Tulane Series Thoughts

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02-28-2021, 09:31 PM
KOdawg1

Tulane Series Thoughts

-Anytime you win a series, you take it. Considering the fact that we could've very easily been swept this weekend, two wins vs. Tulane is acceptable. They're a very pesky team. Not extremely talented by any measure, but they played with a chip on their shoulder and made us pay for our mistakes. They'll be a tournament team, so it was a decent test for our guys early.

-I'll start with the good. This team is never out of any game. They don't give up. They fight until the end. That mentality has been engrained in us over the last few years, and it's a great one to have.

-I thought pitching wise, we did a little better this week. Not as many walks and free passes, even though there were still some. MacLeod got rocked pretty hard Friday, and we'll need him to get that cleaned up if we're going to survive in SEC play. The biggest problem with him is his inability to pitch deep into games, but with our bullpen, that's manageable. It'd be nice if he could consistently give us 5 innings though. With Cerantola, it's pretty simple. Either he starts throwing strikes more consistently, or he'll be moved to another role. 3 years is a large enough sample size. Fristoe looked pretty good today, and he's going to be a star for us. Sims was a stud as usual. I love his role. This staff needs to face some weak teams in order to gain some confidence, and luckily, I think we'll get that soon.

-The biggest downside of this weekend was our hitting (besides in the 9th inning apparently). Just not great approaches across the board. Some of it can be attributed to trying to do too much due to the chirpiness in the other dugout. But we need to start putting better swings on balls. I'm glad TA got the game winning hit after a rough game today. Maybe that'll get him going. Rowdy continues to struggle. I sound like a broken record, but I'd bat Dubrule leadoff and put Rowdy 2nd. Hatcher struggled. LoTan had a good game today. Hancock is a grown ass man. James had a good week hitting, but that canceled out with his glove. Not sure what the right move there should be. But we can't have a SS in the SEC that has an error(s) every game. I honestly think this lineup will get going eventually, but it's just a matter of figuring some things out, which only comes with more ABs and games.

-Should have a good mid-week test vs. the Mustard Buzzards Tuesday before Tennessee Tech comes to town.
02-28-2021, 09:50 PM
OLJWales

thank you KO.
02-28-2021, 10:24 PM
Leeshouldveflanked

Our lead off batter is at .182.... seems like the first inning of every game our first 3 batters are 3 automatic outs..
02-28-2021, 10:28 PM
parabrave

Good analysis there KO. It's still early and it takes a few series to get the hitting order right, even in the majors, but I would switch Rowdy and Dubrule also. Sometime a hitter needs a person on base to get going. Marteen Prado was like that. Bases empty and he was an out. But he was always money when there was a person on. That's why he was the 2 hitter when with the Braves. Two good things that I did notice is that we are striking out less, working the count more and getting the bat on ball more. Eventually the hits will start falling.
02-28-2021, 10:37 PM
Jack Lambert

Will we be ranked hirer than Ole Miss?
02-28-2021, 10:54 PM
Todd4State

Good stuff.

We are going to struggle against LHP this year. That's VERY apparent. I think we overrecruited to that right field short porch some and overcorrected our team. I think that's more of a recruiting issue than anything- we just need better balance. Kam James, Logan Tanner are a good start to that- as are Aaron Downs and Cole Slater in the future. I agree about Dubrule needing to be a leadoff guy. We need to let Hatcher rest some I think and let Kellum Clark start a game or two.

James needs to work on his defense big time. I've always said that he is really a third baseman and he isn't proving me wrong so far. The issue is Lane Forsyth is much better defensively but the bat isn't ready. Next year I'd look at moving James back to third if Forsyth hits better next year.

Drew McGowan and Tanner Leggett have improved a lot. They've proved me wrong.

Pitching right now is the elephant in the room. It's like worse case scenario to me almost so far. Fristoe can replace Bednar. Cerentola and MacLeoud need to use the next two weekends to get right. We might be looking at a rotation of Fristoe, MacLeoud, and then Harding/Koestler if things don't get better. We have a really good bullpen with Sims, Brandon Smith, Davis Rokose, and Xavier Lovett. So we can mask it- but I'm tired of having to improvise every year it seems like.

We have talent- but we also have a LOT of things to work on.
02-28-2021, 10:55 PM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Lambert

Will we be ranked hirer than Ole Miss?

Very possible. But I'm not too worried about that.
02-28-2021, 11:35 PM
HoopsDawg

Rokose has barely pitched which is weird bc he was great in practice and he was great in his 2 innings of work.

I have no idea how to rank our pitchers 1-12 other than Sims is 1 right now.
02-28-2021, 11:59 PM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

Rokose has barely pitched which is weird bc he was great in practice and he was great in his 2 innings of work.

I have no idea how to rank our pitchers 1-12 other than Sims is 1 right now.

I suspect Rokose will pitch more as the season goes along.

However, Foxhall appears to "trust" older more veteran pitchers like Riley Self and Trysten Barlow over Colby White in the CWS.
03-01-2021, 10:04 AM
StarkVegasSteve

This weekend showed a few holes in our team for sure, but it also reinforced the fight they have and that you can't let us hang around. A few of my thoughts on it:

- Our starters need to be able to go longer. I'm hoping that the short stints are just a byproduct of early season load management and that our schedule has been really thrown off the last couple of weeks. We need our starters to go at least 6 to 7 innings, especially McLeod on Fridays.

- Cerrantola. I feel like the last two years we've heard how amazing he looks in the fall and in scrimmages, but when he comes into the game it's the same old Wild Thing Cerrantola. We probably need to give him a week off and maybe let him pitch the midweek after this weekend.

-Bullpen. Outside of Landon Sims I'm not really sure what to make out of the pen. All the talk was that we have all these guys that throw 95+ but I haven't seen many of them.

-Kamren James. His bat is the only reason he's still in the lineup. 5 errors in only 7 games is not going to get it done in this league.

-I've been really impressed with Dubrule so far. A great job by the staff to get him. As others have stated I think we eventually move him to the leadoff spot and let Rowdey bat second. Our leadoff guy needs to get on base and Dubrule can do that. He's patient at the plate and knows how to hit to all fields.

-Lastly, THANK GOD FOR TANNER ALLEN AND LUKE HANCOCK. It's amazing to sit here and think that we won a series where we trailed in every game going into the 9th.
03-01-2021, 10:23 AM
MetEdDawg

New D1baseball has us at #3 and Ole Miss at #4. Arkansas #1, Vandy #2, Florida #6.

There are probably 5 SEC teams that could deserve a National seed. It will never happen, but the fact there are 5 SEC teams in the Top 6 is ridiculous.

You've also got LSU at 11, South Carolina at 14, and Tennessee at 18.
03-01-2021, 10:45 AM
BeardoMSU

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jack Lambert

Will we be ranked hirer than Ole Miss?

We moved up to 3, they [only] dropped to 4
03-01-2021, 11:23 AM
The Federalist Engineer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd4State

I suspect Rokose will pitch more as the season goes along.

However, Foxhall appears to "trust" older more veteran pitchers like Riley Self and Trysten Barlow over Colby White in the CWS.

Barlow was our "Lefty" for key moments with a runner on and Lefty batting...

Then Barlow would throw a wild pitch, runners advanced and then the Lefty would be walked

Not a great LOOGY
03-01-2021, 12:05 PM
Johnson85

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leeshouldveflanked

Our lead off batter is at .182.... seems like the first inning of every game our first 3 batters are 3 automatic outs..

Has Rowdy started off slumping every year? Can't remember what he was doing last year but seems like at least his Sophomore year he looked like he was having a bad sophomore slump, just awful, and halfway through the season turned into an above average hitter? Freshman year not sure he started off slumping as much as had normal freshman growing pains.
03-01-2021, 12:52 PM
HoopsDawg

Yeah, Rowdey is a free swinger and he has the lowest on base percentage on the team right now so he needs to be moved down.

my order would be:

1. Dubrule
2. Kam James
3. TA
4. Logan Tanner
5. Hancock
6. Rowdey
7. Hatcher
8. Cumbest
9. Landon Jordan

Nice mix of righties and lefties.
03-01-2021, 12:58 PM
Homedawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd4State

I suspect Rokose will pitch more as the season goes along.

However, Foxhall appears to "trust" older more veteran pitchers like Riley Self and Trysten Barlow over Colby White in the CWS.

I don't know about that, Riley has 2 appearances, yet Lovett and Hunt have 3. And both of Riley's chances we were either way up or way down.......
03-01-2021, 01:06 PM
R2Dawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by KOdawg1

-Anytime you win a series, you take it. Considering the fact that we could've very easily been swept this weekend, two wins vs. Tulane is acceptable. They're a very pesky team. Not extremely talented by any measure, but they played with a chip on their shoulder and made us pay for our mistakes. They'll be a tournament team, so it was a decent test for our guys early.

-I'll start with the good. This team is never out of any game. They don't give up. They fight until the end. That mentality has been engrained in us over the last few years, and it's a great one to have.

-I thought pitching wise, we did a little better this week. Not as many walks and free passes, even though there were still some. MacLeod got rocked pretty hard Friday, and we'll need him to get that cleaned up if we're going to survive in SEC play. The biggest problem with him is his inability to pitch deep into games, but with our bullpen, that's manageable. It'd be nice if he could consistently give us 5 innings though. With Cerantola, it's pretty simple. Either he starts throwing strikes more consistently, or he'll be moved to another role. 3 years is a large enough sample size. Fristoe looked pretty good today, and he's going to be a star for us. Sims was a stud as usual. I love his role. This staff needs to face some weak teams in order to gain some confidence, and luckily, I think we'll get that soon.

-The biggest downside of this weekend was our hitting (besides in the 9th inning apparently). Just not great approaches across the board. Some of it can be attributed to trying to do too much due to the chirpiness in the other dugout. But we need to start putting better swings on balls. I'm glad TA got the game winning hit after a rough game today. Maybe that'll get him going. Rowdy continues to struggle. I sound like a broken record, but I'd bat Dubrule leadoff and put Rowdy 2nd. Hatcher struggled. LoTan had a good game today. Hancock is a grown ass man. James had a good week hitting, but that canceled out with his glove. Not sure what the right move there should be. But we can't have a SS in the SEC that has an error(s) every game. I honestly think this lineup will get going eventually, but it's just a matter of figuring some things out, which only comes with more ABs and games.

-Should have a good mid-week test vs. the Mustard Buzzards Tuesday before Tennessee Tech comes to town.

With you on hitting. We've had a rough season opening. Maybe the easier schedule the next week or two can get some guys out of the slump. We just need a little confidence. If we can get that going we can get rolling.

Need some things to settle in on pitching. Cerantola needs to get it going. Settling the rotation starts with him.
03-01-2021, 03:56 PM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homedawg

I don't know about that, Riley has 2 appearances, yet Lovett and Hunt have 3. And both of Riley's chances we were either way up or way down.......

I hope you're right because pitching Self and Barlow against Vanderbilt and not White with the season on the line was next level stupid.
03-01-2021, 05:50 PM
Randolph Dupree

A couple of notes:

-Rowdey is a notoriously slow starter at the plate. He'll be fine.

- fielding appears to be a weakness right now but keep in mind that this is a completely different infield than we we stared last year. I feel like that never gets talked about. Give them a minute to gel, and remember there are no reps like game reps.

-pitching makes me a little nervous but again this is virtually a new group. Yes, two of them started last year but we only played like 8 games so... also there was no summer ball and as stated earlier there are no reps like game reps so let's be patient.

-lastly, let's all remember these types of games with the Tulanes and USMs are to get kinks worked out and allow the coaches to tinker a bit. You get the wins and get out, it's baseball you just need to put yourself in a good position for a regional and you have a chance to win the whole thing.

ETA that I know James stared at 3B last year but that, again, only like 8 games and it was 3B not SS.
03-01-2021, 06:58 PM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randolph Dupree

A couple of notes:

-Rowdey is a notoriously slow starter at the plate. He'll be fine.

- fielding appears to be a weakness right now but keep in mind that this is a completely different infield than we we stared last year. I feel like that never gets talked about. Give them a minute to gel, and remember there are no reps like game reps.

-pitching makes me a little nervous but again this is virtually a new group. Yes, two of them started last year but we only played like 8 games so... also there was no summer ball and as stated earlier there are no reps like game reps so let's be patient.

-lastly, let's all remember these types of games with the Tulanes and USMs are to get kinks worked out and allow the coaches to tinker a bit. You get the wins and get out, it's baseball you just need to put yourself in a good position for a regional and you have a chance to win the whole thing.

ETA that I know James stared at 3B last year but that, again, only like 8 games and it was 3B not SS.

Yeah. I can't figure out why the coaches think that Rowdey should be a lead off guy with people like Dubrule on the team. It's kind of weird.
03-01-2021, 09:15 PM
Randolph Dupree

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd4State

Yeah. I can't figure out why the coaches think that Rowdey should be a lead off guy with people like Dubrule on the team. It's kind of weird.

I think he'll be ok down the stretch
03-01-2021, 09:37 PM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by Randolph Dupree

I think he'll be ok down the stretch

No question he'll be OK. But even when he is clicking I'm not sure that leadoff is the best spot for him.
03-01-2021, 10:21 PM
Homedawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd4State

No question he'll be OK. But even when he is clicking I'm not sure that leadoff is the best spot for him.

Maybe Bc rowdy has hit in this league and dubrule is earning trust. ... he's gonna be the second baseman but the only reason he got moved up is Bc kj needed to relax.... we don't have a great lineup. Moving dubrule to lead off isn't going to fox our holes. If we are gonna win, rowdy is going to have to hit. Period I think he will..... and honestly that's not me saying rowdy is best at lead off, I don't know if we have one in this lineup. But dubrule is getting ton of respect after 7 games and it's not for what he's done here. And yes I like him... but it's like he's the back up qb or the hot shot signee, always better than what you have.
03-01-2021, 10:56 PM
confucius say

We're short on righties so rowdy at the top being a switch hitter helps.

Hatcher is struggling. Prob move Hancock to the 5. I could also argue moving him to the 2.
03-02-2021, 12:14 AM
Todd4State

Quote:

Originally Posted by Homedawg

Maybe Bc rowdy has hit in this league and dubrule is earning trust. ... he's gonna be the second baseman but the only reason he got moved up is Bc kj needed to relax.... we don't have a great lineup. Moving dubrule to lead off isn't going to fox our holes. If we are gonna win, rowdy is going to have to hit. Period I think he will..... and honestly that's not me saying rowdy is best at lead off, I don't know if we have one in this lineup. But dubrule is getting ton of respect after 7 games and it's not for what he's done here. And yes I like him... but it's like he's the back up qb or the hot shot signee, always better than what you have.

Yeah Rowdey has been there but he is also known to struggle early in the year too. Losing Skinner is hurting us I think.
03-02-2021, 08:52 AM
Homedawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Todd4State

Yeah Rowdey has been there but he is also known to struggle early in the year too. Losing Skinner is hurting us I think.

He has been a slow starter for sure..... Skinner was going to be a factor tough injury to bounce back quick from too.
03-02-2021, 05:53 PM
Saltydog

How much longer is Skinner going to be out? Lemonis described him as "dynamic".
03-02-2021, 06:12 PM
Homedawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltydog

How much longer is Skinner going to be out? Lemonis described him as "dynamic".

problem is, even when he gets back, and thats a few weeks away, he won't have swung a bat in 6 weeks, at least.
03-02-2021, 08:41 PM
The Federalist Engineer

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saltydog

How much longer is Skinner going to be out? Lemonis described him as "dynamic".

As a public service announcement, Skinner is another lefty hitter

It would have been great if Owen Lovell not quit baseball. Big right handed bat, Mr Alabama Baseball, and highly regarded as a recruit...would have been a Sr for us this year. Probably starting at 1B and a fan favorite
03-02-2021, 09:01 PM
Homedawg

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Federalist Engineer

As a public service announcement, Skinner is another lefty hitter

It would have been great if Owen Lovell not quit baseball. Big right handed bat, Mr Alabama Baseball, and highly regarded as a recruit...would have been a Sr for us this year. Probably starting at 1B and a fan favorite

He quit baseball. Anyone that quit wouldn't be starting for us...it's a ton of hard work and dedication. No chance