Quote Originally Posted by HSVDawg View Post
As stated previously by others, too many unknowns and too much turnover of both players and coaches. I think we have the talent, but it is young talent and I think the arm injuries are going to force us to put some guys out there who are still a year away (kinda like 2015). Other than Gridley, Mangum, Rooker, and Pilkington, I don't think we know what we are going to get out of anyone in the starting 9 or midweek / weekend rotation. Just too many guys we need to step up that have minimal experience and I think some guys are going to struggle. I do expect us to be much better in 2018 and afterwards though.
Our team is way more talented than the 2015 team. Remember a lot of those guys in 2015 didn't contribute in 2016- Kruger, Lowe, LA, Stovall, and Mangum in the field. We used Hudson and Houston very sparingly in 2015 until the end of the year and that was a mistake. Blake Smith and Rigby weren't on the team then either. Pilkington right now is one of the top rated sophomores in the league and he would have been the ace on our 2015 team at his true freshman level.

The key in the SEC and any other league is pitching. We have a legit ace. And we have two proven legit bullpen guys. Billingsley pitched well at the end of the year and Cyr was solid for a freshman. We just need a couple of guys to step up on the mound and while the injuries will hurt us- we should have enough pitching to make a regional.