for an extended segment. You can listen to it here
Some interesting notes:
-Stricklin said that he feels Michael Curry has the tools and ability to be a big leaguer. Said Curry's defense needs to be more consistent, but he's going to play every day and will DH if he struggles defensively with Austin Biggar going behind the mound.
-Music to my ears was that the catchers are going to call some more pitches this year. We've heard that before, but hopefully it happens now. Stricklin mentioned pace of play as being a reason behind it. I couldn't agree more... The pitchers I know have gotten frustrated with how long it takes and I think it has caused our defense to get flat footed also.
-Stricklin stated that Cam Shepherd will be the guy at SS and said that he sees Cam as a future big leaguer.
-Three candidates for the first base job are Adam Sasser, Patrick Sullivan, and LJ Talley. Stricklin mentioned that Talley may get a look over there if the other two struggle at the plate. That's a weird deal with having three left handed hitting first basemen. I don't know how one guy is supposed to get in a groove there, but I'm sure it'll shake out. We've played a lot of guys at 1B the past couple of seasons and really haven't gotten a ton of offense from that position. So hopefully we can find a guy this season.
-Tucker Maxwell will be our CF and will head leadoff. Stricklin said that he's every bit as good as Stephen Wrenn defensively.
-Sounds like Keegan McGovern may slide over to RF this year. Stricklin says that Keegan may be better suited for RF. This wasn't discussed, but I'm of the opinion that McGovern could be the dark horse elite player in the SEC this spring. He's most certainly shown you flashes. I think they moved him up into the 3 spot too quickly his freshman year.... he had such a good start to the season last year, even the outs he made it seemed like he squared up everything. I imagine he had some nagging injuries last year and just had a hard time getting out of the slump in April, but the ability is there and he has the chance to really move up some draft boards I think. I remember watching him his first fall and thinking that he'd slide into CF in 2017 after Wrenn graduated. I think if he'd stayed that same size, he probably would have. But he's gotten a lot bigger, a lot stronger. I think he's going to be our guy this spring.
-Matt Campbell should play the other corner spot and will DH some too. Tucker Bradley is in the mix in the OF and Stricklin said Bradley should pitch from the bullpen too.
-Kevin Smith is your early leader to be the Friday night guy, but that battle is still wide open and it sounds like it'll go into the spring. Stricklin stated that Smith is up to 95 "sometimes." Stricklin seemed high on Chase Adkins, a JUCO guy, who has four pitches.... it soundsl ike Adkins made a strong step forward this fall and is solidly in that starting rotation mix. So is Tony Locey, who really impressed Stricklin with his final outing of the Red and Black World Series. It sounds like Locey has an edge to him... Stricklin mentioned that Locey has "closer stuff" but is big enough to go 80-90 pitches in a game and they like him as a starter on that basis.
-Stricklin said Blakely Brown may be the most talented guy on the staff. I can't disagree with that. He's got some really good stuff.... I think he had some confidence issues last year, as freshmen do from time to time, but you can really see the ability.
-Back to the positions, Stricklin stated that Aaron Schunk won the 3rd base job. That was the guy I was most impressed with in the few fall practices I saw... Schunk can really swing the bat. He reminds me a little of Joey Side in that (in what I saw, which again, was limited) he just hits the ball hard.... he really smashes it.... Schunk can play some defense too. I don't know if he's as good as Webb at 3b, but I don't see him as a liability there. I'm still a believer in Webb, though... At his best, he's outstanding defensively. He just has to be more consistent there and not get down on himself, I think. But Mitchell is a guy who can help us. He should have been our every day 3B in 2015 (and basically was by the end of the year) and was able to hold the job last year too.
-It sounds like Will Proctor will get a long look at 2B. I think we'd probably go with LJ Talley there if the season started tomorrow, but I don't know how long that will hold. LJ is more of a corner guy, and I think that was very apparent last season. So it'll be interesting to see how that part shakes out. What is being said about some of these freshmen now is what was being said about LJ Talley 12 months ago...
-On the schedule moving forward, it sounds like we are going to take an extended trip to Charleston next year (over a weekend and in the mid week around spring break) to play (I think) College of Charleston and The Citadel. In 2019, we'll do the same in California, playing Pepperdine and Cal Poly. I like that. I think it's good to get a long road trip like that in, and I think I think it's really good to go to a different region of the country. You see different umpires and more importantly, you see a different style of play. That's so much more beneficial than playing Western Illinois or somebody like that.
-On that note, Stricklin said that this (2017) may be Rodney Hennon's best team yet at Ga Southern. Terrific. Although I will say that Ga Southern did better last year than I figured. I didn't think there was any way they'd finish .500 based on what we saw in Athens, but they were respectable.... and they've got a ton of experience returning. I don't know what we did to deserve to three Statesboro trips in five seasons... Miss RedRain told me several weeks ago that she's not going to Statesboro. And I don't blame her... That'll be a good test out of the gate for us, all the same.
-Stricklin said that he felt that Texas A&M last season was the best baseball team that he'd seen in a long time. I'm sure it seemed that way that weekend. They outscored us 30-3 and really left some runs out on the field in the middle game. We probably caught A&M at a bad time... They'd just gotten swept at Florida the weekend before and came home to good weather and the huge crowds that come along with that... Their backs were against the wall and they needed to win. And they were really good last season, but I really thought that Florida had the higher ceiling. I've noticed that older O'Sullivan teams just don't seem to get in gear during the regular season and maybe that was part of it last year. But I did think that Florida was the best team we saw... I wasn't in Nashville, but I'd have to put Vanderbilt up there too. I agree with Stricklin that Miss State was really, really good last year. We did a nice job over the last two days of that series... The reason I say all that is that I get the feeling that there isn't of warm, fuzziness between our program and Florida's. I don't blame Stricklin for that at all, but I thought that his omission of Florida from the best groups that we saw last year speaks to that a little bit. I don't like Florida either... It'll be a chippy series in Athens, you can be sure of that.
-I sure did get excited about it listening to the interview though... The quality of baseball that you see in this league... it's just unreal. And it's 10 straight weeks of it. I started thinking about what those Friday nights feel like when you're seeing a guy like Alex Lange at LSU or Tanner Hauck at Missouri... how important all those ABs are, how important it is to play clean in the field... how fast those games can move. I just love it...
-Stricklin is very, very bullish on the 2017 freshmen.... He went as far as to say "a lot of these guys would have played for us last year." I understand being excited, but I'm not sure about that claim... We'd need to determine what constitutes "a lot".... If you want to say that Cam Shepherd as a 12th grader could've beaten out Nick King as a senior (and a guy we used at the leadoff spot for a large chunk of the season) then.... ok. I have a hard time imagining that. The 2016 team wasn't a group of scrubs, it was actually an older, experienced team that had a lot of guys drafted. I just have a hard time with the idea that we would have seen "a lot" of then 12th graders playing had they been on the team last season.
-But that leads to me this. Whatever we are next season, and even if we blow through the SEC and wind up as a national seed, you can bet that there will be some adversity somewhere along the way. There always is, even for the great teams. Whenever that hits, I don't want to hear "well, we're awfully young." And if the bad scenario happens and we're in May at 20-28 and trying not to finish 13th in the conference, I really don't want to hear it then. Friday morning Stricklin said that two of our position players have the ability to play major league baseball and that a lot of the current freshman would have played last season. I really, really don't want to go from what we heard Friday morning to "hey, that's how it goes with freshmen, we knew it was going to be tough with so many young guys." It's time.... it's past time, really... to start winning.
Some interesting notes:
-Stricklin said that he feels Michael Curry has the tools and ability to be a big leaguer. Said Curry's defense needs to be more consistent, but he's going to play every day and will DH if he struggles defensively with Austin Biggar going behind the mound.
-Music to my ears was that the catchers are going to call some more pitches this year. We've heard that before, but hopefully it happens now. Stricklin mentioned pace of play as being a reason behind it. I couldn't agree more... The pitchers I know have gotten frustrated with how long it takes and I think it has caused our defense to get flat footed also.
-Stricklin stated that Cam Shepherd will be the guy at SS and said that he sees Cam as a future big leaguer.
-Three candidates for the first base job are Adam Sasser, Patrick Sullivan, and LJ Talley. Stricklin mentioned that Talley may get a look over there if the other two struggle at the plate. That's a weird deal with having three left handed hitting first basemen. I don't know how one guy is supposed to get in a groove there, but I'm sure it'll shake out. We've played a lot of guys at 1B the past couple of seasons and really haven't gotten a ton of offense from that position. So hopefully we can find a guy this season.
-Tucker Maxwell will be our CF and will head leadoff. Stricklin said that he's every bit as good as Stephen Wrenn defensively.
-Sounds like Keegan McGovern may slide over to RF this year. Stricklin says that Keegan may be better suited for RF. This wasn't discussed, but I'm of the opinion that McGovern could be the dark horse elite player in the SEC this spring. He's most certainly shown you flashes. I think they moved him up into the 3 spot too quickly his freshman year.... he had such a good start to the season last year, even the outs he made it seemed like he squared up everything. I imagine he had some nagging injuries last year and just had a hard time getting out of the slump in April, but the ability is there and he has the chance to really move up some draft boards I think. I remember watching him his first fall and thinking that he'd slide into CF in 2017 after Wrenn graduated. I think if he'd stayed that same size, he probably would have. But he's gotten a lot bigger, a lot stronger. I think he's going to be our guy this spring.
-Matt Campbell should play the other corner spot and will DH some too. Tucker Bradley is in the mix in the OF and Stricklin said Bradley should pitch from the bullpen too.
-Kevin Smith is your early leader to be the Friday night guy, but that battle is still wide open and it sounds like it'll go into the spring. Stricklin stated that Smith is up to 95 "sometimes." Stricklin seemed high on Chase Adkins, a JUCO guy, who has four pitches.... it soundsl ike Adkins made a strong step forward this fall and is solidly in that starting rotation mix. So is Tony Locey, who really impressed Stricklin with his final outing of the Red and Black World Series. It sounds like Locey has an edge to him... Stricklin mentioned that Locey has "closer stuff" but is big enough to go 80-90 pitches in a game and they like him as a starter on that basis.
-Stricklin said Blakely Brown may be the most talented guy on the staff. I can't disagree with that. He's got some really good stuff.... I think he had some confidence issues last year, as freshmen do from time to time, but you can really see the ability.
-Back to the positions, Stricklin stated that Aaron Schunk won the 3rd base job. That was the guy I was most impressed with in the few fall practices I saw... Schunk can really swing the bat. He reminds me a little of Joey Side in that (in what I saw, which again, was limited) he just hits the ball hard.... he really smashes it.... Schunk can play some defense too. I don't know if he's as good as Webb at 3b, but I don't see him as a liability there. I'm still a believer in Webb, though... At his best, he's outstanding defensively. He just has to be more consistent there and not get down on himself, I think. But Mitchell is a guy who can help us. He should have been our every day 3B in 2015 (and basically was by the end of the year) and was able to hold the job last year too.
-It sounds like Will Proctor will get a long look at 2B. I think we'd probably go with LJ Talley there if the season started tomorrow, but I don't know how long that will hold. LJ is more of a corner guy, and I think that was very apparent last season. So it'll be interesting to see how that part shakes out. What is being said about some of these freshmen now is what was being said about LJ Talley 12 months ago...
-On the schedule moving forward, it sounds like we are going to take an extended trip to Charleston next year (over a weekend and in the mid week around spring break) to play (I think) College of Charleston and The Citadel. In 2019, we'll do the same in California, playing Pepperdine and Cal Poly. I like that. I think it's good to get a long road trip like that in, and I think I think it's really good to go to a different region of the country. You see different umpires and more importantly, you see a different style of play. That's so much more beneficial than playing Western Illinois or somebody like that.
-On that note, Stricklin said that this (2017) may be Rodney Hennon's best team yet at Ga Southern. Terrific. Although I will say that Ga Southern did better last year than I figured. I didn't think there was any way they'd finish .500 based on what we saw in Athens, but they were respectable.... and they've got a ton of experience returning. I don't know what we did to deserve to three Statesboro trips in five seasons... Miss RedRain told me several weeks ago that she's not going to Statesboro. And I don't blame her... That'll be a good test out of the gate for us, all the same.
-Stricklin said that he felt that Texas A&M last season was the best baseball team that he'd seen in a long time. I'm sure it seemed that way that weekend. They outscored us 30-3 and really left some runs out on the field in the middle game. We probably caught A&M at a bad time... They'd just gotten swept at Florida the weekend before and came home to good weather and the huge crowds that come along with that... Their backs were against the wall and they needed to win. And they were really good last season, but I really thought that Florida had the higher ceiling. I've noticed that older O'Sullivan teams just don't seem to get in gear during the regular season and maybe that was part of it last year. But I did think that Florida was the best team we saw... I wasn't in Nashville, but I'd have to put Vanderbilt up there too. I agree with Stricklin that Miss State was really, really good last year. We did a nice job over the last two days of that series... The reason I say all that is that I get the feeling that there isn't of warm, fuzziness between our program and Florida's. I don't blame Stricklin for that at all, but I thought that his omission of Florida from the best groups that we saw last year speaks to that a little bit. I don't like Florida either... It'll be a chippy series in Athens, you can be sure of that.
-I sure did get excited about it listening to the interview though... The quality of baseball that you see in this league... it's just unreal. And it's 10 straight weeks of it. I started thinking about what those Friday nights feel like when you're seeing a guy like Alex Lange at LSU or Tanner Hauck at Missouri... how important all those ABs are, how important it is to play clean in the field... how fast those games can move. I just love it...
-Stricklin is very, very bullish on the 2017 freshmen.... He went as far as to say "a lot of these guys would have played for us last year." I understand being excited, but I'm not sure about that claim... We'd need to determine what constitutes "a lot".... If you want to say that Cam Shepherd as a 12th grader could've beaten out Nick King as a senior (and a guy we used at the leadoff spot for a large chunk of the season) then.... ok. I have a hard time imagining that. The 2016 team wasn't a group of scrubs, it was actually an older, experienced team that had a lot of guys drafted. I just have a hard time with the idea that we would have seen "a lot" of then 12th graders playing had they been on the team last season.
-But that leads to me this. Whatever we are next season, and even if we blow through the SEC and wind up as a national seed, you can bet that there will be some adversity somewhere along the way. There always is, even for the great teams. Whenever that hits, I don't want to hear "well, we're awfully young." And if the bad scenario happens and we're in May at 20-28 and trying not to finish 13th in the conference, I really don't want to hear it then. Friday morning Stricklin said that two of our position players have the ability to play major league baseball and that a lot of the current freshman would have played last season. I really, really don't want to go from what we heard Friday morning to "hey, that's how it goes with freshmen, we knew it was going to be tough with so many young guys." It's time.... it's past time, really... to start winning.
