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.

I just thank goodness that the NCAA decided not to use Kendall as the determiner of who actually gets to go to Omaha.

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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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http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CpEN81eb_l...7Mon%2BMan.jpg

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Originally Posted by maroonmania

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.

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I agree in theory but 'question marks' is so misguiding. We had a lot of constants last year but who could see Detz/Rea regressing the way they did? They weren't question marks last year but they sure appear to be now. So now, I've got a different system of evaluating......who will step up and be our offensive leaders? In that vein, the only question marks I see is whether Collins/Humphreys develop into our team leading hitters. We need 2 at least, then the rest can be role players. Maybe it's Britton? Holland? Even Rea? Who knows if the light comes on. Those are all guys you can 'see' doing it, and with power.

Pitching wise, I do not have a worry at all. 2 senior starters. One battle tested 5th year inning eating senior out of the pen. A number of talented guys available to take over the 3rd spot (P. Brown, Hudson, Sexton, Young). A host of other relievers and set up guys (Tatum, Gentry, Cox, Shelly). Haven't even gotten to the redshirt freshman and true freshmen.

Ross has been an inning eater and a very good pitcher for us, but he needs to be used less often next season IMO. He seems to have faded in the postseason and I wonder how much is attributed to fatigue. I'd like to have Ross at full strength down the stretch

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Ross has been an inning eater and a very good pitcher for us, but he needs to be used less often next season IMO. He seems to have faded in the postseason and I wonder how much is attributed to fatigue. I'd like to have Ross at full strength down the stretch

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Agreed, he threw like 8 complete games this season, that gets to even most rubber of arms

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Originally Posted by msstate7

Ross has been an inning eater and a very good pitcher for us, but he needs to be used less often next season IMO. He seems to have faded in the postseason and I wonder how much is attributed to fatigue. I'd like to have Ross at full strength down the stretch

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I also believe Ross was breaking down toward the end of the year. He is physically frail anyway and for him to go out as a starter every week usually giving 7 innings plus is a lot to ask of him. That is much tougher on him than pitching a couple of 2 to 3 innings stints per week out of the bullpen.

Our worst case scenario would be 30 wins. That would be us having a year like this year where literally everything that could go wrong did.

The pitching should be about the same, the bullpen will be worse and we should hit better and the defense will likely be about the same.

If we win 30 games it will be because we lead the nation in sac bunts.

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Originally Posted by maroonmania

I also believe Ross was breaking down toward the end of the year. He is physically frail anyway and for him to go out as a starter every week usually giving 7 innings plus is a lot to ask of him. That is much tougher on him than pitching a couple of 2 to 3 innings stints per week out of the bullpen.

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He did break down, but I agree with Goat. To me, being a starting pitcher is little bit more of a grind because of the routine that they have to follow as well.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

He did break down, but I agree with Goat. To me, being a starting pitcher is little bit more of a grind because of the routine that they have to follow as well.

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Bottom line Ross was moved to a starter role out of necessity because Woodruff never stepped up due to injury and not being fully recovered. Bottom line, we should be able to move him back to the pen this year. We have Fitts, Laster, and it would be great if Hudson is that third starter or if Brown can be that guy once he is fully recovered. We need Hudson to develop a good secondary pitch to go with his plus fastball. He could be a big time ace if he can develop a good curve ball or change. Anytime you can hit 95+ with your fastball you have a bit of an edge.

I don't think we should be counting on Fitts as a no-doubt starter

at all and he was far from a sure thing. He pitched well down the stretch but statistically speaking, he was far from the best closer in the nation this year. Also, statistically speaking his stats got worse each year but then again when you have an era as miniscule as he had his first two years, it's hard to do any better than what he did as a frosh and soph.

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Originally Posted by MarketingBully01

Bottom line Ross was moved to a starter role out of necessity because Woodruff never stepped up due to injury and not being fully recovered. Bottom line, we should be able to move him back to the pen this year. We have Fitts, Laster, and it would be great if Hudson is that third starter or if Brown can be that guy once he is fully recovered. We need Hudson to develop a good secondary pitch to go with his plus fastball. He could be a big time ace if he can develop a good curve ball or change. Anytime you can hit 95+ with your fastball you have a bit of an edge.

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I agree about Hudson. His summer has been very encouraging to me so far. Really, to me we need Vance Tatum, Austin Sexton, or Jesse McCord to be the third guy. I'm just not sold on Preston Brown being anything more than a midweek/ mop up guy becuase of his health.

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Originally Posted by Pioneer Dawg

I don't think we should be counting on Fitts as a no-doubt starter

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Troll attempt fail.

Fitts is more likely to be a starter than Ross or Laster right now.

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Troll attempt fail.

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Hahaha you're such a loser. Gotta keep that "cred" right**

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

Fitts is more likely to be a starter than Ross or Laster right now.

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1st off I didn't say "he wouldn't start" just that its not a guarantee… Troll

Fitts averaged just 4.1 IP per start this year. For his career he is averaging 3.2 IP per start. In only 4 of his 22 career starts has he logged 6 innings, but its "crazy" to think he may get beat out by 3 more solid options…. Troll

Averaged just 4 IP in 11 SEC starts.

Hudson, Tatum, Sexton, Laster, Ross, Brown… See ya on Tuesdays Trevor

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Originally Posted by Pioneer Dawg

Fitts averaged just 4.1 IP per start this year.

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Had nothing at all to do with the best reliever in the country coming behind him**

Fitts had the shortest hook of any pitcher we've had under Cohen because we had Lindgren coming next.

Will James/Pioneer- let me explain something.

Cohen is going to start Fitts next year on weekends. Why? Because he is a veteran that will give him 4-5 solid innings. We dont mind going to the pen and that trend will continue. We really arent looking for guys to go 7 innings in a start per say- we dont mind doing tandem pitching.

Cohen gonna stick to his vets and start Fitts

When I have time I will look at Fitts opponents batting average 1st time thru compared to 2nd.. Yeah he was relieved early but only because most of the time he would dig a severe hole for himself and needed Lindgren to bail him out.

We all know this. How many times was it mentioned that he can't get thru more than once.

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Originally Posted by Pioneer Dawg

Hahaha you're such a loser. Gotta keep that "cred" right**

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One way to get "cred" is to not make outlandish comments about the only guy on the staff that has started a CWS game and was the only guy to start from week one going forward in SEC play.