best period.