Here we are again RPI watching and playing out scenarios where we can get just enough wins to make the tournament. This isn't State baseball, and there are still just too many problems that are going to prevent the program from getting back to being respected.
HS recruiting - I see the recruiting rankings, but I don't see the results on the field. Either the staff is poor at evaluation, or they are poor at developing. They could be poor at both.
Portal - Major fail. Lemonis has gotten essentially one good Portal player per year, and the rest shouldn't be on an SEC roster.
Scheduling - This season's schedule stinks. There's no excuse for it, either. The staff should know how this works by now, but they put out a high risk/low reward schedule. Scheduling Mt St Mary instead of a P5 on the road was just dumb.
Hitting development - Name a player in the Lemonis era that left State a much better hitter than when they arrived. His best hitters showed up to campus as good hitters.
Game management - Leaving pitchers in when it's obvious they don't have it. Starting an inexperienced LH DH against a LHP MULTIPLE times. Not willing to make any lineup changes, even when your leadoff guy is hitting .170 in conference. He just doesn't have a feel for the game.
Hitting approach - What even is our hitting approach? Take 2 strikes, pound your chest, and swing as hard as possible? There is just too much selfishness in our hitting approach. I'd like to know how many times we have had runners in scoring position with less than 2 outs, and the batter failed to put the ball in play. More often than not, its the heart of the lineup. If we aren't striking out, we are just pounding ground ball righ into the shift.
Roster transparency - Look, I get it that Lemonis can only say so much about an injury, but it seems like he goes out of his way to mislead everyone about players who are MIA. Every year, players just stop seeing the field, and there's no explanation provided. Players are injured for weeks, and Lemonis just says they are "close" over and over. Simmons, Cupp, Pico, Highfill , Dohm, Loftin, and Ligon have all missed games or just disappeared, and the explanation has been either vague, non-existent, or completely misleading.
Roster depth - Doesn't exist. Our finish this year really doesn't matter. Lemonis isn't building. He's demolishing.
Lemonis corrected some things this season, but there are still some of the same issues. Despite the improvement, there just aren't any indications that the program should continue with him. There is just a lack of attention to detail in too many areas. The last thing I want for the program is another coaching change, but this just isn't working.
