Quote Originally Posted by Todd4State View Post
We really need Loftin or Loo to be Paul Maholm 2.0 as freshmen where they come in and are top of the weekend rotation caliber as freshmen. We lack an ace. It is what it is. Skenes would have addressed that. We can still be good but we're going to have to be forward thinking to do it. I think we have the talent to do it. Nixon, Dohm, and Holcombe are all mid-upper 90's guys. Tyler Davis has looked good and Pico has increased his velocity. We need all of those guys and we need them to stay healthy. We're going to need them to be 2-3 inning guys right out of the gate. Stinnett needs to step up but he's a head case. I think we should just let him start midweek and leave him there unless he melts down- again. Which is possible. Need some of the freshmen to contribute right away no matter what.

Oh and Foxhall can't "save" guys only to not use them on the weekend. That was complete BS last year. Especially when he's throwing our SS out there.
Im not sure Skenes is an ace in the sec.

Gartman had a better 2022 on the mound than Skenes when you look at their numbers and opponents. Better whip (under 1.0), strikeouts the same, innings the same, era .77 higher, but Gartman faced much better competition.

Skenes didn't pitch against a team all regular season that made the ncaa tourney. Not one. He only pitched against one power 5 team all regular season and was shelled, didn't make it through the 4th inning, and had a era of 11.
Then in the ncaa tourney he was shelled again, didn't make it past the 4th, and era was 9.00.
He didn't pitch against anybody else any good last year. Below are all his appearances.

Iowa - shelled
Navy - 19-26 record
Nevada twice - 29-26 record
Unlv three times - 36-22 record
New Mexico twice - 21-33 record
Fresno state twice - 27-28 record
Cal Baptist - 36-20 record
San Diego State - 18-38 record
San Jose State - 30-29 record
Texas - shelled