Hey Todd, I was wondering....

[War Machine Dawg]

What have you heard now that fall baseball practice is over? I know I probably missed it, but the internet I've been pirating off at home has been down several weeks. Who looks improved, who looks to start, weekend rotation, etc.? I know CT is a lock in CF and I'd guess Brownlee has the inside track for one of the corner OF spots. I'd assume Routt & Mitchell have 2 of the weekend spots locked up. Any chance we look at Stratton as a closer, since we're moving Bracewell to the rotation?

 

[War Machine Dawg]

[No message]

 

[Todd4State]

during fall baseball use it as an instructional time rather than a time to sort out starting spots. We're going to sort out the starting spots during the non-conference games prior to SEC play. Going up against actual competition and yourself is totally different.

As far as Bracewell, I know that they have talked about using him as a starter, but I would be surprised if that happens. To me, the biggest reason we didn't beat Florida in the SR was because we didn't have a traditional closer- and had Bracewell been healthy, it would have been him. That's not knocking Caleb Reed at all- he was great all year. It's just that by the time the SR came around, he was worn out. Having Bracewell would have made him that much more effective- and he was pretty effective as it was.

The reason that they are talking about making Bracewell a starter is because they don't think that they can use him on back to back days on the weekend. They don't want to do anything to re-injure him, so they are going to be cautious with him. They think that using him as a starter, we might "get more" out of him in the long run. Personally, I don't agree with that at all.

What I would do, and what I think the coaches will end up doing is using Bracewell as a closer on Fri. and Sun. as well as midweek and then use Taylor Stark, Pollorena or Reed on Sat. as the closer So, as you can see we have some options. Also, we have some starters that I feel are capable, and we have a really strong bullpen. So, we aren't going to need our starters to go as deep as in past years because of our bullpen depth- of course, if they give us seven-nine everytime I certainly won't complain. Evan Mitchell had an injury in summer ball I believe, but he should be back. Stratton was very strong in the Cape Cod League. His team won the league championship and he had some personal problems last year that I think affected his performance. I think he could be our ace- and I do understand why people are apprehensive about that. But, because of Stratton, Routt, Mitchell, Graveman, Lindgren, Fitts- I don't think we need Bracewell as a starting pitcher.

So, I think we are probably going to look like this:

Closer- Bracewell/Stark
Set-up- Reed
Set-up- Pollorena
Middle relief- Daryl Norris- I've heard he is much improved
Relief in blowouts- Hunter Renfroe- still raw as a pitcher.
Middle relief- Evan Mitchell- yep.
LH specialist- Chad Girodo
Submarine- Tim Statz
Middle relief- CT Bradford
Middle relief- Brandon Woodruff
Middle relief- Jacob Lindgren
Middle relief- Will Cox

Weekend rotation
Fri- Stratton
Sat- Routt
Sun- Trevor Fitts

Midweek- Kendall Graveman

C- Renfroe
C- Mitch Slauter
C- Nic Amiratti

1B- Wes Rea/Trey Porter
2B- Adam Frazier/Sam Frost
3B- Nick Flair/Daryl Norris/Brayden Jones
SS- Demarcus Henderson/Philip Casey/Matthew Britton

RF- Brandon Woodruff/Taylor Stark
CF- CT Bradford/Tyler Fullerton
LF- Brent Brownlee/Hunter Renfroe

DH- Daryl Norris and see above except for Sam Frost.

 

[Shmuley]

nm

 

[State82]

To hell with basketball, lets head to the diamond as soon as football wraps up!

 

[War Machine Dawg]

I can't imagine Evan Mitchell not being in the weekend rotation. He was our second best starter last year. Plus, as big as Cohen is on experience, I just don't see him throwing a true frosh into the weekend rotation right off the bat.

Kinda surprised you think Daryl Norris won't find a spot in the field, too.

I'm pretty excited about the team. There's going to be an awful lot of new guys playing, but there's no doubt the talent level is way up. I think we're going to miss Vickerson, though.

 

[Todd4State]

It's not that Evan and Daryl have done anything bad or wrong or are bad players or anything like that. In fact, Evan pitched well in the summer before he got hurt, and Daryl Norris has started to show some power.

And, it's certainly possible that Evan will be a starting pitcher during the weekend, and it's also possible that Norris could play first or third base. There's no doubt that both will contribute.

But the thing about Evan is he is kind of injury prone- that's why no one knew about him in high school. He pitched more last year than he did his junior and senior years in high school combined. And he did pitch well at times, but he also just seemed to lack confidence out there as well- especially in the SR against Florida. And I don't like to see that out of really any pitcher, much less a starter. And yes, he could and will get better with that, and his lack of confidence is from being a freshman more than anything else. But also- I think Trevor Fitts is going to be really good. And that has more to do with it than anything Evan has or hasn't done.

Same with Norris- when you have a lot of corner guys, it comes down to who plays the best defense? Wes Rea is a better defensive player than Norris. Norris and Porter are comparable. Had Rea not been hurt last year, he is our first baseman. Flair will also probably be better defensively at third than Norris as well- BUT the question there is how quickly will Flair transition to college baseball? So, there is a really good chance that Norris will be our starting third baseman- at least as good if not better than Flair. And then Brayden Jones is a good player as well.

But Norris is too good to sit on the bench- that's why I have him at DH. Daryl will be one of our regular starters- but more than likely it will be at 1B/3B/DH in some combination.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

i forgot sam frost was still on the team ***<div>but in all seriousness rea needs to be huge. we didn't have that power guy last year that we really needed. sure vick did great in the post season but we never had the consistent power guy all year.</div>

 

[Todd4State]

Rea will play a lot, but I think he will platoon with Porter at first base- right vs left hitters- so I'm not sure that we are going to be counting on him solely for power.

Norris has improved as far as power goes, and Hunter Renfroe also needs to take a step up- and I think he will. Mitch Slauter has hit a few in the fall as well.

Brandon Woodruff and Nick Flair will also hit for power as well, but they're just freshmen, so we'll have to wait and see on them.

So, we should have more power at the corner spots and at catcher, but maybe less at second base because as you said, Vickerson had more power than you traditional college second baseman. Frazier will strike out less and play better defense though, so there's a trade off.

I would like to see CT continue to progress as a hitter and also as a baserunner and steal more bases. I'd like to see him steal at least 20.

 

[Phil Wenneck.sixpack]

Probably as much depth on the mound as I've seen us have in years. I think the hitting should improve as the year goes along with the young guys. I can see us hitting a few more balls out of the yard also.Renfroe, Norris, and Woodruff should supply some power. I like the makeup of this team. Much more versatility than any of Cohen's first teams.</p>

 

[Todd4State]

And then we have a guy that's kind of a wild card right now is CC Watson as well. He is kind of like Bracewell last year, but probably further along. He may pitch some for us, and he may redshirt if he needs more time. We won't know until the spring.

At first, Cohen had Polk's players, and then we transitioned into a short period where we had a lot of JUCO guys, and now we are finally about to a point where we have all Cohen guys.

I posted something on 247 where I talked about how we are going to have a team that is made up of mostly guys that were drafted by MLB out of high school in another year or so. Our class this year is small, but we have two out of the five that will likely be drafted in Garner and Shelly. That tells me that we are doing a good job in recruiting. Especially guys that are drafted in the top 20 rounds like Woodruff and Lindgren. That's what it takes to win the SEC and what it takes to win a National Championship.

When LSU was winning National Championships, I would be willing to bet that most of their starters were drafted out of high school at all positions. And many of them were probably top 20 round guys. You mix in a few guys that are good college players such as a Shempert or a Jeffrey Rea or a guy like Justin Pigott or Caleb Reed coming out of the bullpen, you're going to give yourself a good chance. Under Polk, I always felt like we were about a pitcher or two short- even in 1985.

 

[basedog]

He proved himself last year, no way they give Bracewell the closers role to start the season. Now maybe IF Reed struggles he may get bumped but the last two years he has improved into one of the top closers in the SEC.

I also disagree about Mitchell, he will be in the weekend rotation to start the season, he improved as the season went along plus he was a freshmen and we all know experience will play a big role going into this season. As for as his injuries in the past, that's behind him, he probably is much stronger and a lot more mature as a pitcher and I don't the the staff is thinking about his past injuries.

 

[Todd4State]

Bracewell was the closer as a freshman. Reed closed out of necessity, and had Bracewell not been hurt, he is the closer.

The reason I think it will shake out this way is because Reed can pitch multiple innings and in a variety of roles. Bracewell is pretty much a one innning guy right now. Most teams when they pull a starter after, say five innings- they going to use the guy that can pitch 3-4 first and then go with the one inning guy. And by using Bracewell, we save Reed an inning or so every time out.

Evan should be stronger and more mature- that goes along with development. However, the staff held him out of the second part of fall practice because of his injury history. No doubt he will be a candidate for the rotation, I just think that Fitts will beat him out. That's not a knock against Evan, as much as it is a compliment to Fitts.

We simply have more depth than we've had in a long time, so it's not so cut and dried as to who starts and who doesn't. And that's across the board- which is very good.