Todd4State
10-30-2015, 03:17 AM
First of all, I think one thing that we as a baseball program need to do is identify people that are innovators and are ahead of the curve that are also looking for an opportunity to make a name for themselves. I think Johnson fits that description.
This is a guy that was at a school that is basically the equivalent of Samford in the same state as Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Rice, Houston and is not far away from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Oklahoma State- and he has been able to find/and or develop pitchers that throw as hard or harder as those powerhouses and has also had as many pitchers drafted in the top 10 rounds as Vanderbilt. For context, that is better than any other SEC school except for Vandy- which he equaled at a mid major. And even more impressive- Vandy had 6 pitchers drafted in the top 5 rounds and Dallas Baptist had 5.
It's important for us to have coaches that can identify AND develop talent maybe moreso than some schools because of the baseball culture in Mississippi- which is where we are still going to get a lot of our players from. I've talked about how notoriously raw pitchers from Mississippi are- which is one reason why I think Butch had some struggles with guys until year three. But we need someone that can get production out of our pitchers much more quickly than year three- and Pat McMahon has shown that this can be done. I think that's why Dietrich was so attractive to Cohen in the first place, but I think Johnson will do as well or better with younger pitchers. As the draft numbers tell us, he can either find guys or he can coach guys way up- or all of the above.
The biggest thing I like about Wes is he comes from the Nolan Ryan/Brent Strom school of pitching- and IMO those are the guys that are on the forefront of pitching right now. Those guys and Tom House among others are the forward thinkers of pitching right now- in other words, teaching guys to throw harder but also more efficiently and safer. When the Braves had the best pitching staff in baseball, it was cool to say that velocity isn't everything and it's all about location and command- and it is and that has not nor will it change. BUT I guarantee you that if you went up to Maddux or Glavine and asked them if they could keep the same command and movement and throw 100 MPH- they would do it in a heartbeat. While command and changing speeds are all very important things there is a very good reason why MLB scouts still want guys that can throw in the 90's and why guys like Jamie McMahon who won the Ferris Trophy and had a dominant year in college are five year guys that aren't drafted until the 24th round. It's because if you can teach a guy that can throw 96 like Dakota Hudson command and how to change speeds, all of a sudden you have an absolute beast of a pitcher. For us to have someone out of that school of pitching is a HUGE game changer for us. If we can coach up our guys that we do get, we won't have to rely on slipping guys through the draft quite as much to compete with Vandy.
And in this new era of college baseball plus the fact that our fences are coming in plus who knows what effect the new structures will have on Dudy-Noble going forward- you're not going to see guys like Ross Mitchell out there throwing BP and then end up with a 13-0 record with a sub 2.00 ERA and win All-American honors. It's going to behoove us to have some swing and miss guys. Plus, guys that throw harder tend to get drafted higher in general- and if we have someone that can get someone from 90 to 94 while they are in college, I guarantee you pitchers from not only Mississippi- but around the country are going to take notice.
I also didn't care for how Butch always seemed to have to duct tape our staff together- even though at the same time I understood why we had to do it and also Butch was good at it. But think about this- how dominant would Lindgren have been had we not been forced to use him for 5-6 IP at times? Or Holder? Etc? If you have guys that can eat innings and be effective- like Stratton or Graveman- then you can SAVE your elite bullpen arms over the course of the series and the season. And that should in theory help you out over the course of the year. That's why I think quality starts is such an underrated stat when discussing how effective pitchers are. If you have a guy going 6 IP and allowing 2 runs or less, you should win the majority of those games.
One thing I did like about Butch because I guess I'm a little weird or whatever was how he liked the dropdown guys. I understand that a lot of baseball people don't like them- and I get it. And I get it's something that can be way overdone- you only really need 1-2 on your regular SEC roster. I'm also OK if Johnson is not a guru in dropdown guys. But I do like some things about them such as you can get a guy that is not necessarily an elite SEC talent who just wants to be on the team and have him dropdown and be a contributor and an effective member of the team. And sometimes college hitters have a LOT of trouble with a dropdown guy ESPECIALLY the first time through the order. So, if you have a good one like Caleb Reed or Saunders Ramsey you're talking about a guy that can eat up about 3 IP and essentially make the game a 6 inning game. Or less if you have a guy like a Holder or Lindgren. And that can help keep you in a game if you have a starter that has a bad start or whatever sometimes. If worse comes to worse, I'm sure Butch will still do his dropdown camp at Auburn and we do have a relationship with Chad Bradford (through Butch) and I'm OK sending our dropdown guys to that camp in December. But it's something that I will be interested to watch.
In summary- as I said before, Johnson was my personal first pick all along. I'm glad things worked out the way that they did and I think not getting Dietrich might be a blessing for everyone involved. I'm really excited about Wes and I think it's going to be fun to watch our pitchers go from nibblers to attackers and see some radar guns light up through the bar-b-que smoke. I think Johnson is not only a home run hire- I think he is an upper deck shot hire.
This is a guy that was at a school that is basically the equivalent of Samford in the same state as Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Rice, Houston and is not far away from Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Oklahoma State- and he has been able to find/and or develop pitchers that throw as hard or harder as those powerhouses and has also had as many pitchers drafted in the top 10 rounds as Vanderbilt. For context, that is better than any other SEC school except for Vandy- which he equaled at a mid major. And even more impressive- Vandy had 6 pitchers drafted in the top 5 rounds and Dallas Baptist had 5.
It's important for us to have coaches that can identify AND develop talent maybe moreso than some schools because of the baseball culture in Mississippi- which is where we are still going to get a lot of our players from. I've talked about how notoriously raw pitchers from Mississippi are- which is one reason why I think Butch had some struggles with guys until year three. But we need someone that can get production out of our pitchers much more quickly than year three- and Pat McMahon has shown that this can be done. I think that's why Dietrich was so attractive to Cohen in the first place, but I think Johnson will do as well or better with younger pitchers. As the draft numbers tell us, he can either find guys or he can coach guys way up- or all of the above.
The biggest thing I like about Wes is he comes from the Nolan Ryan/Brent Strom school of pitching- and IMO those are the guys that are on the forefront of pitching right now. Those guys and Tom House among others are the forward thinkers of pitching right now- in other words, teaching guys to throw harder but also more efficiently and safer. When the Braves had the best pitching staff in baseball, it was cool to say that velocity isn't everything and it's all about location and command- and it is and that has not nor will it change. BUT I guarantee you that if you went up to Maddux or Glavine and asked them if they could keep the same command and movement and throw 100 MPH- they would do it in a heartbeat. While command and changing speeds are all very important things there is a very good reason why MLB scouts still want guys that can throw in the 90's and why guys like Jamie McMahon who won the Ferris Trophy and had a dominant year in college are five year guys that aren't drafted until the 24th round. It's because if you can teach a guy that can throw 96 like Dakota Hudson command and how to change speeds, all of a sudden you have an absolute beast of a pitcher. For us to have someone out of that school of pitching is a HUGE game changer for us. If we can coach up our guys that we do get, we won't have to rely on slipping guys through the draft quite as much to compete with Vandy.
And in this new era of college baseball plus the fact that our fences are coming in plus who knows what effect the new structures will have on Dudy-Noble going forward- you're not going to see guys like Ross Mitchell out there throwing BP and then end up with a 13-0 record with a sub 2.00 ERA and win All-American honors. It's going to behoove us to have some swing and miss guys. Plus, guys that throw harder tend to get drafted higher in general- and if we have someone that can get someone from 90 to 94 while they are in college, I guarantee you pitchers from not only Mississippi- but around the country are going to take notice.
I also didn't care for how Butch always seemed to have to duct tape our staff together- even though at the same time I understood why we had to do it and also Butch was good at it. But think about this- how dominant would Lindgren have been had we not been forced to use him for 5-6 IP at times? Or Holder? Etc? If you have guys that can eat innings and be effective- like Stratton or Graveman- then you can SAVE your elite bullpen arms over the course of the series and the season. And that should in theory help you out over the course of the year. That's why I think quality starts is such an underrated stat when discussing how effective pitchers are. If you have a guy going 6 IP and allowing 2 runs or less, you should win the majority of those games.
One thing I did like about Butch because I guess I'm a little weird or whatever was how he liked the dropdown guys. I understand that a lot of baseball people don't like them- and I get it. And I get it's something that can be way overdone- you only really need 1-2 on your regular SEC roster. I'm also OK if Johnson is not a guru in dropdown guys. But I do like some things about them such as you can get a guy that is not necessarily an elite SEC talent who just wants to be on the team and have him dropdown and be a contributor and an effective member of the team. And sometimes college hitters have a LOT of trouble with a dropdown guy ESPECIALLY the first time through the order. So, if you have a good one like Caleb Reed or Saunders Ramsey you're talking about a guy that can eat up about 3 IP and essentially make the game a 6 inning game. Or less if you have a guy like a Holder or Lindgren. And that can help keep you in a game if you have a starter that has a bad start or whatever sometimes. If worse comes to worse, I'm sure Butch will still do his dropdown camp at Auburn and we do have a relationship with Chad Bradford (through Butch) and I'm OK sending our dropdown guys to that camp in December. But it's something that I will be interested to watch.
In summary- as I said before, Johnson was my personal first pick all along. I'm glad things worked out the way that they did and I think not getting Dietrich might be a blessing for everyone involved. I'm really excited about Wes and I think it's going to be fun to watch our pitchers go from nibblers to attackers and see some radar guns light up through the bar-b-que smoke. I think Johnson is not only a home run hire- I think he is an upper deck shot hire.