Going to try to put together some takeaways after every weekend this year, not that anyone cares to read but I like putting my thoughts to paper so to say.
But, alas I thought we had a solid weekend. On the mound we are going to be really close to elite if not that by seasons end barring injury. All three of the starters were near unhittable at times and at other times were shaky around the zone. Decaro was his normal self, without looking it seemed the breaking ball had a little more spin and velo than last year which will help because he got burned a few times last year when it was soft and up. Folger looked confident and steady, which was is refreshing to see. If he can replicate that performance time and time again, we’re going to be hard beat in a best of 3 series. Ryan Lynch is oozing 1.1 type stuff, running the fastball up to 98-99 and holding 94-96 through 90+ pitches is really good to see this early. The slider and change up looked good, he has a tendency to let the glove side come open which is when the fastball tends to run up and out. I don’t know that there is a collection of 3 better starters out there. The BP showed flashes of elite, Matty and Walker will be our go-to guys. But, really think Boston was the story out of the BP this weekend, he’s a physical RHP which you can never have enough of and if we get that same performance it makes a deep staff even better. The two freshmen showed some flashes with Glauber showing some zip on the fastball, the poise will come. I still think Seagraves, OJ and Percival will be large contributors out of the pen on the weekend as well.
I said it in one of the game threads, but the offense will come. Gavin was Gavin in game 1, and had some solid bat to ball outs throughout the weekend. Schaffner is going to be REALLY good for us in the lineup and at SS, I know he had a couple errors but he covers ground so effortless and has good arm strength to boot. Hull, reminds me a lot of Vance with the way he tracks the baseball in CF and I think he’ll come around offensively with some gap-gap power. Macon and Hynek both handled the pitching staff well behind the plate. Both also had nice weekends at the plate. I think Paulson will be a 20 HR guy, impressive weekend from him coming up probably equivalent to 2 levels of baseball. I hope and think Cooper will hit 15+ balls over the wall. Theres a little violence in his swing which I love to see, reminds me of Mac early in his junior year, he also handled the corner really well. Maginnis and Howe seemed to be solid to good defenders at the corners. Both did some good things at the plate as well. Good to see Rom Kellis come in and produce, and off the bat thought Carter got one in his AB.
Indiana will be a good ball club and will be good to see how they perform when the weather warms up in Indiana. Good start to baseball season, so glad it’s back.
But, alas I thought we had a solid weekend. On the mound we are going to be really close to elite if not that by seasons end barring injury. All three of the starters were near unhittable at times and at other times were shaky around the zone. Decaro was his normal self, without looking it seemed the breaking ball had a little more spin and velo than last year which will help because he got burned a few times last year when it was soft and up. Folger looked confident and steady, which was is refreshing to see. If he can replicate that performance time and time again, we’re going to be hard beat in a best of 3 series. Ryan Lynch is oozing 1.1 type stuff, running the fastball up to 98-99 and holding 94-96 through 90+ pitches is really good to see this early. The slider and change up looked good, he has a tendency to let the glove side come open which is when the fastball tends to run up and out. I don’t know that there is a collection of 3 better starters out there. The BP showed flashes of elite, Matty and Walker will be our go-to guys. But, really think Boston was the story out of the BP this weekend, he’s a physical RHP which you can never have enough of and if we get that same performance it makes a deep staff even better. The two freshmen showed some flashes with Glauber showing some zip on the fastball, the poise will come. I still think Seagraves, OJ and Percival will be large contributors out of the pen on the weekend as well.
I said it in one of the game threads, but the offense will come. Gavin was Gavin in game 1, and had some solid bat to ball outs throughout the weekend. Schaffner is going to be REALLY good for us in the lineup and at SS, I know he had a couple errors but he covers ground so effortless and has good arm strength to boot. Hull, reminds me a lot of Vance with the way he tracks the baseball in CF and I think he’ll come around offensively with some gap-gap power. Macon and Hynek both handled the pitching staff well behind the plate. Both also had nice weekends at the plate. I think Paulson will be a 20 HR guy, impressive weekend from him coming up probably equivalent to 2 levels of baseball. I hope and think Cooper will hit 15+ balls over the wall. Theres a little violence in his swing which I love to see, reminds me of Mac early in his junior year, he also handled the corner really well. Maginnis and Howe seemed to be solid to good defenders at the corners. Both did some good things at the plate as well. Good to see Rom Kellis come in and produce, and off the bat thought Carter got one in his AB.
Indiana will be a good ball club and will be good to see how they perform when the weather warms up in Indiana. Good start to baseball season, so glad it’s back.
