Quote Originally Posted by Maroonthirteen View Post
Well, this doesn't explain away our walk stats vs Bama but.......

Charlie Winfield and Brad Henderson had the same and good point on Bo Bounds yesterday(or was it monday). Anyways, they say walks are up because the Umps are well aware that the "Track Man" technology is being used to evaluate their performance. Therefore the strike zone has gotten smaller.
So, gaming this situation. Trying to be the strike-out leaders for the Nation and SEC, is not producing great outcomes for MSU.

Getting two strikes, then making the ninja pitch is just going to run up your pitch count, unless your name is Bednar, Sims, or Leiter. The IQ 200 hitter, like Sonny DiChiara, will say. "I will never bite on their pitch. I will wait for my pitch or walk. If the pitcher is Jack Leiter, he will strike me out, but 99% of pitchers are not Jack Leiter." Now even the IQ 90 guys from Southern Miss got 9 runs on just 5 hits.

Yesterday, Loftin was already at 60 pitches before the rough inning that knocked him out. He had 80 pitches to pitch 4 innings

Also, I am seeing a pattern of 25 to 30 pitch first-inning performances for all starters.