Numbers - SEC play

[Will James]

MSU still leads the SEC in % of innings scoring when the leadoff man gets on - 87%

The SEC as a whole is scoring 6% more runs per inning not bunting one man over w/ no outs.

In innings where runs were scored bunting one man over, it's 1.89 runs/inning
In innings where runs were scored not bunting that man, its 2.06 runs/inning

MSU is 12th in the SEC in sac bunts so far, tied with LSU. See what happens guys.

Auburn is 3rd in the SEC in % of innings scored when the leadoff man gets on - 74%
This will be a tougher sweep than Texas A&M. The big thing for our pitchers is to limit the big inning and keep the ball on the ground. This is obviously a goal every weekend but against this team it's more important. Auburn leads the conference in GIDP, so there's that.

Auburn is last in the SEC in pitcher strikeouts. And they are last by quite a large margin. Since we are up there in batter K's this is good. Usually when we put the ball in play it's a hard hit ball.

[biscuit]

If we continue to pitch like we have and hit like last weekend, a sweep is highly possible.

[Pollodawg]

Strictly by the stats, you are correct that a sweep is more than attainable. However, I hate to see it typed out loud (so to speak) lol because there's always the "that's baseball" factor to consider.

[Bo Darville]

Frazier and Renfroe will hit. They always do. The key is the other guys. Ammarati and Wes Rea were huge this weekend. If the guys other than Frazier and Renfroe hit, we will score a lot of runs. Now if we could only have somebody grab the left field position and own it .................

[engie]

MSU is 12th in the SEC in sac bunts so far, tied with LSU. See what happens guys.


Yet there will still be a bunch of "MSU fans" in our next loss that says Cohen won't change, hate his coaching style, etc. That's the natural overreaction of our fanbase -- instead of just looking at individual decisions for what they are...

This is proof right here that he is still constantly evolving as a coach -- and evolution implies a ceiling that hasn't been reached yet.

[FISHDAWG]

good point - it took Mullen a while to learn the futility of fake punts but this was his first time as a head coach ... Cohen was already a head coach I believe

[HereComesTheSpiral]

Frazier and Renfroe will hit. They always do. The key is the other guys. Ammarati and Wes Rea were huge this weekend. If the guys other than Frazier and Renfroe hit, we will score a lot of runs. Now if we could only have somebody grab the left field position and own it .................
Looked like Armstrong made the best of his opportunities this weekend and made a strong case that he should be out there regularly. He was able to work the count and draw a walk after falling behind, solid hit on Sunday, runs the bases well. Let him have it this weekend and see how it goes. Just please, no Frost over Detz until garbage time.

[WutheringDawg]

I think the biggest stat you posted up there is the percentage of leadoff guys that we're getting on. And without looking at it, I would be willing to bet that that percentage has skyrocketed in the last 6 sec games (you know, the one's that we've been winning). Because I know during some of those arkansas games, and probably kentucky as well, our guys were going up there and hacking at everything they saw making it way too easy on the opposing pitcher.

I'm very happy to see that that number has gone up just because of the odds of scoring when you get a leadoff guy on. It helps that we're not facing stud pitching every game and you know the saying; a rising tide lifts all boats- I think.

[Will James]

I think the biggest stat you posted up there is the percentage of leadoff guys that we're getting on. And without looking at it, I would be willing to bet that that percentage has skyrocketed in the last 6 sec games (you know, the one's that we've been winning). Because I know during some of those arkansas games, and probably kentucky as well, our guys were going up there and hacking at everything they saw making it way too easy on the opposing pitcher.

I'm very happy to see that that number has gone up just because of the odds of scoring when you get a leadoff guy on. It helps that we're not facing stud pitching every game and you know the saying; a rising tide lifts all boats- I think.

We are still 9th in the SEC at actual number of leadoff men on. When we do get them on, however, we are the best at scoring.

[WutheringDawg]

yep just looked and i definitely misread the stat.

[Todd4State]

As I said last year, we would bunt less because we would be a better hitting team with more speed. Hunter Renfroe becoming the Babe Ruth of the SEC has also changed our dynamic, and I'm hopeful Wes Rea will become more of a power threat going forward and build on this weekend.

With all the injuries we had last year and the lack of hitting outside of Frazier, bunting was our best option to move people over. Certainly not an ideal thing at all- you want to have more weapons at your disposal in the form of power and speed.

I think Cohen's attitude and philosophy is to do whatever it takes to win, and I like that about him. But to do that as a coach you have to understand what your players can and can't do and work within that framework, and I think he does a good job overall asking our players to use their strengths.

If you look at the overall stats, we are in the top five in the SEC in home runs, batting average, slugging percentage, OBP, stolen bases, and sacrifices. We do a LOT of things offensively, and that has made us much more effective as a team by and large as an offense. Really the only concerning stat is how many times we strike out- which is kind of odd when you consider how high we are in all of the other categories.

[Will James]

With all the injuries we had last year and the lack of hitting outside of Frazier, bunting was our best option to move people over.

And I still disagree with the numbers to show. It proved to be far far less effective. It costs weak lineups MORE. Cohen's SEC Champs in UK showed how good lineups overcome the sac, bad lineups are further weakened.

[Todd4State]

Agree to disagree. Reason being is because of the injuries we had- that robbed us of our speed, and thus took away our stolen base threat. CT and Demarcus were out for parts of the year, and we lost Taylor Stark too- which hurt as far as stealing bases goes. We couldn't risk losing Adam Frazier or Renfroe. When we tried to hit and run, we hit into triple plays.

Last year we had 45 stolen bases on the entire season and we had 7 (that's not a typo) in SEC play. Even worse in SEC play, we were 7 out of 22 in stolen base attempts. As of now, we have 48 stolen bases on the year. And halfway through the SEC season we have 10 stolen bases out of 15 attempts in SEC play.

On top of that, we already have more home runs than we did all of last season with plenty of games left. 23 thus far this year and 21 last year. 13 in SEC play thus far with 11 all of last year.

The bottom line is we were not a good offensive team last year. It wasn't because we bunted a lot- it was because we had a MASH unit that was inexperienced. Thank God for Chris Stratton. I have plenty of numbers that prove that we weren't a good offensive team- I don't think anyone is claiming we were good.

As far as your last sentence- I think Cohen's SEC champs showed how to win because they had good balance in the form of power (even if it was ballpark aided) and speed. I think that is what Cohen is trying to get us to here at MSU where we have that good balance of power and speed. It's not about overcoming anything as much as it is about maximizing what you can do. When the only trick in your bag is bunting, you're not going to be as good as you are when you can bunt and maybe beat a few of those out, make the other team worry about your other base runners that might steal a base, you now have the ability to hit and run, and if you have a power dimension to that, now you get the other team distracted and maybe Hunter or Wes or Ammirati they now get a better pitch to hit and that hopefully results in more power in the form of a double or a home run. All of that is to say- I think it all works best together. It's much easier to defend a team that just bunts vs. a team that has power, can steal bases and bunt.

You have to remember that we are playing amateurs. That means guys that make a lot of mistakes and aren't mature players. The more pressure we put on them, the better our odds of winning and scoring runs goes up. I bet you've noticed that a LOT of people in the SEC don't like playing us- like Ole Miss, LSU, and Florida. You know why? Because we play hard and we put pressure on them to execute. We do that on the mound and in the field too- we pitch well and play good defense.

To me, the value of bunting as it relates to pressure- if your team is a threat to bunt, now the third baseman does what? He comes in. What does that do? It opens up holes on the infield which make it easier to hit. So now, if we don't bunt- we're going either make you field a rocket or where going to get turn that fairly routine ground ball into a single. Or maybe if we get real lucky, we hit a softly hit ball into shallow left field and maybe it gets down for a double because the third baseman can't get to it. Bunting also gives you an option of being able to squeeze if you want to and sometimes you can get a key run that way as well. I saw the Cardinals do that to Roger Clemens in the NLCS in 2004- Tony Womack gets the ball down, the Cardinals get a run and then next thing you know Pujols rips a double and then Rolen gets a home run and the Cardinals get the win.

So, it's all part of big picture of things working together.

[Homedawg]

Looked like Armstrong made the best of his opportunities this weekend and made a strong case that he should be out there regularly. He was able to work the count and draw a walk after falling behind, solid hit on Sunday, runs the bases well. Let him have it this weekend and see how it goes. Just please, no Frost over Detz until garbage time.

I like Detz at third as well. Because wwe can his and porter's bats in the line-up. However, Frost is a better defender. Detz is a marginal defender, thus the reason frost continues to play some.

[engie]

I like Detz at third as well. Because wwe can his and porter's bats in the line-up. However, Frost is a better defender. Detz is a marginal defender, thus the reason frost continues to play some.

Detz is starting to look a whole lot better and more comfortable over there to me. Getting him to that point has certainly been why Frost has continued to play...

[Todd4State]

I like Detz at third as well. Because wwe can his and porter's bats in the line-up. However, Frost is a better defender. Detz is a marginal defender, thus the reason frost continues to play some.

Like engie said- Detz has made some big strides defensively. He made a REALLY key defensive play against Ole Miss a week ago they kept them at bay that was about as good as you would see at any level of baseball. It was a play he probably doesn't make two - three weeks ago.

[Will James]

Detz looked smooth in CStation on a ball he had to really charge. 3rd out if my memory is right.