Todd4State
03-01-2017, 01:00 AM
I usually do this after a weekend series but I've been doing Mardi Gras so it has been hard for to sit down and make a long post. I'm going to focus more on the whole season rather than just this past weekend. All I'll say about this weekend is we did what we needed to do at a minimum- which was go 3-1 although we really needed to sweep.
Going forward...
We have a team that is probably about five Tommy John surgeries removed from being a legit contender for Omaha. I don't think it's weighted balls or Wes Johnson- I think it's bad luck plus abuse in travel ball. Grey Fenter was also in our class and went pro. He just had Tommy John surgery himself. I wonder if one day players and parents are going to start to skip travel ball after they commit to a SEC school. Or at least threaten it. To me, if you already have a scholarship and have committed to where you want to go and with scouts having access to media, going to high school games, and going to all of these tournaments where younger players are competing- I don't really see the point in playing travel ball if that is the situation. You got your scholarship, you've been exposed to scouts- so what are these players doing other than getting themselves hurt? Just take your private lessons and go play high school ball. It has to be cheaper to not play in all of those tournaments if you are a player too.
As it is...
As I have said before- Oregon will tell us a lot about where we are as a team like last year. When we swept Oregon last year, I knew we were going to be pretty good. Based on Cannizaro's interview today it sounds like we are about to change some things around with the pitching staff. It sounds like he wants to move Graham Ashcraft to closer- and I like that move. He could very easily give us 2-3 innings and blow people away with his fastball. My guess is we're going to try to pitch Riley Self in the rotation on the Sunday spot. I like that move too because I think he can give us five every weekend. This is a big weekend for Pilkington- he looked better against Indiana State but he needs to pitch well against Oregon for some confidence. Cyr disappointed me. Plumlee has been pretty good but I think when SEC play starts he's going to be more of a 5-6 inning guy. We need to get Rigby back ASAP with all of the injuries and I'm not sure if he will be ready for Oregon. Price and Barton are VERY important for us right now along with Ashcraft and Rigby. We need those four to be solid. I think Billinglsey is probably going to be the midweek guy and he needs to pitch better out of the bullpen than he did Sunday. Speaking of that, we have a big game with La Tech following the Oregon series and that's a big game for us as well. I'd let Cyr start against Columbia after this weekend to see if he can get going.
Catcher is pretty dicey right now too. I think Skelton has the highest ceiling but he's also the most inexperienced and he's going to have freshman moments behind the plate that we won't see from Lovelady or Marrero. I would start him as the primary catcher right now because of his bat at least on Friday and Saturday against presumably better pitching. Lovelady is a very good defensive player but he needs to get the bat going. Marrero needs to go to class. This is harsh- but he's letting the team down right now and that's as nice as I can say that. He needs to especially straighten up with Skelton being around and likely only getting better plus another JUCO catcher coming in next year in Marshall Gilbert.
First base I think needs to be Cody Brown going forward even though he isn't conventional at that position. He makes more contact and takes better AB's than Gordon right now- and he has more power than people give him credit for. It's pretty impressive to me that he has played not only the OF, but second base and now first base where he has never played before and has done so well with it. In fact, it might be best just to make Gordon a pitcher given our injuries and the fact that we have two JUCO first basemen signed- Rey Riviera and Alex Pener. Riviera is a draft risk and he can also possibly play the OF too though. I think both of them could beat Gordon out plus he needs to focus on one position whether it's pitching or first base. We need Stovall back and I think he could make All-SEC by the time he leaves. LA has been playing pretty well and looks better than he did last year. Gridley hit the ball much better even though I still don't care for him hitting third. I hate that Harrison Bragg got hurt- but I think it could be a blessing. He needs to be working with Cann and Coggin on his hitting and also at third base because of the JUCO first basemen that we are bringing in and focus on having a great summer and on 2018.
Brent Rooker should be a player of the week candidate and we all knew he would hit for power and average but the stolen bases surprise me. If he wasn't below average defensively he would have a shot at being a first round pick. He really needs to learn how to play first base and in the pros he will have plenty of time to do that. Mangum has picked up right where he left off and the only thing that has surprised me is we haven't seen him pitch yet. Poole and Blaylock are both athletic and talented but they are right now on the Brent Rooker/Hunter Renfroe career arc where they struggle and have to make a lot of adjustments and develop for a couple of years but by the time they have been in the program for three years I think they could both take off offensively. They do not have the ceiling that Renfore has but at the same time they are both already better than Rooker defensively. So, my expectation is we're going to have two guys that basically hit like Rooker but are better in the field.
I've been really impressed with the offense since Cannizaro has been here. It's the kind of offense I envisioned when Cohen took over but it really didn't quite get to the level I wanted it to. We are taking better AB's and hitting with more power than we did at this time last year. But we also steal a lot more bases as I thought we would and we still bunt some and use that as part of our game but it seems like we're better at it under Cannizaro and we seem to be getting hits every time we bunt. That puts pressure on the pitcher and the defense and it makes the power aspect all that much more dangerous. So, while the pitching injuries have been disappointing the offense has been a very pleasant surprise.
People need to remember that these players are not Cannizaro's- much like Cohen's first team wasn't his players either. We're recruiting well, but I think Cann will take it up a notch higher. The biggest thing I see right now is we need pitchers that can stay healthy. If we can get high end pitchers like we have been along with Cann's hitting and offense- that's a recipe for a National Title. One thing I want to see as time goes on is if we can start to get more of our draft risks into school with Coach Cann and also if we can start to keep some of our guys that are draftable prospects as juniors to come back for their senior year. If he can do that at a higher rate than we have seen before it will help us out a lot too.
Going forward...
We have a team that is probably about five Tommy John surgeries removed from being a legit contender for Omaha. I don't think it's weighted balls or Wes Johnson- I think it's bad luck plus abuse in travel ball. Grey Fenter was also in our class and went pro. He just had Tommy John surgery himself. I wonder if one day players and parents are going to start to skip travel ball after they commit to a SEC school. Or at least threaten it. To me, if you already have a scholarship and have committed to where you want to go and with scouts having access to media, going to high school games, and going to all of these tournaments where younger players are competing- I don't really see the point in playing travel ball if that is the situation. You got your scholarship, you've been exposed to scouts- so what are these players doing other than getting themselves hurt? Just take your private lessons and go play high school ball. It has to be cheaper to not play in all of those tournaments if you are a player too.
As it is...
As I have said before- Oregon will tell us a lot about where we are as a team like last year. When we swept Oregon last year, I knew we were going to be pretty good. Based on Cannizaro's interview today it sounds like we are about to change some things around with the pitching staff. It sounds like he wants to move Graham Ashcraft to closer- and I like that move. He could very easily give us 2-3 innings and blow people away with his fastball. My guess is we're going to try to pitch Riley Self in the rotation on the Sunday spot. I like that move too because I think he can give us five every weekend. This is a big weekend for Pilkington- he looked better against Indiana State but he needs to pitch well against Oregon for some confidence. Cyr disappointed me. Plumlee has been pretty good but I think when SEC play starts he's going to be more of a 5-6 inning guy. We need to get Rigby back ASAP with all of the injuries and I'm not sure if he will be ready for Oregon. Price and Barton are VERY important for us right now along with Ashcraft and Rigby. We need those four to be solid. I think Billinglsey is probably going to be the midweek guy and he needs to pitch better out of the bullpen than he did Sunday. Speaking of that, we have a big game with La Tech following the Oregon series and that's a big game for us as well. I'd let Cyr start against Columbia after this weekend to see if he can get going.
Catcher is pretty dicey right now too. I think Skelton has the highest ceiling but he's also the most inexperienced and he's going to have freshman moments behind the plate that we won't see from Lovelady or Marrero. I would start him as the primary catcher right now because of his bat at least on Friday and Saturday against presumably better pitching. Lovelady is a very good defensive player but he needs to get the bat going. Marrero needs to go to class. This is harsh- but he's letting the team down right now and that's as nice as I can say that. He needs to especially straighten up with Skelton being around and likely only getting better plus another JUCO catcher coming in next year in Marshall Gilbert.
First base I think needs to be Cody Brown going forward even though he isn't conventional at that position. He makes more contact and takes better AB's than Gordon right now- and he has more power than people give him credit for. It's pretty impressive to me that he has played not only the OF, but second base and now first base where he has never played before and has done so well with it. In fact, it might be best just to make Gordon a pitcher given our injuries and the fact that we have two JUCO first basemen signed- Rey Riviera and Alex Pener. Riviera is a draft risk and he can also possibly play the OF too though. I think both of them could beat Gordon out plus he needs to focus on one position whether it's pitching or first base. We need Stovall back and I think he could make All-SEC by the time he leaves. LA has been playing pretty well and looks better than he did last year. Gridley hit the ball much better even though I still don't care for him hitting third. I hate that Harrison Bragg got hurt- but I think it could be a blessing. He needs to be working with Cann and Coggin on his hitting and also at third base because of the JUCO first basemen that we are bringing in and focus on having a great summer and on 2018.
Brent Rooker should be a player of the week candidate and we all knew he would hit for power and average but the stolen bases surprise me. If he wasn't below average defensively he would have a shot at being a first round pick. He really needs to learn how to play first base and in the pros he will have plenty of time to do that. Mangum has picked up right where he left off and the only thing that has surprised me is we haven't seen him pitch yet. Poole and Blaylock are both athletic and talented but they are right now on the Brent Rooker/Hunter Renfroe career arc where they struggle and have to make a lot of adjustments and develop for a couple of years but by the time they have been in the program for three years I think they could both take off offensively. They do not have the ceiling that Renfore has but at the same time they are both already better than Rooker defensively. So, my expectation is we're going to have two guys that basically hit like Rooker but are better in the field.
I've been really impressed with the offense since Cannizaro has been here. It's the kind of offense I envisioned when Cohen took over but it really didn't quite get to the level I wanted it to. We are taking better AB's and hitting with more power than we did at this time last year. But we also steal a lot more bases as I thought we would and we still bunt some and use that as part of our game but it seems like we're better at it under Cannizaro and we seem to be getting hits every time we bunt. That puts pressure on the pitcher and the defense and it makes the power aspect all that much more dangerous. So, while the pitching injuries have been disappointing the offense has been a very pleasant surprise.
People need to remember that these players are not Cannizaro's- much like Cohen's first team wasn't his players either. We're recruiting well, but I think Cann will take it up a notch higher. The biggest thing I see right now is we need pitchers that can stay healthy. If we can get high end pitchers like we have been along with Cann's hitting and offense- that's a recipe for a National Title. One thing I want to see as time goes on is if we can start to get more of our draft risks into school with Coach Cann and also if we can start to keep some of our guys that are draftable prospects as juniors to come back for their senior year. If he can do that at a higher rate than we have seen before it will help us out a lot too.