Maybe Msdawg34 was on to something

[bsm138]

This is ridiculous

 

[engie]

He just approached it in such a way that he pissed everyone off...

There is a time and place for bunting... and it hasn't been time to bunt ONCE yet in this entire game.

 

[Hump4Hoops]

Im honestly shocked we keep trying.

 

[engie]

He's been right, and it isn't even close for the cumulative total of our season.

Every situation is different, and there is a time and place to bunt. At no point in this game has this time and place occurred...

 

[missouridawg]

Rea was out because the bunt was bad (the on where he was thrown out at third).

 

[Coach34]

and no outs. Only thing I can say I dont like about Cohen

 

[MSDawg34]

It's not like saying "I don't like that Cohen doesn't hit and run sometimes."

Your post mirrors what I have said all year long yet nobody seems to call you a Cohen-basher (a term you helped make up)

Cohen is fully to blame for the offense this year. He is the "guru" these are his players. Sure they may not be the best hitters but when you handcuff a below average offense you get the **** that we watched all year, finally coming together in grand fashion today.

I wish Cohen would acknowledge this or even get questioned about it. My stats thread should be pretty shocking, as Engie stated its not even close. Everyone in the media just goes on with a "well we're a small-ball team" 17 that. Someone ought to call Cohen on the continued lack of output that we saw all season. I want him to address that. He should be held to the same standard as a football or basketball coach. Enough of "that's baseball", thats what led us down to the depths of Polk II

 

[engie]

ItSomeone ought to call Cohen on the continued lack of output that we saw all season. I want him to address that. He should be held to the same standard as a football or basketball coach. Enough of "that's baseball", thats what led us down to the depths of Polk II

But the fact of the matter remains that this team overachieved in a rebuilding year. SEC coaches picked us to finish 5th in the west for a reason. Everyone knew with what we lost last year that we'd be a work in progress. This team just "teased" us with more at times.

The bright side of this is...the rebuild is complete. Next season, we're back, and we don't lose much statistically. The excuses will be over.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

Why are we in this position to begin with? Why do we have such little faith in our hitters that we resort to bunting even in the 1st 3 innings? I hate bunting. I hate it with an absolute passion whether the game's changed with new bats or not. There's a time and place for it but let me first say, I can't stand it. That said, I can almost understand why we do it so much. It's not like our batting average is all that great otherwise. Hell, for50% of our lineup, I'd bet more on them bunting their way on base somehow than actually getting a base hit. And that's just sad. The statistics prove that sacrifices are not worth the effort but they also show we can't hit any other time either. That's my beef with Cohen and staff. Why are we so terrible hitting wise period? Why was there no improvement throughout the year offensively? Why do we have guys with little idea of the strike zone and learn to adjust in game?

 

[MSDawg34]

The statistics prove that sacrifices are not worth the effort but they also show we can't hit any other time either.

My research showed that we scored in over twice as many innings when we didn't bunt. And almost a full run/inning more as well. Thats why Ive been so damn frustrated all year is because when we try not bunting IT WORKS. But we keep resorting back to the same failed philosophy with the same failed results. Thats bad coaching.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

are wasting our time sacrificing runners over but with a .240 or so average all season, we don't hit well period. I'm totally with you. I just don't get why we can't hit at all. Why we hovered in that .240 range all year and why we made zero progress throughout the season.

 

[tcdog]

is because We continue to hit behind in the count. We look at a first pitch fastball and then swing at a slider outside the zone. Renfroe loves to take a fast ball down the middle. Rea got better as the year rocked on. Rea also started to hit the ball where it was pitched instead of trying to pull everything.Frazier will look to hit first pitch fastball.By bunting and giving up an out you have pretty much thrown away any chance for a big inning, especially with our lack of power.Frazier stole second and scored, He wasn't bunted over. Henderson was on first and with the count 2 strikes and 1 ball (a breaking ball count) stayed at first and got double up.Most any Coach would have started the fastest man on the team with a breaking ball coming for sure.

If Youcan't hit for power then you should be able to at least make contact.Way too many strike outs. I can understand a power hitter wiffing but not a Punch and Judy who is below the MEDOZA LINE.

 

[8dog]

I'd like to look at it.

I just know that when you don't hit well, you need to minimize the number of hits it takes to get runs home.

I'd love to see how many times we had men on 2nd and 3rd with less than 2 down and got nothing. Im pretty sure we back to back K'd against someone in the SEC tourney twice in that situation. But again, Im just gonig off appearance.

 

[MSDawg34]

I looked at the innings which our leadoff man got on first base in conference play for analysis. I looked at what the outcomes where when we immediately followed a leadoff one-bagger (Hit, HBP, BB, IBB, etc) man on 1st 0 out. I also looked at the stats just using the 7th inning and on. I knew it was bad, but nothing like this.

With man on 1st, 0 out. WE BUNT overall/7th inn. on
Occurrences: 26/10
Score a run: 6/3
# of runs : 6/3

We bunted in that position 26 times, only scoring 6 times, one run each inning. That is 23% which is off the charts bad yielding .2 runs/inning. After the 7th it has been successful just 30% of the time (3/10) yielding .3 runs/inning. Thats after having a man on 1st and no outs

With a man on 1st, 0 out. WE DONT BUNT overall/7th inn. on
Occurrences: 66/19
Score a run: 36/12
# of runs: 77/29

We didnt bunt in that situation 66 times, scoring 36 times, with many occurrences of multiple runs. That is 55% of innings we score yielding 1.12 runs/inning, A FULL RUN higher than bunting in the same situation. In the 7th inning and on we score 63% of the time, in other words over twice as often as bunting in that situation. The 7th inning on yields 1.5 runs/inning OVER A RUN more per inning.

55% > 23% of innings we score
1.12 > .2 runs per inning, much higher in the later innings

Say what you want about me and this issue. These statistics don't lie.

 

[tcdog]

I think most people agree with You on this issue. Outs are precious, you only get 18 per game . Why just give the other Team 3 or four of your outs per Game. Crazy to me. There are other ways to advance the runner besides a SAC bunt. I'll bet a straight steal would be more productive.

 

[Shmuley]

We've gotten shorted the whole f'n year:

I think most people agree with You on this issue. Outs are precious, you only get 18 per game . Why just give the other Team 3 or four of your outs per Game. Crazy to me. There are other ways to advance the runner besides a SAC bunt. I'll bet a straight steal would be more productive.

 

[8dog]

just flipping through a few games, I think your stats need to account for the times we swing away but don't move the runner with the next batter and still score. I think those should not count as times where swinging away was successful. And there definitely needs to be a penalty for when the next batter hits into a double play. At LSU, we had 7 swing away occurrences, scored 3 times but also hit into 3 double plays.

There are also ABs where its tough to tell what we were actually doing at the plate so i don't know how to account for them.

 

[MSDawg34]

Failed sac bunts (popups and stuff) count in the non-sac category by the way. Why a penalty? That's a calculated outcome in all the %'s and outcomes. As is the next batter swinging away and not moving the runner.