My view on cohen ball after watching all four games this weekend

majors42

Redshirt
Jun 30, 2008
349
0
0
Our pitching is a lot better, that was the most obvious overall improvement. Devin Jones threw well in ****** weather which gives him another quality start. He kept his pitches low and never looked to be out of control. If we don't get screwed with the weather stoppage, I believe we win that game. We just didn't come back well after the break. Stratton was Stratton, he can really throw and we will always have a chance to win with him on the mound. Caleb looked good throwing from multiple arm angles and locating well. Since we don't have a true closer with Dixon and Bracewell injured, we will have to use Caleb for an inning or two if our starters get high pitch counts. The players were really into the second game and were loud from the dugout and pretty pumped to be playing.

Statz never had a chance. He walked some guys and we came out defensively completely flat. Three errors in the first two innings. I was pretty surprised that Cohen didn't sub in some guys because of how cold it was. It was 40 degrees with 15 mph winds and that **** takes a lot out of you. I would have liked to see frazier, or henderson come in at second and maybe switch some things up a little bit. They just looked flat until the 7th inning. We were sitting right behind the dugout and could hear everything Cohen was saying and he is pretty damn entertaining. He was telling guys to take the first pitch some and I think that can sometimes make some guys hesitant at the plate. The pitcher Iowa had was not throwing hard and we watched a lot of first pitch strikes go by and we guessed a lot after that. I thought that Diaz looked decent once he settled down. He has a lot of movement and throws pretty hard. I think he can be an adequate reliever. Taylor Stark is for real. Dude can really pitch.

Today we finally took the bat off our shoulder. Collins swung it really well. CT is going to be awesome. He is damn good now but will be a player that we talk about for a long time. He can hit to all fields and off of lefties. Very impressive. Evan Mitchell threw well and Norris came in and threw strikes. I think he faced like 11 hitters and only threw 30 something pitches.

Overall, our freshman are obviously the most talented guys on the team for the most part. We will get better as the year goes on but run production will be our biggest problem this year because we don't have the guys to consistently string together four or five hits. We crowd the plate and have a lot of guys looking for walks which will help put men on base but that also means we will take some called third strikes. We will have to count on defense and pitching and a big inning or two. A much better product this year than last.
 

Todd4State

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
17,411
1
0
is that he can go opposite field as a freshmen. You just don't see that a lot.

I think you're right about taking the first pitch- we must have been swinging at a lot of pitches out of the strike zone early. But it really shouldn't take away a hitter's aggressiveness because they have to throw two more strikes. It should be "you're ready to hit after strike one". Also, when you're behind, you want to be a little more selective and make them work if you can, which was probably also why he wanted them to take the first strike.

Taylor Stark was drafted by the Nationals as a pitcher- just a tidbit. I think he's going to be good too.

Cohen desperately wants a left handed starting pitcher for the weekend- I think that's why he keeps going back to Statz over and over again. Fact of the matter is our three best starters are right handed- Jones, Stratton, and Mitchell- and that's the way it goes. That gives us the best chance to win.
 

basedog

Redshirt
May 29, 2008
601
0
0
I believe Iowa is a decent team, it's still early and with our best talent being young they will get much better as the year goes along. Pitching is much improved as well as our defense. Pitching and defense will go a long way with the new bats, I like you see a much improved team, I think we make the SEC tourney and have a good shot at a Regional bid. Cohen has to much pride and passion to let the ship sink.
 

msu21

Redshirt
Dec 3, 2008
355
0
0
break J Rea's all time hits record. I think that's a stretch, but time will tell.
 

drt7891

Redshirt
Dec 6, 2010
6,727
0
0
They certainly looked a lot better than their record showed. They controlled both games from the first pitch and we couldn't adjust well.
 

8dog

All-American
Feb 23, 2008
13,920
5,771
113
he threw it in a critical 3-2 count for a called strike 3.

He also threw at least one outstanding change. Im not sure how often he goes to that.

The only downside is that while he throws hard, it appears to be pretty flat.

But getting a lot more out of him already this year than I ever expected.
 

basedog

Redshirt
May 29, 2008
601
0
0
a full count was a big league pitch. He is looking good and Thigpen said he didn't have his best stuff Sunday. With him improving each outing we could have a very good SEC 1-2-3 with a decent bullpen. With more pitching coming next year things are about to get interesting for the future.
 

Shmuley

Heisman
Mar 6, 2008
23,737
10,370
113
it's inevanable he'll be Tommy Johning before long.

[/reverse psychology anti-hex]
 

Todd4State

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
17,411
1
0
Rea and Bradford are very similar players. Errily similar, and that's a good thing. In four years, we might be able to say that Bradford was better simply because he could pitch, but time will tell.
 

Todd4State

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
17,411
1
0
we won't miss Routt as much. He only has to give us five innings a game and then let Pollerena, Graveman, Reed, or Norris take over. It also allows us to use Graveman as a midweek pitcher.
 

chew1095

Redshirt
Feb 1, 2009
2,039
0
0
it is becoming more clear that Gravemann will be our midweek starter and Jones, Stratton and Mitchell will be our weekend guys. I hope that Cohen gives some additional innings to Stark, Bradford and Norris over these next 7 games because we are going to need all three of these guys to pitch in relief when SEC play rolls around. If we get up big against Valley tomorrow night, I would also like to see Renfroe get some innings.

I think we will be fine when SEC play rolls around with Jones, Stratton and Mitchell starting and Reed, Stark, Bradford, Pollerena, Norris, Gravemann and Watson coming out of the pen. If one of our starters goes down, we are in a world of ****. Girodo and Staz aint getting it done. We didnt exactly help Statz out this weekend, but he sure as hell didnt do anything to help himself.
 

War Machine Dawg

Redshirt
Oct 14, 2007
2,832
24
38
Mitchell has earned the Sunday job. If/when Routt ever gets healthy, he should have to earn back the 3rd starter from Mitchell. That's how much the kid has impressed me so far. And a good thought: *IF* Routt can get healthy and regain a rotation spot, Mitchell would be hell as our midweek guy and middle relief on the weekends. We'd suddenly have a little pitching depth that we haven't had in a while. But without Routt, one injury to a pitcher would be disaster. We're at our limit for pitching injuries - one. That's still a thin margin.
 

chew1095

Redshirt
Feb 1, 2009
2,039
0
0
I have no inside information, but I have sort of written Routt off for the year. Todd would obviouslyknow more about how he is progressing, but I assume we will not get an inning out of him this year.
 

Todd4State

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
17,411
1
0
the fact that Norris is a dual position player and Reed is an experienced pitcher. Norris having to hit and play a position in the field takes away from some of his pitching on the side, and since he is a freshmen, the staff wants to make sure that they don't put too much on his plate. I think he will pitch more and more later. Notice that while Norris pitched yesterday, he didn't start in the field.

Reed is not going to blow people away and be a lights out closer, but he gets the job done.

I also think that's part of the reason why Norris isn't a starting pitcher right now. It's a lot easier to be a dual position player and be a relief pitcher as opposed to a starting pitcher.

But, I'm like you- I want to see Norris pitch more and more. He throws strikes and attacks hitters.
 

Todd4State

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
17,411
1
0
what was hurting Routt- which was how he was gripping some of his pitches. They've changed the way he is gripping some of them, so we'll see if that helps.
 

majors42

Redshirt
Jun 30, 2008
349
0
0
I would have never guessed that simply gripping a pitch wrong can screw up your entire arm. If he comes back healthy, I'm going to need to be sheared.

If he does come back healthy do you think he could be a factor this year? How long does it normally take a pitcher to get a feel for his stuff?
 

croomsgone

Redshirt
Dec 7, 2008
271
0
0
Girodo looked better this weekend than he did the weekend before. He also looked a couple classes ahead of Statz. Hope Statz can work himself back to full health and confidence in some mid-week games, but he doesn't need to do any work on the weekends. Girodo looked like he could handle a few innings.
 

Todd4State

Redshirt
Mar 3, 2008
17,411
1
0
than anything else. Some pitchers grip their change up somewhat similar to the way you would grip a split finger fastball. I don't know how Routt grips his change-up, but that's my guess- they may switch him to a circle change-up.

As far as picking up a new or different pitch- it just varies. It just depends on comfort and how confident a pitcher is in that pitch as far as controlling it- it's a matter or repitition and trial and error. I would think that a change-up would be easier to pick up than a breaking ball for most guys. Pitching is all about feel.

As far as Routt helping us out this year- obviously a lot depends on how he does tommorrow, but I'm still not all that optomistic. I don't think we can realistically expect the Nick Routt to be at 100% this year. Whatever role he has this year, he is still going to be on a pitch count. Based on how Evan Mitchell has performed, we might be better off going with him. I think right now, we're trying to get Nick ready for next year as much as anything, and if he can help us out this year, that's great. The biggest thing that Routt has in his favor right now is the fact that he is left handed, and Cohen wants us to have a left handed starter in the weekend rotation. If Mitchell was left handed, I don't think there would be any question about what we would do. But, for Routt to start on the weekend, we need to get him up to 100 pitches. We can not afford to have a guy making rehab starts in SEC games. I don't know that bringing Routt out of the bullpen is a great idea either- relief pitchers have to be able to get ready to pitch in a hurry sometimes, and I don't know that we want to put Routt in a situation where we have to rush him to get ready to pitch.

Most likely, I think he will start against the SWAC teams and Eastern Illinois if he is healthy. If he looks good, we might make him our top midweek guy- that way we can start him against Ole Miss and USM and see if he is ready for SEC competition. Best case scenario as I see it is for him to build up to 100 pitches and we slip him into the Sunday slot around the middle of SEC play- like the Alabama series.

But it all depends on Routt and how he feels, and that's hard to tell because he has had good and bad days.