So Kendall Rogers doesn't have us anywhere near Omaha next year?

I read his little 8 for Omaha article. How do you ignore this:

- 12 seniors, if none get cut or transfer (Randolph, Hudspeth), so you theoretically SHOULD have leadership
- Entire starting rotation coming back from a regional team that went 18-12 in the SEC, 3 of them seniors (Fitts, Laster, Real Deal, P. Brown). Oh, we lost Lindgren, you say? Who cares, Real Deal is moving back to the pen. Tatum will handle folks too.
- 6 returning position player starters, including SS and C, the most important
- One of the Top Ten recruiting classes in 2013 are now second year players
- A coach who has really failed to disappoint, and seemingly always gets the most out of his talent

How does one look at that, and NOT see a potentially ELITE team? We will be better than this season, guaranteed. 2015/2016 will be our best seasons yet.

Because he is only going to take the safe bets. That way if they don't pan out he can have his list of excuses ready. That's why after last season he had us going back this season. We were the safe bet. That's why most of the teams that went to teh CWS this year or were close made his list for next year. Yes, we have the potential to be elite in baseball next year but many thought that this season too. We disappointed. He won't risk getting burned twice.

Losing our best 2 pitchers, no proven starters, and only a couple hitters (Collins and heck). I think we'll be a better team next season, but I can see why there's no hype

Since I haven't seen where Pirtle signed sfter being selected in the 23rd (no way he's not a top 10-15 round pick), he will be only one of a handful of hitters we have returning that can hit their way out of a wet paper bag. This lack of hitting along with the pitchers we lost and I wouldn't expect to be anywhere near Omaha in his 2015 predictions.

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Originally Posted by RougeDawg

Since I haven't seen where Pirtle signed sfter being selected in the 23rd (no way he's not a top 10-15 round pick), he will be only one of a handful of hitters we have returning that can hit their way out of a wet paper bag. This lack of hitting along with the pitchers we lost and I wouldn't expect to be anywhere near Omaha in his 2015 predictions.

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Pirtle was a senior.

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Originally Posted by RougeDawg

Since I haven't seen where Pirtle signed sfter being selected in the 23rd (no way he's not a top 10-15 round pick), he will be only one of a handful of hitters we have returning that can hit their way out of a wet paper bag. This lack of hitting along with the pitchers we lost and I wouldn't expect to be anywhere near Omaha in his 2015 predictions.

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Facepalm.

Kendall keeps up with PG recruit rankings only. He has seen us play in person and made notes, etc. We don't have a shut down true Friday night starter in his opinion, like these other teams he has. (as of right now, we don't have one to emerge) Going off last years offense stats, we didn't do well. I trust Baseball America more than him. Right now, I don't worry about it. We have lots of work to do getting these guys ready during the fall. Several guys need to step up, Humphreys, Hudson, etc. We need to have a great fall where the really talented guys develop and become starters, bottom line.

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Losing our best 2 pitchers, no proven starters, and only a couple hitters (Collins and heck). I think we'll be a better team next season, but I can see why there's no hype

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Losing the best closer in college baseball is going to the most difficult to replace. Holder was the ultimate stopper. We became so spoiled by how good he was. You can't underestimate his loss. Lindgren was obviously elite, and will be missed, but not as much as Holder.

Our biggest problem was offense, our top 2 hitters were Bradford and Pirtle. We also lose Henderson (.407 OBP) and Armstrong. Neither are irreplaceable, but the point is that we have guys that will need to perform at a much higher rate than they have in the past.

Now we have some solid pieces in Heck and Collins, and I believe in Rea, but we are a long way from a finished product.

I agree with Rougedawg, the overall lack of hitting and the fact that we lost our two best pitchers - I would expect us to be ranked between 20-35 headed into next year.

Having pirtle back will help!!!*

unless there is a ton of improvement in a lot of places then we wont sniff Omaha and possibly not even a regional. We will still be a singles team who lost our best "singles" hitters and also lost two of our 3 best pitchers. So yea, Getting mad at KR for this prediction is dumb. I have us as a 30 win team next year at best.

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Originally Posted by preachermatt83

unless there is a ton of improvement in a lot of places then we wont sniff Omaha and possibly not even a regional. We will still be a singles team who lost our best "singles" hitters and also lost two of our 3 best pitchers. So yea, Getting mad at KR for this prediction is dumb. I have us as a 30 win team next year at best.

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Not getting to a regional?? That's cynical

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Originally Posted by preachermatt83

unless there is a ton of improvement in a lot of places then we wont sniff Omaha and possibly not even a regional. We will still be a singles team who lost our best "singles" hitters and also lost two of our 3 best pitchers. So yea, Getting mad at KR for this prediction is dumb. I have us as a 30 win team next year at best.

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Good grief, dude.

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Originally Posted by DudyDawg

Not getting to a regional?? That's cynical

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our sec schedule will not be nearly as easy next year as it was this yr. this years Sec Schedule was easiest we could have hoped for.

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Originally Posted by smootness

Good grief, dude.

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name one of my statements that is not possible.

Rogers had us as an Omaha favorite for 2014...he clearly missed. I think we will survive his prognostication

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Originally Posted by preachermatt83

our sec schedule will not be nearly as easy next year as it was this yr. this years Sec Schedule was easiest we could have hoped for.

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Doesn't mean we won't sniff Omaha or go to a regional. I would say there are a few programs recently that you can say will be a near guarantee to make a regional, and we are one right now.

Like I said on my blog for 2015, we will go to SECT, we will go to a Regional. To host a regional and/or go to a Super and beyond, is still too early. Lots of factors. I will have to wait until the end of fall ball to determine that.

I don't have a problem with him picking us outside of his top 20 or so- we simply have a lot of question marks going into 2015, particularly from an outsider's perspective. Now, we do have a good bit of talent, but it needs to develop. Dakota Hudson needs to be better (and he didn't have a very good start last night for his summer team, so hopefully he was just testing some new stuff out), Humphreys needs to make a jump, Rea needs to hit the damn ball with authority on a consistent basis, etc. I feel like our ceiling is pretty high for next year- but young guys need to play to their potential.

I really don't care where we are in any of the early rankings anyway. College baseball is damn near impossible to predict- especially 8 months out.

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Originally Posted by preachermatt83

unless there is a ton of improvement in a lot of places then we wont sniff Omaha and possibly not even a regional. We will still be a singles team who lost our best "singles" hitters and also lost two of our 3 best pitchers. So yea, Getting mad at KR for this prediction is dumb. I have us as a 30 win team next year at best.

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30 wins at best? LOL. That's a bully99 type of prediction.

Bookmarked and we'll revisit this later.

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Originally Posted by messageboardsuperhero

I don't have a problem with him picking us outside of his top 20 or so- we simply have a lot of question marks going into 2015, particularly from an outsider's perspective. Now, we do have a good bit of talent, but it needs to develop. Dakota Hudson needs to be better (and he didn't have a very good start last night for his summer team, so hopefully he was just testing some new stuff out), Humphreys needs to make a jump, Rea needs to hit the damn ball with authority on a consistent basis, etc. I feel like our ceiling is pretty high for next year- but young guys need to play to their potential.

I really don't care where we are in any of the early rankings anyway. College baseball is damn near impossible to predict- especially 8 months out.

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I don't have a problem with lower expectations next year either. We COULD be better in 2015 than we were in 2014 but there is no doubt we go into 2015 with many more question marks than 2014. A lot depends on talented younger players being ready to step up and contribute and having some pitchers that haven't pitched a lot be ready to take over in the bullpen. And yes, we have our starters all back but nobody knows what we get out of a recovering Preston Brown, Laster only started during the last month, and Fitts is a decent starter but rarely dominant. Mitchell will likely go back to the bullpen which should certainly help there. But hey, OM went into 2014 with many more question marks than 2013 and they ended up among the last 4 standing in Omaha so who knows.