Coaching...

[CadaverDawg]

I have been very concerned this season about our coaching and whether or not they were getting the job done. But I have to admit that this weekend I saw some things that have me thinking these guys may be even better than we realized they were last year.

First of all, I know we were bad prior to the arm injuries, but there is no denying we would be so much better record-wise with Sims, Simmons, Auger, and totally healthy Stinnett and Hunt for the year. But these coaches seem to have been playing the long term game all along. These guys get it when it comes to the real season not starting until Regionals. And rather than making decisions that could lead to us winning one extra game that could help us squeak in a Regional...they are making decisions that could lead to a guy gaining the confidence needed to not only help us get there, but be Dangerous in a Regional.

Now I'm not at all saying we'll make postseason play, because we aren't anywhere near being a Regional team yet....but it's hard not to look at what's going on lately and see that we're starting to gel as a unit. And as a unit that doesn't have some of its key pieces due to injury, so it has taken a while for some guys to step up that may not have been truly ready to do so. And we're seeing guys like Fristoe and Hunt realize that they no longer have an option to underachieve, because we have no other options to come in and bail them out. THEY are the option, and we need them...and they're starting to rise to the occasion to the best of their ability.

We're starting to see these hitters come around and deliver in big moments. Approaches that haven't looked good early in the year are starting to look more purposeful now. It's all starting to look more like a M over S team, just one that has had to go through a severe set of challenges this year replacing key pieces and dealing with major injuries.

Again, it's too early to call the year a success or failure, but if what we have seen the last two series is the start of this team peaking late once again, and we end up making a Regional when all is said and done....we may just be looking at a better coaching job THIS season than we had during the Championship run. And I can't believe that I of all people am saying that. Something to keep an eye on going forward, but you kinda get the feeling that these guys are starting to fully know and accept their roles, and we may just be coming in to our own. I hope that's the case, and as always I'm here for every pitch of it. Hail State.

Oh, and GTHOM.

[TNDawg35]

We are a regional team…. When we play up to our potential. Sure, we have some homes, but so does everyone not named TN. Hell I watch LSU play a good bit and they are bad. They can’t field worth a shit, but they can rake. We should have won that series, the Tulane series, and the UGA series. We have the potential to win a Regional and also have the potential to go 2 and Q…

[Cooterpoot]

We faced a shitty team on the skids, but we could've folded and didn't. That's why everyone that wanted to throw in the towel was stupid. We rode Pico, Fristoe, and Hunt. Mule is on fire. Starters battled for the most part.

[BrunswickDawg]

Some of us understood this all along

[R2Dawg]

We faced a shitty team on the skids, but we could've folded and didn't. That's why everyone that wanted to throw in the towel was stupid. We rode Pico, Fristoe, and Hunt. Mule is on fire. Starters battled for the most part.

The impact of pitching injuries for us can't be overstated. Can you imagine how much better and how many more wins we would have now? To start the year we blundered our rotation with experimenting.

I think now we see Fristoe can pitch 1-2 innings a weekend and do pretty good. Pico can as well and Hunt can pitch 1-2 twice as closer.

Mule is just red hot and got the big M on his chest. So does Hines.

[Cowbell]

Some of us understood this all along

Yes and even last year. It ain't rocket science, there is a reason our teams improve through the season while others like the powder blue falter down the stretch. If we still had sims and Simmons, this team would be in the Omaha conversation big time right now.

[mparkerfd20]

You are watching a completely different team than most of us. Ole Miss was a team in the skids and this weekend was a battle of who sucked worse. Coaching this year had been questionable at best and this short term long term bullshit doesn't cut it. We just aren't a good team by M over S standards. We may squeak into a regional and I hope like hell we do. This season has been embarrassing enough without the added embarrassment of missing postseason the year after we win it all.

If we somehow go on a tear and make a good showing in the postseason I'll take my crow medium rare.

[Dawgsfanalongtime77]

Not to be the devils advocate but if this team didn?t have the home run numbers overall it has. Be in much worse shape.

[Cooterpoot]

The impact of pitching injuries for us can't be overstated. Can you imagine how much better and how many more wins we would have now? To start the year we blundered our rotation with experimenting.

I think now we see Fristoe can pitch 1-2 innings a weekend and do pretty good. Pico can as well and Hunt can pitch 1-2 twice as closer.

Mule is just red hot and got the big M on his chest. So does Hines.

Injuries are a killer. I imagine we have a handful more wins and we're an easy regional team without them. But I still think starting Sims was a huge mistake. Throwing him once a week was criminal. Our current rotation hasn't been bad.
Hitting struggles when we face guys that pound the zone and we can't work them to get to a bad pen. OM looked like a good matchup.

[basedog]

We are a Baseball School! In saying this, it's a major struggle with the arm injuries we have had. There is nothing wrong with our Coaches, yes they make mistakes and we have to go with what we have.

All I know, I read the game post which I didn't get to watch or keep up with the games as I'm on vacation. But goodness gracious we have some of the worse down and out posters. LOL but again it's a message board.

Btw, the players like the Coaches, it shows as yes we have struggled but never do we give up. We have lost a lot of close games and maybe we will win most close games the rest of year.

Btw, Redwoods in Northern California is amazing! But so is Napa Valley and Pier 39 in San Fransisco.

[SilentSteel16]

We are a Baseball School! In saying this, it's a major struggle with the arm injuries we have had. There is nothing wrong with our Coaches, yes they make mistakes and we have to go with what we have.

All I know, I read the game post which I didn't get to watch or keep up with the games as I'm on vacation. But goodness gracious we have some of the worse down and out posters. LOL but again it's a message board.

Btw, the players like the Coaches, it shows as yes we have struggled but never do we give up. We have lost a lot of close games and maybe we will win most close games the rest of year.

Btw, Redwoods in Northern California is amazing! But so is Napa Valley and Pier 39 in San Fransisco.

I have said it so many times it is laughable but some of the “fans” we have on this site are closet or real OM fans with some of the venom they spout on here.

State is and always will be a Baseball school no matter what people on here try and say. We have always been a baseball school first and any competitive years in other sports is gravy. We are hanging on to the SEC coattails in most sports other than baseball, even though we are struggling this year. But like my prediction months ago we WILL make a regional and I still believe we get close to my win estimate along with a few other statements made in that bold prediction thread.

And anyone that thinks our baseball coaching staff are fools or stupid clearly don’t understand baseball. Lem and Foxhall does a phenomenal job. And yes I loop Gotro in that as well. Although he is fairly conservative for my likes but that is my only complaint on gotro. And it is a weak one at that. Hail State.

[SilentSteel16]

And by conservative I mean with pitch selection. Not to conservative on bunting or stealing. I think he preaches take first pitch unless it is in a certain very particular spot. As opposed to seeing fastball hit fastball. Just thought I should make that clear as to what I meant by conservative.

[Coach34]

Meh- we arent being coached by a genius. Things I have issues with:

1. CF situation. We have chased our tail here all season long only to go back to Davis again. Just roll with him. But not only do we constantly tinker- we dont even go with match-ups. Lemon goes straight Ed Cook with the line-ups. Friday against the Righty we start Alford. Sat against the Lefty we start Davis. Thats dumb. Either settle on someone and roll or play match-ups. We aren't doing either one. Lemon is just drawing marbles out of a sock.

2. Plate discipline. We take an alarming amount of strike 3's on fastballs. It's one thing to get fooled on a breaking ball or swing thru a change for strike 3, but holy shirts and pants we take soooo many FB strike 3's. That's a piss poor approach at the plate.

3. Pitch calling. We are ridiculous at times. Guy looked ridiculous on the slider to get to a 1-2 vs Pico de Gallo- so what do we do? Call 2 straight FB's and he blasts the game tying HR. We call a ridiculous amount of 3-2 breaking balls with these pitchers leading to too many BB's. We dont attack up in the zone at the hands with the FB enough to get guys swinging at balls they cant handle. We also dont appear to start calling the change much until our pitchers get in trouble. Mix it in the entire way and we wouldnt be in some of the situations we get in.

4. Pitching subs. We are always reactive as opposed to proactive. Kings of leaving the guy in there too long. We've done it the entire Lemon/Fox tenure. Not just this year.

We didnt do anything this weekend except let the guys at the plate swing away and guess who to play in CF
We lost Game 1 as usual
We let them comeback and almost pull out Game 3.

Good to win another series and that's what this team has to do but our coaching can certainly be questioned

[State82]

Meh- we arent being coached by a genius. Good to win another series and that's what this team has to do but our coaching can certainly be questioned

Sure they can. There are certainly some head scratchers that can be legitimately questioned. Especially coming from one of the highest paid staffs in the country. They are grown men. Should not be a big deal.

[SilentSteel16]

I agree with most of what you say. I believe that traditionally the best pitch to hit is the first pitch. Pitchers want to get ahead so usually it is a strike. I am not saying go up there and swing at first pitch every time especially if it is offspeed. I would like to see the percentage of our ABs that our hitters have gotten 2 strikes on them and not even have swung yet. I get being quadrant based at hitting but you are not going to get a hitters pitch in every AB. Sometimes you have to hit the pitchers pitch so take your best hack at a hard strike.

I believe in bunting and hit and run. We don’t seem to do that a lot but then again the game itself doesn’t seem to do that much anymore. Also, I believe in forcing the action on basepaths. Make them make the perfect throw to get you out. Rowdy and TA were notorious at this. They got an extra base way more than they ever got out. Force the action. The play at the plate against auburn is a perfect example. Good on Cheese for sending him. They made the play and that is it, I would dare say that play 10 times we score at least half of the time.

That is what I am talking about with aggressiveness.

Also our pitchers don’t seem to trust our defense, every one of them is going for strikeouts. Much like C34 is saying. Pitch for your defense and utilize a high strike with velocity.

[Coach34]

Another example:

Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder saw that Cade was done yesterday. So what did our staff do? Leave him in to face another hitter and get down 2-0 with neither pitch being close. That’s what I mean by reactive as opposed to proactive.

[Homedawg]

Meh- we arent being coached by a genius. Things I have issues with:

1. CF situation. We have chased our tail here all season long only to go back to Davis again. Just role with him. But not only do we constantly tinker- we dont even go with match-ups. Lemon goes straight Ed Cook with the line-ups. Friday against the Righty we start Alford. Sat against the Lefty we start Davis. Thats dumb. Either settle on someone and roll or play match-ups. We aren't doing either one. Lemon is just drawing marbles out of a sock.

2. Plate discipline. We take an alarming amount of strike 3's on fastballs. It's one thing to get fooled on a breaking ball or swing thru a change for strike 3, but holy shirts and pants we take soooo many FB strike 3's. That's a piss poor approach at the plate.

3. Pitch calling. We are ridiculous at times. Guy looked ridiculous on the slider to get to a 1-2 vs Pico de Gallo- so what do we do? Call 2 straight FB's and he blasts the game tying HR. We call a ridiculous amount of 3-2 breaking balls with these pitchers leading to too many BB's. We dont attack up in the zone at the hands with the FB enough to get guys swinging at balls they cant handle. We also dont appear to start calling the change much until our pitchers get in trouble. Mix it in the entire way and we wouldnt be in some of the situations we get in.

4. Pitching subs. We are always reactive as opposed to proactive. Kings of leaving the guy in there too long. We've done it the entire Lemon/Fox tenure. Not just this year.

We didnt do anything this weekend except let the guys at the plate swing away and guess who to play in CF
We lost Game 1 as usual
We let them comeback and almost pull out Game 3.

Good to win another series and that's what this team has to do but our coaching can certainly be questioned

To be fair the Davis start against Elliot WAS a matchup. His best pitch is a change up and his splits are or we're better against righties. Also Davis hasn't don't well against velo guys. Ellliot not a gasser. Not an argument just point out it was a matchup.

[Coach34]

To be fair the Davis start against Elliot WAS a matchup. His best pitch is a change up and his splits are or we're better against righties. Also Davis hasn't don't well against velo guys. Ellliot not a gasser. Not an argument just point out it was a matchup.

I hear ya but I think the Right/Left match-up should supersede. I’d much rather have Alford on the plate working to choke out the Lefty than him facing their guy Thursday. Davis is gonna hit .250- he is what he is. Either let him have it or go with splits.

Alford went 0-3 with 2 groundouts and a K
Davis went 0-2 vs the Lefty with a pop up and a K.

So Lemon's "match-up" did nothing. Let's go with splits instead

[CadaverDawg]

Another example:

Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder saw that Cade was done yesterday. So what did our staff do? Leave him in to face another hitter and get down 2-0 with neither pitch being close. That’s what I mean by reactive as opposed to proactive.

To the coaches defense, a 50% Cade is better than our fresh bullpen arms most of the time. We almost have to try and extend our best arms bc we have no depth and quality on the back end

[Cowbell]

To the coaches defense, a 50% Cade is better than our fresh bullpen arms most of the time. We almost have to try and extend our best arms bc we have no depth and quality on the back end

This

[DownwardDawg]

I think our hitting coach has sucked, but that's just me.

[Leeshouldveflanked]

We should have let the minors turn Landon Sims into a starter. How many more wins would we have if he came in to close?

[SilentSteel16]

We should have let the minors turn Landon Sims into a starter. How many more wins would we have if he came in to close?

Are you saying that having him as a starter is what caused his UCL to tear? Sims will be a starter in the Pros not a reliever.

Or are you just saying that having him in the back end of bullpen in general would have saved some wins?

[BrunswickDawg]

Sure they can. There are certainly some head scratchers that can be legitimately questioned. Especially coming from one of the highest paid staffs in the country. They are grown men. Should not be a big deal.

I used to scratch my head at a lot of moves Bobby Cox and Leo Mazzone made - if you watch enough baseball you can second guess multiple moves every game. That doesn't mean that they aren't still some of best managers and coaches in the game. That's the thing about baseball - so many variables and just because they do one thing when someone else would do another doesn't mean either choice is wrong.

[Homedawg]

We should have let the minors turn Landon Sims into a starter. How many more wins would we have if he came in to close?

He would have still hurt his arm. To say otherwise is just silly. Signed, Simmons, auger, stinnnett and every other person that has had TJ that wasn't a starter. That thought is well, just not bright.

[HoopsDawg]

He would have still hurt his arm. To say otherwise is just silly. Signed, Simmons, auger, stinnnett and every other person that has had TJ that wasn't a starter. That thought is well, just not bright.

Yep, it's a bad take and not fair to Landon either. It was a million dollar decision. Had to showcase his ability to start to improve his draft stock.

[SilentSteel16]

Sims UCL would have torn just as easily as a closer, possibly even expedited it. What people don’t get is that relievers generally have more arm issues than starters. Especially closers since they throw close to 100 percent every pitch. SPs have built in rest days which has zero throwing. Relievers and closer especially rarely get more than 1 full day of upper rest.

I can’t tell you how many times I have seen ligament issues in RPs and why they have them. Sims elbow was going to go whether as a SP or RP. The arm is not designed to rotate the way pitchers normally throw. This is not a slight at all on Foxhall or Sims. There are limits that a body takes before failure.

Relievers in general have more issues than SPs. Believe it or not, 2baseman usually have just as many arm issues as pitchers due to the angle of their bodies upon release.

Sims is going to be a stud in the Pro circuit, he will also be a SP not a RP.