I'll go to my grave believing that Dave Serrano is an outstanding baseball coach. His resume, prior to Tennessee, speaks for itself. I don't know why it hasn't worked out for him so far in Knoxville and I have to wonder how much time he's going to get. He stepped into a positively awful situation up there after 2011. It was always going to take time. But it should be better by this point. The fact that the Vols are 7-20 in the league with the most senior laden team in America doesn't reflect well.
I've heard multiple Tennessee people through the years say the same thing. "Too much small ball."
Tennessee hired Larry Simcox as their hitting coach last year. His son previously played for the Vols, and his hire seems to have sparked the Volunteer bats to some degree.
Tennessee just hasn't been able to get on track this season. They've been swept three times in league play this season, including twice in the last three weekends. Much like last weekend, who knows what kind of mentality they'll bring against us. So many older guys, and a marquee draft prospect among them, at the end of a long, frustrating season... they might be thinking more about the beach and the draft. Or they may come in here and fight tooth and nail. Last season they had to sweep Miss State at home and get some help (from us) to get into the SECT. They did, and we were passed on the last day of the season by a team we'd swept on the road several weeks before. So this isn't an unusual spot for the Vols, but I don't know if we can last year established any real precedent.
Tomorrow night, we'll see Will Neely, a skinny freshman righty from Knoxville. Neely throws his fastball in the low 90s. He's reportedly a three pitch guy, though I don't know how his change up and slider are evaluated. Neely has worked out of the bullpen more often than not in the league slate. In SEC play, he is 1-2 with a 4.88 ERA in 9 appearances, 4 starts. He's thrown 27 2/3 innings in the conference and has a 13/10 K/BB with a .275 average against (again, this is just for league play). Neely was really good last weekend against LSU, going 7 innings and allowing 5 hits and 1 run. He threw 93 pitches. He's only thrown 43 1/3 innings on the season, so I imagine he isn't batting fatigue too terribly much right now.
Friday night, we'll face off with Zach Warren, a tall lanky southpaw from Vineland New Jersey. I haven't been able to find a great scouting report on Warren, though I think he's in the low 90s with his fastball. The SEC numbers for the sophomore have not been great. He's made 9 starts in the conference and posted a 1-5 record. His 49 league innings lead the Vol staff. He has a 34/21 K/BB and is allowing a .297 average to SEC hitters.
On Saturday at high noon we'll square off with Aaron Soto. The compact sophomore lefty is from Miami Lakes Florida. I couldn't find a good report on him either, but I think we'll see less velocity from him than Warren. Soto has made 7 appearances, all starts, in the SEC and has a 2-2 record. He's thrown 42 innings and has a 24/12 K/BB and a .233 average against. I imagine that we'll put a lot of balls in play against him.
Tennessee has only K'd 150 SEC hitters.... In 27 games, that works out to less than 6 strike outs per game. On the season as a whole, they've struck out 195 fewer hitters than Florida. That should bode well for us this season.
Tennessee ranks in the front half of the conference in several offensive categories. They swing the bats and they run, a lot....
Tennessee is lead offensively by Nick Senzel. The junior third baseman from Farragut in Knoxville was a UGA signee once upon a time and should be drafted in the first half of the first round this June. On the year overall, he's hitting .344/.446/.585 with 8 HRs and 56 RBI. He's only K'd 18 times on the season and has drawn 36 walks. He also leads UT in steals at 23/26. In the SEC, he's hitting .302/.377/.547 with 5 HRs and 20 RBI.
Senior Vincent Jackson from McDonough Georgia has played an awful lot of baseball for the Vols. Jackson is .344/.435/.516 overall with 7 HRs and 51 RBI. He's K'd 34 times and drawn 25 walks. He's not as much of a steal threat as Senzel, at 7/11 in that department. In the league, Jackson is hitting .307/.395/.396. He has yet to homer in league play.
These guys are 82/109 in steals this season, both of which are second only to LSU (which is surprising, you don't typically see LSU as a big base stealing group). They've only hit 20 HRs on the year, which is fewest in the conference, but they are second in doubles and tied for third in triples.
This is a very different looking than we saw last weekend. It's hard to me to believe that Tennessee took a series from Vanderbilt (in Knoxville) but managed to get swept in Columbia Missouri. I guess it says something about how hard it is to win on the road in this league. Hopefully that continues this weekend. We've got to sweep these guys. The list of programs we've swept since the start of 2014 is neither long, nor impressive, but Tennessee is on that list. I figure we'll know how much fight Tennessee will have for us about 24 hours from now...
I've heard multiple Tennessee people through the years say the same thing. "Too much small ball."
Tennessee hired Larry Simcox as their hitting coach last year. His son previously played for the Vols, and his hire seems to have sparked the Volunteer bats to some degree.
Tennessee just hasn't been able to get on track this season. They've been swept three times in league play this season, including twice in the last three weekends. Much like last weekend, who knows what kind of mentality they'll bring against us. So many older guys, and a marquee draft prospect among them, at the end of a long, frustrating season... they might be thinking more about the beach and the draft. Or they may come in here and fight tooth and nail. Last season they had to sweep Miss State at home and get some help (from us) to get into the SECT. They did, and we were passed on the last day of the season by a team we'd swept on the road several weeks before. So this isn't an unusual spot for the Vols, but I don't know if we can last year established any real precedent.
Tomorrow night, we'll see Will Neely, a skinny freshman righty from Knoxville. Neely throws his fastball in the low 90s. He's reportedly a three pitch guy, though I don't know how his change up and slider are evaluated. Neely has worked out of the bullpen more often than not in the league slate. In SEC play, he is 1-2 with a 4.88 ERA in 9 appearances, 4 starts. He's thrown 27 2/3 innings in the conference and has a 13/10 K/BB with a .275 average against (again, this is just for league play). Neely was really good last weekend against LSU, going 7 innings and allowing 5 hits and 1 run. He threw 93 pitches. He's only thrown 43 1/3 innings on the season, so I imagine he isn't batting fatigue too terribly much right now.
Friday night, we'll face off with Zach Warren, a tall lanky southpaw from Vineland New Jersey. I haven't been able to find a great scouting report on Warren, though I think he's in the low 90s with his fastball. The SEC numbers for the sophomore have not been great. He's made 9 starts in the conference and posted a 1-5 record. His 49 league innings lead the Vol staff. He has a 34/21 K/BB and is allowing a .297 average to SEC hitters.
On Saturday at high noon we'll square off with Aaron Soto. The compact sophomore lefty is from Miami Lakes Florida. I couldn't find a good report on him either, but I think we'll see less velocity from him than Warren. Soto has made 7 appearances, all starts, in the SEC and has a 2-2 record. He's thrown 42 innings and has a 24/12 K/BB and a .233 average against. I imagine that we'll put a lot of balls in play against him.
Tennessee has only K'd 150 SEC hitters.... In 27 games, that works out to less than 6 strike outs per game. On the season as a whole, they've struck out 195 fewer hitters than Florida. That should bode well for us this season.
Tennessee ranks in the front half of the conference in several offensive categories. They swing the bats and they run, a lot....
Tennessee is lead offensively by Nick Senzel. The junior third baseman from Farragut in Knoxville was a UGA signee once upon a time and should be drafted in the first half of the first round this June. On the year overall, he's hitting .344/.446/.585 with 8 HRs and 56 RBI. He's only K'd 18 times on the season and has drawn 36 walks. He also leads UT in steals at 23/26. In the SEC, he's hitting .302/.377/.547 with 5 HRs and 20 RBI.
Senior Vincent Jackson from McDonough Georgia has played an awful lot of baseball for the Vols. Jackson is .344/.435/.516 overall with 7 HRs and 51 RBI. He's K'd 34 times and drawn 25 walks. He's not as much of a steal threat as Senzel, at 7/11 in that department. In the league, Jackson is hitting .307/.395/.396. He has yet to homer in league play.
These guys are 82/109 in steals this season, both of which are second only to LSU (which is surprising, you don't typically see LSU as a big base stealing group). They've only hit 20 HRs on the year, which is fewest in the conference, but they are second in doubles and tied for third in triples.
This is a very different looking than we saw last weekend. It's hard to me to believe that Tennessee took a series from Vanderbilt (in Knoxville) but managed to get swept in Columbia Missouri. I guess it says something about how hard it is to win on the road in this league. Hopefully that continues this weekend. We've got to sweep these guys. The list of programs we've swept since the start of 2014 is neither long, nor impressive, but Tennessee is on that list. I figure we'll know how much fight Tennessee will have for us about 24 hours from now...
