Todd4State
06-25-2014, 11:41 PM
How about a little bit better baseball preview/summer update?
C- Gavin Collins. He started out hot, but now is hitting .212 last I saw. But no doubt he will be the catcher. The only spot up for grabs is the back-up spot between Zach Randolph, Cody Walker, and Josh Lovelady.
1B- Wes Rea. He hasn't been hitting very well for his summer team- he's around .150. He will be the front runner for the first base job, but I don't think Cohen will hesitate to bench him again- and may give him a shorter leash next year. I would not be surprised to see a platoon with Luke Reynolds or even Trent Waddell. Dylan Ingram meanwhile has been a very pleasant surprise continuing to hit over .300 for his team, and then Brent Rooker has started to hit better and has gotten his average up to .238. They could play themselves into the mix, but I still think Rea will start.
2B- Seth Heck. I don't know what the hell is wrong with him, but he's hitting .150 for his team. He's better than that.
3B- Matthew Britton. Credit to Coach34 for the hitting .313 since the Ole Miss series stat. He's holding his own in the Cape hitting a fairly respectable .238. He'll benefit from the new baseball as well. Maybe even more than Rea.
SS- John Holland. We need him to be an impact guy on day one. I'm not sure if he can hit as high as Pirtle did, but I do think that .300 with a couple of home runs and 10 SB is very reasonable to expect.
LF- Cody Brown. Vickerson doesn't have very good range- which you need for LF in Dudy-Noble. Cody was hitting .278 and is now down to .200 after going 0-7 for his summer league team.
CF- Well, the Clarion-Ledger actually got this right. IF Robson is healthy, he will start. If not, I think we start Michael Smith from Walters State CC. Either way- we need one of those two to steal 20 bases. Vanderbilt wanted Smith pretty bad from what I understand.
RF- Vickerson. Congratulations on being literally the only starter to actually hit this summer! He is hitting .348 for his team on the heels of a strong finish. I hope he has a similar career arc as his brother. And while he doesn't have his brothers power, I hope he can chip in 20 steals as well.
DH- Humphreys. Despite the blow of losing Garner and his 20 K's and 41 AB's and his .087 AVG in SEC play, we'll just have to hope that the former Mississippi POY and Washington Nationals draft pick can somehow top those numbers.
Wild cards- can Joey Swinarski and/or Brent Rooker steal a spot on the team? Both would add power IF they are ready- without sacrificing speed or defense. So, it's just a question of can they hit or not? I would LOVE for them to take an OF spot.
Rotation:
Trevor Fitts is resting up. I want to see Dakota Hudson (0-1 but with a 1.80 ERA) take a spot as well as Vance Tatum (0-0; 3.60 ERA) take the other. I'd like to see Luke Laster come out of the pen along with Ross. Laster has been solid other than one outing in the Cape (2.45 ERA).
Jacob Billingsley has continued to be filthy in the Cal Ripken League- 9 K's in 7 IP and an ERA of 0.00. Cohen mentioned him as a closer candidate. Myles Gentry is 0-1 in the Cape, but has an ERA of 0.00.
LOTS of wild cards as far as arms next year. Will Paul Young be healthy and if so, what will his role be? Will Daniel Brown, Logan Elliott, and Trent Waddell be a factor for us? What kind of a role will Austin Sexton and Zac Houston have next year?
C- Gavin Collins. He started out hot, but now is hitting .212 last I saw. But no doubt he will be the catcher. The only spot up for grabs is the back-up spot between Zach Randolph, Cody Walker, and Josh Lovelady.
1B- Wes Rea. He hasn't been hitting very well for his summer team- he's around .150. He will be the front runner for the first base job, but I don't think Cohen will hesitate to bench him again- and may give him a shorter leash next year. I would not be surprised to see a platoon with Luke Reynolds or even Trent Waddell. Dylan Ingram meanwhile has been a very pleasant surprise continuing to hit over .300 for his team, and then Brent Rooker has started to hit better and has gotten his average up to .238. They could play themselves into the mix, but I still think Rea will start.
2B- Seth Heck. I don't know what the hell is wrong with him, but he's hitting .150 for his team. He's better than that.
3B- Matthew Britton. Credit to Coach34 for the hitting .313 since the Ole Miss series stat. He's holding his own in the Cape hitting a fairly respectable .238. He'll benefit from the new baseball as well. Maybe even more than Rea.
SS- John Holland. We need him to be an impact guy on day one. I'm not sure if he can hit as high as Pirtle did, but I do think that .300 with a couple of home runs and 10 SB is very reasonable to expect.
LF- Cody Brown. Vickerson doesn't have very good range- which you need for LF in Dudy-Noble. Cody was hitting .278 and is now down to .200 after going 0-7 for his summer league team.
CF- Well, the Clarion-Ledger actually got this right. IF Robson is healthy, he will start. If not, I think we start Michael Smith from Walters State CC. Either way- we need one of those two to steal 20 bases. Vanderbilt wanted Smith pretty bad from what I understand.
RF- Vickerson. Congratulations on being literally the only starter to actually hit this summer! He is hitting .348 for his team on the heels of a strong finish. I hope he has a similar career arc as his brother. And while he doesn't have his brothers power, I hope he can chip in 20 steals as well.
DH- Humphreys. Despite the blow of losing Garner and his 20 K's and 41 AB's and his .087 AVG in SEC play, we'll just have to hope that the former Mississippi POY and Washington Nationals draft pick can somehow top those numbers.
Wild cards- can Joey Swinarski and/or Brent Rooker steal a spot on the team? Both would add power IF they are ready- without sacrificing speed or defense. So, it's just a question of can they hit or not? I would LOVE for them to take an OF spot.
Rotation:
Trevor Fitts is resting up. I want to see Dakota Hudson (0-1 but with a 1.80 ERA) take a spot as well as Vance Tatum (0-0; 3.60 ERA) take the other. I'd like to see Luke Laster come out of the pen along with Ross. Laster has been solid other than one outing in the Cape (2.45 ERA).
Jacob Billingsley has continued to be filthy in the Cal Ripken League- 9 K's in 7 IP and an ERA of 0.00. Cohen mentioned him as a closer candidate. Myles Gentry is 0-1 in the Cape, but has an ERA of 0.00.
LOTS of wild cards as far as arms next year. Will Paul Young be healthy and if so, what will his role be? Will Daniel Brown, Logan Elliott, and Trent Waddell be a factor for us? What kind of a role will Austin Sexton and Zac Houston have next year?