Collegiate Baseball preseason # 2

[bully99]

Cue the bully99 hate in 3,2,1

[Big4Dawg]

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/NEW...-baseball.aspx

[messageboardsuperhero]

Here it is: http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/...reseason-poll/

Damn. I'm not complaining or anything, but they seem to have us a little high. They also have LSU at 3 and UVA outside of the top 10.

Oh well, rankings mean jack-shit before the season starts- now we have to go out and prove it.

ETA: Also, why in the hell isn't Arkansas higher?

[starkvegasdawg]

UCLA must have really lost some people to start out 15.

[Political Hack]

love it. hope the players handle the hype well.

[rabbitthedawg]

I hope UCLA lost all those pitchers! They were something!!

[smootness]

Oh. snap.

[engie]

Was almost positive that we'd be in the top 5. Kinda surprised that we are #2.

We lost our #1 starter and arguably #1 bullpen arm -- along with our top 2 hitters. If only we were recruiting to fill those roles better**

[bully99]

Virginia surprised me. Scuttlebutt during the fall suggested they might be #1. Several more polls to go though.

[smootness]

Collegiate Baseball is the one that had our recruiting class #2 as well. Seems like they may know what they're talking about, and they clearly like the players we're bringing in.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Collegiate Baseball is the one that had our recruiting class #2 as well. Seems like they may know what they're talking about, and they clearly like the players we're bringing in.

No doubt- Collegiate Baseball seems to really love us.

[Todd4State]

Like I said- we win the NC if Woodruff is healthy. I think our starting rotation will be improved and our bullpen will be fine. Hudson will essentially replace Girodo in a round about way- moving Lindgren to the bullpen.

We're better at catcher than we were last year as well in terms of talent. Worst case scenario is Randolph and Walker- and they're both pretty good defensively.

We lose Frazier and Frost out of the infield, but we return Rea who has been improving every year, Pirtle, and then we replace our losses with Reid Humphries who looks ready and will be an upgrade over Frost, and then Britton and Heck may not hit as well as Frazier, but they will give us more power and may be an upgrade defensively.

No one is going to replace Hunter in terms of individual all around production- HR, RBI, AVG, SB and outfield assists. But we have a lot of veterans and a lot of speed in Robson, CT, Demarcus, and then Vickerson is going to get plenty of playing time as well. Derrick Armstrong is a solid college player. Then we have some wild cards in our freshmen with Gavin Collins, Swinarski, and Brent Rooker who can all play out there. If one of them emerges and provides some power, it will help us tremendously.

Detz returns at DH and he will continue to be an on base machine.

So, IMO we're improved everywhere except RF and maybe SS. But maybe more importantly, this team has CWS experience and a LOT of it coming back. That is huge when you are talking in terms of winning championships. Our players know how to win.

[Todd4State]

UCLA must have really lost some people to start out 15.

They had three pitchers that carried them. And two of them left. They can not hit.

We lost simply because we couldn't match their starters- Graveman didn't pitch for us- and because we had some weaknesses defensively at third base and catcher. That's dicey when you play a team than bunts a lot.

[bully99]

Cohen told Swindoll couple weeks ago that Rooker and Dylan Ingram would probably be redshirted.

Perfect Game will probably have OM preseason #1.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Like I said- we win the NC if Woodruff is healthy. I think our starting rotation will be improved and our bullpen will be fine. Hudson will essentially replace Girodo in a round about way- moving Lindgren to the bullpen.

We're better at catcher than we were last year as well in terms of talent. Worst case scenario is Randolph and Walker- and they're both pretty good defensively.

We lose Frazier and Frost out of the infield, but we return Rea who has been improving every year, Pirtle, and then we replace our losses with Reid Humphries who looks ready and will be an upgrade over Frost, and then Britton and Heck may not hit as well as Frazier, but they will give us more power and may be an upgrade defensively.

No one is going to replace Hunter in terms of individual all around production- HR, RBI, AVG, SB and outfield assists. But we have a lot of veterans and a lot of speed in Robson, CT, Demarcus, and then Vickerson is going to get plenty of playing time as well. Derrick Armstrong is a solid college player. Then we have some wild cards in our freshmen with Gavin Collins, Swinarski, and Brent Rooker who can all play out there. If one of them emerges and provides some power, it will help us tremendously.

Detz returns at DH and he will continue to be an on base machine.

So, IMO we're improved everywhere except RF and maybe SS. But maybe more importantly, this team has CWS experience and a LOT of it coming back. That is huge when you are talking in terms of winning championships. Our players know how to win.

We certainly look better on paper going into this year than we did last year. That postseason experience is huge too.

What are your realistic expectations going into this season? Anything less than hosting will be a disappointment to me. Some good goals for the team would be to compete for the SEC and get a national seed.

[engie]

I think a national seed is a reasonable expectation this year. Hosting would still be a satisfactory year though.

I'd love to actually win the SEC regular season title for the first time in 25 years...

[Goat Holder]

Are you saying we would have won in 2013 with Woodruff, or are you saying we WILL win in 2014 with Woodruff? Because I still don't think we're talented enough to go around proclaiming stuff like that. Took an awful lot of clutch hits for us to get there this past year, pitching wasn't the problem until the finals.

Detz doesn't return at DH, he returns at 3B and will likely start there all year. Cohen said as much on Wednesday, that he's settled in at that position. Britton is the starter at SS too, he's becoming a leader on the team. We don't 'lose' anything with Frost, that much is guaranteed. He's just a Cohen player much like Perkins is for Mullen.

[Goat Holder]

I think we lost because we didn't have the clutch hit drop in the 1st game. We had to have that one. The second game was a cluster-f*ck from the beginning. If we could have gotten to Game 3 with Graveman, we could have done it IMO.

[smootness]

Are you saying we would have won in 2013 with Woodruff, or are you saying we WILL win in 2014 with Woodruff? Because I still don't think we're talented enough to go around proclaiming stuff like that. Took an awful lot of clutch hits for us to get there this past year, pitching wasn't the problem until the finals.

I agree with this somewhat. I don't think that just because we played in the national championship series, that we were truly the #2 team in the country last year. We were definitely playing like it late, though. We got a lot of clutch hits, but we also didn't have Renfroe playing at the absolute top of his game, either. We won a lot of games by pitching well (which was no fluke) and playing good defense (again, no fluke).

It's obvious that at least one unbiased, national source thinks we're going to be at that level this year.

It's impossible to say that we should win the national title with a healthy Woodruff because we're not just head and shoulders better than everyone; but I don't have a problem with that prediction. It isn't outlandish at all.

Our pitching will be better than it was last year. Girodo is a big loss, but getting Woodruff healthy, having Ross Mitchell back, adding guys like Hudson and Houston, and having guys like Lindgren with more experience should lead to a potentially devastating pitching staff.

It will hinge on our offense, but there are reasons to think we will be good enough there to be a great overall team. I think we have enough talent, the question is whether some of that talent (Garner, Humphreys, Collins, Robson, etc.) are ready to step up and step out.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Are you saying we would have won in 2013 with Woodruff, or are you saying we WILL win in 2014 with Woodruff? Because I still don't think we're talented enough to go around proclaiming stuff like that. Took an awful lot of clutch hits for us to get there this past year, pitching wasn't the problem until the finals.

Detz doesn't return at DH, he returns at 3B and will likely start there all year. Cohen said as much on Wednesday, that he's settled in at that position. Britton is the starter at SS too, he's becoming a leader on the team. We don't 'lose' anything with Frost, that much is guaranteed. He's just a Cohen player much like Perkins is for Mullen.

Did Humphreys practice some in the outfield this fall? I'd love to put him in RF, Detz at 3rd (assuming his defense is better), Garner at DH, and Walker at catcher- that would give us one hell of a lineup. Either way, we need both Detz's and Humphreys' bats in their.