I thought the bats were supposed to be "better" this year...

[engie]

at least, that was the popular rumor in the preseason and early season play.

SEC-wide numbers say they are not better, but worse, and not just "barely" worse either. I'm only using percentages because they are independent of games played, whereas 2b, h, hr, rbi, etc all depend on number of games played...

Entire league:
2012 - .280avg .398slugging .367obp .765OPS
2011 - .290avg .415slugging .372obp .787OPS

Prior to BBCOR:
2010 - .305avg .483slugging .395obp .878OPS
2009 - .302avg .487slugging .391obp .878OPS
2008 - .302avg .476slugging .387obp .863OPS

Notice how consistent these numbers were in the previous three years, leading one to believe that there is very little overall variation in the SEC from year to year, until outside factors(the new bats) come into play. Immediately upon getting the bats, average dropped of 15 points, slugging 67 points, and OBP 23 points. Then, this year, average dropped ANOTHER 10 points, slugging another 17 points, and obp another 5 points.

Obviously, this is still going in the wrong direction...

 

[rynodawg]

I was curious if the college bats are actually getting worse than wooden ones so just checked the AA southern league stats from 2011. Similar skill level in that league in a similar climate. I didn't take the time to calculate exact numbers, but the average is around .260 with slugging at .400 . If the goal of these bats is to simulate wood, they are actually getting close in those two categories. Itd be interesting to compare more stats, runs per game, HRs, etc.

 

[State82]

Probably very relevant, also. Top quality D1 baseball, such as that played in the SEC, should be somewhat comparable to AA ball, except maybe for rotation pitchers. It seems to me that it would behoove professional baseball to get a jump start on some of these guys by at least helping to provide bats at the D1 level. That should lessen the learning curve when they go to the next level. It would really be interesting to see some costs associated with going to wood bats per season, per team.

 

[rynodawg]

SEC Leaders Summary as of May 13, 2012
(SEC games only)

TEAM BATTING G Avg AB R H 2B 3B HR BB SO SB-ATT
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Auburn.............. 27 .305 938 146 286 57 7 17 93 198 29-41
Ole Miss............ 27 .287 947 120 272 43 6 20 71 144 13-17
Georgia............. 26 .283 930 113 263 32 3 14 69 207 24-29
LSU................. 27 .280 908 127 254 38 2 20 88 174 16-30
Kentucky............ 27 .277 892 134 247 49 1 22 89 192 16-21
South Carolina...... 26 .270 873 154 236 45 6 21 110 197 13-22
Arkansas............ 27 .265 917 132 243 46 5 10 101 208 24-42
Vanderbilt.......... 27 .259 927 131 240 42 11 11 94 192 33-48
Alabama............. 27 .258 893 115 230 28 5 11 76 169 18-29
Florida............. 27 .250 904 123 226 42 4 25 89 160 18-29
Tennessee........... 27 .227 867 89 197 34 2 9 70 166 31-43
Mississippi State... 27 .218 879 111 192 39 2 10 113 185 7-20
Totals.............. 161 .265 10875 1495 2886 495 54 190 1063 2192 242-371

Here are hitting stats for SEC only games (fluff games removed). SEC average is actually at .265 with slug pct. of .373.

Here is a quick comparison to the 2011 AA Southern League:

SEC/ AA
Batting Avg: .265 / .263
Slug %: .373 / .400
Runs per game (both teams combined) 9.3 / 9.34
HR per game (both teams combined)1.2 / 1.46

I'm personally OK with BBCOR bats as long as theysimulate what you could expect from wooden bats.Batting average and Runs per game are almost identical right now to AA baseball. Power numbers are less overall in the SEC, but that could be attributed to the absolutely awful hitting of Tennessee and MSU this season. The top 6SEC teams are above the AAaverage in Slug Pct.

In AA baseball there's typically less variation in individual averages up and down the lineup. And likewise, less variation between the top hitting team and the bottom hitting team. If a guyis hitting .100 like someof our players,they simply get demoted. I guess my point is these SEC stats are about as close to a wooden bat league as you can get, so I am OK with that. I think we as MSU fans are just frustrated because the MSU hitting stats are absolutely abysmal.

Edited to add: The SB stats for State are equally awful.

 

[NTDawg]

[No message]

 

[BillBraskyDOG]

SEC baseball is not even close to AA baseball. Not even in the same ballpark guys.

 

[Forrest4Moore]

And regularly beat them.

I know times have changed, but the two are a lot closer than you think.

Just a few years ago, the Marlins split squad spring training club played an exhibition against Florida State and Miami. The college teams won both games.

 

[BillBraskyDOG]

Oh exhibition games? The talent level isn't close you maniacs.

 

[State82]

years straight. It was always a midweek game, always in Jackson at Smith-Wills Stadium, usually in mid to late April. Jackson probably did not use rotation pitchers, but they were pitchers on a AA professional ball club along with the rest of the team that started. We never lost a game. Paul Maneiri has said more than once that the two levels are comparable. I will take his word for it over most.

 

[engie]

Is probably the cape cod league. Same players facing same pitchers with wood bats during summertime.

 

[anon1751035439]

You're best hitters last year graduated. I felt you all would struggle this year at the plate. And I remember others on this board that expressed the same opinion.

 

[rynodawg]

It's not a stretch to say the top SEC pitchers are on a AA level. many were already drafted high and would likely be in AA now had they gone pro. UFs entire team comes to mind. I think that's why we have so many first year guys hitting .150 in SEC play.

 

[engie]

However, I'm sure you've realized that there is quite a contingent here lacking in that regard.

We lost starting position players of 298 games last year. We brought back a total of 130 starts(61 of those by CT Bradford alone, who is out for the year). But we are just making "excuses for Cohenz being a terrible hitting coach" with our offensive woes this year**

Next year, we likely bring back position players that have started 441 games thusfar this year. We lose 18 total starts. No possible way we improve offensively**

 

[patdog]

I don't think anybody expected a great offensive year. But I don't think anybody expected the bats to be this bad either. On the other hand, I don't think anybody expected the pitching to be so good. Overall, I think we're about where the more optimistic posters thought we would be and a little better than some of the rest of us did.