I am worried. Absolutely no situational hitting. Way too many strikeouts. No power.
Hitting
- Thread starter Therealunc24
- Start date
We get these "the sky is falling" threads pretty much every year when hitting falls off for a couple of games. Two of the worst instances immediately come to mind, The 2018 team had consecutive games scoring 1 and 0 runs, bringing out the doom and gloom squad, That team ended up in Omaha, The following year, we had a 5 game stretch when we scored just 16 runs, and some people were losing their minds, That team ended up 1 game short of Omaha,
We lost A LOT…
Luke
Kepley
Madera
Hunter
VDB
Bass
And our .325 third baseman who hit 17 bombs and added 13 doubles is now our .265 second baseman with 6 bombs on the year.
Forbes missed a little bit in the portal this year. I can’t imagine trying to project how transfers from lower conferences and even lower divisions will be able to perform in the ACC. Our pitching staff has helped a ton…as we have so much depth there. But even that area is a tick down simply because we had the greatest single season ever by a UNC starter last year turned in by Knapp.
I think Forbes will find a way to still host a Regional with this group. And maybe we find a way to a national seed. That would be a tremendous effort by the team and the staff, because I don’t think this year’s roster is comparable to last year’s across the board (hitting, fielding, pitching, baserunning).
Luke
Kepley
Madera
Hunter
VDB
Bass
And our .325 third baseman who hit 17 bombs and added 13 doubles is now our .265 second baseman with 6 bombs on the year.
Forbes missed a little bit in the portal this year. I can’t imagine trying to project how transfers from lower conferences and even lower divisions will be able to perform in the ACC. Our pitching staff has helped a ton…as we have so much depth there. But even that area is a tick down simply because we had the greatest single season ever by a UNC starter last year turned in by Knapp.
I think Forbes will find a way to still host a Regional with this group. And maybe we find a way to a national seed. That would be a tremendous effort by the team and the staff, because I don’t think this year’s roster is comparable to last year’s across the board (hitting, fielding, pitching, baserunning).
We were carried early because Schafner and Paulsen were red hot. If the can find level and Gavin and Winslow get it going again I think we’re fine. But right now we have 2 hitters who I feel good about when they’re at the plate (Hull and Hynek) and Hull looks like he’s taking weird swings again the last few games so who knows what’s going to happen with him.
Care to guess what his stats were after game 1 of the dook series on 4/3 last year?
.241, 3 HR, 3 2B, 22 RBI
i know yall didn’t notice but BC pitcher is elite
see what happen FRI SAT
see what happen FRI SAT
Hot take: This staff has been recruiting the positional side of the team out of high school fairly poorly since the 2022 class. The 2023 class had two guys... Gavin and Luke. 2024 - zero guys that look like they will contribute as an everyday positional player. Only two have a shot in Hargett and Sowers and neither is looking like they are projecting that way. No idea where Black is, but also another that hasn't found the field/ helped this season yet. 2025 - we've got Howe, and while it's obviously early, rankings and lack of at-bats for the other frosh (when we are dying for anything in the 9-hole) don't paint a great picture for anyone becoming an everyday guy, especially in this era of the portal. That's 3 guys from 3 classes in this portal era who have been above average positional players. One is in the pros, the other will be after this year. That leaves one position payer going into next year that was recruited from HS and will be starting for us. Can't imagine that was the plan...
It’s true that it seems our approach is more like let’s find the arms in high school and the bats from the portal. Not a bad strategy. But it does put a lot of pressure on being able to identify the right bats each year that can contribute at this level.
not trying to be snarky, but do you have an alternative approach that you feel would be or would have been more effective or productive ... just interested in your opinion ... for possible discussion
GO HEELS
I just think the high school recruiting has been heavily tilted towards pitching. And it’s been phenomenal. We’ve had a lot of very good pitching in that same time frame and most all of our studs have been recruited from high school, been developed, and flourished here. The position players for some reason have not kept up. I don’t have an answer… I’m not sure if the staff just isn’t as good evaluating hitters, or if they purposefully are relying more on the portal. Obviously I think a solid mix is necessary like any major college sport. It just seems like position player HS recruiting has lagged quite a bit behind the pitching recently. I’d say even back to Vance’s incoming class. We are also in a transition period too with nil/ portal. We’re behind the aggressiveness of football and hoops, but I think if big changes don’t occur in the near future, baseball will unfortunately catch up fast. I’m curious as to what people think too…
not sure i fully agree, but appreciate your POV … i guess time may tell
GO HEELS
The hardest part about the position player thing is, with the portal you can have an older/experienced team every year. In the old days we may have started sophomores Hargett, Black and Sowers this year and we might have been fine. But the our competition for national titles is bringing in proven, older, high level players every year. So if you don't "stay old", you're going to get your butt whipped.
Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to bring in a couple reliable freshman bats every year just like we've been able to hit on a couple freshman arms per year lately. We have failed in that regard ever since the Gallaher/Stevenson freshman class (and we got unlucky Stevenson only played 2 years).
There are just so many good hitters out there at ALL levels of college baseball that I'm always going to take a shortstop like Jake Schaffner over sticking a highly regarded freshman in there, unless the freshman is a total stud. Obviously no one is turning down total stud high school recruits. But those studs also go to the draft out of high school a lot of the time....
Quite a needle to thread for UNC to recruit high school kids who are good enough to be studs in the ACC but not so good they won't make it to campus.
Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to bring in a couple reliable freshman bats every year just like we've been able to hit on a couple freshman arms per year lately. We have failed in that regard ever since the Gallaher/Stevenson freshman class (and we got unlucky Stevenson only played 2 years).
There are just so many good hitters out there at ALL levels of college baseball that I'm always going to take a shortstop like Jake Schaffner over sticking a highly regarded freshman in there, unless the freshman is a total stud. Obviously no one is turning down total stud high school recruits. But those studs also go to the draft out of high school a lot of the time....
Quite a needle to thread for UNC to recruit high school kids who are good enough to be studs in the ACC but not so good they won't make it to campus.
Agreed with the whole premise of your post but that needle is the same needle that has needed threading forever. MLB Vs. good enough to be an impact player. I think maybe more are staying out of the draft for school now that nil money is climbing in baseball… I just think they need to do a bit better job with high schoolers. Getting three years and having some original tar heels with experience to carry on the culture and work ethic is really important.
Agree it's a needle we've always had to thread, but now there is the additional possibility to just steal a guy from another school who has already proven he is good at the college level and isn't going to the draft. See Paulsen, Hull, Schaffner, Winslow, etc. who have all helped us plug position player holes this year.
“hard needle” for sure
i hear your points and i can’t say i disagree with some
GO HEELS
Not in this case.
In both 2024 and 2025, posters were complaining well before this point in the season about lack of hitting with RISP. And in both years, it changed for the better down the stretch.
To use last year as an example, IMO, three things changed: (1) Those who were, stopped overswinging, and they either reached or moved runners; (2) they did so by hitting the ball where it was pitched; and (3), VDB and Kepley each went on an absolute tear at the plate, making sure that there were plenty of runners to move.
That is very likely to reoccur, as each player figures out his role.
However (again, IMO), the current team lacks the power of last year's team. Just as last year's team lacked the power of the 2024 Tar Heels, which relied on the HR to score a whole host of runners from 1B, the current team must adjust.
In order to compensate for that comparative power deficit, the Heels must pitch and field better in the clutch, they must be more aggressive on the bases, and they must hit with more thought and tenacity.
So far, that approach seems to have served them well.
Couple of the players are swinging for the fence every time up. I am certain Coach is seeing this, but nothing has changed from what I am seeing. Outstanding record to date, but concerned when we get to post season games. The other thing I am hoping improves is the number of walks given, particularly in high leverage situations. Multiple times yesterda, we put the first man up on base with a walk.
Here is another thought? Gaines was recruited coordinator and we all know he is great at identifying players that pitch but maybe not so much hitting? Jackson came back last year but this class was already committed and getting ready to sign so he had very little to no impact on the class. This year's freshman he had an impact and the following year will be his hitters . He brought in the bats that took us to Omaha in 2018 and the 19 kids that went to a super regional.