Fayetteville Regional thread—-Baseball

[egregious]

could be worse, could have blown a lead to your hated rival at the end of the game.

fml

[The Whyte Boar]

It's a shame that a post season failure means failure all the way around but it does.  Our program is at a place where only a title is going to scratch that itch.  I'm just not going to get excited about or probably even bother to watch Razorback baseball in the future until we get to the WS. There just isn't really any point.

[hit_that_line]

Diggs is gone. Jones will transfer. Probably Carter gone. Fisher and Dietz health question marks.

[Feral]

Diggs is gone. Jones will transfer. Probably Carter gone. Fisher and Dietz health question marks.

DVH effectively said in his press conference that we'd probably lose Diggs.

Lots of similarities between Diggs and Casey Martin. Fan favorite who showed flashes as an underclassman but ultimately a guess hitter who regressed and couldn't hit a breaking ball to save his life and prematurely left for the draft.

I don't know how to feel about Jones. He has power but is extremely undisciplined at the plate and is basically a home run or strikeout hitter with no in-between. He's not even a 3 outcome guy because he almost never walks.

Same for Souza, who regressed profoundly the last 2 months of the season and could benefit enormously from summer ball. Since the Ole Miss series he was 3-38 (.078) with almost 20 strikeouts, almost all of them swinging. To quote Ron Burgudy "I'm not even mad, I'm impressed."

[FNG]

DVH needs to start with a decent leadoff guy and poach that Kettering kid from his pal Sawyers at SEMO.

[DirkPiggler]

DVH effectively said in his press conference that we'd probably lose Diggs.

Lots of similarities between Diggs and Casey Martin. Fan favorite who showed flashes as an underclassman but ultimately a guess hitter who regressed and couldn't hit a breaking ball to save his life and prematurely left for the draft.

I don't know how to feel about Jones. He has power but is extremely undisciplined at the plate and is basically a home run or strikeout hitter with no in-between. He's not even a 3 outcome guy because he almost never walks.

Same for Souza, who regressed profoundly the last 2 months of the season and could benefit enormously from summer ball. Since the Ole Miss series he was 3-38 (.078) with almost 20 strikeouts, almost all of them swinging. To quote Ron Burgudy "I'm not even mad, I'm impressed."

I think this is an incorrect assessment on Diggs.  He's almost the polar opposite of Martin in that he's too selective.  The injury had a greater effect than we realize.  Kendall was hitting .345 with 6 HR when he hurt his shoulder.  He hit nearly .300 with power last season against a full schedule.  He's worth taking back and a solid bet to return to form if he wants to give it another try.  A more accurate comparison at the plate for Diggs is likely 2023 Stovall.  They had a similar injury.  Being healthy was the difference between an all-SEC season and hitting .230-ish with no power for Stovall. 

The better comp for Martin is Aloy. They both have massive power, and both seem to think they can yank any pitch regardless of spin or location out into the Hog Pen.  It's like they both learned their hitting from Todd Butler instead of Vitello or Nate. 

[Feral]

DVH needs to start with a decent leadoff guy and poach that Kettering kid from his pal Sawyers at SEMO.

Does the 65 mph junkball pitcher have any eligibility left?

[Hizog]

I'm going to backtrack a little bit from my criticism of DVH. After watching the press conference again, I'm not sure he intended to rip the current players. I think he was criticizing Nate Thompson.

He was responding to a question about Nate and he said a couple of interesting things.

1. He said no one works harder on analytics than Nate and that Nate really tries to train a swing.

2. He said we need better athletes and not 8 guys who go up there trying to hit a homerun.

I could be wrong, but I think DVH probably gave Nate some freedom to recruit the hitters than he wanted and teach them how he wanted them to swing.

Now that his strategy has clearly backfired, DVH is pointing it out. He also never gave a vote of confidence to the question.

I think we'll either see DVH play a more active role in player recruitment and development or possibly even move on from Nate Thompson.

[DirkPiggler]

Does the 65 mph junkball pitcher have any eligibility left?

He doesn't need pro ball for a career or much NIL.  I'm sure the royalties off Napoleon Dynamite have him financially set for life.

[Feral]

I think this is an incorrect assessment on Diggs.  He's almost the polar opposite of Martin in that he's too selective.  

Eh, I don't know about too selective. Bubba has talked on the radio about how you can tell by 10U ball if a kid is a first pitch swinger or a taker, and it's something you can't really coach into or out of them. Even DVH is saying they've been telling Diggs to stop taking so much early and swing away on the first pitch or two, but he didn't do it.

If Diggs was truly selective he'd be swinging at first (and second) pitch meatballs right over the plate. Instead he watches the first two pitches, fouls off the third, takes a ball, and then chases in the dirt. Wash, rinse, repeat.

By adopting this approach he puts himself in disadvantage counts and starts pressing.

[hit_that_line]

I'm going to backtrack a little bit from my criticism of DVH. After watching the press conference again, I'm not sure he intended to rip the current players. I think he was criticizing Nate Thompson.

He was responding to a question about Nate and he said a couple of interesting things.

1. He said no one works harder on analytics than Nate and that Nate really tries to train a swing.

2. He said we need better athletes and not 8 guys who go up there trying to hit a homerun.

I could be wrong, but I think DVH probably gave Nate some freedom to recruit the hitters than he wanted and teach them how he wanted them to swing.

Now that his strategy has clearly backfired, DVH is pointing it out. He also never gave a vote of confidence to the question.

I think we'll either see DVH play a more active role in player recruitment and development or possibly even move on from Nate Thompson.

DVH has always been more blunt than most about his players.

[Hizog]

Also, if Nate is "training a swing", and DVH said we have 8 guys going up there to hit HR's, it seems obvious to me that Nate's strategy is to try and hit as many HR's as possible.

We finished 61st in the country in HR's, behind Wilmington and the powerhouse Columbia University who hit more HR's than us while playing 15 fewer games.

So, if we're trying to hit homeruns and aren't doing it, then what are we doing?

How many fucking infield pop flies are we going to hit this game?

[DirkPiggler]

Eh, I don't know about too selective. Bubba has talked on the radio about how you can tell by 10U ball if a kid is a first pitch swinger or a taker, and it's something you can't really coach into or out of them. Even DVH is saying they've been telling Diggs to stop taking so much early and swing away on the first pitch or two, but he didn't do it.

If Diggs was truly selective he'd be swinging at first (and second) pitch meatballs right over the plate. Instead he watches the first two pitches, fouls off the third, takes a ball, and then chases in the dirt. Wash, rinse, repeat.

By adopting this approach he puts himself in disadvantage counts and starts pressing.

He hasn't been getting all that many meat balls over the plate.  All strikes are not created equal.

I don't understand why pitchers haven't been firing dead red fastballs at him on every first pitch, but they haven't.  Go back and watch from this weekend in particular...it didn't make sense. 

If he was just taking for the hell of it he wouldn't be drawing as many walks as he does, even while unhealthy and getting in disadvantaged counts. 

The approach is fine, but if you don't have the bat speed, power, or the confidence to use them, you aren't going to hit regardless of what pitches you're being thrown or how well you're seeing them.

[Feral]

DVH needs to start with a decent leadoff guy

I said after last season that Josenberger would be the key piece to this season if we could get him to come back. Losing him to the draft hurt.

He was a huge piece last year. Switch hitting center fielder who could run, had power, and could hit for average. We were never the same after his injury last year.

If he comes back in 2024, our OF doesn't have as many offensive holes in it, Holt plays LF, Wilmsmeyer is little more than a situational defensive sub and pinch runner, and we have a leadoff guy who allows Stovall to bat in the 2 hole where he belongs.

[Show-Me Hog]

It wouldn't be a Razorback season without an early disappointing exit.

[Feral]

If he was just taking for the hell of it he wouldn't be drawing as many walks as he does, even while unhealthy and getting in disadvantaged counts. 

That's the thing, he actually had one of the worst BB/K ratios in SEC play of our entire lineup, and the worst of the everyday players.

His BB/K ratio was nearly 1:3. Wilsmeyer's was 1:4 and Souza's was just shy of 1:4. Aloy's was 1:2.5, Stovall was over 1:2, Sandlot's was 1:1, and McLaughlin had more walks (28) than K's (18).

[DirkPiggler]

That's the thing, he actually had one of the worst BB/K ratios in SEC play of our entire lineup, and the worst of the everyday players.

His BB/K ratio was nearly 1:3. Wilsmeyer's was 1:4 and Souza's was just shy of 1:4. Aloy's was 1:2.5, Stovall was over 1:2, Sandlot's was 1:1, and McLaughlin had more walks (28) than K's (18).

Look at last year when he was healthy.  26 BB to 29 K in SEC play.  With an isoOBP (increase in OBP over batting average) of .146, which is really good.  Even in limited time as a freshman he had 6 BB to 7 K and a .194 isoOBP.

You're judging him after he was clearly injured and assuming that's who he is as a player.  The real crime was not having anyone better than the injured version to take his place after he was hurt.

[HogOfWar]

So which booster pulls the strings for baseball?

Heresyourcheck isn't going to do anything unless told to and no one trusts him to change coaches even if is what needs to be done.

Horn is not going anywhere unless he decides to, or a booster asks him to.

[DirkPiggler]

So which booster pulls the strings for baseball?

Heresyourcheck isn't going to do anything unless told to and no one trusts him to change coaches even if is what needs to be done.

Horn is not going anywhere unless he decides to, or a booster asks him to.

Running off Dave Van Horn would be the dumbest move this athletic department has ever made, and that's in a program known for catastrophic blunders. 

[buff2.0]

Running off Dave Van Horn would be the dumbest move this athletic department has ever made, and that's in a program known for catastrophic blunders. 

Are you saying he's too old to be rehired later as an assistant for an under-performing and generally confused head coach?