Baseball and our pitching staff

[CadaverDawg]

Wanted to get you guys thoughts on this....

Right now we are getting absolutely nothing out of Evan, Woody, and Cox in SEC play. But we HAVE to get them involved to have sustained success this season in my opinion. So I think Cohen and Butch should sit these 3 down and say, we're going to pitch you 3 guys tomorrow against South Alabama. We know that you guys have been trying to overthrow, and putting pressure on yourselves to dominate and earn a starting role, so we want to relieve some pressure. We are going to plan on throwing each of you 2 innings, with a maximum of 3 innings against USA. We want you to have a mindset that you are only going 3 max, and just focus on command and not overthrowing, just relying on your stuff. And if we don't get 3 out of each of you, we'll let Bracewell come in and close it out to get back in his reliever groove.

This would basically just give them a low pressure, low expectation situation to try and build their confidence back up. What do you think? Start Evan or Woody and let them combine for the first 5-6 and then bring Cox in.

Just a thought, because we are running out of time in the midweek to get them going again. We do not need to be experimenting with these 3 during SEC play, and with it being a mental thing, I think a short confident outing could be just what the doctor ordered.

Thoughts?

[ComradeDawg]

Hell, my thoughts are that Cohen should have figured all this shit out a long damn time ago. I was rubbing noses in our record and rankings for weeks until SEC schedule started, now i'm taking shit everwhich way I turn. If evan, woody and cox need midweek game time to get back on that horse, do it. have them split the game and take 3 innings each. work on beating every batter with each pitch until they feel like they can contribute during SEC play. I'm tired of losing these winable series, dammit. Although Sundays game was all on Cohen. Wasnt a damn thing our kids can do sitting of the damn bench...

[HereComesTheSpiral]

Will Slaughter be behind the plate tomorrow night?

[CadaverDawg]

Will Slaughter be behind the plate tomorrow night?

Hopefully so. But not if it means he will have to sit one against Florida. Ammo didn't do as bad offensively as I expected this past weekend, but he was far from good.

Ideally we will start catching Ammo midweek, and let Slauter catch SEC games. We should have done that the first two SEC series.

To be honest with you, it blows my mind that we don't have Daniel Garner catching on Slauter's days off instead of Ammo. Ammo is a Senior and will not be back next year just like Slauter...so it would be great to be getting Garner some experience back there so we aren't breaking in an inexperienced Freshman next season. Oh well, just another on the long list of boneheaded coaching decisions we've seen out of Cohen this season.

I really like Cohen a lot, but I have been at a loss for words with many of his decisions this year.

[JHdawg]

I can tell you I pitched in the minor league ball in Memphis for to years long ago. And if you cant throw a strikes you aint ever gone make it as a picture. Got to learn to plant the seeds before you can smoke the tobaccy my coach uses to say just my opinion.

[CadaverDawg]

I can tell you I pitched in the minor league ball in Memphis for to years long ago. And if you cant throw a strikes you aint ever gone make it as a picture. Got to learn to plant the seeds before you can smoke the tobaccy my coach uses to say just my opinion.

That's the crazy thing though, Woodruff was the guy that won the SEC Championship game for us last year. He can throw strikes, but he is a total Mark Wohlers head case right now it seems. Weird. I used to pitch and I had streaks of wildness when I was trying to overthrow or do too much, but nothing like what we're seeing out of Woodruff right now.

[JHdawg]

=1

[The Croom Diaries]

Sounds like Will Cox will be on the hill Tuesday night. He has really only had one bad start (+ a bad relief appearance) as opposed to Woody and Evan's multiple bad outings. I think it's a good idea to split things up for those 3 guys...maybe 3 innings for Cox, 2 for Woody and 2 for Evan. They are so talented, if we cannot use at least one of the 3 by the postseason whatever advantage we had with our deep starting rotation will have completely vanished (as it has right now) for good.

Also - sounds like Slauter will be back this weekend.

[theloungeinleft]

Hopefully so. But not if it means he will have to sit one against Florida. Ammo didn't do as bad offensively as I expected this past weekend, but he was far from good.

Ideally we will start catching Ammo midweek, and let Slauter catch SEC games. We should have done that the first two SEC series.

To be honest with you, it blows my mind that we don't have Daniel Garner catching on Slauter's days off instead of Ammo. Ammo is a Senior and will not be back next year just like Slauter...so it would be great to be getting Garner some experience back there so we aren't breaking in an inexperienced Freshman next season. Oh well, just another on the long list of boneheaded coaching decisions we've seen out of Cohen this season.

I really like Cohen a lot, but I have been at a loss for words with many of his decisions this year.

Agreed. Garner should be catching when Slauter is not. I know it has been said multiple times, but Ammo does not need to be catching Woodruff if we want him back to what we know he can be. It has shown two out of the three of Woodruff's outings.

[Spider-Man]

Cox will be starting tomorrow. I liked what I saw out of him earlier in the season. Really need to get his confidence back. I'll be disappointed if Woodruff doesn't throw a couple of innings tomorrow night. If we can get solid innings out of Pollo friday night and depending on if we have a lead, I think it would be a good idea to bring in Evan Mitchell. Evan throws hard and doesn't give up many hits. Possibly pitching with a lead could give him some confidence?

[WeWillScrewItUp]

Hell if Ammo is going to catch one game a week let him catch Graveman. We saw this weekend that they work fairly well together. I want to see Slauter catch Woodruff.

[msstate7]

Hell if Ammo is going to catch one game a week let him catch Graveman. We saw this weekend that they work fairly well together. I want to see Slauter catch Woodruff.

Ammo impressed me this weekend. He's a tougher out than I previously thought. He also has a great arm (much better than slauter). That said, I agree with slauter catching woodruff and any other questionable starters we throw out there.

[engie]

That's the crazy thing though, Woodruff was the guy that won the SEC Championship game for us last year. He can throw strikes, but he is a total Mark Wohlers head case right now it seems. Weird. I used to pitch and I had streaks of wildness when I was trying to overthrow or do too much, but nothing like what we're seeing out of Woodruff right now.

I agree with your premise in the post -- and while South Alabama is a huge game from an RPI standpoint, I think I agree with just saying F it -- you guys are going. Let's tell all 3 of them on a pitch count and tell them in advance they are making that pitch count regardless of their success rate. Got to quit coddling them.

As for the quoted section, Woodruff's problems go a little deeper than just being mental IMO. He's got a mechanical breakdown with his front side flying open causing fastballs to sail and his breaking ball to hang(when it's generally the sharpest 1:7 breaker in the league IMO). This could have been caused by his elbow soreness -- or it could have caused the elbow soreness in the first place -- but either way, it's more significant than just the Evan Mitchell headcase wildness. In his case, it could potentially be a bad habit that needs to be broken before he can be effective again. At any rate, I'm not sure if that's on Butch or his summer league pitching coach -- but it is what it is.

Glad to see someone else coming around to my viewpoint about Garner as well. I'm really worried that his lack of experience is going to cost us in the field next year. Nevermind that he potentially brings another power bat to a lineup that desperately needs a power bat...

[Will James]

Is Garner going to be one to leave for the pros after 3 years?

If yes, then not playing him is insane.

If no, then it would be a waste to play him now and burn the redshirt.

[I seen it dawg]

I can tell you I pitched in the minor league ball in Memphis for to years long ago. And if you cant throw a strikes you aint ever gone make it as a picture. Got to learn to plant the seeds before you can smoke the tobaccy my coach uses to say just my opinion.

Ban this shit somebody

[engie]

Is Garner going to be one to leave for the pros after 3 years?

If yes, then not playing him is insane.

If no, then it would be a waste to play him now and burn the redshirt.

He was the highest-rated highschool recruit we had coming in -- and was thought to be a top 10, potentially top 5 round draft risk ~ the same as Woodruff and Lindgren were the year before. Seems scouts got the impression that he was going to be very difficult to sign, so they shied away from him late in the process.

It's hard to say right now since we haven't seen him at all at this level, but coming in I would have said he was a 3yr lock...

[Todd4State]

I had some technical difficulties- but I'm here now!

One thing about Will Cox that's different than the others- he has struggled but at least he's not walking people.

I am in agreement about Woodruff- even if we lose to South Alabama, it's not a bad loss from an RPI standpoint. A win is gravy and may make up for a SEC road loss down the road. Garner not playing is surprising to me as well- however, we have one of his high school teammates coming in next year named Austin Sexton who is a pitcher and they are good friends. By redshirting Garner, we may be able to keep those two together for the duration of their college careers. We also have a JUCO catcher coming in as well, and then another high school catcher from California named Gavin Collins who can play multiple positions.

[msstate7]

I haven't keep up with baseball recruiting. Please tell me we have a 3b on the way.

[Todd4State]

That's the crazy thing though, Woodruff was the guy that won the SEC Championship game for us last year. He can throw strikes, but he is a total Mark Wohlers head case right now it seems. Weird. I used to pitch and I had streaks of wildness when I was trying to overthrow or do too much, but nothing like what we're seeing out of Woodruff right now.

With all due respect, there's a lot more pressure on Woodruff than there probably was on you. He knows he should be the ace, and he knows him not performing is screwing our team over royally, and now even moreso with Lindgren out.

Stuff like that and what engie is talking about with his frontside flying open- I think that's the kind of in game stuff that Slauter probably would help him out with more than Ammirati.

Also, I highly doubt we will catch Slauter tomorrow which may be another reason why Woodruff isn't starting. He may DH and he may be able to come into the game late, though. In a perfect world, we will be up big tomorrow and we can use Woodruff in the 7-8th inning and hopefully finish out the game. It sounds like they are going to expand Holder's role and make him more of a two inning guy rather than one, and probably do the same with Bracewell. If it were me, I would be getting Shelly some more action as well. Another thing I would do is make sure that Trevor Fitts gets some work in tomorrow. Ideally at least three innings.

[Todd4State]

I haven't keep up with baseball recruiting. Please tell me we have a 3b on the way.

We have Brent Rooker from Memphis who can play any corner position, but I think he is more of a first baseman/outfielder. Reid Humphries from Northwest Rankin is having a very good year and he can play third also- as can Gavin Collins who I just mentioned. Long term, and maybe short term, I think Humphries is the most likely candidate to be our third baseman of the future.

Ultimately, it's probably going to be in about three years:

1B- Rooker Jr.
2B- Dale Burdick So.
SS- Luke Alexander Fr.
3B- Humphries Jr.

We'll see what happens at SS next year- Frazier is rated as the second best college shortstop at this moment, so we could very well have Kyle Hann or Britton playing over there next year.