Someone asked RedRain if we would be improved this year:
RedRain
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We should pitch really well... You've got Robert Tyler, Ryan Lawlor, and David Sosebee. I'll take my chances every weekend with that rotation... If Sean McLaughlin can get back and just get close to what he was as a freshman, then watch out... In that case, you could probably slide Sosebee into bullpen and be even stronger. We added a couple of freshmen in Bo Tucker, Blake Hamilton, and Ryan Avidano who look extremely polished, also.
As far as the lineup, we're really losing three of our best hitters from last year (Ward, Cole, and Welton). You're replacing Ward and Cole with a couple of JUCO guys in Nick King and Trevor Kieboom. I'm going to predict that there won't be an offensive drop off at 3rd from Cole to Kieboom. Hard to say on Nick King at SS. Nelson Ward is a very tough guy to replace. It looks like Keegan McGovern will take over one of the corner OF spots. I'm really big on this guy. He's built like Joey Side, left handed hitter, and I think he's got a very bright future. Conor Welton could have played CF for anyone else in the SEC last year, I thought, and we'll lose a little bit defensively in the OF without him there, but McGovern can cover a lot of ground himself.
The other thing is that you have to figure that Zack Bowers will produce closer to his 2013 numbers than he did last year and we'll get a bounce from that. The same could be said for Jared Walsh. Neither of those guys were healthy for a lot of time they were playing in '14, but we know what they're capable of doing.
Skyler Weber took a huge step forward offensively in the fall. I didn't get to see as many scrimmages this year as I normally do and was confined to the Kudzu Hill area when I did go, but he stood out as easily the best hitter in what I saw (and heard that was the case for entire fall, anyway). If the season started today, he's probably your 3 hole hitter. I think that you'll see some extra power from Stephen Wrenn as well (he only had 3 extra base hits all of last season and should easily top that figure by March 1 this season).
We won't be a great offensive team, but I think that we're capable and I expect to see us running more than we did last year. Pitching will need to carry us and I expect to see a lot of 4-2 type games, especially early. I just want to win and don't care how we do it, but I do enjoy the low scoring games better.
As far as the schedule, it's about as manageable as you can hope for from an SEC slate. I maintain that it's the toughest league in all of college sports. We'll open with Missouri in Athens and they should be very beatable this year, having lost Keaton Steele and their leadoff hitter/ Sunday starter Anderson. I really expect Tennessee to finally start making a push and predict that'll be a tougher trip than we probably expect right now. Kentucky lost the best player in the country in AJ Reed as well as another high end guy in Austin Cousino. The best part about the Lexington trip is that we get to go there in May. That should be manageable. Auburn finished #13 in the conference last year. They'll be better this season, but that's a manageable road trip too. We'll get Alabama in Hoover while their on campus stadium is being renovated and that's a plus for us. Finally, South Carolina is never easy and we are only 1-8 in their new stadium, but I'm not impressed with the direction of their program under Chad Holbrook. It's not a bad draw for us. Last year we went to LSU, Florida, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss. It's a lot tougher to win at those places than it is Auburn, Knoxville, Lexington, and Hoover.
We played pretty good baseball at home last year all in all. Getting Vanderbilt, Florida, LSU, and Arkansas in Athens is huge.
Non conference in addition to the usual suspects, we go to Ga Southern and host Florida State. If we can get ourselves to 14-16 in the SEC and take care of our business in the mid-week, we should be playing baseball in June. Much easier said than done, but it's doable. I'd much rather take my chances with a solid, experienced pitching staff and some questions at the plate than vice versa.
Sorry for the long post. Plenty to be excited about with our Diamond Dawgs...
12/11 9:05 PM | IP: Logged
This post was edited on 12/12 6:44 AM by Dawg44
RedRain
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We should pitch really well... You've got Robert Tyler, Ryan Lawlor, and David Sosebee. I'll take my chances every weekend with that rotation... If Sean McLaughlin can get back and just get close to what he was as a freshman, then watch out... In that case, you could probably slide Sosebee into bullpen and be even stronger. We added a couple of freshmen in Bo Tucker, Blake Hamilton, and Ryan Avidano who look extremely polished, also.
As far as the lineup, we're really losing three of our best hitters from last year (Ward, Cole, and Welton). You're replacing Ward and Cole with a couple of JUCO guys in Nick King and Trevor Kieboom. I'm going to predict that there won't be an offensive drop off at 3rd from Cole to Kieboom. Hard to say on Nick King at SS. Nelson Ward is a very tough guy to replace. It looks like Keegan McGovern will take over one of the corner OF spots. I'm really big on this guy. He's built like Joey Side, left handed hitter, and I think he's got a very bright future. Conor Welton could have played CF for anyone else in the SEC last year, I thought, and we'll lose a little bit defensively in the OF without him there, but McGovern can cover a lot of ground himself.
The other thing is that you have to figure that Zack Bowers will produce closer to his 2013 numbers than he did last year and we'll get a bounce from that. The same could be said for Jared Walsh. Neither of those guys were healthy for a lot of time they were playing in '14, but we know what they're capable of doing.
Skyler Weber took a huge step forward offensively in the fall. I didn't get to see as many scrimmages this year as I normally do and was confined to the Kudzu Hill area when I did go, but he stood out as easily the best hitter in what I saw (and heard that was the case for entire fall, anyway). If the season started today, he's probably your 3 hole hitter. I think that you'll see some extra power from Stephen Wrenn as well (he only had 3 extra base hits all of last season and should easily top that figure by March 1 this season).
We won't be a great offensive team, but I think that we're capable and I expect to see us running more than we did last year. Pitching will need to carry us and I expect to see a lot of 4-2 type games, especially early. I just want to win and don't care how we do it, but I do enjoy the low scoring games better.
As far as the schedule, it's about as manageable as you can hope for from an SEC slate. I maintain that it's the toughest league in all of college sports. We'll open with Missouri in Athens and they should be very beatable this year, having lost Keaton Steele and their leadoff hitter/ Sunday starter Anderson. I really expect Tennessee to finally start making a push and predict that'll be a tougher trip than we probably expect right now. Kentucky lost the best player in the country in AJ Reed as well as another high end guy in Austin Cousino. The best part about the Lexington trip is that we get to go there in May. That should be manageable. Auburn finished #13 in the conference last year. They'll be better this season, but that's a manageable road trip too. We'll get Alabama in Hoover while their on campus stadium is being renovated and that's a plus for us. Finally, South Carolina is never easy and we are only 1-8 in their new stadium, but I'm not impressed with the direction of their program under Chad Holbrook. It's not a bad draw for us. Last year we went to LSU, Florida, Vanderbilt, and Ole Miss. It's a lot tougher to win at those places than it is Auburn, Knoxville, Lexington, and Hoover.
We played pretty good baseball at home last year all in all. Getting Vanderbilt, Florida, LSU, and Arkansas in Athens is huge.
Non conference in addition to the usual suspects, we go to Ga Southern and host Florida State. If we can get ourselves to 14-16 in the SEC and take care of our business in the mid-week, we should be playing baseball in June. Much easier said than done, but it's doable. I'd much rather take my chances with a solid, experienced pitching staff and some questions at the plate than vice versa.
Sorry for the long post. Plenty to be excited about with our Diamond Dawgs...
12/11 9:05 PM | IP: Logged
This post was edited on 12/12 6:44 AM by Dawg44
