Isn?t he kind of busy counting his $$$Billions? Is WalMart in that big of trouble that an heir has to resort to coaching baseball?
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I don't know how we're supposed Tobe excited about it.
Can we do worse? Yes. But is he a really good PC that'll build us a + staff? No. Seems like the kind of hire that can improve us just enough to make a regional and keep Lemonis but not enough to actually get us anywhere. Maybe that's just me being negative though.
His numbers aren't great, that's all I'll say
So
10.8k per 9 to 4.4bb per 9 with 44hbp with 979 fielding
Vs
10.7K per 9 to 6.3 bb per 9 with 46 hbp with 964 fielding
I mean Walton will definitely be an improvement over Fox don't get me wrong... he just seems so... mediocre. Which in the SEC, a mediocre P5 coach is a below average SEC coach cause the teams here invest in baseball and attract the best coaches.
If Walton is 5th out of 9 total in the big 12, he'll probably be 10th out of 16 total in the SEC (Texas and OU joining soon)
His Team ERA is consistently under 5 as it is right now. How many games does State win if the pitching is giving up less than 5 rpg? We are talking about hosting a regional right now. Also, look at the program right now. Lemonis might not be here this time next year. I admit it?s not a homerun hire but it?s a good hire especially with situation we are in right now.
Again, i think he's good enough to improve us and get us to a regional. But you can't just assume his ERA from another conference will be the same in the SEC.
What we know is that vs his conference peers, playing the same competition, 4 of 8 other pitching coaches have lower staff ERAs. We can either conclude 1) Walton is mediocre (my contention) or 2) walton is really good but he BIG-12 has insanely good pitching coaches. They certainly do have some good baseball programs, so I guess 2) is possible. But it's less likely than 1) imo.
At the end of the day I think people are scared to walk into our shitshow of a pitching staff and work under a HC with the hottest seat in the country. "you have a massive project and you'll probably be looking for work this time next year" isn't a good sales pitch, even with the money we can offer