It?s time for GoTro to go

[maroonmania]

In our evaluation process, we've got to get better and finding the 3rd-5th round HS position player that will end up in school and we can develop into a 1st rounder.

We did that with Westburg, Foscue, and Rooker but we've signed too many Blaze Jordan's, Austin Hendricks, James Woods types and missed out on the 3rd-5th rounder due to that.

Our evaluation process needs to be refined

Yep, we need to be much better at understanding the mentality of the position players we recruit. If I remember correctly Blaze Jordan fell to the 3rd round but probably would have signed with a team if he had gone anywhere in the Top 5 rounds (or even 10 rounds if it was a normal draft). Those players don't even need to be thought of as real signees (assuming they are projected anywhere near the top end of the draft). We need to get some guys that are high quality position player recruits that aren't going to avoid coming to school unless they get true life changing bonus money normally only found in the first couple of rounds of the draft. We are successful doing it with pitchers so you would think we could do it with position players.

[Todd4State]

Hitting is almost impossible to really coach, so I'm not going to blame the hitting coach much. Hitting coaches are hired to be fired. Be a pitching coach if you want a long career.

What I will criticize, however, is that we seem to either recruit a 1st round caliber hitters that will never sniff campus and the replace them with left handed bad hitters. It's lazy in many ways because 1st rounders are easy to spot. It takes time and patience to find the right fit.

In our evaluation process, we've got to get better and finding the 3rd-5th round HS position player that will end up in school and we can develop into a 1st rounder.

We did that with Westburg, Foscue, and Rooker but we've signed too many Blaze Jordan's, Austin Hendricks, James Woods types and missed out on the 3rd-5th rounder due to that.

Our evaluation process needs to be refined

I wonder how much of that is because of scholarship money that we have tied up in certain other players.

Overall agree.

[preachermatt83]

I was joking, Preach.

Lol, 10/4 buddy. I thought we were about to have a very good debate.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Hitting is almost impossible to really coach, so I'm not going to blame the hitting coach much. Hitting coaches are hired to be fired. Be a pitching coach if you want a long career.

What I will criticize, however, is that we seem to either recruit a 1st round caliber hitters that will never sniff campus and the replace them with left handed bad hitters. It's lazy in many ways because 1st rounders are easy to spot. It takes time and patience to find the right fit.

In our evaluation process, we've got to get better and finding the 3rd-5th round HS position player that will end up in school and we can develop into a 1st rounder.

We did that with Westburg, Foscue, and Rooker but we've signed too many Blaze Jordan's, Austin Hendricks, James Woods types and missed out on the 3rd-5th rounder due to that.

Our evaluation process needs to be refined

Yep. It?s not about signing the best players. It?s about signing the best players among the group that will actually choose the college route.

[Johnson85]

Rowdey is a career .300 hitter. He is a sacred cow for this team

Saying Rowdy is a .300 hitter undersells him. He'd be safe even if he was just a .300 hitter, but it seems he's a shitty batter through sometime around the start of April and then a good batter from then on. If that holds for this year, then benching him would be worse than benching a .300 hitter.

[Commercecomet24]

Hitting is almost impossible to really coach, so I'm not going to blame the hitting coach much. Hitting coaches are hired to be fired. Be a pitching coach if you want a long career.

What I will criticize, however, is that we seem to either recruit a 1st round caliber hitters that will never sniff campus and the replace them with left handed bad hitters. It's lazy in many ways because 1st rounders are easy to spot. It takes time and patience to find the right fit.

In our evaluation process, we've got to get better and finding the 3rd-5th round HS position player that will end up in school and we can develop into a 1st rounder.

We did that with Westburg, Foscue, and Rooker but we've signed too many Blaze Jordan's, Austin Hendricks, James Woods types and missed out on the 3rd-5th rounder due to that.

Our evaluation process needs to be refined

Very well said, agree completely.

[Really Clark?]

Saying Rowdy is a .300 hitter undersells him. He'd be safe even if he was just a .300 hitter, but it seems he's a shitty batter through sometime around the start of April and then a good batter from then on. If that holds for this year, then benching him would be worse than benching a .300 hitter.

I think with the track record, to me Rowdy seems to be the type that almost treats the first part of the season as spring training and once SEC play gets started he zero’s in and hits at a really high pace.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Hitting is almost impossible to really coach, so I'm not going to blame the hitting coach much. Hitting coaches are hired to be fired. Be a pitching coach if you want a long career.

What I will criticize, however, is that we seem to either recruit a 1st round caliber hitters that will never sniff campus and the replace them with left handed bad hitters. It's lazy in many ways because 1st rounders are easy to spot. It takes time and patience to find the right fit.

In our evaluation process, we've got to get better and finding the 3rd-5th round HS position player that will end up in school and we can develop into a 1st rounder.

We did that with Westburg, Foscue, and Rooker but we've signed too many Blaze Jordan's, Austin Hendricks, James Woods types and missed out on the 3rd-5th rounder due to that.

Our evaluation process needs to be refined

Hi Shotgun...

(1) Could it be that some kids just out-grew their 13 year-old body and became 1st rounders. Like Riley Austin, he went from collegiate Pete Young 2.0 to a Forgetaboutit 1st Rounder.
(2) Could it also bet that nobody get's the big body boys. The 5-11, 190-lbs hitter seems to be norm in college baseball. There are bigger boys, but the typical is 5-11 to 5-10 player. Even the top-10 hitters in the SEC by average have the composite size of 6-0 199.
(3) Another issue that the bigger boys share is that they are upper classmen and they were statistically no-great as Underclassmen, like Rooker. Elko is the biggest in my top-10, he was not even a starter until his 3rd year
(4) The top-10 guys for HR in the SEC, the average player is 5-10 193, biggest kid is 6-2 220 from Alabama

A question: How come pitchers are giants in contrast. The SEC has 6-6 and 6-7 pitchers and the Peyton Plumee size of 6-3 220 is the norm. But Plumlee is a giant as a hitter. Growing up, the best pitcher is usually the best everything. Seems that there are lots of legit power 1B/3B and RF all pitching. Seems like college baseball is wasting lots of Thigpens and McCays. Guys like KC Hunt (6-3) should keep on hitting and get monster big.

[ShotgunDawg]

Hi Shotgun...

(1) Could it be that some kids just out-grew their 13 year-old body and became 1st rounders. Like Riley Austin, he went from collegiate Pete Young 2.0 to a Forgetaboutit 1st Rounder.
(2) Could it also bet that nobody get's the big body boys. The 5-11, 190-lbs hitter seems to be norm in college baseball. There are bigger boys, but the typical is 5-11 to 5-10 player. Even the top-10 hitters in the SEC by average have the composite size of 6-0 199.
(3) Another issue that the bigger boys share is that they are upper classmen and they were statistically no-great as Underclassmen, like Rooker. Elko is the biggest in my top-10, he was not even a starter until his 3rd year
(4) The top-10 guys for HR in the SEC, the average player is 5-10 193, biggest kid is 6-2 220 from Alabama

A question: How come pitchers are giants in contrast. The SEC has 6-6 and 6-7 pitchers and the Peyton Plumee size of 6-3 220 is the norm. But Plumlee is a giant as a hitter. Growing up, the best pitcher is usually the best everything. Seems that there are lots of legit power 1B/3B and RF all pitching. Seems like college baseball is wasting lots of Thigpens and McCays. Guys like KC Hunt (6-3) should keep on hitting and get monster big.

A lot to unpack here & I'll address everything point by point:

1. Yes, but we're paying these guys good money to evaluate body types. It's hard, but that's the game. If you can't evaluate young bodies & where they'll go in the future, then you're not cut out to be an SEC recruiter.

2. Shorter guys are often better hitters as they have shorter extremities & thus more compact swings on a typical basis which makes getting to velocity easier. There are more Hall of Fame hitters under 6'0" than above. The key to college baseball recruiting is finding non-profile good hitters. Meaning, if you play 1B in MLB, then you're expected to hit somewhere around .275 with 30 HRs & scouts will draft players that fit that mold high. Thus, if you want a guy to get to campus, then he needs to lag in one of those two measurements. He needs big power with less hit or less power with bigger hit. If you get both, then he's going to get drafted high. Best bet to take good hitter with little power as power usually comes last. Same thing for every position.

3. Yeah, it takes bigger guys longer. They have longer extremities & thus takes longer to get everything on time & get control of their body parts. Coordination takes longer for bigger guys. Same reason why OL are the hardest evaluate

4. Again, power is not a function of height. It's combination of strength, bat speed, & timing. Mickey Mantle was 5'11" 195. Most people don't realize that.

5. Pitchers aren't reactionary but rather get to set their on tempo within their delivery. Thus, taller guys can find their own pace & longer levers often create more leverage within the delivery for guys to throw hard & more strength from which to have durability. Also, since tall guys have so much trouble hitting due to long levers, they're often times forced to pitch since they can't hit.