This is probably the only game I will get to see in person this year,so I figured I would weigh in on what I saw.
1) Routt, in his current state, is a midweek starter. His fastball is pretty decent, but his change up in inconsistent and he can't use it effectively enough to keep hitters guessing.Auburndidn't look fooled by him today, and it showed.After seeing him his first year and thinking how dominant he could be down the road, it sucks to see himnot able to be an effective weekend starter.
2) Many want Mitchell to take his spot on Saturdays, but from what I saw today I'm not ready to say Mitchell is the guy. I know he's done fairly well this year, but today he was consistently way low and outside. Like I said I haven't been able to see him throw this year untiland I'm not sure if this is typical of him, but he was very inconsistent today. He wasn't around the plate much and he got into a ton of 3 ball counts. Right now I think our best weekend starting rotation would be Stratton, Bracewell when he's ready to go, andGraveman. As of now though, Mitchellis probably better than Routt, and he may be our best option until Bracewell is 100%.
3) Someone needs to work on cloning Adam Frazier. He is by far the most reliable hitter on the team, and his body language looks like he expects to get on base every at bat. Extremely patient, understands what the pitcher is trying to do, and never gets flustered. He went 2 for 2 today with 3 walks, so I believe that's 14 straight at bats he's reached base with 9 of those being walks. That's insane.
4) The team as a whole looks like they are looking for a walk almost every at bat. There were some very good first pitches we just stared at today, and I really hate that. The first pitch Renfroe saw in his last at bat was a beauty, and it was the best pitch he got the whole at bat. We need our middle of the lineup guys to be more aggressive, especially witha guy like Adam Frazier getting on base almost50% of the time.
5) I really like Tyler Fullerton. He had 2 of the hardest hit balls of the day, and I was impressed with how he handled himself at the plate today. Good job by him, and I really like the way he plays. I think he could end up being a really solid guy in the future, and considering he wasn't even on the travel roster a few weeks ago, I've been pleasantly surprised by his play.
6) I'm going to start calling Wes Rea Pedro Cerrano. He looks totally lost on offspeed pitches. It's probably the freshman in him and it will be something he will get better at with time, but he looked foolish on a few today, and he has looked that way before on some in the two televised games I saw against LSU and Arkansas.
Just a few of my observations today. I think we have a pretty decent team, but our mindset at the plate needs to change. We really look to manufacture runs through walks and hit batters with a few hits sprinkled in. We just aren't aggressive enough at the plate for my liking, especially early in the count. Auburn was very aggressive, came out swinging today, and it payed off for them.
1) Routt, in his current state, is a midweek starter. His fastball is pretty decent, but his change up in inconsistent and he can't use it effectively enough to keep hitters guessing.Auburndidn't look fooled by him today, and it showed.After seeing him his first year and thinking how dominant he could be down the road, it sucks to see himnot able to be an effective weekend starter.
2) Many want Mitchell to take his spot on Saturdays, but from what I saw today I'm not ready to say Mitchell is the guy. I know he's done fairly well this year, but today he was consistently way low and outside. Like I said I haven't been able to see him throw this year untiland I'm not sure if this is typical of him, but he was very inconsistent today. He wasn't around the plate much and he got into a ton of 3 ball counts. Right now I think our best weekend starting rotation would be Stratton, Bracewell when he's ready to go, andGraveman. As of now though, Mitchellis probably better than Routt, and he may be our best option until Bracewell is 100%.
3) Someone needs to work on cloning Adam Frazier. He is by far the most reliable hitter on the team, and his body language looks like he expects to get on base every at bat. Extremely patient, understands what the pitcher is trying to do, and never gets flustered. He went 2 for 2 today with 3 walks, so I believe that's 14 straight at bats he's reached base with 9 of those being walks. That's insane.
4) The team as a whole looks like they are looking for a walk almost every at bat. There were some very good first pitches we just stared at today, and I really hate that. The first pitch Renfroe saw in his last at bat was a beauty, and it was the best pitch he got the whole at bat. We need our middle of the lineup guys to be more aggressive, especially witha guy like Adam Frazier getting on base almost50% of the time.
5) I really like Tyler Fullerton. He had 2 of the hardest hit balls of the day, and I was impressed with how he handled himself at the plate today. Good job by him, and I really like the way he plays. I think he could end up being a really solid guy in the future, and considering he wasn't even on the travel roster a few weeks ago, I've been pleasantly surprised by his play.
6) I'm going to start calling Wes Rea Pedro Cerrano. He looks totally lost on offspeed pitches. It's probably the freshman in him and it will be something he will get better at with time, but he looked foolish on a few today, and he has looked that way before on some in the two televised games I saw against LSU and Arkansas.
Just a few of my observations today. I think we have a pretty decent team, but our mindset at the plate needs to change. We really look to manufacture runs through walks and hit batters with a few hits sprinkled in. We just aren't aggressive enough at the plate for my liking, especially early in the count. Auburn was very aggressive, came out swinging today, and it payed off for them.
