I’m not saying Tennessee doesn’t have issues offensively right now…

We’ve always had trouble with junk throwers and trying to do too much it seems. Seems we tend hit harder throwers like we’ll see in Athens this weekend. Hoping that gets straightened out quickly. UGA can hit.

Not sold on the sophomore production idea. Clark’s swing is broken, as well as Marin. Don’t see the hype in Lawless either.

Just watched LSU go down. They said on the broadcast that it’s the first time since 2007 they have lost 5 games to unranked non-conference opponents. They failed to qualify for the SEC Tournament that season.

Eric_Cain said:

But a look around the league and it appears Vols aren’t the only ones working through issues. Sacramento State takes the series in Baton Rouge. Tigers scored one run today and were 1-4 on the week. Florida plated four runs in the bottom of the ninth to avoid being swept by High Point. Gators walked five times in the final inning and three times with the bases loaded. Arkansas lost to Stetson today. Vanderbilt lost to North Dakota State today and are 10-7 on the year. Again, Tennessee needs to figure it out on offense. No question. But other teams have some issues (at times) going on as well.

I jinxed High Point when I turned the game on

Eric_Cain said:

But a look around the league and it appears Vols aren’t the only ones working through issues. Sacramento State takes the series in Baton Rouge. Tigers scored one run today and were 1-4 on the week. Florida plated four runs in the bottom of the ninth to avoid being swept by High Point. Gators walked five times in the final inning and three times with the bases loaded. Arkansas lost to Stetson today. Vanderbilt lost to North Dakota State today and are 10-7 on the year. Again, Tennessee needs to figure it out on offense. No question. But other teams have some issues (at times) going on as well.

Doing some Math tonight 1 in Athens 3 against Mizzou 2 in Nashville 2 against LSU 1 in Starkville 2 against Ole Miss 2 against Bama 2 in Lexington 1 against Texas 2 in Oklahoma That gets you 18 and a borderline top eight depending on RPI.I think the pitching is good enough to do that.

NIL and the transfer portal are making baseball very weird right now. Traditional development is basically gone. With the new 34-man roster caps and "win now" pressure, teams are treating high school recruits like an afterthought and the portal like a pro free-agency market. We’re seeing that the portal doesn't always guarantee success, though. You can "buy" a roster of proven stats, but you can’t buy chemistry or a locker room. It’s turning the sport into a "high-velocity marketplace" where coaches are having to re-recruit their own dugouts every June just to keep them from jumping ship.

The lsu one surprised me the most because they can hit and the fact they struggled to score many runs the last two games against sac st was surprising. Both Vandy and Arky lost the last game are clinching the series but they still scored a decent amount of runs on their teams. High point has a solid squad like they did a year or two ago. The surprising point on that game was how many runs the UF pitching staff gave up. That was their prob more than the offensive production tbh. What concerns me is how we struggle to score more than 3-4 runs every game on every team we play. Total of 9 runs in a series against wright st is just bad lol

WAFFLE said:

Not sold on the sophomore production idea. Clark’s swing is broken, as well as Marin. Don’t see the hype in Lawless either.

Lawson was one of Tennessee's better hitters the first two weeks. Not so much of late and has struggled behind the plate. Manny had a good weekend. You hope that gets him going. Jay Abernathy hasn't hit as much lately but he gets on base (outside of today - first game all year he hasn't gotten on base). Newstrom as hot for 3-4 games and then cold since. Levi Clark has had a rough go of it. Tennessee needs more from sophomore class for sure.

Dr. MidLevel said:

The lsu one surprised me the most because they can hit and the fact they struggled to score many runs the last two games against sac st was surprising. Both Vandy and Arky lost the last game are clinching the series but they still scored a decent amount of runs on their teams. High point has a solid squad like they did a year or two ago. The surprising point on that game was how many runs the UF pitching staff gave up. That was their prob more than the offensive production tbh. What concerns me is how we struggle to score more than 3-4 runs every game on every team we play. Total of 9 runs in a series against wright st is just bad lol

and 12 runs total in Texas. Tennessee ranks last in the SEC in runs scored. That's obviously not good.

Eric_Cain said:

and 12 runs total in Texas. Tennessee ranks last in the SEC in runs scored. That's obviously not good.

Cain, do you know where are HR wise compared to previous years at this point..start of SEC season?

Eric_Cain said:

But a look around the league and it appears Vols aren’t the only ones working through issues. Sacramento State takes the series in Baton Rouge. Tigers scored one run today and were 1-4 on the week. Florida plated four runs in the bottom of the ninth to avoid being swept by High Point. Gators walked five times in the final inning and three times with the bases loaded. Arkansas lost to Stetson today. Vanderbilt lost to North Dakota State today and are 10-7 on the year. Again, Tennessee needs to figure it out on offense. No question. But other teams have some issues (at times) going on as well.

How much of this around the sec is due to new scholarship rules and less players on the roster?

Great perspective.

Eric_Cain said:

Lawson was one of Tennessee's better hitters the first two weeks. Not so much of late and has struggled behind the plate. Manny had a good weekend. You hope that gets him going. Jay Abernathy hasn't hit as much lately but he gets on base (outside of today - first game all year he hasn't gotten on base). Newstrom as hot for 3-4 games and then cold since. Levi Clark has had a rough go of it. Tennessee needs more from sophomore class for sure.

Agree with this. Love Abernathy as well as Newstrom. Just the fact that Clark’s swing is so much of an uppercut doesn’t give me much hope he can be anything more than a power threat, and that hasn’t worked out at all. Marin just doesn’t seem big enough or consistent enough to start right now. I see the signs with him tho.

BShell12 said:

How much of this around the sec is due to new scholarship rules and less players on the roster?

not as much I would say, though every team is different. I just think there's more parity in the game now and NIL and rev share has helped with that

Bigun said:

Cain, do you know where are HR wise compared to previous years at this point..start of SEC season?

I do not. I know Vols have 22 right now

Bigun said:

Cain, do you know where are HR wise compared to previous years at this point..start of SEC season?

Last year finished tied for 2nd in the nation with 131 HR’s in 65 games. 2024 led the nation producing 184 HR’s in 73 games. 2023 was 6th in the nation producing 126 HR’s in 66 games. This 2026 team thus far has 22 HR in 15 games. That puts them on a pace of about 1.47 HR/game. That would project to 95+ over a 65 game season.

Jaharris said:

Last year finished tied for 2nd in the nation with 131 HR’s in 65 games. 2024 led the nation producing 184 HR’s in 73 games. 2023 was 6th in the nation producing 126 HR’s in 66 games. This 2026 team thus far has 22 HR in 15 games. That puts them on a pace of about 1.47 HR/game. That would project to 95+ over a 65 game season.

Trending to hit under 100 HRs in a season for probably first time since 2019 I would guess. For some reason I’m optimistic the bats get going in SEC play. Honestly I’m more concerned about lack of fire/energy from the team so far.

Eric_Cain said:

I do not. I know Vols have 22 right now

50 homers going into SEC play last year. We were 17-0. Didn’t do the math by player but can tell ya there were more than a handful from Clark, Lawless, Marin, Newst, Grinmer last year. Obviously Kilen and Fischer (along with Bargo) carried the weight with the slugging. Can’t go without noting that while some of the current sophomores (Levi especially) were getting at-bats last year, almost the entire lineup changed up from last year. Ensley, Curley, Fischer, Kilen, Bargo and Pebbles made up 6 of the top 7 for at-bats last year (Chapman was fourth). That’s 89 of our 134 HRs right there. Was actually kind of a cool trip down memory lane. Forgot just how good they got out of the gate last year. Kilen hit 4 HRs in the span of 13 innings in our big trip to Houston. Truly puzzling how that team just couldn’t find any Sunday stoppers to get over the hump.

And it’s pretty obvious why @Eric_Cain, the usual suspects in the game threads (who know their stuff)… Hell even the coaching staff… keep trying to figure out how/if Levi can bounce back. 2022 Christian Moore (Fr.) - 51 appearances, 29 starts, 118 AB. He hit .305 BA (1.062 OPS) with 10 HRs, 36 RBIs, 38/27 K/BB 2022 Blake Burke (Fr.) - 45 appearances, 22 starts, 95 AB. He hit .326 BA (1.288 OPS) with 14 HRs, 32 RBIs, 37/19 K/BB 2025 Levi Clark (Fr.) - 51 appearances, 38 starts, 128 AB. He hit .289 BA (1.053 OPS) with 10 HRs, 34 RBIs, 39/35 K/BB FWIW, Clark hit .220 as a freshman in SEC play. Moore hit .250. Burke hit .364 (in 34 AB - maybe should’ve hit more). I’m not saying anybody was saying Clark was going to be the next Christian Moore at the plate, but I’m sure nobody thought he’d go from having similar numbers to some of our best DH freshmen from the past to hitting .137 through 14 starts.

gotta put that spin on it i get it but i dont buy it.