Monday Morning Shortstop

[Coach34]

I'm not doing this to replace Todd's weekly write-up. I'm more bullet point whereas Todd opines with much more depth. Just adding another good breakdown for discussion each week. Todd will still do his thing well as he should.

1. Great weekend of crawfish and my friend spending the weekend. Even tho a Mississippi Rebel chick- she endured watching State play all weekend like a champ. The seafood pasta was also a hit.

2. Sa-weep. Did what we were supposed to do. Sweep an inferior opponent and do it in a dominating way. None of the games were really ever in doubt.

3. SP's were solid. Pico got gave up some earned runs tho yet he remains a solid SP for us K'ing 9. Davis looked good. Wasnt overpowering but he PITCHED. He throws a great sinker at 92 with lots of movement. The scary part? If he remains in the rotation we will have to play defense behind him. Lots of groundballs coming. Ligon? He has really good stuff but is just a little wild. I'm still not sure where this guy ends up yet. He walked the leadoff guy on 4 pitches then picked off the guy, lazy fly ball and K to end the 1st. He has talent and hopefully settles in.

4. Catcher- Highfill has been disappointing. Hit with power his freshman year. Now has no power and doesnt hit for average. His receiving skills even look worse than 2 years ago. I'm all for giving time to get back in to it after sitting a year but he is not progressing. Thats a big problem. I get the potential aspect- but potential has got to start performing

5. Corner OF- We have a great problem here. Too many guys to play. Guys hungry for AB's. Downs is hitting 400 with 7 HR's after not even hitting one before this season (I blame GoTro for making him better). Stallman is over .300 and looks good at the plate. Stevens is at .375 with a cannon in RF. Pulliam is a solid back-up out there. Got to credit Lemon and Crew for making this such a strong area for us.

6. 1B- Hines is far and away the best guy in the field. He made a helluva play on a shot down the line he turned into a double play. 6/14 on the weekend with a definite change of driving the ball to the middle of the field. There's hope yet. Frei? Didnt start and only got 3 AB's on the weekend- going 2/3. This guy has to find a way on the field but we dont have anywhere to put him at this point. It sux for him but a good problem to have.

7. So we dont play Gatlin Sanders hardly at all to start the season and now he is our guy at 2B with 4 starts in a row? Dont get me wrong- he has payed well these 4 games. My problem is with why did it take 11 games to get him in there?

8. Reese is the guy I thought he would be but has surprised on power like Downs. 6 HR's already and on pace to hit 15-18. Another great portal grab.

9. Cupp has lived up to his HS accolades this year. Great in the field and a really good arm. You can tell he has worked hard at getting better at the plate. Tough injury Friday and I hope he is ok. My opinion is that O'Brien should have pulled off because of where it was. But it was in no man's land and a tough play. Reeves is a solid replacement if we have to go that route but hopefully Cupp is ready for Texas

10. 11-4 with 2 midweeks and Texas coming in to start the SEC season. Need a 4-1 week. I like this team. It's going to be a good one