Hey guys, I am in my first year of being out of baseball. I have spent the last six years coaching at various places from the D1 to the D3 levels and my entire life before that playing. Now that I get to actually be a fan and have time to focus on my Bulldogs, I thought I'd share what I see. Being at the game tonight was something I was super excited about. First game with a full house, first sec series at home, Top ranked Arkansas coming to our house. I'll be honest, I expected a lot more fire and grit from our team and I didn't think we had any at all tonight.
1.) he Hr's in the first inning were strictly on McCleod. Each hr he gave up was a lob over the middle of the plate. I'm talking mid 80's, belly button high beach balls that Arkansas rocked. It just looked like he missed his spots and you can't do that against a team like Arkansas. Luckily, I thought he did a great job coming back out and kind of settling in that groove but we have got to stop having him freak out in the first inning every game.
2.) Christian Franklin is a beast. However, he only had one HR. I was dead even with the left field line and the ball was clearly foul. The field umpire that called it a HR clearly lost the baseball the dark and guessed. Cheese asked LT if it was fair or foul and LT shrugged and pointed fair. Not that it would have made any difference but I wish we fought for more calls going our way instead of being "ho-hum" about all of them that don't.
3.) Arkansas' SP was and is very, very good. However, he is not the best pitcher we will see this year. I'm not even including Rocker or Leiter when I say that because they are the obvious top dogs in the league. He made it look effortless all night. How many times are we going to whine to the umpire and take the low fastball when it was a strike all night long? The only player that made the adjustment to go down and hit it was Rowdy on his RBI single. The rest of us continued to take it knowing it was going to be called and then wanted to say something to the ump. Your job as a hitter is to find what the ump likes and is calling and make the adjustment to it. It doesn't matter if it's 2 feet outside. You can't complain if the ump is consistent and while the fastball was being called very low tonight, we have got to adjust to it and at least give an effort to beat it.
4.) Chase Patrick coming in, having a guy picked off by 20 feet, deciding to shuffle his feet, double clutch and make an awful throw to the right side of second only to have the guy score on the next pitch was par for the course tonight. There was some guy sitting close to me that was giving Patrick absolute hell for that 10 pitches later. It was kind of funny. I chalked that up to him being shocked that the runner was that far off the bag and him being nervous. Also, he's a junior and I have never heard his name before tonight. maybe I missed him but I had know idea who he was. Does have a solid stache though.
5.) We can hit average-slightly above average pitching. When it comes to the elite staffs: Arkansas, Vandy, UF, USC, they make us look foolish at the plate. Tonight was all arm swings and rollovers and it was embarrassing. The approach was non existent and I say that as more of a see ball, hit ball coach. Even then, you still have to have an approach and it looked like our approach was take the low fast ball for a strike, swing and miss at the slider, and then nub a grounder off the end of the bat . The ball sounded different coming off of the Hog's bats because they were hitting every single thing on the screws. Idk what it will take for our offense but there better be a major overhaul before we get to deep into SEC play.
6.) Shift. As a defensive coach myself, the shift is a great tool to use when you KNOW the batter only hits it to one side. However, you are not supposed to rely on the shift when you have a top tier pitching staff. I think we overplay the shift and do not use it very strategically. It almost has a feel like we are just doing it to say we did it. It beat us in the past, it beat us tonight, and it will continue to beat us in the future. I'm not saying the shift is bad or that we should stop doing it. I'm just saying idk which coach is calling the plays for it but you have to be a little smarter situationally when you use it.
7.) I was severely disappointed in our team tonight. Where was the energy? Where was the pride and the grit? You're telling me that we get #1 vs. #2 at our home field of Dudy Noble, we up the attendance to give us that historic atmosphere, it's the team that swept us last time and rubbed our faces in it, First SEC home series in two years, It's packed, the fans are loud, crazy, and excited and our team can't even muster some piss and vinegar? I get your down 3-0 almost immediately but instead of coming out ready to fight after that, we come out and arm swing at balls two feet out of the zone. We played like we didn't care and for that to be the case given the surrounding circumstances really burns my a$$ (as Lane Burroughs used to say). Also look what he has La Tech doing if you haven't kept up. He may very well be our next coach in the future.
The best thing I saw tonight was Lane Forsythe's single through the right side to break up the no-no. He came to the plate knowing they threw him outside all day and he said "enough is enough" and took that pill the other way. That's making an adjustment. Plus he's a Fr. When a Fr can make an adjustment and a veteran senior can't, what's that say?
Also, Dear Scotty Dubrule, Jacksonville U is not the damn SEC son. Get it together or it may be time to let someone else have a go. He looks lost vs. SEC pitching.
Bold Prediction: At the start of this season, I said we would make it to the play in game for the national title based on our pitching staff and the veteran's in the lineup. Now? If we do not make the necessary adjustments at the plate and put our big boy panties on, I don't see us making it out of a regional. Especially with how stacked the mid major teams are this year. The regionals are going to extremely tough. It is no longer a gimme game when it's 1 vs 4. That 4th seed is going to be damn good. I expect a much better approach from us tomorrow and I expect a win tbh. I think Bednar is our best pitcher right now. Hopefully he shows that tomorrow.
1.) he Hr's in the first inning were strictly on McCleod. Each hr he gave up was a lob over the middle of the plate. I'm talking mid 80's, belly button high beach balls that Arkansas rocked. It just looked like he missed his spots and you can't do that against a team like Arkansas. Luckily, I thought he did a great job coming back out and kind of settling in that groove but we have got to stop having him freak out in the first inning every game.
2.) Christian Franklin is a beast. However, he only had one HR. I was dead even with the left field line and the ball was clearly foul. The field umpire that called it a HR clearly lost the baseball the dark and guessed. Cheese asked LT if it was fair or foul and LT shrugged and pointed fair. Not that it would have made any difference but I wish we fought for more calls going our way instead of being "ho-hum" about all of them that don't.
3.) Arkansas' SP was and is very, very good. However, he is not the best pitcher we will see this year. I'm not even including Rocker or Leiter when I say that because they are the obvious top dogs in the league. He made it look effortless all night. How many times are we going to whine to the umpire and take the low fastball when it was a strike all night long? The only player that made the adjustment to go down and hit it was Rowdy on his RBI single. The rest of us continued to take it knowing it was going to be called and then wanted to say something to the ump. Your job as a hitter is to find what the ump likes and is calling and make the adjustment to it. It doesn't matter if it's 2 feet outside. You can't complain if the ump is consistent and while the fastball was being called very low tonight, we have got to adjust to it and at least give an effort to beat it.
4.) Chase Patrick coming in, having a guy picked off by 20 feet, deciding to shuffle his feet, double clutch and make an awful throw to the right side of second only to have the guy score on the next pitch was par for the course tonight. There was some guy sitting close to me that was giving Patrick absolute hell for that 10 pitches later. It was kind of funny. I chalked that up to him being shocked that the runner was that far off the bag and him being nervous. Also, he's a junior and I have never heard his name before tonight. maybe I missed him but I had know idea who he was. Does have a solid stache though.
5.) We can hit average-slightly above average pitching. When it comes to the elite staffs: Arkansas, Vandy, UF, USC, they make us look foolish at the plate. Tonight was all arm swings and rollovers and it was embarrassing. The approach was non existent and I say that as more of a see ball, hit ball coach. Even then, you still have to have an approach and it looked like our approach was take the low fast ball for a strike, swing and miss at the slider, and then nub a grounder off the end of the bat . The ball sounded different coming off of the Hog's bats because they were hitting every single thing on the screws. Idk what it will take for our offense but there better be a major overhaul before we get to deep into SEC play.
6.) Shift. As a defensive coach myself, the shift is a great tool to use when you KNOW the batter only hits it to one side. However, you are not supposed to rely on the shift when you have a top tier pitching staff. I think we overplay the shift and do not use it very strategically. It almost has a feel like we are just doing it to say we did it. It beat us in the past, it beat us tonight, and it will continue to beat us in the future. I'm not saying the shift is bad or that we should stop doing it. I'm just saying idk which coach is calling the plays for it but you have to be a little smarter situationally when you use it.
7.) I was severely disappointed in our team tonight. Where was the energy? Where was the pride and the grit? You're telling me that we get #1 vs. #2 at our home field of Dudy Noble, we up the attendance to give us that historic atmosphere, it's the team that swept us last time and rubbed our faces in it, First SEC home series in two years, It's packed, the fans are loud, crazy, and excited and our team can't even muster some piss and vinegar? I get your down 3-0 almost immediately but instead of coming out ready to fight after that, we come out and arm swing at balls two feet out of the zone. We played like we didn't care and for that to be the case given the surrounding circumstances really burns my a$$ (as Lane Burroughs used to say). Also look what he has La Tech doing if you haven't kept up. He may very well be our next coach in the future.
The best thing I saw tonight was Lane Forsythe's single through the right side to break up the no-no. He came to the plate knowing they threw him outside all day and he said "enough is enough" and took that pill the other way. That's making an adjustment. Plus he's a Fr. When a Fr can make an adjustment and a veteran senior can't, what's that say?
Also, Dear Scotty Dubrule, Jacksonville U is not the damn SEC son. Get it together or it may be time to let someone else have a go. He looks lost vs. SEC pitching.
Bold Prediction: At the start of this season, I said we would make it to the play in game for the national title based on our pitching staff and the veteran's in the lineup. Now? If we do not make the necessary adjustments at the plate and put our big boy panties on, I don't see us making it out of a regional. Especially with how stacked the mid major teams are this year. The regionals are going to extremely tough. It is no longer a gimme game when it's 1 vs 4. That 4th seed is going to be damn good. I expect a much better approach from us tomorrow and I expect a win tbh. I think Bednar is our best pitcher right now. Hopefully he shows that tomorrow.
