So can we stop with the sky is falling mentality with baseball now?

[Will James]

If Detz continues to do well it will help Rea out.

Unless Detz is telling him to stop taking fastballs and to learn to hit pitches on the black I don't follow you here.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Unless Detz is telling him to stop taking fastballs and to learn to hit pitches on the black I don't follow you here.

If Detz is getting on base in front of Rea, it stands to reason that Rea will see better pitches than he would with the bases empty. It's not really good for our only true power threat to almost lead the country in walks because he's not seeing anything to hit.

I do agree that Rea needs to be more aggressive with fastballs though.

[Will James]

If Detz is getting on base in front of Rea, it stands to reason that Rea will see better pitches than he would with the bases empty. It's not really good for our only true power threat to almost lead the country in walks because he's not seeing anything to hit.

I do agree that Rea needs to be more aggressive with fastballs though.

I think it's a non issue. Walks are good but hes not "struggling" because of the lack of hittable pitches. It's because he takes them and has no discernible approach. Having Detz on doesn't change that fact.

Id say he'll get LESS hittable pitches with Detz on b/c who wants to give up a 2 run jack. Detz has nothing to do with it, it's all on big boy to figure out that he has to swing at outside fastballs early in the count.

[Todd4State]

Unless Detz is telling him to stop taking fastballs and to learn to hit pitches on the black I don't follow you here.

You can't drive in someone that isn't on base.

It also forces them to pitch Rea more carefully which puts more pressure on the pitcher who will be throwing out of the stretch- which a lot of them are less comfortable doing.

[Todd4State]

I think it's a non issue. Walks are good but hes not "struggling" because of the lack of hittable pitches. It's because he takes them and has no discernible approach. Having Detz on doesn't change that fact.

Id say he'll get LESS hittable pitches with Detz on b/c who wants to give up a 2 run jack. Detz has nothing to do with it, it's all on big boy to figure out that he has to swing at outside fastballs early in the count.

And no one wants to put two on and potentially start a big rally and drive their pitch count up either. Either way- it helps Rea and it helps us.

[Will James]

And no one wants to put two on and potentially start a big rally and drive their pitch count up either. Either way- it helps Rea and it helps us.

So he'll get strikes... Agreed. My point is that he is struggling because he has no approach at the plate. More strikes doesn't fix that. Regardless of if there are runners on base or not, his solution is the exact same. That's my point. If there is a runner on and he continues to take the outside fastball early in the count it does us no good. If there is nobody on and he continues to take the outside fastball early in the count it does us no good.

[Todd4State]

So he'll get strikes... Agreed. My point is that he is struggling becausej he has no approach at the plate. More strikes doesn't fix that. Regardless of if there are runners on base or not, his solution is the exact same. That's my point. If there is a runner on and he continues to take the outside fastball early in the count it does us no good. If there is nobody on and he continues to take the outside fastball early in the count it does us no good.

He went 2 for 12 this weekend- but he's also 6 for his last 19 by my count. Hopefully it was a case of a power guy being in a small park and getting greedy. If people are pitching him away, he just has to make an adjustment and he will be fine.

[Will James]

We know he can't handle it in, so if he's taking outside fastballs it means he's either sitting breaking ball or looking for a mistake down the middle. Easy to scout easy to get out. He has to start hitting the outside fastball NOW

[Johnson85]

It's been old for several years now. It's year 6 -- at this point, it's safe to assume that the freak outs are never going to cease.

Well aren't people now freaking out because we're putting ourselves out of hosting potential? Hopefully we'll be freaking out in the future because we're worried our early performance going to cost us a national seed.

[engie]

Well aren't people now freaking out because we're putting ourselves out of hosting potential? Hopefully we'll be freaking out in the future because we're worried our early performance going to cost us a national seed.

Only people that are idiots are freaking out about that. And 2 weeks from now last year, we had people freaking out that we weren't going to make the tournament period. It happens literally every year.

Mainly -- people like to compare to Arkansas last year -- who was a full 48 spots lower in RPI at this point in the season than we currently are. They were #131 at this point last year -- and finished #30. We've got PLENTY of time to get the RPI to hosting standards. 18-12 in conference will almost certainly do it.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Only people that are idiots are freaking out about that. And 2 weeks from now last year, we had people freaking out that we weren't going to make the tournament period. It happens literally every year.

Mainly -- people like to compare to Arkansas last year -- who was a full 48 spots lower in RPI at this point in the season than we currently are. They were #131 at this point last year -- and finished #30. We've got PLENTY of time to get the RPI to hosting standards. 18-12 in conference will almost certainly do it.

Arkansas's biggest problem last year was that they screwed themselves before the season ever started with the non-conference scheduling. They played 10 games against teams that had an RPI of 250 or higher- and to make it worse, they lost two of those games. Playing so many of those teams brought their SOS way down.

Right now, I think we'll only have about three of those "bad" games on the schedule, although Holy Cross isn't doing us any favors at the moment. That series is the only one we've had in the non-conference that could cause us some serious damage, IMO. We're in better shape than Arkansas was at this time though.

[maroonmania]

Well aren't people now freaking out because we're putting ourselves out of hosting potential? Hopefully we'll be freaking out in the future because we're worried our early performance going to cost us a national seed.

Really I don't think anyone was freaking out that we wouldn't be a good baseball team at some point during the year. The problem is if you want to be a national seed, which a lot of our fans were hoping for, you have to be good the WHOLE year and even to be a regional host you have to be good the vast majority of the year. We are still at least in the discussion for a regional hosting spot but it would take quite a performance within the SEC at this point to get back to national seed status.