The big deal is that these guys have to develop better secondary pitches. Lewis has the changup but when the slider comes he will be much harder to hit. It can be amazing how much these kids grow in the minors when focusing on baseball full time. There are several UK players who I didn't think would necessarily make the majors and they are doing great.
Do we even make the tournament?
- Thread starter BluegrassBlake
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The big deal is that these guys have to develop better secondary pitches. Lewis has the changup but when the slider comes he will be much harder to hit. It can be amazing how much these kids grow in the minors when focusing on baseball full time. There are several UK players who I didn't think would necessarily make the majors and they are doing great.
Thought AJR would be flourishing in the bigs by now ...sure wish he would get dealt to a team that needs him more and where he has a better shot, although he had a shot this spring and he didn't pass the test.
Having just one of Marozas, Jordan, or Dobzanski this season would have done wonders for our bullpen. Losing Cantillo to pro ball at the last minute didn't help things either.
After doing some research I think we're in regardless of what happens in Hoover. Unfortunately it appears injuries will derail this team from making a special run. But if Coastal Carolina can win the whole thing then I don't see any reason why this team can't make a run. Hopefully our guys will regain the confidence with the bat that we had at the beginning of the season.
No, he seems to be backsliding. Hitting .265 in AAA as of today http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?sid=milb&player_id=607223#/career/R/hitting/2018/ALL
Up to date metrics...
25 RPI
19 SOS
16 wins vs Group 1 competition. Only 5 teams in nation have more.
25 RPI
19 SOS
16 wins vs Group 1 competition. Only 5 teams in nation have more.
Of course we make the tournament. The SEC tourney may determine if we are a 2 or 3 seed.
Honest question by someone who is too lazy to look it up myself, when was the last time UK got an NCAA bid with a 13-17 SEC record? Has any SEC team got a bid with that record in the regular season? I understand the RPI argument, but there is still that pesky little detail of actually winning some baseball games, and getting blown out by nearly 6 runs a game over the last four games did not polish our resume either.
Auburn did it in 2015. They were the 9 seed in the SEC tournament and played 8 seed Kentucky. They won and then lost two games in a row. Kentucky at 14-15 did not make the tournament. They were a 3 seed in the Florida State regional. They won 36 games that yea, 2 in post season play. We gave 34 wins before post season play.
AJ had a good ST finishing at .300 and had a chance to win a spot on the opening day roster with Astro first basement hurt and pulling a suspension, but he got beat out. I follow him on a daily basis and yes his avg is down , but he currently has 8 hrs 35 rbis. He is not in a good situation for him and his future. Needs some new scenery
Likely a matter of time. When the Stros need to make a trade he may be a part of it. Problem is that he's more valuable in the AL than the NL and that can hurt his overall value.
I'm afraid Reed will be one of these guys that hits 20 HRs for a different AAA team every year. Hope I'm wrong though.
I still have a hard time getting used to the Astros being in the AL, I know it's been 5 years.
Same here. Not sure I’ll ever adjust to that, especially being an old NL West fan.
He was lighting it up for a couple years, too.
Wonder if they try him out as a pitcher at all at any point? He seems to be in decline(or maybe he's just in a serious burnout/slump), both of which refocusing on something else would help with.
The Ryan Strieby plan.
Always thought he could develop into what Judge is right now if he could tighten that swing up just a bit and learn to use his length as torque/energy to his advantage. Obviously never thought he'd be that good but I did think he could be that style of player and hit .275 with 20-30 HR a year if everything truly came together for him.
I think 2 of the last 3 years he has lead all of the minor leagues in hrs/rbis.
Yeah but he's been in the minors since 2014....from a collegiate prospect that's a really long time.
Not sure what's going on with him. I know things become significantly more difficult when pitchers get a 'book' on you, but Reed was always a very smart player and that's not something that he should've been able to get back on track after a season's worth of ABs. It feels like they broke his confidence, but once again he doesn't seem like a kid that will allow himself to break. He's the type to be working out after a bad game not sulking.
I've never even heard of some of the tools they use to project prospects nowadays. Was Googling Reed's name and came across a KATOH and something called Mahalanobis....never even heard of either.
Hopefully he finds his groove. Lots of guys had a tough time for a few years before really breaking through and becoming big name guys(how much of this is Steroids, we'll never know). Problem is that in today's MLB there is very little patience waiting for development, especially from a kid out of college instead of HS or JUCO who have a larger learning curve.
I kind of wonder if the Japanese guy, Ohtani, will spark teams into looking more into 2 way players.
I know AJ worked really hard if the offseason and lost like35/40#. He had balloned to like 275 .
Never understood why they went away from it to begin with back in the 20s or 30s or 70s or whenever the hail it was, obviously you'd have to have a special guy but when you've got a guy like that you want to use him as much as you can.
Jo Adell out of Louisville(he's a first rounder from Louisville, didn't attend there) for example, with his athleticism he belongs in space where he can make plays, but he also projects a 100mph heater, with good movement. I see no reason a guy like that can't come in every so often as a reliever. If we are talking SP I just can't see it working. Hitters spend SO much time in perfecting their swing, trying to get every little edge they can. Pitchers are the same way with their delivery, pitches, velo, etc. I honestly think trying to do both at a high level in today's day and age would give someone a legit mental breakdown. Just don't think there's enough time, unless you're a reliever and have a elite natural tool that can be tweaked and become a near unhittable pitch.
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Even when the topic is baseball I see the usual suspects showing up during times of adversity with their go-to line “we suck, it’s gotta be the coaching!” Heh....
Best I've seen Sean pitch this season, gallant effort!
Kudos to Luke Heyer, certainly been fun to watch this year.
Hope to see them again but truthfully have my doubts.
Talking heads on SEC network aren't very encouraging.
Kudos to Luke Heyer, certainly been fun to watch this year.
Hope to see them again but truthfully have my doubts.
Talking heads on SEC network aren't very encouraging.
Right now we are at # 25 in the RPI, with a SOS at # 17. We are 16-16 against the top 50 RPI this season, and 5-4 against 51 thru 100
Compared to some other schools projected to be in, our RPI and SOS look golden compared to some !
Be on pins and needles till Mon or will we know Sun somehow? Our resume should get us in ,but who knows. This probably puts Aub in ahead of us for sure.
Florida losing 3-0 to LSU ...Question : If the Gators go 0-2 in the SEC tourney, that would be 6 losses in a row, do they lose the # 1 overall seed ??