We are about a month away from the first series at Elon! What are the predictions? Record, lineup, etc. Starting to get excited about the season (and its time to move on from basketball, right?).
A little over a month away!!!
- Thread starter CockyCat3
- Start date
When do season ticket renewals end for 2022 holders? I bought a couple just for the K-Fund points but haven’t been assigned yet.
I’ll project the Cats to finish 16-14 in the SEC and to be a dangerous 2 seed in a regional. My best guess at the lineup is:
RF Waldschmidt
3B McCoy
LF Ewell
C Burkes
DH Stanke
1B Gilliam
CF McCarthy
2B Pitre
SS Smith
Weekend rotation: Bosma/Martin/Cotto
Closer: Chavez
Can’t wait for February 17th!
RF Waldschmidt
3B McCoy
LF Ewell
C Burkes
DH Stanke
1B Gilliam
CF McCarthy
2B Pitre
SS Smith
Weekend rotation: Bosma/Martin/Cotto
Closer: Chavez
Can’t wait for February 17th!
I love the optimism. That seems like a pretty good guess at the lineup and rotation too.
I will attend / watch as many games as I can. But, I’m not sure we will even match 2022 unfortunately.
There is a good interview of Mingione by Derek Terry is floating out there if you look for it. Won't link it here in case of a rules violation, but you should be able to find it if you're on twitter.
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Pretty solid there. My only change would be that I imagine Gray is over McCarthy. That being the case it would move Waldy to CF and Gray to right.
Either way, this teams success offensively, IMO, will rely on the bottom 3. The top 6 can be good. The bottom three... Pitre is a sophomore now but had just 11 at bats a year ago. McCarthy, if he plays, had 33 at bats but hit juat .182. Smith hit very well at Incarnate Word. Can he duplicate that type of success in the best conference?
The best teams are good through 9. If the bottom 3 struggle then teams often struggle as there can often be some dead offensive innings. So a key for UK offensively will be how well those 3 hit, especially in the clutch.
I would really like Church to get some love this year. I really liked him freshman year but last year he didn't get much.
I just don't see much room for Church. McCoy is likely locking down the hot corner and people seem to be quite high on him and his offensive abilities. So, I think he's going to get every chance possible to perform there. Not entirely sure how he'll do defensively, but the fact that he's getting the hot corner means they must have some faith in him to be there. Gilliam will be at first and has gotten some strong praise for his defense. He didn't make an error a year ago, which is pretty rare for a 1B. So, I think he's probably concrete over there. Those are the two natural positions that Church is likely to see. That leaves DH. Stanke is a backup catcher and DH. What I expect to see is Burkes and Stanke having a bit of a rotation to help keep them fresh throughout the year. When Burkes isn't behind the plate he'll DH and vice-versa. If either of them struggle then it might open the door for Church.
So, the only place left would be the OF. I don't overly see him as a great OF prospect. I think he might have played out there a touch a year ago, but it really isn't a natural spot for him. Also, we have about 5 guys that can play OF right now (Waldy, Gray, Ewell, McCarthy, and Felker), so he's likely behind all of them.
To get any meaningful time, he'll have to really take advantage of the ABs he gets early on in the season when we should be beating the brakes off of the weaker competition.
First series at home will be cold. I hope to attend more games this season.
I am going to go with this is what the lineup will look like:
CF Waldschmidt
3B McCoy
LF Ewell
1B Gilliam
C Burkes
DH Stanke
SS Smith
RF Gray
2B Byers
Weekend rotation: Bosma/Martin/Williams
Closer: Chavez
This will probably change as we lead into the season, but this is the guess I am rolling with right now.
CF Waldschmidt
3B McCoy
LF Ewell
1B Gilliam
C Burkes
DH Stanke
SS Smith
RF Gray
2B Byers
Weekend rotation: Bosma/Martin/Williams
Closer: Chavez
This will probably change as we lead into the season, but this is the guess I am rolling with right now.
Byers over Pitre at second. Pretty interesting guess on that. Nice. Keep seeing McCarty in center, so that will be something to watch for.