MacNamee is at 1st base now. Stovall and Alexander battling for SS. Sounds like we’ll likely see a freshman get some reps at 2nd too.
Cannizaro said today..
- Thread starter 57stratdawg
- Start date
He also said Noah Hughes & Ethan Small have full medical clearance & Keegan James will have it by the end of fall ball.
-He's been singing the praises of MacNamee and Vansau. Hopefully, they will able to make up for some of the production we lost with Rooker. They had good summers.
-I can't imagine that LA could beat out Stovall. It would be nice if they both could be in the lineup and LA can hit .300. I imagine Cann knows what he has with them from a defensive standpoint.
-Cann mentioned on the B&B show that Blake Smith was also ready to go. It's a bog boost just having some TJ guys back. It kind of feels like we have two signing classes coming in at once.
-I can't imagine that LA could beat out Stovall. It would be nice if they both could be in the lineup and LA can hit .300. I imagine Cann knows what he has with them from a defensive standpoint.
-Cann mentioned on the B&B show that Blake Smith was also ready to go. It's a bog boost just having some TJ guys back. It kind of feels like we have two signing classes coming in at once.
I expect a similar season to what we had last year. Losing Rooker will hurt, but our pitching will be better and I think we will be decent offensively. Need some guys to make big improvements at the plate like Gridley and Brown did last year.
If we get Smith back to full strength, I think the back end of our pen with Smith, Self, and Price can be really good. We should have twice as many arms available than what we had last year.
If we get Smith back to full strength, I think the back end of our pen with Smith, Self, and Price can be really good. We should have twice as many arms available than what we had last year.
Alexander and Stovall are both going to be playing IMO. It's just a matter of finding the best match between HS @ SS and LA @ 3B or LA @ SS and HS @ 2B. Probably will depend on whoever emerges as that final piece to the infield as well. Alexander is going to swing it a good bit better than many have considered possible given all of his previous hand trouble.
Alexander supposedly had a good summer swinging the bat & our staff(s) has been raving about him for 3-4 years now. His natural position should be shortstop. Hopefully the light will come on for him at the plate this spring.
He's going to be a .300 hitter and knock on the door of double digits in the HR category IMO. Had a very nice summer in the Cape.
People forget how Collins swung it while he had the same hamate bone issues that have plagued Alexander. My understanding is that he's healthy now... at least temporarily...
Still gonna K at a pretty high rate however. Which I'll be fine with if the above conditions are met.
People forget how Collins swung it while he had the same hamate bone issues that have plagued Alexander. My understanding is that he's healthy now... at least temporarily...
Still gonna K at a pretty high rate however. Which I'll be fine with if the above conditions are met.
Early thoughts on an opening day lineup go something like this:
C Skelton (could be Gilbert)
1B McNamee
2B Allen
3B Alexander
SS Stovall
RF Poole
CF Mangum
LF Anderson
DH Vansau
We aren’t very deep at the plate and we have a ton of freshmen position players. I could see us having stretches where we really struggle offensively. Last year’s team certainly had one or two of those.
Weekend rotation: Pilkington, Billingsley, France. You’ve also got Gordon, McQuary, Hughes, and Ashcraft that can start as needed, whether that be a Sunday or a Wednesday.
We’ve got some big time pitching depth IF most of these guys with arm injuries can come back strong. Obviously that’s a big if.
C Skelton (could be Gilbert)
1B McNamee
2B Allen
3B Alexander
SS Stovall
RF Poole
CF Mangum
LF Anderson
DH Vansau
We aren’t very deep at the plate and we have a ton of freshmen position players. I could see us having stretches where we really struggle offensively. Last year’s team certainly had one or two of those.
Weekend rotation: Pilkington, Billingsley, France. You’ve also got Gordon, McQuary, Hughes, and Ashcraft that can start as needed, whether that be a Sunday or a Wednesday.
We’ve got some big time pitching depth IF most of these guys with arm injuries can come back strong. Obviously that’s a big if.
This is awesome news! As a Jacksonian, I used to go to the Mets/Generals/Diamondcats/Senators games all the time, growing up. While the stadium is certainly nothing great, it will bring back some memories, seeing games in there. Any idea of when this is supposedly happening?
Also, I'm not sure most casual observers realize what Andy is about to do to our program. Some may question his coaching (I don't), but he's going to have us signing top 5ish classes on the reg. He's also bringing in guys from all over the country. With our new stadium, and his ability to bring in superior talent, it's only a matter of time until we reach the promised land, I feel.
Stovall is so good at 2B that I wonder if we wouldn't be better off leaving him there even if he is slightly better than LA at SS.
Sounds like Tanner Allen's bat is going to be in the lineup in some capacity whether he's in the OF, 2B, or DH.
Glad to have Small back to give us a lefty out of the pen. I feel pretty good about whoever wins the job at C. Need one more hitter to emerge among the freshman.
Sounds like Tanner Allen's bat is going to be in the lineup in some capacity whether he's in the OF, 2B, or DH.
Glad to have Small back to give us a lefty out of the pen. I feel pretty good about whoever wins the job at C. Need one more hitter to emerge among the freshman.
My thing about "program trajectory" is that there is really nothing else for us to do other than win it all. We checked every single other box at some point under Cohen. Not quite as consistently as we would like certainly...
It is exciting to consider the possibilities if we manage to get one or two more guys into school consistently now and manage to get 3 or 4 more commitments given the new facilities and staff. But I'm still not sure we can get to LSU/Florida/Vandy level consistently in recruiting without the extra scholly money to throw at those guys. What we really need is one of the big money guys to endow a couple "leadership" scholarships for guys on the baseball team which essentially allows that person(read, our head coach) to choose who gets those scholarships. Provide 4-5 extra free rides and we can start talking about true LSU and Florida level recruiting...
It is exciting to consider the possibilities if we manage to get one or two more guys into school consistently now and manage to get 3 or 4 more commitments given the new facilities and staff. But I'm still not sure we can get to LSU/Florida/Vandy level consistently in recruiting without the extra scholly money to throw at those guys. What we really need is one of the big money guys to endow a couple "leadership" scholarships for guys on the baseball team which essentially allows that person(read, our head coach) to choose who gets those scholarships. Provide 4-5 extra free rides and we can start talking about true LSU and Florida level recruiting...
He’s not better than Alexander at SS and never will be. Has similar range but not the arm strength or quick release of LA. Stovall will only be at SS if we have no other option at third base and have to put Alexander there again like we did last year (which is a real possibility). It’s about optimizing the sum of the parts at all infield positions, not picking the best SS and trying to work in everything else around that. Our roster as a whole is chock full of middle infielders with not a lot of proven guys that can play the corner spots. That’s why we are pulling MacNamee from the OF to play first and may keep Alexander at 3rd.
Win consistently. Whether we win it all or not, we've got to be more consistent in hosting regionals, winning regionals, and playing in the CWS, and the occasional down year needs to not be a disaster. We've made a lot of improvement the last 7 years, but not quite there yet. I think Cannizaro is the coach to get us there.
I don't disagree. Given the new facility circumstances, Cohen would have been better year in and year out as well however.
The ultimate benchmark is going to be the level of successfully convincing of draft risks to come to school, which will never be cut and dry or really even quantifiable in the short term most likely. Getting those 2-3 guys in every year vs losing them every year is really the only difference between us and the elites right now anyway...
The ultimate benchmark is going to be the level of successfully convincing of draft risks to come to school, which will never be cut and dry or really even quantifiable in the short term most likely. Getting those 2-3 guys in every year vs losing them every year is really the only difference between us and the elites right now anyway...
I disagree with the notion
that Cohen would have had us where Andy will, if he'd had the stadium.
Cannizaro will because of his connections in the baseball world, which exceed John's.
that Cohen would have had us where Andy will, if he'd had the stadium.
Cannizaro will because of his connections in the baseball world, which exceed John's.
I don’t like the idea of playing a lesser ss and lesser 2b just to have an effective 3b. I’d rather have excellent ss (Alexander) and excellent 2b (Stovall), then just play the best overall we have at 3b.
Never claimed they were identical. Just that it’s unfair to use where we had been as the judge of where we would be now with Cohen. He would be better also. And where we were, in the 5 years after the initial rebuild, with a stadium disadvantage, a scholly disadvantage, a divided fanbase a percentage of which were absolutely out to sabotage him on the front end, and no adult life tradition of excellence from any of the guys we were attempting to recruit at that point:
5 seasons:
4 regionals
2 hosts
1 super host/National seed
1 cws with the deepest run we’ve had
2 regional titles
1 sec tourney title
1 sec regular season title
If the next 5 are significantly better than the last 5, we might as well call it the 1980s and can legitimately call ourselves a national power. I hope it happens and I do think the future is very bright. All of the cards are certainly aligned for Cannizaro to have a tremendous run here.
5 seasons:
4 regionals
2 hosts
1 super host/National seed
1 cws with the deepest run we’ve had
2 regional titles
1 sec tourney title
1 sec regular season title
If the next 5 are significantly better than the last 5, we might as well call it the 1980s and can legitimately call ourselves a national power. I hope it happens and I do think the future is very bright. All of the cards are certainly aligned for Cannizaro to have a tremendous run here.
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Yeah
I didn't claim you had said they were "identical."
i think you misread my post.
I didn't claim you had said they were "identical."
i think you misread my post.
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Yea, I spent a considerable amount of time out there growing up too. Got lots of great memories of that place. It was a sad day when the city wouldn’t upgrade the facilities just a little and lost the Mets. Then when the Generals won their first championship I happened to be on staff , and was given a ring too. I’ll be out there again watching our Dawgs scrimmage. Good times!
The objective is to not have a hole in the infield anywhere. Playing the “best overall” we have after filling out SS and 2B works if you have a big league roster and all your infielders can play every position to at least a certain extent. The problem is we may not have that. We certainly didn’t have it last year, which is why we had to trot out a mendoza line guy just about every game at 3B. The same may be true this year. Hopefully, we have a newcomer who can step up at 3B so that we can have Alexander and Stovall in the middle infield.
^^This^^ I read Canny as saying the SS position is going to be a battle between LA and Stovall and it's pretty close right now. My point is that if it ends up still being close after the fall, even a slight edge to Stovall, I would stick with Stovall at 2B b/c he is such a good 2nd basemen. Westburg, Foscue or Skelton can play 3B.
We will struggle to score runs at times this year, but the pitching staff will be better. We lost more than just Rooker last year- Cody Brown and Ryan Gridley will be greatly missed too. I expect us to be about as good as last year (16-18 SEC wins) and maybe host depending on how things shake out.
Stovall and LA are both veterans who want to be the guy at SS. Why not stick them both out there and let them push each other to get better? Personally, I like to watch Stovall play 2B as well, but someone will have to step up at 3B to make that scenario happen.
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