Todd4State
03-27-2019, 09:33 PM
Finally back from Memphis after watching the Cardinals play the Memphis Redbirds. Pretty fun event- the Battle of the Birds.
Anyway...
I thought Lemonis's press conference was interesting to say the least. It was mostly about pitching. My general opinion of the staff is that they are kind of in a learning stage/slump but they will for the most part break out of it and get back on track soon. Once we get past week five in SEC play I think we will start to see our team really starting to click on all cylinders hopefully ready for a deep postseason run.
It appears as if Keegan is possibly destined for the bullpen. Depending on what happens Friday and Saturday.
On that note- while Lemonis hesitated to say that we would use an opener he kind of backtracked and said we might use a guy for one time through the lineup....and then said "well I guess that's what an opener is".
He said that Eric Cerentola looks lights out in the bullpen but "doesn't trust his stuff" right now. The good news is the potential is there and he is at least looking good in practice. One thing I would change is I would let Dustin Skelton catch him instead of Hayden Jones. Skelton frames pitches and handles pitchers better than Hayden does at this point. I think Hayden will be good but having two guys that are learning on the job at the same time and having to work together may be why we are seeing what we are from Cerentola. And I realize that we need to rest Skelton some- so my suggestion is to pinch hit for Skelton with Hayden once Cerentola comes out of the game. With Gilbert and Hancock we have enough depth to make this work without fear of running out of catchers in a midweek game. I looked up the box scores of Cerentola's starts and he had the most success this year with Marshall Gilbert catching. When Hayden Jones has been the catcher he has struggled except for one inning against Youngstown State in relief. Not dogging either one- both are young and talented players but they're learning.
To my point about some of our guys being in a pitching slump....just about 2-3 weeks ago Jack Eagan and Riley Self looked like non-factors for our staff. Now Eagan struck out six guys in a row and Self has an ERA under 1.00. That's very encouraging to me with guys like Cole Gordon and Keegan James who have been scuffling some. Adjustments are just part of the game.
Anyway...
I thought Lemonis's press conference was interesting to say the least. It was mostly about pitching. My general opinion of the staff is that they are kind of in a learning stage/slump but they will for the most part break out of it and get back on track soon. Once we get past week five in SEC play I think we will start to see our team really starting to click on all cylinders hopefully ready for a deep postseason run.
It appears as if Keegan is possibly destined for the bullpen. Depending on what happens Friday and Saturday.
On that note- while Lemonis hesitated to say that we would use an opener he kind of backtracked and said we might use a guy for one time through the lineup....and then said "well I guess that's what an opener is".
He said that Eric Cerentola looks lights out in the bullpen but "doesn't trust his stuff" right now. The good news is the potential is there and he is at least looking good in practice. One thing I would change is I would let Dustin Skelton catch him instead of Hayden Jones. Skelton frames pitches and handles pitchers better than Hayden does at this point. I think Hayden will be good but having two guys that are learning on the job at the same time and having to work together may be why we are seeing what we are from Cerentola. And I realize that we need to rest Skelton some- so my suggestion is to pinch hit for Skelton with Hayden once Cerentola comes out of the game. With Gilbert and Hancock we have enough depth to make this work without fear of running out of catchers in a midweek game. I looked up the box scores of Cerentola's starts and he had the most success this year with Marshall Gilbert catching. When Hayden Jones has been the catcher he has struggled except for one inning against Youngstown State in relief. Not dogging either one- both are young and talented players but they're learning.
To my point about some of our guys being in a pitching slump....just about 2-3 weeks ago Jack Eagan and Riley Self looked like non-factors for our staff. Now Eagan struck out six guys in a row and Self has an ERA under 1.00. That's very encouraging to me with guys like Cole Gordon and Keegan James who have been scuffling some. Adjustments are just part of the game.