MSU power outage (baseball)

Our power numbers are terrible. They are actually worse than 2012.

I think we have two options: 1. accept pitching and defense as our lot this year and just try to win games any way we can or 2. put Woody and/or Lingo in the rotation and go with more hitting in the lineup (Britt can still start with Ross pitches)....which could mean we lose some games where they aren't on but it could mean we ensure we win when they are on.

I went into depth on this subject here: http://maroonandwhitenation.com/2014...diamond-dawgs/

After looking at those numbers it's real easy to see the differences between last year and this year.

What do we have, 5 homeruns as a team. I know Rea has three and Detz has two. I can't think of any others. The handful of games I have been to I noticed the outfielders for the opposing teams playing us at almost little league depth. I stated this in another thread but most of the balls we hit to the outfield do not have the sting behind them to even roll to the wall. Most would stop about halfway there. Blame the ball, blame the bat, blame the 5'10" 170lbs player swinging the bat, or blame all three. The fact remains right now we would have trouble getting the ball out of a t-ball park if the wind was blowing in. Pitching and defense will only take you so far. You have to know the pitchers are pitching tighter than they need to be because in the back of their mind they know if they give up two runs then the game is probably over because we don't have the horses at the plate to stage a comeback.

Humphreys has one HR.

The doubles are a staggering number as well. We are on pace for roughly 65% of what we've put out the last two years.

Wow. I'm just hoping the bats get hot at the right time

Remove renfroe and Frazier from last year and things look very similar. When you lose that type of production then production will go down. This is the main reason we were over rated early on. Apparently either folks didn't take that into account or they thought some players were goin to turn into something they've never been.

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Originally Posted by shoeless joe

Remove renfroe and Frazier from last year and things look very similar. When you lose that type of production then production will go down. This is the main reason we were over rated early on. Apparently either folks didn't take that into account or they thought some players were goin to turn into something they've never been.

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I think most of us assumed that Reid Humprheys and Gavin Collins would get the lion's share of starts. If that was the case, then our offense would be a lot better. Which is why I am pissed.

Given Rea's lack of power (yes, he has 3 HRs but 2 were against Holy Cross on the same day) I really think we need to slide him down back to at least his 5 hole that he was hitting in last year. At this point we need more speed at the top of the order and Rea just clogs up the bases because of his lack of footspeed-. I would almost say put some combination of Vick, Armstrong and Hendo in the first 2 spots and then slide Detz and Pirtle into the 3-4 spots or something like that. Rea is no Renfroe in the 3 hole and its time to adjust to that fact.

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Originally Posted by shoeless joe

Remove renfroe and Frazier from last year and things look very similar. When you lose that type of production then production will go down. This is the main reason we were over rated early on. Apparently either folks didn't take that into account or they thought some players were goin to turn into something they've never been.

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I don't think we were over-rated only because Brandon Woodruff and Dakota Hudson were expected to be key contributors. They've fallen back to basically nothing while Ross Mitchell and Preston Brown have stepped up - two completely different pitchers and Cohen understandably wants to focus on defense when they're on the mound. If Woody and Hudson were in the rotation we'd have Detz at 3rd every game and either Humphreys or Garner at DH helping our offense...or at least one would think that is the logical lineup - you never know with Cohen. Wes Rea has really been disappointing. If Rea was having the production we expected and Garner or Humphreys was DHing every game hitting 5th I believe we would be significantly better on offense.....not Renfroe and Frazier good but close enough that the pitching (in this scenario Woody is effective) would make up the difference from last year's team.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

I think most of us assumed that Reid Humprheys and Gavin Collins would get the lion's share of starts. If that was the case, then our offense would be a lot better. Which is why I am pissed.

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Yep. Everyone thought, including me, that those 2, and especially Humphreys, were going to be the young phenoms we have been looking for in this program. The type what would step right in, contribute significantly and make a big splash. It just didn't turn out to be that way and here we are.

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Originally Posted by State82

Yep. Everyone thought, including me, that those 2, and especially Humphreys, were going to be the young phenoms we have been looking for in this program. The type what would step right in, contribute significantly and make a big splash. It just didn't turn out to be that way and here we are.

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There is still time. We are just going to have to accept that this team has a lot of work to do before they find an identity that can win consistently and that most likely means no Regional host. But we've still got 7-8 weeks to figure it out in preparation for a playoff run. Cohen is infuriating at times but he is not a stick in the mud which he deserves credit for and he'll do whatever it takes to win ballgames. I think that will ultimately include Garner and Humphreys....especially Garner.

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Originally Posted by shoeless joe

Remove renfroe and Frazier from last year and things look very similar. When you lose that type of production then production will go down. This is the main reason we were over rated early on. Apparently either folks didn't take that into account or they thought some players were goin to turn into something they've never been.

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The problem isn't so much that we dont have Renfroe and Frazier, it's that we dont have Rea and Detz.

So is the general consensus that Cohen has an ax to grind with hump and garner and that's why they aren't playing? That Cohen had rather have "his boys" in the line up than win games? What criteria makes a player one of "cohen's boys"? Why are garner and hump left out?