Luke a.k.a. LA / Belmont

[BorneDawg]

Starting to hit his stride.
8 game hit steak
Only 9K in 52 AB .300+
HR and had one robbed
Facing mid to hi 90's Fb & nasty sliders.
Shortened swing + not having to take strikes just seeing and hitting

[CadaverDawg]

Great news, we're going to need him.

Vansau is lighting it up too so far. Went 5-5 with 6 RBI last night including a 420 ft bomb to dead center.

[msstate7]

Excellent news on both. I think Luke will be much improved, but I really think vansau blows up next year. Wish we'd give vansau a look at 1b

[BuckyIsAB****]

How good is the competition they are facing, not asking to put em down I just really have no clue about those offseason leagues or whatever

[msstate7]

How good is the competition they are facing, not asking to put em down I just really have no clue about those offseason leagues or whatever

Luke is facing outstanding competition. Not sure what league vansau in

[CadaverDawg]

How good is the competition they are facing, not asking to put em down I just really have no clue about those offseason leagues or whatever

Alexander is in the Cape, so he is playing great competition. Vansau is not playing quite as good of competition as LA, but not terrible....and 5-5 is great regardless. Vansau is hitting like .615 or something crazy in his last 20-ish at bats.

Here's a write up on Vansau from last night...

http://harbourcats.com/vansau-powers-harbourcats-comeback-win-elks/

[CadaverDawg]

Luke is facing outstanding competition. Not sure what league vansau in

Vansau is in the West Coast League I think.

[I seen it dawg]

Good. Would be really helpful is belmont can hit at sec level.

[State82]

Good. Would be really helpful is belmont can hit at sec level.

Would be a tremendous boost.

[basedog]

Wake me up in February.

[JoseBrown]

Sounds good. Belmont had such a long swing I couldn't stand it, but when he got a hold of one he would rope it. Problem was that was very seldom. Glad he's shortened his swing, that should help him out a good bit. And cut down on the K's for sure.

I like that 21 on Vansau in that HR pic in the article. I love his swing too. Reminds me of a former Bulldog HR hitter, that's a pretty good dude, that hit from the left side of the plate also and wore the same number.....

[BorneDawg]

Great news, we're going to need him.

Vansauw is lighting it up too so far. Went 5-5 with 6 RBI last night including a 420 ft bomb to dead center.

Luke's been hitting to both sides and bomb was prob in the 425 ft range. The is an article.on him but don't know how to link it. You can follow on Twitter. He's been playing 2nd and some 3rd base.

https://www.kettleers.org/2017/07/kettleers-notebook-luke-alexander-extends-hitting-streak-to-eight-games/

[CadaverDawg]

Luke's been hitting to both sides and bomb was prob in the 425 ft range. The is an article.on him but don't know how to link it. You can follow on Twitter. He's been playing 2nd and some 3rd base.

https://www.kettleers.org/2017/07/kettleers-notebook-luke-alexander-extends-hitting-streak-to-eight-games/

Thanks for the link

[BorneDawg]

And the pitching is pretty salty! Seeing 96-97 regularly some bumping 100 and the rotate about every 3 innings so always fresh. He's been a lot of sliders too

[BorneDawg]

@cotuitkettleers is his team's Twitter account

[lamont]

Luke's been hitting to both sides and bomb was prob in the 425 ft range. The is an article.on him but don't know how to link it. You can follow on Twitter. He's been playing 2nd and some 3rd base.

https://www.kettleers.org/2017/07/kettleers-notebook-luke-alexander-extends-hitting-streak-to-eight-games/




Sooooo Stovall has been playing SS and Belmont's been playing 2nd?? Interesting

[Bully13]

Wake me up in February.

thank you. seems like we see sunshine threads like this every year then the WTF'S begin once the season gets going.

[msstate7]

Sooooo Stovall has been playing SS and Belmont's been playing 2nd?? Interesting

Both have been playing more 2b than SS. Stovall has played 3 of last 4 at 2b.

I love Alexander and Stovall. Hopefully Stovall gets his bat going. He's hitting .237 right now

[I seen it dawg]

Not worried about Stovall at any position or at the plate.

[I seen it dawg]

Wake me up in February.

Ding ding. Da ding ding ding.

[msstate7]

Not worried about Stovall at any position or at the plate.

Yeah, he's gonna be good. I'm hopeful for a .370 or so season though. Like to see him hit .350 like Jake is right now

[CadaverDawg]

Alexander now has a 10 game hitting streak

[Tbonewannabe]

Yeah, he's gonna be good. I'm hopeful for a .370 or so season though. Like to see him hit .350 like Jake is right now

I thought Stovall was one of the best defensive 2nd basemen in the SEC. He took away several hits in short RF and up the middle. It could be why Canny is looking at him as a SS if we have someone else that just doesn't have the arm for SS.

[bulldogcountry1]

In other words, our pitchers still really like to walk people.

[The Federalist Engineer]

How good is the competition they are facing, not asking to put em down I just really have no clue about those offseason leagues or whatever

Belmont is in the Cape, great competition. Vansau is in a good league too, full of Pac12 and good Western teams

[The Federalist Engineer]

In other words, our pitchers still really like to walk people.

Outside of Pilk on team USA, on the mound, we don't have anyone having a good summer statistically. Lots of +4.00 ERAs, lots of hits, and lots of walks.

[Todd4State]

Outside of Pilk on team USA, on the mound, we don't have anyone having a good summer statistically. Lots of +4.00 ERAs, lots of hits, and lots of walks.

I'm not too concerned about that. I'm just happy that Ford and Hughes are on the mound and pitching right now. Ashcraft is rehabbing his groin and Self, Price, and McQuary aren't pitching this summer. Unless JP France is pitching somewhere else he's resting too. Barlow and Billingsley will benefit from pitching in the Cape. Ethan Small is rehabbing as well.

We're going to have a potential first round pick ace in Pilkington followed up by two fifth year seniors in France and Billingsley- and I thought Billingsley pitched very well at the end of the year. Hopefully one of either Ashcraft or McQuary will step up and take a weekend spot, but if not we're still in decent shape as far as the weekend rotation is concerned. A bullpen with Ford, Small, Self, Price, Barlow, and I really like Jared Leibelt who is a JUCO guy that we have coming in should be much better than what we had this year- even if a couple of those guys don't pan out.

Since some of those guys aren't pitching this summer, this fall is going to be very key to their development.

[Todd4State]

Yeah, he's gonna be good. I'm hopeful for a .370 or so season though. Like to see him hit .350 like Jake is right now

I'm hoping that Stovall and LA have seasons similar to what Gridley had this year. If not better. I'd like Jake to hit .400 again and not hit any walls. We need a couple of freshmen to at least have a season like Josh Smith had for LSU at the plate this year. If a freshman can come out of nowhere and have a huge season like Mangum had his freshman year- that would be incredibly helpful.

[CadaverDawg]

I think Mangum, Stovall, Alexander, Vansau, & Macnamee will provide a solid core to the order....but we need some guys to step up to provide some power. I may be in the minority but I think Skelton will have a good season next season....and by good, I'm only talking like .275+ with 4-5 bombs but a real good defensive year. I think if we can get .275+ out of him in addition to controlling the running game, it will be a huge shot in the arm.

Mangum CF
Macnamee LF
Vansau RF
Stovall SS/2B
Alexander SS/2B/3B
Skelton C

Who will fill the remaining spots? We need another middle infielder or 3rd baseman plus a 1st Baseman. We also need a DH, although I'd be fine with us finding a great outfielder and DHing Vansau

[Tbonewannabe]

I think Mangum, Stovall, Alexander, Vansau, & Macnamee will provide a solid core to the order....but we need some guys to step up to provide some power. I may be in the minority but I think Skelton will have a good season next season....and by good, I'm only talking like .275+ with 4-5 bombs but a real good defensive year. I think if we can get .275+ out of him in addition to controlling the running game, it will be a huge shot in the arm.

Mangum CF
Macnamee LF
Vansau RF
Stovall SS/2B
Alexander SS/2B/3B
Skelton C

Who will fill the remaining spots? We need another middle infielder or 3rd baseman plus a 1st Baseman. We also need a DH, although I'd be fine with us finding a great outfielder and DHing Vansau

If Skelton can hit above 0.250 and control the running game then that is better than Lovelady this year.

[bulldogcountry1]

I think our pitching staff has to take a lot of responsibility for us not controlling the run game very well this past season.

[Tbonewannabe]

I think our pitching staff has to take a lot of responsibility for us not controlling the run game very well this past season.

Probably a combination of pitchers not doing a great job and Lovelady just didn't have a great arm behind the plate. The guy was a warrior back there but he didn't have a plus arm. He also probably had to worry more about framing pitches to help out also. The amount of people we gave free bases to was a worse problem than the running game.

[tcdog70]

Ethan Small will be back and will be a huge factor.