Baseball may be a lost cause for '17

[MaroonFlounder]

Hard to watch this many late-inning collapses.

SEC competition will be unkind....to say the least.

[yjnkdawg]

Hard to watch this many late-inning collapses.

SEC competition will be unkind....to say the least.


TJ bit us extremely hard this season on our pitching staff.

[raymond21]

Last 4 games it's been our bats , not pitching

[Steakonastick]

I just hope that small, and Padgett can be full speed by next season. Parker Ford and Noah Hughes should be back in form. But I expect to get zero out of James or Smith.

[I seen it dawg]

No experience in the lineup and less than zero experienced pitching depth is a recipe for disaster. And we are here. I wish more people could see it.

[Steakonastick]

Don't forget the third problem. A head coach who is having to learn on the fly also.

[lamont]

This season was lost when 2/3 of our upper level pitching succumbed to Tommy John surgery.

We were going to rely on top 10 pitching talent as our young bats got reps. We dont have top 10 pitching talent now- its all in rehab.

[I seen it dawg]

Don't forget the third problem. A head coach who is having to learn on the fly also.

I agree there too. I think the biggest thing is what Random posted. A debilitated pitching staff has crushed this team.

[Todd4State]

I just hope that small, and Padgett can be full speed by next season. Parker Ford and Noah Hughes should be back in form. But I expect to get zero out of James or Smith.

Ford I can see- the others we'll see. See how Parker Ford has pitched this year as to why I feel that way. Agree on James, Smith's career is likely over.

[Steakonastick]

yup, we have guys pitching in roles they never have before.

Keegan James- would had been our Saturday or Sunday starter.
Ethan Small- the best actual stuff on the team.
Jared Padgett- very well could have been our closer.
Blake Smith- veteran bullpen arm
Noah Huges- the best change up on the team. Perfect long relief.

[Choctaw Dawg]

This was all the coaches fault tonight IMO. They kept putting a pitcher in just to see who would blow it. Ive always hated the taking out of perfectly good pitchers during critical moments.

[I seen it dawg]

Pitchers are having to grow into roles on the fly. Like our whole program.

[I seen it dawg]

This was all the coaches fault tonight IMO. They kept putting a pitcher in just to see who would blow it. Ive always hated the taking out of perfectly good pitchers during critical moments.

It's short sighted. Also take that one to the game melt thread please. This one seems to be about actual reasons why we are where we are.

[I seen it dawg]

This was all the coaches fault tonight IMO. They kept putting a pitcher in just to see who would blow it. Ive always hated the taking out of perfectly good pitchers during critical moments.

But I'll bite...how are we ever gonna know if guys can come in and get outs if we don't ever put them into games? So when say Price is pitching good then all of a sudden he gets tired and has 2 bad outings who do we go to? If guys haven't pitched how do you know? Then it becomes well we run Price out there all the damn time and why are we bringing in Mcquarry he hasn't ever pitched. How do we expect mcquarry to get anyone out he doesn't know where the mound is...see how that works?

[The Federalist Engineer]

yup, we have guys pitching in roles they never have before.

Keegan James- would had been our Saturday or Sunday starter.
Ethan Small- the best actual stuff on the team.
Jared Padgett- very well could have been our closer.
Blake Smith- veteran bullpen arm
Noah Huges- the best change up on the team. Perfect long relief.

You think these guys will ever produce for us again? Or will they just be Woodruffs and Paul Youngs rehabilitating, pitch 3 innings per year, and waiting to be drafted as juniors. What's doubly bad is that they basically comeback as inexperienced freshman, but draft eligible in 12-18-24 months. Strategically, it's probably smarter to put development time and innings on players that will contribute for 2+ seasons.

[Commercecomet24]

This season was lost when 2/3 of our upper level pitching succumbed to Tommy John surgery.

We were going to rely on top 10 pitching talent as our young bats got reps. We dont have top 10 pitching talent now- its all in rehab.

Yep, as my old coach used to say if you ain't got pitching you ain't got squat! Tough year.

[The Federalist Engineer]

This was all the coaches fault tonight IMO. They kept putting a pitcher in just to see who would blow it. Ive always hated the taking out of perfectly good pitchers during critical moments.

The coaches were playing with pitchers like we had a 10 run lead, they needed to look at our 4 total hits and pitch like we were not scoring again. Not that 10 runs is a safe lead for our current staff.

[msstate7]

Yep, as my old coach used to say if you ain't got pitching you ain't got squat! Tough year.

We've given up 11 earned runs in our last 36.1 ip (4 games) for an era of 2.74 and we're 1-3 in those games. Hard for me to say pitching is the problem

[The Federalist Engineer]

We've given up 11 earned runs in our last 36.1 ip (4 games) for an era of 2.74 and we're 1-3 in those games. Hard for me to say pitching is the problem

We got ZERO hits in the last 4 innings and because Mangum was picked-off 1st-base and Rooker hit into a DP, we actually never left a man on-base to finish an inning.

[Todd4State]

We got ZERO hits in the last 4 innings and because Mangum was picked-off 1st-base and Rooker hit into a DP, we actually never left a man on-base to finish an inning.

I don't know if this is the case or not- but it looks to me like we have too many guys thinking too much at the plate. It seems like we have too many guys looking for a particular pitch in one particular spot or a particular pitch and if they don't get it they take it- and then they get in a two strike count and are in trouble. Tonight it seemed like we were a lot more aggressive- and while we struck out only five times we also had no walks. At least we made contact better tonight.

[Cooterpoot]

We aren't good. The end. You guys can argue over hitting vs pitching issues. Doesn't matter. Both are bad. We have a huge lack of talent regardless of reason and a coach who should've been groomed in the program before taking over.

[Dawgsfanalongtime77]

We aren't good. The end. You guys can argue over hitting vs pitching issues. Doesn't matter. Both are bad. We have a huge lack of talent regardless of reason and a coach who should've been groomed in the program before taking over.

11 players were lost to the draft from last yrs team. Who in their right mind expected to just pick up right where we left off? This is a young team that's making young mistakes. There is definitely some talent on this team but this yr will be a grind and that's to be expected. I think it's a perfect scenario for players and new coaches. They all learn together. Will definitely make the future brighter

[Leeshouldveflanked]

Thanks Mini Me

[Political Hack]

Let's not forget we changed coaches midway through the offseason. Canny is drinking from a fire hose without a bullpen and damn near zero experience.

[bulldogcountry1]

It sucks to see things play out this way, but the reality is that it has very little to do with who the HC is. We may have 1 or 2 more victories now if Cohen was still the HC, strictly because of his familiarity with the players, but he has nothing to do with losing half the roster to MLB, injuries, and suspensions . He would also be dealing with a new pitching coach, as well. Cohen may be familiar with Henderson, but the pitching staff wasn't. there's just too much to overcome at this point.

I thought 2015 was the last of the down years for us and that we were ready to compete for championships every year, but we are experiencing a perfect storm right. We definitely need to get a handle on the arm injuries and figure out the root of the problem. It's easy to blame Wes Johnson, but I think there's more to it. If we offer a scholarship to a guy, we need him to shut down summer ball. There's no advantage to it.

Overall, we are still in a good position to take it to the next level with the new stadium and recruiting momentum. AZ just needs to take it to the next level by convincing some juniors to stay and some high draft picks to come to campus. That's the only way anyone can succeed year in and year out.

[Doggie_Style]

We aren't good. The end. You guys can argue over hitting vs pitching issues. Doesn't matter. Both are bad. We have a huge lack of talent regardless of reason and a coach who should've been groomed in the program before taking over.

You can throw the 2017 Baseball season in the same steaming pile as the 2016 FB and BB seasons.........always next year boys, always next year

[tcdog70]

We've given up 11 earned runs in our last 36.1 ip (4 games) for an era of 2.74 and we're 1-3 in those games. Hard for me to say pitching is the problem

Thank you. did your light just go on. These last 3 loses aren't on the pitching. The Catcher lost the game last night, along with shitty run production. We had the guy struck out but the ump did not ring him up. the next pitch a double.

[HSVDawg]

This season was lost when 2/3 of our upper level pitching succumbed to Tommy John surgery.

We were going to rely on top 10 pitching talent as our young bats got reps. We dont have top 10 pitching talent now- its all in rehab.

Yep. It isn't just now a lost cause. Been that way since before the first pitch was ever thrown.

[Cooterpoot]

11 players were lost to the draft from last yrs team. Who in their right mind expected to just pick up right where we left off? This is a young team that's making young mistakes. There is definitely some talent on this team but this yr will be a grind and that's to be expected. I think it's a perfect scenario for players and new coaches. They all learn together. Will definitely make the future brighter

Our talent level is really low. Believe what you want. We should've had better talent waiting to play. And we aren't that young. We had 3 guys in the lineup last night that didn't have experience. I'm not blaming our coach. I'm blaming our last coach for not stockpiling talent better.

[Human Meat]

Ford I can see- the others we'll see. See how Parker Ford has pitched this year as to why I feel that way. Agree on James, Smith's career is likely over.

Ford had surgery in November of 2015. Small and Padgett had theirs in July/August of 2016. They will have had 3-4 more months of rehabilitation.

[Homedawg]

Don't forget the third problem. A head coach who is having to learn on the fly also.

That's just an excuse. Yeah he's learning but last night what did he do wrong? Put in the best guy we've had, in self, w a 2 run lead and he blew the save? Heck self has been good and we went to him. Had we not, everyone on here would have been going why did we not being self in. It's pretty damn easy to make the "right" decision when you know what the wrong was is in hindsight.

[HSVDawg]

Thank you. did your light just go on. These last 3 loses aren't on the pitching. The Catcher lost the game last night, along with shitty run production. We had the guy struck out but the ump did not ring him up. the next pitch a double.

There is no doubt that hitting is also a sporadic problem. I think everyone knew we were going to struggle at the plate at times after losing Lowe, Kruger, Humphreys, Collins, Robson, etc. A TON of production lost there, and we just didn't have the depth at the every day positions as we did on the mound, although we certainly have talent albeit young talented guys that need plate appearances. We did certainly have the arms at one point to still be competititive in spite of the hitting, but that is now gone.

Long story short, we aren't good enough or experienced enough at hitting or pitching to expect both to show up in the same game on any sort of consistent basis. Losing 17 guys early over an 8 month period will cause that to happen to any program.

[Bothrops]

We lost a lot of veteran talent from last season. A ridiculous amount.

[Human Meat]

That's just an excuse. Yeah he's learning but last night what did he do wrong? Put in the best guy we've had, in self, w a 2 run lead and he blew the save? Heck self has been good and we went to him. Had we not, everyone on here would have been going why did we not being self in. It's pretty damn easy to make the "right" decision when you know what the wrong was is in hindsight.

Self threw 57 pitches Saturday. It was a dumb decision, unless you enjoy Tommy John surgery.

[maroonmania]

The TJ injury situation was always going to keep us from being an upper echelon team. I think everyone realizes that, but THAT is not the reason we are losing these recent games other than it gives us less margin for error. We are losing these recent games because of not playing sound baseball and not doing the little things. I mean we lose 1-0 with 18 strikeouts because we are undisciplined at the plate and swinging at stuff out of the zone, we lose 6-5 in extras because we use a HBP, walk and a wild pitch to allow the game to be tied without forcing the other team to do anything with their bat, we lose 3-2 last night because we kept changing relief pitchers over and over until we found one that had a bit of an off night and compounded that by allowing the winning run to score on a strikeout that turned into a crapfest play in the field. These aren't losses that you can blame just on TJ, they are losses by a team not playing sound baseball at critical times. When conference teams are blowing us out on a Saturday or Sunday like 12-5, that is something to blame TJ for. We don't really have any real significant injuries up and down the lineup, it just is what it is for this year. And to be honest, if you take Rooker and Gridley out next year, not sure 2018 will be any better. Heaven help us if Mangum leaves because he will technically be old enough to enter the draft this Summer if he wants to.

[Human Meat]

Zac Houston is killing us. He could have come back, been the Friday night starter, and went in the top 2 rounds. We have to do a better job of convincing some of these juniors to stay when more could be accomplished.

[Homedawg]

Self threw 57 pitches Saturday. It was a dumb decision, unless you enjoy Tommy John surgery.

On Saturday.....it Tuesday. He's a reliever. That's what they do. You don't get a week off after throwing 57 pitches good grief.

[Homedawg]

Zac Houston is killing us. He could have come back, been the Friday night starter, and went in the top 2 rounds. We have to do a better job of convincing some of these juniors to stay when more could be accomplished.

Convince a guy to come back and sign for nothing as a sr w no bargaining power? Houston did exactly what he should have- sign! Another not so good post in the same thread. Keep up the good work*

[Human Meat]

Houston had 1st round potential.

[GTHOM]

We aren't good. The end. You guys can argue over hitting vs pitching issues. Doesn't matter. Both are bad. We have a huge lack of talent regardless of reason and a coach who should've been groomed in the program before taking over.

Lack of talent? If you go by recruiting rankings, which I don't, we should be one of the more talented teams in the nation. I think we are just learning how to win right now. Aside from a few we are very young.