Hogs vs Kentucky—-Baseball

[woodhog14]

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[woodhog14]

I'd be intrigued by Gaeckle in a starter/opener role. He's our most reliable, consistent pitcher outside of Hagen.

DVH won't do it since he's too valuable right now in a twice a weekend closer/high leverage role, but I think he'd be great starting (and will likely be at the front end of our rotation next year).

I have heard they are planning on Gaeckle being the Friday night guy for next year.

[Feral]

Tygart didn't pitch as badly as his line indicated Saturday, and his two previous starts were his best of the year in SEC play.  I didn't understand the move of going back to White catching him after Rowland had caught the two previous times he pitched which were much better.  It would have made sense if we had been trying to get more offense in the lineup, but to turn around and DH Rowland the next day...WTF?

That's a great point, I didn't even think about the fact that White caught Tygart (instead of Rowland) this weekend. White hasn't caught Tygart since the Bama series.

If DVH was going to integrate Rowland into the lineup, I'd rather get use out of him defensively than as a DH where he provides zero value and we have better alternatives.

There'd been some rumblings that Tygart felt most comfortable with Rowland, which is why they stopped having Helfrick catch him.

Suck that that means we effectively have an automatic out for one game a weekend, and that's not even counting Wilmsmeyer, Diggs, and Souza.

[Feral]

I went back and looked at some numbers in on Wilmsmeyer, Diggs, and Souza. Suffice it to say they're not pretty at all.

In our last 4 SEC series (UK, Florida, South Carolina, and Bama), they're a combined 11-95 (I lost track of the number of strikeouts), which is a BA of .115. 

Wilmsmeyer is the worst at 0-17 in that stretch. He hasn't had a hit in an SEC game since game 3 of the Ole Miss series. That's...really bad.

Diggs is 8-47 in that stretch (.170), and 4 of those hits came this past weekend against UK.

As I've said before, we're not talking enough about how Souza has been quietly slumping badly and looks undisciplined at the plate. He's taking a lot of bad swings and striking out a lot. He's 3-31 in that stretch (.096).

[Vito Porkleone]

We need to stop trying to use Mac 2x a weekend.  His 2nd outing is always shaky.  I know he wants the ball, but once is enough until we get to the dance.

I feel like Souza can snap out of it with reps.  Lovich should never see the field the rest of the year.  And Diggs?  I don't know what the fuck he is looking at.  Swings at pitches in the dirt and lets belt high fast balls go right by.

I'd move Diggs down to 8th, let Holt lead off, and move Stovall to 2-3-4.  The whole team needs to quit looking for specific pitches and just hit what gets thrown.  

Yeah, hot takes...  

[Feral]

We need to stop trying to use Mac 2x a weekend.  His 2nd outing is always shaky.  I know he wants the ball, but once is enough until we get to the dance.

I feel like Souza can snap out of it with reps.  Lovich should never see the field the rest of the year.  And Diggs?  I don't know what the fuck he is looking at.  Swings at pitches in the dirt and lets belt high fast balls go right by.

I'd move Diggs down to 8th, let Holt lead off, and move Stovall to 2-3-4.  The whole team needs to quit looking for specific pitches and just hit what gets thrown. 

Yeah, hot takes... 

Agree about Stovall. I get wanting to give him as many AB's as possible, but he's far and away our best hitter and needs to be coming to the plate with runners on base. I like a 1-2-3 of Sandlot, Holt, and Stovall with McLaughlin batting cleanup. That feels like a top of the order that can produce some runs by itself.

I'm not sure about Souza. It's one thing to go O-fer with a couple of hard hit balls right at defenders (what happens with Helfrick), but he's not even making contact now or drawing walks. He seems to have hit a freshman wall. Maybe he'll miraculously find it in the postseason like Stovall did as a freshman, but given the fact they still seem to be searching for a DH tells me they don't have much trust in him.

As someone said earlier in this thread, the book is out on Diggs. If he can gets into advantage counts, anything's possible. However, he too often finds himself down 0-2 and 1-2 and he presses and swings at bad pitches.

Right now our major holes are DH and LF (earmarking Holt for CF). Despite being low average hitters, I'd be good with Helfrick and Jones given that they both have power and have show flashes.

The Wilmsmeyer experiment has to be over. The kid is worse at the plate than Bolton or Rowland ever thought about being last year. 

[Pig]

Just looked this up:  Wilmsmeyer hit .273 and .311 his last two years at Mizzou.
So it must be the coaching?
Also speculating that DVH had Rowland hitting to show his extreme displeasure with the other DH's.

[BleedinRed]

Surly coaching can't make that big of an influence.  What can Nate be teaching that would destroy a hitter in that fashion?

[Hizog]

In hindsight, there were red flags early on. One of the most glaring was playing a mediocre Oklahoma State team for 14 innings and scoring one run.

[piglosopher]

Something's gotta give.

These BA numbers aren't poor, they're horrific. It's happening to half our lineup at least.

With our resources facilities, recruiting, it's inexcusable.

[Thin Red Swine]

Something's gotta give.

These BA numbers aren't poor, they're horrific. It's happening to half our lineup at least.

With our resources facilities, recruiting, it's inexcusable.

Maybe we need a practice field.

[Spiderham]

Maybe we need a practice field.

With a dome for winter practice.