2024 Season

GTNavyNuke

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CDH said we just have not been good on defense the past couple of years. He realizes he is the INF defensive coach for this team right? But the portal can now hide that flaw. But on a positive note a good defense will equate to better pitching, statistically at-least.

4 weeks to opening day!!!!

Is Hall the INF defensive coach? Not Ramsey? Hall is responsible regardless since he has been he forever. Going to the portal to improve is a good thing. I thought getting DBo was a great thing too. At least Hall is trying but we'll see how / if post season goes. I've been ready for a change for years but IIWII; time to root for the team.
 

CINCYMETJACKET

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4 weeks to opening day!!!!

Is Hall the INF defensive coach? Not Ramsey? Hall is responsible regardless since he has been he forever. Going to the portal to improve is a good thing. I thought getting DBo was a great thing too. At least Hall is trying but we'll see how / if post season goes. I've been ready for a change for years but IIWII; time to root for the team.
For me, it's about time to start looking into hotel rooms for opening week as well. I plan on repeating what I did last year. Atlanta Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; Savannah Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday to catch the game in Statesboro on Tuesday; visit family in NC on my way back to Ohio. Fun trip last year, so do it again!
 

GTNavyNuke

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2 things:
1) We're setup to sneak up on folks... overachieve!
2) We're set to face 5 of these 6 (not #1 Wake) in regular season. 2 at home & 3 on road.



3 weeks to opening day!!!!

We are definitely under the radar. Not in D1 Baseball's top 40. So despite our strong transfers (D1 #18) and good Fr (D1 #19) class, not getting the love. IIWII.

We play the bolded teams so top 40 ACC we only miss WF and L'Ville. D1 Baseball has WF #1, Clemson #10, Duke #12, NC State #13, UVa #14, UNC #15. Then in next 15 (26-40), FSU, L'Ville, Miami.

In OOC, Northeastern (#23 D1), UGag, and Auburn (26-40 D1) look like good opponents. We need those games for RPI and given our weak OOC, probably need to finish over 500 in the ACC along with a near sweep of the OOC.

Here was last year's RPI for this year's scheduled teams. (Previously posted to show how its going to be hard for us to get a high RPI.)

Best probable case for this year: we play weaker competition and win lots of games. With lots of people sharing playing time especially shorter pitching stints, we go to the NCAAs not hosting but honed and ready for a deep run. It'll all be on effective pitching depth since D should be greatly improved and O potent as always.

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IIWII.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Good stuff. I'm a homer... hearing from CDH & especially the players... gets me fired up. Class acts all around. Nothing new there.

Looking forward to seeing how this team gels & performs.

Glad you haven't lost your mojo.

Hall SSDY. Good discussion of timing difficulties with July draft making decisions not knowing who is going to leave for the draft. Honest answer that we sucked last year and needed to make portal changes to be competitive. My opinion is we played far below our player potential of maybe top 15 to 20 in the country. I don't expect us to have top 10 talent given the effort classes take at GT, but do expect to advance in the NCAA regularly. Disappointed that question of goal this year was to get to playoffs wasn't responded to differently; Hall said goal is to be best team in state and league but didn't hit on advancing in post season. Hall hoped we'd be hosting or going someplace for a regional.

Like all the guys, very well spoken and open. Ellis said that Zeke and Wieters ran defense. Hall and Ramsey did the offense. Ellis hit on the need to go deep in the post season. Wisdom there!

Geisler said getting to post season wasn't a goal but a standard. And get back to Omaha. More wisdom. Had a lot of praise for Sabathia.
 

FredJacket

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Glad you haven't lost your mojo.
Certainly not "lost" .... but the last few years has taken a toll.

It was refreshing to hear/see those video interviews. Helped me get more excited about possibilities. I'm a sucker though. 😀

Reading between lines & trying to separate cliches & "canned" responses across the board from any real meat...

- Players touched on chemistry... implied that might have been a problem last year. I think chemistry is huge. Hopefully, it'll be a feature (not a flaw) this season.
- New pitching coach... Pitchers (& CDH) spoke about accountability attention to detail. Pretty disappointing if DBo was deficient on that... but water under bridge.

GO JACKETS!
 

FittedJacket

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Glad you haven't lost your mojo.

Hall SSDY. Good discussion of timing difficulties with July draft making decisions not knowing who is going to leave for the draft. Honest answer that we sucked last year and needed to make portal changes to be competitive. My opinion is we played far below our player potential of maybe top 15 to 20 in the country. I don't expect us to have top 10 talent given the effort classes take at GT, but do expect to advance in the NCAA regularly. Disappointed that question of goal this year was to get to playoffs wasn't responded to differently; Hall said goal is to be best team in state and league but didn't hit on advancing in post season. Hall hoped we'd be hosting or going someplace for a regional.

Like all the guys, very well spoken and open. Ellis said that Zeke and Wieters ran defense. Hall and Ramsey did the offense. Ellis hit on the need to go deep in the post season. Wisdom there!

Geisler said getting to post season wasn't a goal but a standard. And get back to Omaha. More wisdom. Had a lot of praise for Sabathia.
Nuke.. I’m pretty sure when CDH talked about winning the State and “your league“ (ACC) he was intimating that we would amass a record to host a regional. Probably could have said it better with a bit more conviction.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Nuke.. I’m pretty sure when CDH talked about winning the State and “your league“ (ACC) he was intimating that we would amass a record to host a regional. Probably could have said it better with a bit more conviction.

Agree. But Hall didn't recognize that just getting to regionals is not enough. Ellis and Geisler recognize getting to regionals isn't enough. Win the damn thing. Hall is great at recruiting and getting guys to the MLB. But not at advancing post season when we make it. That's my gripe.

And here is an alternate approach to the portal from UVa. UVa in my opinion is much better managed than Hall and rotating assistants. We'll see if O'Connor can pull off not using the portal as much or he'll fall short like Daba Doo in football. I hope O'Connor pulls it off since making commitments by both players and coaches to develop and stay at a school is more enjoyable to me and better represents my quaint view of college athletics.
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Killerbees

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Agree. But Hall didn't recognize that just getting to regionals is not enough. Ellis and Geisler recognize getting to regionals isn't enough. Win the damn thing. Hall is great at recruiting and getting guys to the MLB. But not at advancing post season when we make it. That's my gripe.

And here is an alternate approach to the portal from UVa. UVa in my opinion is much better managed than Hall and rotating assistants. We'll see if O'Connor can pull off not using the portal as much or he'll fall short like Daba Doo in football. I hope O'Connor pulls it off since making commitments by both players and coaches to develop and stay at a school is more enjoyable to me and better represents my quaint view of college athletics.
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I agree. We are living in a glorified travel ball world (transfer portal) which is eliminating development/growth. It was easier for me to embrace and root for teams that had full commitments from day 1. I guess it is the old school spirit in me.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Ok. Grumpypants! 😄

Grumpypants says #27 is better than #42. Giesler is #27 1st baseman per D1. No surprise there; he should have been drafted last year.

But is #27 top? {troll}

Now for the grumpy part, D1 picks GT to finish 6th in Coastal. Read the article quickly and will post more but nothing surprising; we'll go where our pitching takes us with good offense and improved defense. (Duh) I can't argue with D1 picks, no one knows and we have a track record of overall dismal pitching. And while we know GT is better, most other ACC teams are better too with the portal. So who will make the breaks remains to be seen. But this isn't Lake Woebegone where everyone is above average.
 

FredJacket

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Grumpypants says #27 is better than #42. Giesler is #27 1st baseman per D1. No surprise there; he should have been drafted last year.

But is #27 top? {troll}

Now for the grumpy part, D1 picks GT to finish 6th in Coastal. Read the article quickly and will post more but nothing surprising; we'll go where our pitching takes us with good offense and improved defense. (Duh) I can't argue with D1 picks, no one knows and we have a track record of overall dismal pitching. And while we know GT is better, most other ACC teams are better too with the portal. So who will make the breaks remains to be seen. But this isn't Lake Woebegone where everyone is above average.
Coastal? Wow... need to re-cage my brain back to a world with ACC divisions.

UNC has already lost its Friday starter for the year with arm (UCL??...if memory serves) injury. This is going to be a fun ride. Lots and lots of IFs and unknowns. 6th in the Coastal wouldn't be very much fun.
 

GTNavyNuke

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Coastal? Wow... need to re-cage my brain back to a world with ACC divisions.

UNC has already lost its Friday starter for the year with arm (UCL??...if memory serves) injury. This is going to be a fun ride. Lots and lots of IFs and unknowns. 6th in the Coastal wouldn't be very much fun.

We'll finish better than 6th. I'll provide my projection after reading all the ACC teams projections on D1.

But you are right that Jake Knapp is injured for UNC.
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