Kumar Rocker

[Randolph Dupree]

Appears he has elbow issues. He and the Mets have agreed upon $6M to sign but apparently they're balking at that number in light of the medical situation.

This is why you don't stretch a kid to 100 pitches in Feb against Directional School Poly Tech. I feel bad for him.

[Rick Danko]

Please please just tell me he?s not coming back to Vandy****

In all seriousness hope he is ok and goes on to a great career. Good luck to him

[Liverpooldawg]

You mean he damaged his arm at Vandy? I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

[Offshore Dawg]

Lot to be said about how Lemonis managed the pitching staff this past season.

[msstate7]

Pitchers get hurt. I don't think this is an indictment of vandy. Hell, didn't we lose like 4-5 a few years back?

[MetEdDawg]

Lot to be said about how Lemonis managed the pitching staff this past season.

Don't tell our fan base that during the season

[Cowbell]

Pitchers get hurt. I don't think this is an indictment of vandy. Hell, didn't we lose like 4-5 a few years back?

It is when you continually have 100+ pitch outings. That was not our issue

[TNDawg35]

I tried to tell people toward the end of the season there was concern about his arm. It was all kinds of rumblings out there. Why do you think he fell to the 11th pick after being a #1 for most of the year. If he doesn’t sign, I bet he never sees Vandy again. He will have TJ surgery.

[ScoobaDawg]

I hope he signs. Don't want him back.. And would hate to hear he needed tj

[shoeless joe]

He was not his normal dominant self in Omaha for his 3 starts there.

I don’t wish ill will on any kid…but I won’t lose a minute of sleep if he never pitches in a big league game.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I tried to tell people toward the end of the season there was concern about his arm. It was all kinds of rumblings out there. Why do you think he fell to the 11th pick after being a #1 for most of the year. If he doesn’t sign, I bet he never sees Vandy again. He will have TJ surgery.

I think Vandy took advantage of his and his dads Football mentality, Mitch Mustains mom would never allowed this to happen. He might be on his 3rd school but not over worked.

[Commercecomet24]

His velocity gradually slipped from about the halfway point of the season to the end, but the real telling feature was his loss of command and movement. Dead giveaway of injury.

[Todd4State]

I hope he signs. Don't want him back.. And would hate to hear he needed tj

He's not going to go back to the guy that was throwing him 100+ every weekend and over 110 four times and cost him money in the first place.

I'm 99% sure he will sign. Now, yes he has other options but going back to Vandy is probably the least likely.

[Todd4State]

His velocity gradually slipped from about the halfway point of the season to the end, but the real telling feature was his loss of command and movement. Dead giveaway of injury.

Yes. I believe he was typically around 97 or so on his fastball and when we saw him in the finals he was around 93. He was also relying a lot more on his slider instead of his fastball.

[Todd4State]

Pitchers get hurt. I don't think this is an indictment of vandy. Hell, didn't we lose like 4-5 a few years back?

Yeah. Two pitching coaches ago. And if Wes had stayed I guarantee you that it would have been used against us in recruiting. Fair or not. I think that was more about Wes coming in late and trying to implement his program as quickly as he could and something like that shouldn't be rushed. Wes was looking to move up in the baseball world anyway. And is now with the Twins.

[Todd4State]

I think Vandy took advantage of his and his dads Football mentality, Mitch Mustains mom would never allowed this to happen. He might be on his 3rd school but not over worked.

In college parents shouldn't have any say IMO about how a player is used. They're adults at that time. Now, they do have a responsibility to find someone that will develop their son and make an educated decision based on that and sure they can give advice on whether they think their son should go somewhere else or not.

[MedDawg]

It is when you continually have 100+ pitch outings. That was not our issue

Lots of State fans were warning about Rocker and Bianco's pitchers throwing over 100 pitches very early in the season. I had an OM fan tell me that Bianco does it on purpose to strengthen his pitchers' arms.

Lemonis was doing the exact opposite--he took out a pitcher with a no-hitter going after 5-6 innings (early in the season, not just the CWS final). He took out all of our starting pitchers early all season, really. Not one complete game by a starter all year. Might have cost us a game or two or three during the season, but it paid off in the CWS. I hope he does it again in 2022 and I also hope we go 0-2 in the SEC Tournament again.

[Todd4State]

Lots of State fans were warning about Rocker and Bianco's pitchers throwing over 100 pitches very early in the season. I had an OM fan tell me that Bianco does it on purpose to strengthen his pitchers' arms.

Lemonis was doing the exact opposite--he took out a pitcher with a no-hitter going after 5-6 innings (early in the season, not just the CWS final). He took out all of our starting pitchers early all season, really. Not one complete game by a starter all year. Might have cost us a game or two or three during the season, but it paid off in the CWS. I hope he does it again in 2022 and I also hope we go 0-2 in the SEC Tournament again.

The biggest thing to me to go along with that is he typically only used Landon Sims once a weekend. Now, sure there were times that Sims pitched twice like the Ole Miss series but it wasn't the norm. And typically when he did pitch twice one of the outings was only for an inning. Also, I may be mistaken but I don't recall Sims pitching any midweek games this year too. Compare that to Kopps at Arkansas.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Remember that last year was cancelled early due to COVID, then many summer leagues were cancelled. So it had been 2 years since many guys had thrown a decent workload. Lemonis’s plan with Bednar, MacLeod, and Sims was to build them slowly and make sure they are fresh for regionals, supers, and CWS. And by limiting their pitches, it gave additional innings to a bullpen suffering from an increased roster size. We had guys who simply needed mound time. Those additional innings were great for Tepper, Tullar, Stone Simmons, Chase Patrick, etc.

The Bianco method would have been to pitch Bednar 7-8, and Stone Simmons wouldn’t pitch at all because he’s not ready. Lemonis pitched Bednar 5 and let Stone Simmons get his feet wet against SEC pitching and develop into a solid option. So Bianco enters tournament play with a thin bullpen and worn out aces.

Rocker, Leiter, Hoglund, and Nikhazy pitched too many innings early in my opinion. I said it all year.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Pitchers get hurt. I don't think this is an indictment of vandy. Hell, didn't we lose like 4-5 a few years back?

Totally different- we lost a bunch of Freshmen and/or guys that pitched very limited innings

(1) Padgett - 2 innings
(2) Ford - no innings
(3) Small - 10 innings
(4) James - 25 innings after a Summers Rest, the following season
(5) Hughes - 7 innings
(6) Breaux - 16 innings but maybe no surgery

These kids were All American profile before injury, only Small achieved it. If they were overworked, it was more likely before MSU. But it is suspicious that Mini Me lost an entire freshman class and they were supposedly healthy before him.

Cyr and Pilkington did not get hurt, they were from that class of freshman

[PMDawg]

the real telling feature was his loss of command and movement. Dead giveaway of injury.

So, is MacLeod hurt?

[Randolph Dupree]

Totally different- we lost a bunch of Freshmen and/or guys that pitched very limited innings

(1) Padgett - 2 innings
(2) Ford - no innings
(3) Small - 10 innings
(4) James - 25 innings after a Summers Rest, the following season
(5) Hughes - 7 innings
(6) Breaux - 16 innings but maybe no surgery

These kids were All American profile before injury, only Small achieved it. If they were overworked, it was more likely before MSU. But it is suspicious that Mini Me lost an entire freshman class and they were supposedly healthy before him.

Cyr and Pilkington did not get hurt, they were from that class of freshman

Ford and either Small or Breaux were hurt before they got here. I think it was Small but could be wrong.

ETA: the Ford situation still hurts my feelings. He got his stuff back in summer ball and then came back and decided he didn't want to play anymore. Have a buddy that's a scout that watched his last two games of summer ball and said he was unhitable.

[msstate7]

Maybe this is corbin's fault. Who are some of his arm casualties the last few years?

[AlSwearengen]

Ford and either Small or Breaux were hurt before they got here. I think it was Small but could be wrong.

ETA: the Ford situation still hurts my feelings. He got his stuff back in summer ball and then came back and decided he didn't want to play anymore. Have a buddy that's a scout that watched his last two games of summer ball and said he was unhitable.

I remember that. All kinds of accolades out of h.s., throwing gas that summer, etc. and then hung it up and just did school. I Facebook stalked him and it looked like he came from a comfortable situation and I believe was a good student so he might be a dr. before too long. Who knows.

[Randolph Dupree]

I remember that. All kinds of accolades out of h.s., throwing gas that summer, etc. and then hung it up and just did school. I Facebook stalked him and it looked like he came from a comfortable situation and I believe was a good student so he might be a dr. before too long. Who knows.

Getting his M.S. in aerospace engineering...it's probably going to work out ok for him.

[maroonmania]

So, is MacLeod hurt?

I don't think so. Word here in Huntsville from someone that knows the family says he left today to report to his minor league team. Given that I would certainly assume he has officially signed.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Ford and either Small or Breaux were hurt before they got here. I think it was Small but could be wrong.

ETA: the Ford situation still hurts my feelings. He got his stuff back in summer ball and then came back and decided he didn't want to play anymore. Have a buddy that's a scout that watched his last two games of summer ball and said he was unhitable.

In an alternate universe, the 2015 pitching class would have won a National Title

Just Ethan Small and Pilk were enough for a Top-4 finish in 18. Just Pilk was enough for a Super Regional in 17. You add Ford, Breaux, Keegan, Hughes, and Padgett at full potential, damn great staff.

Freshman Noah Hughes was actually a bullpen hero in the 2016 series win over Vandy in Nashville.