Tennessee series thoughts...

[CadaverDawg]

* Plumlee stepped up (minus the bonehead play). We should win 1000% of the games Plumlee gives us 5+ innings of 2 run baseball. It was unfortunate our bats went cold, but super encouraging what Plumlee did...especially with us not knowing Ginn's status going forward.

* Speaking of Ginn...just get ready bc it will be about survival while he's out. We could drop a game or two we normally wouldn't, but just weather the storm best we can and get him healthy bc any shot at a deep run depends on it. Get rest, Get healthy, JT.

* We seemed to go back to pull mode most of the weekend. When we are at our best hitting, it's when we are taking those middle out pitches and driving them oppo. Glad to see Tanner hit some today, but if he's going to get completely out of his funk, he's got to quit being a pull only hitter imo. Glad to see Rowdey get rowdy again. That was a good staff, I think we'll be ok with the bats.

* Bullpen did a solid job. They're going to give up a few runs here and there, but we'll win a lot of games if they can continue to not give up the BIG innings of 3+ runs. I was encouraged by the pen and pitching as a whole (minus the Ginn injury of course).

* Finally saw a little fire from Lemonis Sunday. I don't want the guy to be a raging idiot, but a little fire when fighting for your guys is necessary imo, and can actually help spark your team after a bad call. He shoulda gotten tossed Saturday.

* Despite no Ginn and weak hitting, we were still one timely hit from a road sweep. I can live with that. The competition gets really tough after Bama, so making hay next weekend would be nice.

[BeardoMSU]

Despite no Ginn and weak hitting, we were still one timely hit from a road sweep. I can live with that.


This is what it comes down to, really. We were on the road in the SEC against a team that throws it pretty well....expecting a sweep in this league is pretty crazy, especially on the road. Just win 2 out of 3 and everything will work out. And I'm not even worried about winning the SEC, tbh. We could not win the SEC, but have a higher seed in the Tourney than the winner because of overall record, strength of schedule, etc. This sport is all about post season. And for this team, it's all about getting back to OMAHA.

[maroonmania]

Concerned about Ginn because he's probably never pitched this many innings in his life. Wasn't he just a closer in HS? Just wonder if his arm is up to being a full time starter for an entire college season. Agree we have to have him healthy and pitching well at tournament time to have any shot at a deep run.

[MetEdDawg]

Concerned about Ginn because he's probably never pitched this many innings in his life. Wasn't he just a closer in HS? Just wonder if his arm is up to being a full time starter for an entire college season. Agree we have to have him healthy and pitching well at tournament time to have any shot at a deep run.

Lot of folks said that last year and we finished in the final 4. Pilk was terrible too. Small was all we had. Our team is a lot more resilient than people give it credit for. We have 6 guys on this team that have started games for us, 4 of them in the super regional or CWS (Small, Gordon, Plumlee, Keegan). There are a lot of teams that wish they had someone that could do what Plumlee did Saturday.

In a 3 game series with all arms available, we are going to be competitive. Without Ginn yes it gets harder. But we have Plumlee and Keegan and their experience is something that few teams have. Them at their best or pretty good can take us at least to a super and potentially past that.

[Homedawg]

Concerned about Ginn because he's probably never pitched this many innings in his life. Wasn't he just a closer in HS? Just wonder if his arm is up to being a full time starter for an entire college season. Agree we have to have him healthy and pitching well at tournament time to have any shot at a deep run.

I have no idea how Ginn was used in hs. But it's amazing to me how after 7 weekends people are clamoring about how much he's pitched etc. it's amazing 30 years ago Brantley threw 7 innings on sat and then midweek. 20 years ago rath and dubose both threw a crazy mount of innings. Don't mistake this for saying we should misuse a million dollar arm, not at all. However, it's just the mindset of oh we need to baby everyone that's bothersome. And yes in this case w a sore arm, we need to, but not until then. If he were in pro ball he'd throw 100 pitches every 5 days. We haven't had him do that once I don't think and we do it every 7 days.

[Todd4State]

* Plumlee stepped up (minus the bonehead play). We should win 1000% of the games Plumlee gives us 5+ innings of 2 run baseball. It was unfortunate our bats went cold, but super encouraging what Plumlee did...especially with us not knowing Ginn's status going forward.

* Speaking of Ginn...just get ready bc it will be about survival while he's out. We could drop a game or two we normally wouldn't, but just weather the storm best we can and get him healthy bc any shot at a deep run depends on it. Get rest, Get healthy, JT.

* We seemed to go back to pull mode most of the weekend. When we are at our best hitting, it's when we are taking those middle out pitches and driving them oppo. Glad to see Tanner hit some today, but if he's going to get completely out of his funk, he's got to quit being a pull only hitter imo. Glad to see Rowdey get rowdy again. That was a good staff, I think we'll be ok with the bats.

* Bullpen did a solid job. They're going to give up a few runs here and there, but we'll win a lot of games if they can continue to not give up the BIG innings of 3+ runs. I was encouraged by the pen and pitching as a whole (minus the Ginn injury of course).

* Finally saw a little fire from Lemonis Sunday. I don't want the guy to be a raging idiot, but a little fire when fighting for your guys is necessary imo, and can actually help spark your team after a bad call. He shoulda gotten tossed Saturday.

* Despite no Ginn and weak hitting, we were still one timely hit from a road sweep. I can live with that. The competition gets really tough after Bama, so making hay next weekend would be nice.


Great thoughts Cadaver. I agree with everything. I will say that South Carolina is not as good as they historically are though. That doesn't make things much easier but still.


Concerned about Ginn because he's probably never pitched this many innings in his life. Wasn't he just a closer in HS? Just wonder if his arm is up to being a full time starter for an entire college season. Agree we have to have him healthy and pitching well at tournament time to have any shot at a deep run.


Brandon pitched him in relief a lot. He was a dual position guy in high school.


Lot of folks said that last year and we finished in the final 4. Pilk was terrible too. Small was all we had. Our team is a lot more resilient than people give it credit for. We have 6 guys on this team that have started games for us, 4 of them in the super regional or CWS (Small, Gordon, Plumlee, Keegan). There are a lot of teams that wish they had someone that could do what Plumlee did Saturday.

In a 3 game series with all arms available, we are going to be competitive. Without Ginn yes it gets harder. But we have Plumlee and Keegan and their experience is something that few teams have. Them at their best or pretty good can take us at least to a super and potentially past that.


This team has been through a lot- even the sophomores. They are going to draw on that and I think even while Ginn is out we will be OK. It could be a blessing because we will be able to get our bullpen some more experience and we may see other guys emerge- like Leibelt did today.


I have no idea how Ginn was used in hs. But it's amazing to me how after 7 weekends people are clamoring about how much he's pitched etc. it's amazing 30 years ago Brantley threw 7 innings on sat and then midweek. 20 years ago rath and dubose both threw a crazy mount of innings. Don't mistake this for saying we should misuse a million dollar arm, not at all. However, it's just the mindset of oh we need to baby everyone that's bothersome. And yes in this case w a sore arm, we need to, but not until then. If he were in pro ball he'd throw 100 pitches every 5 days. We haven't had him do that once I don't think and we do it every 7 days.

It's just a totally different era. I think they know that overwork leads to injuries but I think they are still trying to refine things where a pitcher can physically last an entire year and at the same time do it safely. Even in the minors it seems like they are taking every starting pitcher out after five innings no matter what almost. Or at least a lot of the time. And then you have pitchers that get drafted that don't even pitch in the minors the year that they are drafted because of workloads in college or high school. Back in the 80's that never happened.

To me it's more of an issue of refining the conditioning part of it along with making sure that pitchers are mechanically sound and I don't think we're quite there on the conditioning part.

But there are also times in the past where a guy like Ginn would have just been left out there to figure things out and he may have actually gotten hurt and never pitched again.

[maroonmania]

I have no idea how Ginn was used in hs. But it's amazing to me how after 7 weekends people are clamoring about how much he's pitched etc. it's amazing 30 years ago Brantley threw 7 innings on sat and then midweek. 20 years ago rath and dubose both threw a crazy mount of innings. Don't mistake this for saying we should misuse a million dollar arm, not at all. However, it's just the mindset of oh we need to baby everyone that's bothersome. And yes in this case w a sore arm, we need to, but not until then. If he were in pro ball he'd throw 100 pitches every 5 days. We haven't had him do that once I don't think and we do it every 7 days.

If he was used to being a starting pitcher then pitching 80-90 pitches once a week should be a load he can easily handle. Just based on what I know about how he was used in HS I'm not sure he is accustomed to pitching 6 to 7 innings per outing. And I never said anything about "babying" him. It is kind of weird that college pitchers pitch once a week for ~4 months and we worry about overworking them whereas MLB pitchers are expected to pitch every 5th day for 6 months. I realize MLB have a much more rigorous training program but that still a LOT more use of the pitching arm.

[DancingRabbit]

UT Coach:

"There's no medals being handed out for second place. We're not about that anymore...we're able to beat teams like (Miss State)."

I hope he doesn't try to get too much mileage out of that win.

[Todd4State]

If he was used to being a starting pitcher then pitching 80-90 pitches once a week should be a load he can easily handle. Just based on what I know about how he was used in HS I'm not sure he is accustomed to pitching 6 to 7 innings per outing. And I never said anything about "babying" him. It is kind of weird that college pitchers pitch once a week for ~4 months and we worry about overworking them whereas MLB pitchers are expected to pitch every 5th day for 6 months. I realize MLB have a much more rigorous training program but that still a LOT more use of the pitching arm.

MLB has a travel day mixed in there a lot of times too. So they're usually going 5-6 days of rest depending on how the schedule falls. Overworking pitchers is an issue even in MLB with young pitchers. That's one reason why Dakota Hudson has been moved back to the bullpen for a little while before he is going to go back into the rotation as an example. MLB pitchers in general are more mature physically and that helps with their conditioning plus having the experience of doing it.

Baseball has gone from one extreme to the other where you would hear about a guy throwing 150 pitches in a travel ball game and then coming back and throwing another 50-60 to win the D'Lo Water Park Travel Ball Tournament later that day to where guys are monitored so closely that they aren't allowed to build up to 100 pitches consistently every week. I think it's better that they are erring on the side of caution for sure but they haven't found the happy medium yet either.

[Todd4State]

UT Coach:

"There's no medals being handed out for second place. We're not about that anymore...we're able to beat teams like (Miss State)."

I hope he doesn't try to get too much mileage out of that win.

They're able to beat us if we do something stupid like randomly chunk the ball into the dugout before timeout is called and our guys try to hit a bunch of home runs because they don't know how their ballpark plays after we jacked a bunch out in BP.

[MetEdDawg]

UT Coach:

"There's no medals being handed out for second place. We're not about that anymore...we're able to beat teams like (Miss State)."

I hope he doesn't try to get too much mileage out of that win.

He's right though. They can beat us. Tennessee baseball is much better than it has been. That's not a bad team right there. They can pitch and they can hit enough to win a couple close ones, especially at home.

They lost their 3 games at Auburn by a combined 7 runs. All close games. Lost their Friday game to Vandy by 2 and beat them Sunday. Lost their Saturday game to SC by 1 run. That's a good ball club over there. They could make it as a 3 seed in a regional and be a really tough team to play.

[AlSwearengen]

We are scuffling a little bit lately but it is better to do it now than later. You could tell that the guys just didn?t seem to have their usual energy. We were in a survival situation this weekend and were able to do it.

I would shut Ginn down at least thru the Alabama series and then evaluate the situation.

If we can rest Ginn vs. Alabama and take 2 of 3, we will have survived a tenuous situation. I say that assuming that J.T. Is able to bounce back.

Hopefully, this weekend will help to rally the pitching staff and give them a little confidence. I know it was only a handful that did well, but maybe it will spread to the others that didn?t pitch.

We need Gilbert to hit a little and make routine plays. Get Tanner going, keep Rowdey going, and the rest of the lineup keeps it up, it will give us a chance to overcome shaky pitching performances.

[Todd4State]

He's right though. They can beat us. Tennessee baseball is much better than it has been. That's not a bad team right there. They can pitch and they can hit enough to win a couple close ones, especially at home.

They lost their 3 games to Auburn by a combined 7 runs. All close games. Lost their Friday game to Vandy by 2 and beat them Sunday. Lost their Saturday game to SC by 1 run. That's a good ball club over there. They could make it as a 3 seed in a regional and be a really tough team to play.

They're better but they are at least a year or two away. UT needs to put a lot more effort into their baseball program than they have the past 20 years. See the "broadcast" this weekend. They played as well as they could at home and still almost got swept by us. I think a 3 seed is a fair evaluation of what they are at this point. Their OOC schedule is OK but not incredibly tough.

[Todd4State]

We are scuffling a little bit lately but it is better to do it now than later. You could tell that the guys just didn’t seem to have their usual energy. We were in a survival situation this weekend and were able to do it.

I would shut Ginn down at least through the Alabama series and then evaluate the situation.

If we can rest Ginn vs. Alabama and take 2 of 3, we will have survived a tenuous situation. I say that assuming that J.T. Is able to bounce back.

Hopefully, this weekend will help to rally the pitching staff and give them a little confidence. I know it was only a handful that did well, but maybe it will spread to the others that didn’t pitch.

We need Gilbert to hit a little and make routine plays. Get Tanner going, keep Rowdey going, and the rest of the lineup keeps it up, it will give us a chance to overcome shaky pitching performances.

I think we can still sweep Bama without Ginn. Especially in Starkville. Plumlee has been good two outings in a row now. Sunday is Johnny Wholestaff no matter what. I thought most of our pitchers did very well. Ginn wasn't 100% and he gave up a couple, Keegan gave up one which was actually atypical for him through the first time through the order but he came back and recovered well and Barlow was overextended. Leibelt was very good all weekend. We didn't even have to pitch Self once and we only threw Gordon one inning the whole weekend. Colby White was good in the one inning he pitched and that's all encouraging.

But I'm guessing that Ginn probably won't be back until A&M because I think they are going to be VERY careful with him. I think they will try him against Texas Southern and go from there and work him back in slowly.

[MetEdDawg]

They're better but they are at least a year or two away. UT needs to put a lot more effort into their baseball program than they have the past 20 years. See the "broadcast" this weekend. They played as well as they could at home and still almost got swept by us. I think a 3 seed is a fair evaluation of what they are at this point. Their OOC schedule is OK but not incredibly tough.

You would think the school with the largest athletic budget in the conference could afford better baseball video equipment. They are definitely a year or two away, but they've got enough pitching to cause problems. They just can't hit or play defense terribly well. Their OF played not smart baseball. Let RBI singles turn into guys on 2B too much missing relays and cuts. But they will cause problems.

[Todd4State]

You would think the school with the largest athletic budget in the conference could afford better baseball video equipment. They are definitely a year or two away, but they've got enough pitching to cause problems. They just can't hit or play defense terribly well. Their OF played not smart baseball. Let RBI singles turn into guys on 2B too much missing relays and cuts. But they will cause problems.

That's because Dave Serrano was their coach and tried to make them into Cal State Fullerton in the SEC.

[99jc]

I once pitched in the high school state tournament. I pitched the fist game at 11:00 and the 2nd game at 6:00 on the same day. Pitched 14 innings and the next day could barely pick up a glass of water. Years ago nobody gave a crap if they over used you.

[BrunswickDawg]

MLB has a travel day mixed in there a lot of times too. So they're usually going 5-6 days of rest depending on how the schedule falls. Overworking pitchers is an issue even in MLB with young pitchers. That's one reason why Dakota Hudson has been moved back to the bullpen for a little while before he is going to go back into the rotation as an example. MLB pitchers in general are more mature physically and that helps with their conditioning plus having the experience of doing it.

Baseball has gone from one extreme to the other where you would hear about a guy throwing 150 pitches in a travel ball game and then coming back and throwing another 50-60 to win the D'Lo Water Park Travel Ball Tournament later that day to where guys are monitored so closely that they aren't allowed to build up to 100 pitches consistently every week. I think it's better that they are erring on the side of caution for sure but they haven't found the happy medium yet either.

I once had an orthopedist tell me that the way we throw a baseball is the most mechanically un-natural thing we do with a human body. If you study the way the body is put together, the natural pitching motion is more like fast-pitch softball or the Dan Quisenberry/Gene Garber submarine style. Injury is not a matter of if, but when. Unlike softball. It's also why our softball starter (Emily Williams) threw 149 on Friday, 10 on Saturday, and 132 pitches yesterday, and no one blinked an eye.

[WinningIsRelentless]

I have no idea how Ginn was used in hs. But it's amazing to me how after 7 weekends people are clamoring about how much he's pitched etc. it's amazing 30 years ago Brantley threw 7 innings on sat and then midweek. 20 years ago rath and dubose both threw a crazy mount of innings. Don't mistake this for saying we should misuse a million dollar arm, not at all. However, it's just the mindset of oh we need to baby everyone that's bothersome. And yes in this case w a sore arm, we need to, but not until then. If he were in pro ball he'd throw 100 pitches every 5 days. We haven't had him do that once I don't think and we do it every 7 days.

20 years ago youth pitchers didn?t pitch nearly the number of pitches they do now.

[AlSwearengen]

I think we can still sweep Bama without Ginn. Especially in Starkville. Plumlee has been good two outings in a row now. Sunday is Johnny Wholestaff no matter what. I thought most of our pitchers did very well. Ginn wasn't 100% and he gave up a couple, Keegan gave up one which was actually atypical for him through the first time through the order but he came back and recovered well and Barlow was overextended. Leibelt was very good all weekend. We didn't even have to pitch Self once and we only threw Gordon one inning the whole weekend. Colby White was good in the one inning he pitched and that's all encouraging.


But I'm guessing that Ginn probably won't be back until A&M because I think they are going to be VERY careful with him. I think they will try him against Texas Southern and go from there and work him back in slowly.

Todd, who starts wed vs. south alabama? This is going to be a situation where some guys have to nut up. In a perfect world, Cerantola’s balls drop, Brandon Smith gets his confidence back and pitches to his potential, and the whole staff develops some attitude. Get JT back healthy and we roll into the end of the season ready to go.

[BuckyIsAB****]

Concerned about Ginn because he's probably never pitched this many innings in his life. Wasn't he just a closer in HS? Just wonder if his arm is up to being a full time starter for an entire college season. Agree we have to have him healthy and pitching well at tournament time to have any shot at a deep run.

No he started at Brandon then would go to SS after 4 or 5 innings

[Todd4State]

Todd, who starts wed vs. south alabama? This is going to be a situation where some guys have to nut up. In a perfect world, Cerantola?s balls drop, Brandon Smith gets his confidence back and pitches to his potential, and the whole staff develops some attitude. Get JT back healthy and we roll into the end of the season ready to go.

I'm guessing that they will go with Cerentola.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Concerned about Ginn because he's probably never pitched this many innings in his life. Wasn't he just a closer in HS? Just wonder if his arm is up to being a full time starter for an entire college season. Agree we have to have him healthy and pitching well at tournament time to have any shot at a deep run.

Maybe he needs to play the Pete Young position 3b/Relief for a while.

It's hard to just look at BHS innings, his real innings may have been for his Elite Travel Team

Was he a Reliever for his travel team?