And the polls begin. Collegiate Baseball Daily has us number 2.
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Maybe just me, but I lost it
at ""The Titans, which finished second at the Fullerton Super Regional ...."
Second in a head-to-head series? Niiiice.
at ""The Titans, which finished second at the Fullerton Super Regional ...."
Second in a head-to-head series? Niiiice.
Thoughts ...
Nice to be #2; thought that SEC teams would start higher, thought that Virginia (#12), OM (#30) & Kentucky (#48) would be higher; Missouri is only SEC team not receiving votes; What happened to Arkansas (#41) and Kentucky (#48)?
SEC Teams ...
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Nice to be #2; thought that SEC teams would start higher, thought that Virginia (#12), OM (#30) & Kentucky (#48) would be higher; Missouri is only SEC team not receiving votes; What happened to Arkansas (#41) and Kentucky (#48)?
SEC Teams ...
| 2.</SPAN> | Mississippi St. (51-20)</SPAN> | 493</SPAN> |
| 3.</SPAN> | Louisiana St. (57-11)</SPAN> | 491</SPAN> |
| 9.</SPAN> | Vanderbilt (54-12)</SPAN> | 477</SPAN> |
| 14</SPAN> | South Carolina (43-20)</SPAN> | 463</SPAN> |
| 16</SPAN> | Florida (29-30)</SPAN> | 457</SPAN> |
| 25</SPAN> | Texas A&M (34-29)</SPAN> | 437</SPAN> |
| 29</SPAN> | Alabama (35-28)</SPAN> | 423</SPAN> |
| 30</SPAN> | Mississippi (38-24)</SPAN> | 421</SPAN> |
| 41</SPAN> | Arkansas</SPAN> | |
| 43</SPAN> | Auburn</SPAN> | |
| 47</SPAN> | Tennessee</SPAN> | |
| 48</SPAN> | Kentucky</SPAN> | |
| 49</SPAN> | Georgia</SPAN> | |
| N/V</SPAN> | Missouri</SPAN> |
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Figured we would get some Top 10 rankings, but I didn't expect No. 2. Nice.
To be fair to Fullerton, UCLA ended their season, too. CSF just had to play them earlier.
I know that the postseason matters most, but I think we have a better chance to win the West and the entire SEC than we've had in a while just based on scheduling and who we return. We only play one of the probable Top 3 teams from the East.
However, I would still take our great postseason run from last year over Vandy's ridiculous regular season 10 times out of 10.
To be fair to Fullerton, UCLA ended their season, too. CSF just had to play them earlier.
I know that the postseason matters most, but I think we have a better chance to win the West and the entire SEC than we've had in a while just based on scheduling and who we return. We only play one of the probable Top 3 teams from the East.
However, I would still take our great postseason run from last year over Vandy's ridiculous regular season 10 times out of 10.
Maybe I just didn't pay attention to the draft at all, but I thought UCLA returned a decent number. I completely forget, honestly.
What did happen to Arkansas? I think they're better than that. Thought Vandy'd be higher. LSU would be ranked over us if not for last year, probably- it'll be tight with them.
I know this is good stuff, but I sort of cringe every time we're ranked this highly in anything. I do think we have the right staff in place, though, and I do think the kids are going to put in the work required.
Should be fun. Don't jump off the deep end if we start moving people around and trying things early on- that's sort of the point.
What did happen to Arkansas? I think they're better than that. Thought Vandy'd be higher. LSU would be ranked over us if not for last year, probably- it'll be tight with them.
I know this is good stuff, but I sort of cringe every time we're ranked this highly in anything. I do think we have the right staff in place, though, and I do think the kids are going to put in the work required.
Should be fun. Don't jump off the deep end if we start moving people around and trying things early on- that's sort of the point.
Would be nice to earn a championship. I think 89 was our last. Would be the first championship in anything since 04 (I have no idea about Olympic/Title 9 sports).
Exactly. Don't worry when Cohen experiments with the lineup and we lose a game or two early on- that's just his way of making sure we have the best players in the right positions for the stretch run. This is how we've always seemed to be hot at the right time each of the last three years.
The potential is
there for us to have a great year, but I'm afraid it's just that right now; Potential. I'm afraid we are just relying too much on unproven talent, right now.
there for us to have a great year, but I'm afraid it's just that right now; Potential. I'm afraid we are just relying too much on unproven talent, right now.
I hope our fanbase learns to back away from the panic button this year as well. This isn't the BCS where you strive game to game to be undefeated. We have over 60 games scheduled just in the regular season, so there is some room to play around and sacrifice some wins for the sake of experimentation that will make you a better ball club during the late season stretch. I'm not worried about winning the SEC...Priority #1 should be locking up a regional host bid (national host would be extra gravy) and putting ourselves in the best position to have our best starting rotation on the field come postseason.
I'm very excited for this baseball season. But HAVING SAID THAT...
It scares me that we are having to replace (1) our best starting pitcher, (2) our best defensive infielder, (3) our best outfield arm, (4) our lead off and best hitter for average, and (5) our best power/extra base hitter.
Add to that losing Girodo, who was so clutch at the end of the season out of the pen.
Like you said, I think the talent is there to replace that production, both with the experienced guys we have and a few new guys. Whether that potential is realized this year will be the difference between a SEC champ/national contender and top-10 team versus a middle of the SEC road top-25ish team.
It scares me that we are having to replace (1) our best starting pitcher, (2) our best defensive infielder, (3) our best outfield arm, (4) our lead off and best hitter for average, and (5) our best power/extra base hitter.
Add to that losing Girodo, who was so clutch at the end of the season out of the pen.
Like you said, I think the talent is there to replace that production, both with the experienced guys we have and a few new guys. Whether that potential is realized this year will be the difference between a SEC champ/national contender and top-10 team versus a middle of the SEC road top-25ish team.
Man, I'm just happy that we're finally getting recognition of crawling out of that ******** we were in for so long.
The Intense Bastard is about to restore us to our rightful place.
This is
exactly what I'm talking about. That, and the fact that our top pitchers that everyone is expecting to be top guns have yet to do ****.
exactly what I'm talking about. That, and the fact that our top pitchers that everyone is expecting to be top guns have yet to do ****.
We have 2 pitchers who are 1st team All-Americans and they can both eat up some innings if needed. How many teams have that? I do agree there are some holes with promising, but unproven, talent. But most teams have that problem too (not too many with as promising talent as we have though).
Woodruff "hasn't done ****"?
Mitchell hasn't?
Holder hasn't?
Lindgren hasn't?
Bracewell hasn't?
Cox hasn't?
Fitts hasn't?
Gentry hasn't?
What about the guys like Preston Brown that had tremendous falls after lighting up good summer league programs? Is it unreasonable to expect him to be good? Was it unreasonable to expect alot out of Girodo last year after he lit it up all summer long?
Fact is -- we bring back enough on the mound to be a top 30 pitching staff nationally without a damn bit of contribution from the newcomers. Is there high expectations on those guys as well? You bet. But nobody is basing their expectations of our season around them being immediately dominant.
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You know
damn well who I'm talking about, Einstein. The two main guys that we've drooled over for the past two years have yet to live up to their hype, so far. Are you disputing this? Nice try putting words into my mouth, though.
damn well who I'm talking about, Einstein. The two main guys that we've drooled over for the past two years have yet to live up to their hype, so far. Are you disputing this? Nice try putting words into my mouth, though.
So, you've got nobody that should be ranked ahead of us based on merit, but think several teams should be huh? I'm not the one searching out something to ***** about in a #2 preseason ranking. I think it's about right -- and it would be ******** if we were ranked outside the top 5...
What expectations have we not lived up to? Both the guys I suppose you are talking about surpassed expectations in year 1 and were hurt most of the season in year 2 while others stepped up and became badasses. They are now top 100 overall prospects...
We've got 4-5 potential Friday night starters this year. What's not to love about this team?
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You
need to realize when someone posts concerns about experience that its not a personal shot at you. You get way too emotional about opinions on here. I expressed concern that our SP is unproven (in SEC), and it was a concern. What's to dispute about that? Hell, you even said so. Now, per you're SOP, you're putting words into my mouth (for your second reply to me in the thread). Again, I'll ask, what's to dispute about a few of our highly rated SPs being unproven (in league play) at this point? Answer that. Don't come back with some emotionally laced diatribe deflecting and putting words in my my mouth (again, per you're norm). Answer the damn question.
need to realize when someone posts concerns about experience that its not a personal shot at you. You get way too emotional about opinions on here. I expressed concern that our SP is unproven (in SEC), and it was a concern. What's to dispute about that? Hell, you even said so. Now, per you're SOP, you're putting words into my mouth (for your second reply to me in the thread). Again, I'll ask, what's to dispute about a few of our highly rated SPs being unproven (in league play) at this point? Answer that. Don't come back with some emotionally laced diatribe deflecting and putting words in my my mouth (again, per you're norm). Answer the damn question.
And yet you still haven't come up with any other teams that should be ranked higher. Starting pitching was pretty mediocre last year too and that didn't seem to keep us down too much. I doubt this year's starting pitching will be any worse than last year's was. Yes, we lose Renfroe, but realistically, he was more of a liability than anything else in the postseason except for that 1 home run.
Y'all
are completely missing my point, that we have unproven SP. Yes, I realize that we got by last postseason without it. However, the main contributor of that is gone. I'm not sitting here arguing that we aren't going to be good. Hell, look at my (recent) past thoughts on the coming year. I've said over and over that i expect to be in the top 10 For the preseason. Im just raising a concern that we, at this point, have an unproven SP staff for league play. aGAIN, this cannot be disputed. Yes, i realize we have a few guys that have had one great performance here and there, but nothing consistent. Im not saying the potential isnt there. Im not saying we suck. Im mot saying our program is doomed. Im not saying we have guys that have sucked in summer ball. Im not saying we have guys that have sucked in fall ball. Im not saying we have bad relief pitching. There, that should about cover all of the **** that was put as my words from others. I'm just expressing concern on the lack of SEC league-proven, consistent SP. Dispute that, please. I'd love to be proven wrong on it.
are completely missing my point, that we have unproven SP. Yes, I realize that we got by last postseason without it. However, the main contributor of that is gone. I'm not sitting here arguing that we aren't going to be good. Hell, look at my (recent) past thoughts on the coming year. I've said over and over that i expect to be in the top 10 For the preseason. Im just raising a concern that we, at this point, have an unproven SP staff for league play. aGAIN, this cannot be disputed. Yes, i realize we have a few guys that have had one great performance here and there, but nothing consistent. Im not saying the potential isnt there. Im not saying we suck. Im mot saying our program is doomed. Im not saying we have guys that have sucked in summer ball. Im not saying we have guys that have sucked in fall ball. Im not saying we have bad relief pitching. There, that should about cover all of the **** that was put as my words from others. I'm just expressing concern on the lack of SEC league-proven, consistent SP. Dispute that, please. I'd love to be proven wrong on it.
I feel that Lindgren will be our Girodo for this year. His mental make up will flourish better out of the bullpen. Remember, none of us thought that Girodo would ever do anything until Butch changed his arm angle and he developed that slider in the offseason. We also have Paul Young who can be a big time lefty pitcher who was drafted high and highly recruited. To me, Gentry will have a huge year because of his style and arm slot. We have depth at pitching, so a guy or two could not pan out as we like and it will not kill us. We mix and match personalities, arm slots, and styles on the mound as good or better than anyone in the nation. We go against conventional wisdom in things we do, and that's what makes our staff so tough to hit.
I get that we have some holes from last season. My point is that pretty much everyone else does too. More players go pro after 3 years in baseball than any other sport, so there's always a lot of turnover. That's one reason why preseason rankings in baseball are more of a crapshoot than in the other sports. I'm just not sure who else out there deserves to be ranked that high more than us right now. I think we're really probably splitting hairs in this argument though. We all agree that we should be good this year.
We bring back 56.4% of our total innings pitched.
LSU brings back 50.6%.
South Carolina brings back 45.3%.
Vanderbilt brings back 59.0%.
Arkansas brings back 31.3%.
Ole Miss brings back 49.5%.
This doesn't take into account that we were the only one of these 6 SEC "contenders" that was down our Friday night starter basically all season. In reality, we brought back a larger portion of our pitching staff than anyone else that's expected to compete for this conference title.
If someone wants to be concerned that "we don't have proven SEC weekend starters coming back" that's fine. I just think it's something really trivial to worry about -- with a program that has already proven that it can win without traditional starters. The fact is, we've got 4 "traditional starters" this year that all have the ingredients to be totally off-the-charts badass. Will they all work out immediately? Probably not. But we've got enough elite arm talent now that they don't have to.
This will be a better pitching team than the one we had last year -- and it'll be just as good of hitting team -- with more power.
LSU brings back 50.6%.
South Carolina brings back 45.3%.
Vanderbilt brings back 59.0%.
Arkansas brings back 31.3%.
Ole Miss brings back 49.5%.
This doesn't take into account that we were the only one of these 6 SEC "contenders" that was down our Friday night starter basically all season. In reality, we brought back a larger portion of our pitching staff than anyone else that's expected to compete for this conference title.
If someone wants to be concerned that "we don't have proven SEC weekend starters coming back" that's fine. I just think it's something really trivial to worry about -- with a program that has already proven that it can win without traditional starters. The fact is, we've got 4 "traditional starters" this year that all have the ingredients to be totally off-the-charts badass. Will they all work out immediately? Probably not. But we've got enough elite arm talent now that they don't have to.
This will be a better pitching team than the one we had last year -- and it'll be just as good of hitting team -- with more power.
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That we don't have alot of "weekend SEC starting experience" returning? Well -- yeah -- if you want to put the most negative possible spin on the reality of a tremendous situation for us. We return one weekend starter -- exactly like LSU, Vandy, etc.
Our one returning starter for all but 1 SEC weekend last year -- that so happens a top 100 MLB prospect likely entering his final season at MSU -- has been moved to the bullpen in long relief. If that doesn't speak volumes about where our staff is at a whole -- nothing can.
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And you
also agree that he has not yet lived up to that hype in league play, consistently, right? That's been my whole point. It took you about 6 posts to realize this.
also agree that he has not yet lived up to that hype in league play, consistently, right? That's been my whole point. It took you about 6 posts to realize this.
I think he just blew your whole point out of the water. We have MORE pitching coming back than the other SEC contenders do. And more potential from the new and retuning from injury pitchers than they do. How many other teams have 2 pre-season All-American pitchers coming back?
Yes he just
destroyed my point that people are putting too much faith in two pitchers that haven't performed to their potential. I'll concede.
destroyed my point that people are putting too much faith in two pitchers that haven't performed to their potential. I'll concede.
Just after a quick
look at the top 5 (I could go through the top 25 but that'd be extremely boring) we return the least amount of IP from the top three pitchers in IP of each staff with the worst WP of those top 3 pitchers in IP. All I'm saying is that is a concern to me. I'm not saying we suck or that we will suck. I just see that as a concern.
look at the top 5 (I could go through the top 25 but that'd be extremely boring) we return the least amount of IP from the top three pitchers in IP of each staff with the worst WP of those top 3 pitchers in IP. All I'm saying is that is a concern to me. I'm not saying we suck or that we will suck. I just see that as a concern.
The point you are missing is that our success is NOT hinged upon him being a badass. Do I think he will be? Yes. But we're a top 30 staff and top 3 SEC staff almost regardless. We were last year -- and we had about as bad of luck as possible with injuries and guys failing to step up.
I just think that anyone worrying about our staff is simply going out of their way to find something to be concerned about...
Everyone knows we used an unconventional pitching arrangement last year -- and will again this year to an extent. I don't understand why that needs to be held against us? An elite staff is elite regardless of whether it has 3-4 elite traditional starters or not -- which I actually think we definitely do have.
Fact is -- we bring back more pitching than any other legitimate contender in the SEC this year -- and breaking it down into way smaller data sets simply increases error in that equation...
But I'm willing to bet that this is the best starting pitching staff top to bottom that we've had under Cohen...
Here are my thoughts about pitching: As long as Butch Thompson is here, teams will have a very tough time scoring runs against us. Period.
And now, from a pure talent standpoint, we're better than we ever have been. We currently have at least four pitchers on our team (Woody, Lindgren, Hudson, and Young) who have 1st round draft pick caliber stuff- that's not me saying they'll all be 1st round picks, but they all have outstanding stuff. We also return Trevor Fitts and Ben Bracewell- both of which do have starting experience against good competition.
There will also be improved versions of Cox, P. Brown, Gentry, etc., and I haven't even mentioned the two All-American horses in our bullpen. I know your concern is with the starters, but our pitching as a whole should not be a concern to our fans.
Bottom line- we will continue to have a sub-3 team ERA and be an elite pitching staff for the foreseeable future. The fact that we may not have many guys on our team who have pitched in the first three innings of an SEC game doesn't concern me too much- because we have plenty of guys who are very experienced throwing against SEC competition, not to mention they also have Omaha experience too. I worry very little about our pitching.
And now, from a pure talent standpoint, we're better than we ever have been. We currently have at least four pitchers on our team (Woody, Lindgren, Hudson, and Young) who have 1st round draft pick caliber stuff- that's not me saying they'll all be 1st round picks, but they all have outstanding stuff. We also return Trevor Fitts and Ben Bracewell- both of which do have starting experience against good competition.
There will also be improved versions of Cox, P. Brown, Gentry, etc., and I haven't even mentioned the two All-American horses in our bullpen. I know your concern is with the starters, but our pitching as a whole should not be a concern to our fans.
Bottom line- we will continue to have a sub-3 team ERA and be an elite pitching staff for the foreseeable future. The fact that we may not have many guys on our team who have pitched in the first three innings of an SEC game doesn't concern me too much- because we have plenty of guys who are very experienced throwing against SEC competition, not to mention they also have Omaha experience too. I worry very little about our pitching.
This is silly. Its a preseason poll. People are predicting how teams, players, etc. will do next year. They could be wrong, and I'm sure they are the first ones who would admit that. They had us top 5 preseason last year as well.