Any power today?

[Bulldogg31]

I didn't get to watch or listen but I saw we scored six runs. Any HR's? Any hard hit balls in the gaps? Any frozen ropes? I'm hoping we regain some pop in the lineup soon, even with the equipment we are using.

 

[57stratdawg]

no

 

[DamnGoodDawg]

Zip

 

[msstate7]

Lack of power isn't why we lost though

 

[Bulldogg31]

It's not just the homers that are lacking. It's the hard hit ball in the gap that gets down fast instead of hanging in the air. It's the hard hit shot down the line past the third baseman. Where did those go?

When's the last time we had a ball hit the fence in the air?

I'm as maroon as they come and want nothing more than for all our teams to win. I don't call out our players in maroon because I know how hard they work and none of us want to win more than they do. But I'm just not confident they are being given their best chance to succeed.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

If you don't believe they're not being given their best chance to succeed, then what would give them a better chance? Cohen doesn't tell his player not to swing with two strikes.

 

[Bulldogg31]

If you don't believe they're not being given their best chance to succeed, then what would give them a better chance? Cohen doesn't tell his player not to swing with two strikes.

Agree there. I don't believe dead bats are the reason we're not hitting but I do consider it a contributing factor. I believe we made a deal with Adidas to use bats with their name on them (they don't actually MAKE bats) before we were certain they were of similar or better quality to an Easton or DeMarini. Since Mississippi State appears on all the print and online media for Adidas bats, including quotes from Coach Cohen, as well as their Twitter account, @AdidasBaseball, featuring HailStateBB, it appears we were integrated in the Adidas product launch last year. I would bet in hindsight we'd stick with a proven product rather than allowing our storied program to serve as a proving ground for a startup brand. After a year of production, no other colleges (including Adidas schools UCLA, Louisville, TAMU, etc) opted to pick up their bats. That tells me all I need to know about the quality of the product. Either the bats are as bad as I think, or the Adidas reps need to be fired for a terrible sales job.

As far as poor at-bats, watching a called 3rd strike often results from hitters guessing and guessing wrong. If you're looking for a breaking ball and get a fastball you're not gonna catch up to it, even high 80's. That could be coaching, or just young hitters.

 

[J-Dawg]

We had one extra base hit all weekend.

 

[weblow]

Agree there. I don't believe dead bats are the reason we're not hitting but I do consider it a contributing factor. Watching a called 3rd strike often results from hitters guessing and guessing wrong. If you're looking for a breaking ball and get a fastball you're not gonna catch up to it, even high 80's. That could be coaching, or just young hitters.

We get in trouble when the opponent throws a strike for the first pitch. For some reason we are giving the take sign to the majority of batters. When we face an opponent that throws 1st pitch strikes we hurt ourselves by starting the majority of counts 0 balls 1 strike. Wasn't as big of an issue today but Tue and Fri we faced pitchers that basically threw a fastball strike almost every first pitch. We refused to adjust and started the majority of our at bats behind. My only frustration with the staff is the inability to adjust and change our game plan.

I am ok taking on the first pitch if it is working the majority of the time but as a coaching staff we have to walk back in the dugout if we see them piping it down the middle every at bat and tell them, guys you are going to most likely get a fastball on your first pitch, drive it. Our staff has refused to do that and as a result our batters leave the bat on their shoulders until they are in the hole 0 and 1.

We were more aggressive early in the season, not looking for walks but looking to drive the ball. For some reason we seem to have taken a few steps back and have some batters approaching the plate almost hoping to be walked.

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

Rea drove a line drive to deep center today. But it was directly behind the CF, so he caught it fairly easily while retreating.

That's the only one I can think of.

 

[Bulldogg31]

We get in trouble when the opponent throws a strike for the first pitch. For some reason we are giving the take sign to the majority of batters. When we face an opponent that throws 1st pitch strikes we hurt ourselves by starting the majority of counts 0 balls 1 strike. Wasn't as big of an issue today but Tue and Fri we faced pitchers that basically threw a fastball strike almost every first pitch. We refused to adjust and started the majority of our at bats behind. My only frustration with the staff is the inability to adjust and change our game plan.

I am ok taking on the first pitch if it is working the majority of the time but as a coaching staff we have to walk back in the dugout if we see them piping it down the middle every at bat and tell them, guys you are going to most likely get a fastball on your first pitch, drive it. Our staff has refused to do that and as a result our batters leave the bat on their shoulders until they are in the hole 0 and 1.

We were more aggressive early in the season, not looking for walks but looking to drive the ball. For some reason we seem to have taken a few steps back and have some batters approaching the plate almost hoping to be walked.

Our coaching staff teaches trying to work opposing pitchers deep into counts, since most pitchers are on strict pitch counts. Unfortunately word may be out and we are watching a lot of belt-high first pitch fastballs. Once a good pitcher gets ahead in the count you're not gonna see a pitch to drive, no matter if you're swinging an Adidas bat or a broomstick. You're right, we should mix it up a little.

 

[patdog]

We had one extra base hit all weekend.

That's just sad.