New Freshman pitcher commitment

[basedog]

Charlie Foster, left 6?3? and 195#. Was committed to Georgia. Looked to be a good pickup. 95 mph fastball.

[Coach34]

Yes- we pulled him over some big schools. Draft worry tho. If he goes top 10 rounds? He gone most likely. Drops out? We will get him.

If he gets to campus and Grant is healthy in Jan? That's two bigtime arms for out Top 10 for 2025

[basedog]

Yes- we pulled him over some big schools. Draft worry tho. If he goes top 10 rounds? He gone most likely. Drops out? We will get him.

If he gets to campus and Grant is healthy in Jan? That's two bigtime arms for out Top 10 for 2025

Well if he goes in top 10, maybe it’s say the 10th round. Money drops but it depends what team really likes him and what he has told scouts or his “agent” what it would cost.

[Coach34]

Well if he goes in top 10, maybe it’s say the 10th round. Money drops but it depends what team really likes him and what he has told scouts or his “agent” what it would cost.

All but 1 or 2 guys in the Top 10 rounds total did not sign last July. If they take you Top 10 rounds now? You signing

[basedog]

All but 1 or 2 guys in the Top 10 rounds total did not sign last July. If they take you Top 10 rounds now? You signing

Most likely. But I read where he said Parker was the most impressive Coach he has talked to. Also while committed to Ga he was leaning for MLB. His parents are pro college and he says now he is as well. He loved StarkVegas also.

[Coach34]

Hopefully he says no to 3rd-5th round money before the draft and comes to college. I hope he gives them a big number for what it would take.

There are maybe 10-12 pitchers total that should go straight to signing. The rest need a couple or 3 in college to work on pitching and growing up

[basedog]

Hopefully he says no to 3rd-5th round money before the draft and comes to college. I hope he gives them a big number for what it would take.

There are maybe 10-12 pitchers total that should go straight to signing. The rest need a couple or 3 in college to work on pitching and growing up

He is at the ML camp which scouts get a close up of him. I find it interesting he visited several ACC schools plus many Sec schools and said MSU was his favorite. Small town USA is growing across America.

[basedog]

Btw 34, had lunch with my daughter few days ago, asked her again about our hitting Coach who was involved with her son in recruiting. Loved him, he is a good recruiter and well liked by recruits. But I wish would get an instructor hitting coach to help out. Obviously Parker is a good recruiter, this may be Lemonis best assistants coaches so far. I have no clue bout Cheese as a recruiter.

[SPMT]

He is at the ML camp which scouts get a close up of him. I find it interesting he visited several ACC schools plus many Sec schools and said MSU was his favorite. Small town USA is growing across America.

I spend a significant percentage of my time in large cities?..outside of a few things:

1. Restaurants and social life
2. Pro sports
3. ??????


They blow.

Those two things don?t compensate for less traffic, simplicity, and lack of distraction.

There is an argument for sports:

1. More high level competition
2. More access to high level training

With good coaches in SEC those points are moot .
Those aspects are applicable to younger athletes and high school athletes.

After discussing challenges with a colleague in a bigger town (the triangle area of NC), albeit still somewhat small, I?m sold on southeastern college towns or suburbs of Nashville, Birmingham etc.

[Coach34]

Btw 34, had lunch with my daughter few days ago, asked her again about our hitting Coach who was involved with her son in recruiting. Loved him, he is a good recruiter and well liked by recruits. But I wish would get an instructor hitting coach to help out. Obviously Parker is a good recruiter, this may be Lemonis best assistants coaches so far. I have no clue bout Cheese as a recruiter.

Recruiting-wise we just need to fill some holes. The 2024 team was a quality bat short. We needed that 1 more guy capable of hitting somewhere in that 3-6 area.

As far as GoTro- people sign his praises about recruiting and organization- but I absolutely cant stand our approach at the plate. There has to be a change made there and they need a voice that makes some changes to the approach. That will be paramount for us in 25

[Commercecomet24]

Recruiting-wise we just need to fill some holes. The 2024 team was a quality bat short. We needed that 1 more guy capable of hitting somewhere in that 3-6 area.

As far as GoTro- people sign his praises about recruiting and organization- but I absolutely cant stand our approach at the plate. There has to be a change made there and they need a voice that makes some changes to the approach. That will be paramount for us in 25

GoTro is a bit of an enigma to me. You talk to scouts, coaches other people in the industry and he's very well thought of. Some hitters have gotten much better with him and others have regressed, which is where the enigmatic part comes in, because it's hard to comprehend the duality. My biggest complaint with him is our situational hitting at times. I think he's a good coach but it may be time for a different voice. It does happen sometimes, doesn't mean he's terrible at his job, just a change is needed sometimes. Be interesting to see what this fall and next season brings for our hitting. I think overall he's done a good job for us and he does represent the university well.

[DownwardDawg]

I spend a significant percentage of my time in large cities?..outside of a few things:

1. Restaurants and social life
2. Pro sports
3. ??????


They blow.

Those two things don?t compensate for less traffic, simplicity, and lack of distraction.

There is an argument for sports:

1. More high level competition
2. More access to high level training

With good coaches in SEC those points are moot .
Those aspects are applicable to younger athletes and high school athletes.

After discussing challenges with a colleague in a bigger town (the triangle area of NC), albeit still somewhat small, I?m sold on southeastern college towns or suburbs of Nashville, Birmingham etc.

I live in a Nashville suburb. If heavy traffic and Californians are your thing, come on over!!!! Lol

[Todd4State]

GoTro is a hit of an enigma to me. You talk to scouts, coaches other people in the industry and he's very well thought of. Some hitters have gotten much better with him and others have regressed, which is where the enigmatic part comes in, because it's hard to comprehend the duality. My biggest complaint with him is our situational hitting at times. I think he's a good coach but it may be time for a different voice. It does happen sometimes, doesn't mean he's terrible at his job, just a change is needed sometimes. Be interesting to see what this fall and next season brings for our hitting. I think overall he's done a good job for us and he does represent the university well.

If we keep Gautreau I hope we at least hire a hitting analyst this offseason. Also, I hope the hitting analyst helps with baserunning. We were atrocious this year and it cost us a few games. Sometimes we would literally give away an entire inning worth of out with baserunning blunders.

The biggest thing I don't like is his philosophy where he lets guys do their own thing and fail and then he fixes them. Which is what I have heard him say is the approach he uses. To me, with college hitters you need to go ahead and coach them up from the start especially in this era where you have guys that are just training with these swing coaches a lot of times. I just think the majority of our guys would rather not fail from the start rather than do their own thing and get fixed later.

But hearing Lemonis's interviews at the end of the year and also based on who we have gotten in the portal it's very obvious to me that he thinks that the players were more of the issue than Gautreau. Which he may be right about. We had a ton of swing and miss and we got behind in counts way too much and it resulted into a ton of K's and not very many extra base hits. The guys we're bringing in plus Chance, and maybe Mershon you're looking at guys that aren't going to strike out a ton and work walks about as much or more than they strike out but also have some power. It's a subtle but pretty drastic change but it could result in improvement.

[Todd4State]

Recruiting-wise we just need to fill some holes. The 2024 team was a quality bat short. We needed that 1 more guy capable of hitting somewhere in that 3-6 area.

As far as GoTro- people sign his praises about recruiting and organization- but I absolutely cant stand our approach at the plate. There has to be a change made there and they need a voice that makes some changes to the approach. That will be paramount for us in 25

That one bat short was probably Highfill.

[SpaceBully]

Btw 34, had lunch with my daughter few days ago, asked her again about our hitting Coach who was involved with her son in recruiting. Loved him, he is a good recruiter and well liked by recruits. But I wish would get an instructor hitting coach to help out. Obviously Parker is a good recruiter, this may be Lemonis best assistants coaches so far. I have no clue bout Cheese as a recruiter.

Sign Will Clark as a hitting advisory assistant. Doesn't have to be in Vegas fulltime, but conduct hitting instruction sessions during preseason and some during the season at his convenience.

[BrunswickDawg]

But hearing Lemonis's interviews at the end of the year and also based on who we have gotten in the portal it's very obvious to me that he thinks that the players were more of the issue than Gautreau. Which he may be right about. We had a ton of swing and miss and we got behind in counts way too much and it resulted into a ton of K's and not very many extra base hits. The guys we're bringing in plus Chance, and maybe Mershon you're looking at guys that aren't going to strike out a ton and work walks about as much or more than they strike out but also have some power. It's a subtle but pretty drastic change but it could result in improvement.

If you look at Goat's teams from 2017-2023, getting the ball in play was a obviously an emphasis. 2017 we led the SEC in Ks, 2018 we dropped to 4th, 2019 we were 12th, 2021 we were 13th.
'22 we were 12th and in '23 back down to 13th. We were 9th this season.

But the real impact is the lack of gap hitting and going the other way which typically shows up in production as 2B's -
'18 & '19 we led the SEC, '21 we were 3rd. We dropped to 11th in '22, 9th in '23 and '24. To me, that's your secret sauce. When you have guys that can do that consistently you are hell on other teams because they have to play you straight up with no shifts.
That type of hitting is hard to teach. You have to find guys with the ability to do it and then make them even better at it. That's where Mac used to talk about having to let go and buy in to what Goat was teaching

[Commercecomet24]

If you look at Goat's teams from 2017-2023, getting the ball in play was a obviously an emphasis. 2017 we led the SEC in Ks, 2018 we dropped to 4th, 2019 we were 12th, 2021 we were 13th.
'22 we were 12th and in '23 back down to 13th. We were 9th this season.

But the real impact is the lack of gap hitting and going the other way which typically shows up in production as 2B's -
'18 & '19 we led the SEC, '21 we were 3rd. We dropped to 11th in '22, 9th in '23 and '24. To me, that's your secret sauce. When you have guys that can do that consistently you are hell on other teams because they have to play you straight up with no shifts.
That type of hitting is hard to teach. You have to find guys with the ability to do it and then make them even better at it. That's where Mac used to talk about having to let go and buy in to what Goat was teaching

Ah someone who understands hitting! Another excellent post, Bruns!

[Cooterpoot]

GoTro is a bit of an enigma to me. You talk to scouts, coaches other people in the industry and he's very well thought of. Some hitters have gotten much better with him and others have regressed, which is where the enigmatic part comes in, because it's hard to comprehend the duality. My biggest complaint with him is our situational hitting at times. I think he's a good coach but it may be time for a different voice. It does happen sometimes, doesn't mean he's terrible at his job, just a change is needed sometimes. Be interesting to see what this fall and next season brings for our hitting. I think overall he's done a good job for us and he does represent the university well.

He seems to have gotten away from some things and just hasn't recruited well enough. Let's face it, the whole staff got lazy as hell until they started feeling the heat on that butt. I will never agree with trying to pull everything and standing up on top of the plate all the time. You better sign a bunch of MLB talent if that's your approach to hitting and they better be able to handle the fastball under their hands, and can identify a breaking pitch off the plate, otherwise it's a losing situation. Gotro obviously believes in contact too based on our K numbers under him, so there's that enigmatic thing again. Things just don't match up.

[Commercecomet24]

He seems to have gotten away from some things and just hasn't recruited well enough. Let's face it, the whole staff got lazy as hell until they started feeling the heat on that butt. I will never agree with trying to pull everything and standing up on top of the plate all the time. You better sign a bunch of MLB talent if that's your approach to hitting and they better be able to handle the fastball under their hands, and can identify a breaking pitch off the plate, otherwise it's a losing situation. Gotro obviously believes in contact too based on our K numbers under him, so there's that enigmatic thing again. Things just don't match up.

Right, I like some of the things he does but some of the things are bewildering. Personal I always taught gap to gap approach and balance and aggressiveness in plus counts, especially 0-0, 2-0, 3-1, etc. I would never teach stand on top of the plate pull everything to a young hitter, just doesn't make sense, never did, even for advanced hitters. Man I would love to talk hitting with you sometime. We could probably spend a whole day on it.

[SPMT]

Right, I like some of the things he does but some of the things are bewildering. Personal I always taught gap to gap approach and balance and aggressiveness in plus counts, especially 0-0, 2-0, 3-1, etc. I would never teach stand on top of the plate pull everything to a young hitter, just doesn't make sense, never did, even for advanced hitters. Man I would love to talk hitting with you sometime. We could probably spend a whole day on it.

I know we hear all of this launch angle talk but when I listen MLB hitters and watch them practice I have never seen one that works anything other than gap to gap. It looks to me they are aiming for doubles in the gaps and bombs happen when they do and because the ball is coming fast and the hitters are powerful.

[Commercecomet24]

I know we hear all of this launch angle talk but when I listen MLB hitters and watch them practice I have never seen one that works anything other than gap to gap. It looks to me they are aiming for doubles in the gaps and bombs happen when they do and because the ball is coming fast and the hitters are powerful.

Measuring all that stuff is an awesome tool and great for fans. However, people get so caught up in it they miss a lot on basic fundamentals of hitting. My players probably here this in there sleep but I used to drill into them "Use the big part of the field, stay up the middle". If you do that and stay balanced then you have a much better chance of being on time with any pitch ,whether in, out or in down the middle and driving it where it's pitched. I was watching an old video of Barry Bonds on hitting last night and the last thing the interviewer asked him was what are the 3 most important things in hitting. Barry said, Balance, use the middle and hands high.

[BrunswickDawg]

Measuring all that stuff is an awesome tool and great for fans. However, people get so caught up in it they miss a lot on basic fundamentals of hitting. My players probably here this in there sleep but I used to drill into them "Use the big part of the field, stay up the middle". If you do that and stay balanced then you have a much better chance of being on time with any pitch ,whether in, out or in down the middle and driving it where it's pitched. I was watching an old video of Barry Bonds on hitting last night and the last thing the interviewer asked him was what are the 3 most important things in hitting. Barry said, Balance, use the middle and hands high.

As my Granddad used to preach to me "on every swing your goal is to put the pitcher on his ass! Keep your head in, hands back, and snap your wrists as you swing thru to get your power. And quit steppin' in that bucket!"

[Commercecomet24]

As my Granddad used to preach to me "on every swing your goal is to put the pitcher on his ass! Keep your head in, hands back, and snap your wrists as you swing thru to get your power. And quit steppin' in that bucket!"

Amen! I used to do a tee drill where i wanted every ball on a line 2 feet over the dummy pitchers head. For each one you didn't in 10 swings you owed me foul poles.

[Commercecomet24]

As my Granddad used to preach to me "on every swing your goal is to put the pitcher on his ass! Keep your head in, hands back, and snap your wrists as you swing thru to get your power. And quit steppin' in that bucket!"

Here's the thing about that Bruns. If you can do that then everything in hitting would take care of istelf and there'd be no need to measure exit velo and launch angle.

Now my youngest son at his training facility they have all the "cool" modern stuff, all the software to compare and watch video, measure exit velo/launch angle, trackman, rapsodo and on and on and on with the tech stuff. But you know what he still uses a lot of the same old school stuff i taught him because guess what, it works!

[SPMT]

Amen! I used to do a tee drill where i wanted every ball on a line 2 feet over the dummy pitchers head. For each one you didn't in 10 swings you owed me foul poles.

Old school! Like it.

Not a fan of the snap wrist cue Bruns was instructed to do, as was I. The wait don?t break until follow through process and should be subconscious.

[BrunswickDawg]

Old school! Like it.

Not a fan of the snap wrist cue Bruns was instructed to do, as was I. The wait don?t break until follow through process and should be subconscious.

If you learned from from the Greatest Generation like I did, they seemed to be adamant about that wrist snap. It always seemed odd to me. I always equate it now being compact in your swing and getting the barrel to the ball in front of the plate.

[Commercecomet24]

If you learned from from the Greatest Generation like I did, they seemed to be adamant about that wrist snap. It always seemed odd to me. I always equate it now being compact in your swing and getting the barrel to the ball in front of the plate.

Yeah I agree they were all pretty adamant about that wrist snap. I didn't teach that but I believe your theory on the reason they said/used it is correct.

[SPMT]

If you learned from from the Greatest Generation like I did, they seemed to be adamant about that wrist snap. It always seemed odd to me. I always equate it now being compact in your swing and getting the barrel to the ball in front of the plate.

Yep. My grandad used to say it. He was young for that generation by 5 years or so but makes sense.

[Todd4State]

Here's the thing about that Bruns. If you can do that then everything in hitting would take care of istelf and there'd be no need to measure exit velo and launch angle.

Now my youngest son at his training facility they have all the "cool" modern stuff, all the software to compare and watch video, measure exit velo/launch angle, trackman, rapsodo and on and on and on with the tech stuff. But you know what he still uses a lot of the same old school stuff i taught him because guess what, it works!

Maybe I watch too many Jeff Frye videos on Twitter but I think there needs to be an intersection between baseball fundamentals because they absolutely still apply- and the technology. And that goes for pitching and hitting.

Baseball is still baseball no matter what. It has never mattered how hard you throw if you can't command your pitches. If you have a beautiful launch angle swing but there is a massive hole in it even below average MLB pitchers are going to be very happy to see you at the plate because they know that they're either going to strike you out or get you to pop up. You listen to ALL of the greats talking about hitting it's all the same- Barry Bonds, Pujols, Mays, etc. it's always looking to go gap to gap. Because that's the best way to cover the strike zone with your barrel for the longest amount of time which is what you need when you're trying to hit an object going 96 MPH at the blink of an eye literally. That hasn't changed either.

But the technology out there can be and is IF used right is very helpful. You can put pitchers in a lab and in the right hands not only can the command pitches they can figure out what they need to throw to maximize their God given stuff. Same with hitting to a large degree. I'm not sure how valuable launch angle really is and I think it's probably overrated to a degree. But there is no question that there is a correlation between bat speed and exit velocity. And I think that kind of stuff can be worked on.

But the issue I see- and I'm in the medical field and involved in sports performance training myself trying to keep myself alive- is a lot of the guys doing the training are weight lifting/S&C types and quite frankly a lot of those guys don't know the finer points of the game a lot of times. BUT they can train a kid to go from topping out at 77 MPH and turn them into a 94 MPH college prospect in a few years + a Tommy John surgery. And what I think a lot of those trainers fail to understand is two things- too much too fast is a bad thing. And the other thing is for baseball you really IMO need to learn how to PLAY the game and THEN go find someone that has the technology to turn you into Robo-Baseball player.

A lot of these performance training centers need to start hiring baseball people to help assist with the technology/S&C training. And I'm sure some of them do.

[Offshore Dawg]

Todd you are making too much good sense this morning. ^^^^^^^^^^^^

[Pancho]

I agree. I know high school coaches who teach this to their players and save parents a fortune. Simply do things correctly and maximize a players ability.