Development v College Production

[FredJacket]

This is a philosophical question for discussion. I think "usually" there is not a conflict between long term development of a player and the short term (i.e. how much they can help their college team win during their short college career). The question I'm positing here likely would apply to pitchers more than position players.

Ok, I have to believe sometimes coaches have decisions to make. I think Ga Tech (rightfully so) recruits the top prospects with a promise to develop them for professional baseball careers. No doubt, the hiring of DBo & the added technology (pitching lab) put that notion with pitchers to the next level. Ramsey is doing it with hitters as well.

So... hypothetically, you recruit top end pitchers to come to Ga Tech. The ones that arrive with top-end college talent could be left alone (for the most part). Their stuff will be well-above average for the college game and translate into more wins than losses for the Tech baseball program over the time this hypothetical pitcher is playing at Tech.

However, same pitcher after DBo's initial evaluation... has some significant changes/adjustments that should be made in order to realize his full long-term potential. This puts his production in a 2 steps back in order to make those 3 or 4 steps forward situation (maybe...it's a risk). There is a period of time (a season or more) where these changes (short term) result in fewer quality outings while at Ga Tech.

Is this hypothetical nonsense? Or is it possible there are specific examples (not many) of the Ga Tech coaching staff choosing to risk the short-term of winning games with some guys now in order to set them up for max potential after they have moved on from Ga Tech.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Not hypothetical at all. Developing players for the MLB even when they aren't the best player at that time but are "expected" to become is one factor that I believe allows us to recruit so well.

I'll only talk about past players. As I'm thinking about it, this is a mine field. But here are some names to consider Oscar Serratos who was not the best at 3rd or hitting or the two whose stats are below.

But looking at the players we've had drafted over the last 10 years, I guess Danny Hall has done a pretty good balancing job. I guess my only change would be to play those high potential guys more mid-week and less on the weekend till they develop.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

One thought, which I have to write down these days or lose them as I get older...

College coaches have a conundrum when it comes to this topic. On one hand, they're paid to WIN GAMES! I really don't care what sport you're talking about. Football, basketball (Men's or Women's), baseball, softball, soccer (or futball - no idea how to insert an umlaut or I would do so...), tennis, golf... Coaches are paid to win. I don't care how nice they are, if they don't have a winning program, they're probably not going to last long at most schools.

However, they are also educators. Even guys like Nick Saban (or Nick Satan I as usually refer to him as a Dolphins fan), who get the top players available every year, have the responsibility to teach their kids how to make it on the next level (not just to the next level in my opinion, on the next level, which is a BIG difference). That's what our professors at GT should be doing. That's what our coaches at GT should be doing. The difference between professors and coaches, you may fail a professors class one or two (or more, for some) times, but may eventually figure it out. The best way for players to figure it out is to keep playing. If you're not playing, you're likely not going to figure it out. Thus the conundrum between coaches and professors, who are both teachers. If coaches keep their players out there while "trying to figure it out" they may lose games. That may be in the best interest of the "student" who may figure it out, but not in the best interest of the collective (the team) that may lose games as a result. GT academic professors don't have that issue. They'll just get a reputation as being "the shaft", and still have a job.

 

[eokerholm]

Great topic and discussion.
I do agree there is a level of success that lead GT to you and you to GT. We have some seriously elite players and arms on the staff. You make a valid point and one of the things that lead my son and others to choose GT was DBo. That is a theme you will hear A LOT. DBo is a maestro. He can make huge improvements with minimal and minute changes to mechanics, ball grip, pitching packages, and we're seeing the benefits of that across the staff, even the new guys. JoMan, Bartniki, Cort and others. A slight change to the arm angle, approach, routine, delivery makes huge differences in how the ball is thrown, looks to the batter and behaves in the air. Other programs and coaches want to or will Overhaul a pitcher when the get to campus. That is definitely a detractor. Build upon what made these guys great and make them greater. This improves safety, longevity, and recovery. That is what DBo, Ramsey, and Hall are all doing.

This minute changes take time to take effect and change. These guys have been throwing "their way" for years and years, so practice, repetition, and confidence are big factors. I hear somewhere the difference between you and a professional golfer was, 10,000 balls (more like 50,000 with my golf game). But think about it - these pitchers show up to campus with close to that on their resumes regarding pitch counts. (Annual pitch count reference or guidance is something like 100 x your age). Of course some of the travel ball programs will exceed that, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

But make a change or a minute tweak and it feels different, and better, but different and still takes time and confidence for it to "stick" and overtake the previous 10,000 pitch muscle memory. I think and agree guys need time to get in the reps to get it to stick and to get confidence in their pitching package. Their recovery time to adopt the new mechanics is faster, but still takes time. They've all commented on the improvements. Archer and others and even DBo has posted and comparisons on Trackman/Rapsoto, etc. with pitch & ball metrics and flights and shown improvements on spin, break, and speed. The new pitching facilities really help the guys see and better understand what these changes do and what differences in force here or there has. It's truly amazing.

Change up is a great example. A lot of guys never get a chance to throw that (or many) in HS or Travel ball and therefore don't have the confidence in that pitch. I was listening to the draft in 2019 and 2020 and shocked at how many guys drafter were 2 or 3 pitch guys. But it makes sense. If someone throws 5-10% change ups, it takes quite awhile to get to 10,000 pitches.

The facilities and coaches we have are PHEnominal here. The professors we have are great too. That's why I told you all years ago when my son committed, the buzz of and draw to GT is real, from across the nation, and GT is doing a wonderful job recruiting, harnessing, and growing/developing talent.

Hall has been a solid and stable foundation and Rock of this program for decades - a true beacon, Ramsey has been stellar with the guys on hitting and mental game, Catcher U, and DBo has been brilliant, calming, and a maestro. We are reaping and seeing benefits of their oversight across the staff.

Change takes time and we're seeing the benefits of that hard work everyone has put in.

It's truly a great time to be a Jacket and a Jacket fan!!!

 

[GTRambler]

This is an extremely interesting topic. It’s also one in which I have always wondered about in my own mind for years … and I’ve never read nor learned anything about for years, too. Until just now, after reading this thread.

I just don’t know the answers. Especially on the topic of developing college pitchers at the Division 1 level.

One thing I do know, however … is that while I am very impressed with the professional baseball background and experience of GT’s current Pitching Coach Dave Borrell, he’s only into the beginning of his second year as a pitching coach with college-age pitchers.

This specific inexperience leaves me a bit concerned, but … I hope he succeeds.

 

[4shotB]

This is a great topic as I think getting players into the pros is the number one recruiting today pitch in most sports that have professional opportunities. It used to be staying close to home, how many times will I be on TV, playing for dear ol' State U, or chance to get early playing time where primary draws. But not anymore...this is why a FB kid will go the Bama and sit behind 4 other 5* guys until he is a junior or senior as this maximizes (or maybe more importantly, makes the kids believe that it does) his shot at the pros. I get that. If that is your dream, you only get one opportunity, especially in FB where there are no minor or developmental leagues. So making tweaks in the short term that puts more kids cashing checks is a smart business move as it leads to attracting more talent in the long run.

The conundrum as suggested is, what does the new coach do? It seems to me that the new or less tenured guys need to focus on winning in the short term vs. developmental strategies. Guys like Hall and Saban have built up the trust and goodwill with the fan base such that they can do things "their way without pushback. But to get there, the newbie (a coach in the 0-7 year time frame) has to maximize wins so he can shift to a more strategic, long term focus. A caveat to this is the visibility of your sport. The golf, baseball and women's basketball coach gets to operate under less of a microscope than do the revenue producers.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

This is an extremely interesting topic. It’s also one in which I have always wondered about in my own mind for years … and I’ve never read nor learned anything about for years, too. Until just now, after reading this thread.

I just don’t know the answers. Especially on the topic of developing college pitchers at the Division 1 level.

One thing I do know, however … is that while I am very impressed with the professional baseball background and experience of GT’s current Pitching Coach Dave Borrell, he’s only into the beginning of his second year as a pitching coach with college-age pitchers.

This specific inexperience leaves me a bit concerned, but … I hope he succeeds.

I agree with your concern to some extent, but he was in the Yankees organization for 18 years, 7 of them as a pitcher, the rest as a pitching coach and then pitching coordinator of the entire Yankees system. Don't know what levels he was pitching coach for, but I would assume pitching coaches usually start off at the bottom levels of the organization, which means he has probably coached high school level (some international signings), college level (drafted out of high school), and late college level/graduates in his career. So, I assume, he has coached more college-age pitchers in his career than most, if not all, other pitching coaches we've ever had. That being said, coaching college-age pitchers that are in college and have to go to these pesky things called classes is much different than coaching college-age pitchers who are now professionals and are focused entirely on baseball. But there is also much more of a support system when you are on a college team than when you're in low A ball and it's either you or your roommate that's moving up to the next level.

 

[Squints]

I agree with your concern to some extent, but he was in the Yankees organization for 18 years, 7 of them as a pitcher, the rest as a pitching coach and then pitching coordinator of the entire Yankees system. Don't know what levels he was pitching coach for, but I would assume pitching coaches usually start off at the bottom levels of the organization, which means he has probably coached high school level (some international signings), college level (drafted out of high school), and late college level/graduates in his career. So, I assume, he has coached more college-age pitchers in his career than most, if not all, other pitching coaches we've ever had. That being said, coaching college-age pitchers that are in college and have to go to these pesky things called classes is much different than coaching college-age pitchers who are now professionals and are focused entirely on baseball. But there is also much more of a support system when you are on a college team than when you're in low A ball and it's either you or your roommate that's moving up to the next level.

To follow up on this I don't remember what teams DBo was pitching coach for but iirc the Yankees had two pitching coordinators overseeing the the organizational pitcher development plan and his focus was on the lower minors so he spent a lot of time working with college aged pitchers and younger (international signees could be as young as 16). That's one of the reasons I was so excited about the hire because while he was there the Yankee minor league system had a long track record of taking in fringy guys at the lower levels and a few months later those guys are throwing significantly harder with wicked breaking balls out of nowhere.

 

[FredJacket]

I want to revisit this. The other day in an interview... CDH mentioned Dawson Brown had (the week prior) been working with DBo on some small tweak to his delivery. The OP question(s) remain for me.... does continuous work & tweaks across the staff happen with significant risk to short term success... too many runs allowed. I'm not picking on Brown. That was just the one mentioned by CDH when asked.

The old cliché "better is the enemy of good enough" comes to mind.

There are probably too many assumptions behind this if anyone is convinced the staff has put too much emphasis on development over "hold what you got" because it'll play in 2022 in the ACC.

BUT I happen to wonder these things.

Wiley made the point yesterday... I'm paraphrasing... but all that matters [for the team's success going forward] is figuring it out & getting right for May & June. We'll see.

 

[ScGold]

What ever Dbo is doing it is not working. His staff have given up runs at a historic pace. I can see why the Yankees let him walk. Tech's pitching hasn't gotten better with him calling the shots. Major disappointment.

 

[eokerholm]

What ever Dbo is doing it is not working. His staff have given up runs at a historic pace. I can see why the Yankees let him walk. Tech's pitching hasn't gotten better with him calling the shots. Major disappointment.

Agree to Disagree

You discount or dismiss the improvements he brought last year to Archer (as mentioned in other threads and even Archer mentioned and showed metrics), Hurter, Crawford and Grissom, as well as Dalton, Dawson and Siegel....

This year to Mannelly, Medich, Huff, Maxwell, Grissom, and 3 freshman, (his 1st recruiting class), that have worked their way into the weekend starting rotations and are active in the bullpen this season.

So the contribution and improvements are there, just difficult to quantify and they're not fully baked either.
This is not an immediate or overnight change and change takes time, reps, reps, and more reps, so give it time.

You can plant seeds, but without investing time & water they won't grow...

 

[ScGold]

Agree to Disagree

You discount or dismiss the improvements he brought last year to Archer (as mentioned in other threads and even Archer mentioned and showed metrics), Hurter, Crawford and Grissom, as well as Dalton, Dawson and Siegel....

This year to Mannelly, Medich, Huff, Maxwell, Grissom, and 3 freshman, (his 1st recruiting class), that have worked their way into the weekend starting rotations and are active in the bullpen this season.

So the contribution and improvements are there, just difficult to quantify and they're not fully baked either.
This is not an immediate or overnight change and change takes time, reps, reps, and more reps, so give it time.

You can plant seeds, but without investing time & water they won't grow...
View attachment 12338

Again you're acting as if getting talent is something new and we have to wait on the cake to bake. We should not have to be relying on fr or soph talent to find their way. The shape of the pitching staff is pitiful and any excuse your giving the staff is just that another excuse. ive watched tech baseball for 40 years and the state of tech's pitching this year is very similar to years past. We have to out slug opponents. Seen this movie many times and it seems the ending always kicks me in the nuts. Pitching coach is stealing money.

 

[eokerholm]

I'm not discounting or doubting your history with GT Baseball or perspective.

Coaches have multiple jobs, and wear multiple hats. Recruiting, Development, Improvements, Cheerleading, Calming Presence, etc.

I was just mentioning the improvements to guys on staff last year (since DBo wasn't involved in the recruiting of the 2020 class) and they mentioned it too (with improved metrics); improvements to guys on staff this year, as well as giving him some credit for recruiting - as the 21 class was his first recruiting class.

This has been mentioned on multiple occasions as well - there is also waaaay more talent in college baseball (across the board) now than ever before (undeniable) that you're not considering as a factor either. That in and of itself is going to make pitching, defense, offense, look weaker than in years past. But it isn't, just skewed.

I do agree that we need to out slug opponents, as defense doesn't score runs. But with the increase talent and covid clog, other's defense is better too, which makes the slugging we are doing even more impressive.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I want to revisit this. The other day in an interview... CDH mentioned Dawson Brown had (the week prior) been working with DBo on some small tweak to his delivery. The OP question(s) remain for me.... does continuous work & tweaks across the staff happen with significant risk to short term success... too many runs allowed. I'm not picking on Brown. That was just the one mentioned by CDH when asked.

The old cliché "better is the enemy of good enough" comes to mind.

There are probably too many assumptions behind this if anyone is convinced the staff has put too much emphasis on development over "hold what you got" because it'll play in 2022 in the ACC.

BUT I happen to wonder these things.

Wiley made the point yesterday... I'm paraphrasing... but all that matters [for the team's success going forward] is figuring it out & getting right for May & June. We'll see.

Our best case is that enough pitchers become consistent by postseason to be competitive throughout a tournament. Along with that best case is that the reps leads to muscle memory which leads to consistency.

For years I've wanted to do what we are doing with the quick hook for pitcher development, we'll see how wrong (or possibly right) that is come late May ACC Tourney and June NCAAs. Till then, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Again you're acting as if getting talent is something new and we have to wait on the cake to bake. We should not have to be relying on fr or soph talent to find their way. The shape of the pitching staff is pitiful and any excuse your giving the staff is just that another excuse. ive watched tech baseball for 40 years and the state of tech's pitching this year is very similar to years past. We have to out slug opponents. Seen this movie many times and it seems the ending always kicks me in the nuts. Pitching coach is stealing money.

To have followed GT baseball for 40 years and still give a damn and not given up is impressive. Better than me some days.

Like the mountaineers who say, "I'm going to die, just not today", I try to say "I'm not going to give up on GT baseball today, maybe after the next game but not today."

 

[ScGold]

Our best case is that enough pitchers become consistent by postseason to be competitive throughout a tournament. Along with that best case is that the reps leads to muscle memory which leads to consistency.

For years I've wanted to do what we are doing with the quick hook for pitcher development, we'll see how wrong (or possibly right) that is come late May ACC Tourney and June NCAAs. Till then, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.



To have followed GT baseball for 40 years and still give a damn and not given up is impressive. Better than me some days.

Like the mountaineers who say, "I'm going to die, just not today", I try to say "I'm not going to give up on GT baseball today, maybe after the next game but not today."

Following yes, quit trusting in Danny roughly 10 yrs ago. I love tech sports in general. Just tired of watching Danny take elite talent and continue to **** the bed with it. After he took Jim's team to Omaha he has steady declined. Building a program is hard. He hasn't built squat he has wasted many good opportunities to win a natty. I am not going to quit following because i think baseball has passed danny hall and i won't support him. I pull for the name on the front of the jersey. I'll pull for ramaey until he shows the support isn't warranted. TFHWG!!

 

[FredJacket]

Following yes, quit trusting in Danny roughly 10 yrs ago. I love tech sports in general. Just tired of watching Danny take elite talent and continue to **** the bed with it. After he took Jim's team to Omaha he has steady declined. Building a program is hard. He hasn't built squat he has wasted many good opportunities to win a natty. I am not going to quit following because i think baseball has passed danny hall and i won't support him. I pull for the name on the front of the jersey. I'll pull for ramaey until he shows the support isn't warranted. TFHWG!!

A curious exercise would be to go back to the transition from Morris to Hall & insert another coach. Then put some thought into who that guy would have been & consider if he would have done better or the other coaches who would have filled the 25+ years since Morris.

I loved Morris (still do). Granted... he started at a much lower point; but never got out of a regional while at Tech. Had to go to Miami... proceeded to have unreal success in Coral Gables... right away & sustained long term.

Both HOF coaches since 1982 have not solved the Ga Tech post season narrative.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

Following yes, quit trusting in Danny roughly 10 yrs ago. I love tech sports in general. Just tired of watching Danny take elite talent and continue to **** the bed with it. After he took Jim's team to Omaha he has steady declined. Building a program is hard. He hasn't built squat he has wasted many good opportunities to win a natty. I am not going to quit following because i think baseball has passed danny hall and i won't support him. I pull for the name on the front of the jersey. I'll pull for ramaey until he shows the support isn't warranted. TFHWG!!

I disagree with Danny not building a program after inheriting Jim's team. Yes, Danny lost in the championship game with Morris's players in 1994 (but he coached them there, and if it had been best 2/3 like it is today, I like our chances to win that one!). The core of that team left for pro ball after that.

I must admit at this point, that I got to Tech as a graduate student in fall 1995, so didn't see any of the 1994 or 1995 season.

Results after the 1994 CWS season: 1995-1998 lost in regionals. 1999 didn't make the NCAA's with a 38-20 record (that decision by the NCAA surprised me, but what do I know???). There was also a change during this period (I believe it was 1999) from 48 teams in the NCAA tournament with 8, 6 team regionals to 64 teams and 16, 4 team regionals.

2000 through 2006: 2000 lost in Super Regional, 2001 Lost in Regional, 2002 Lost in CWS, 2003 lost in Regional, 2004 lost in Super Regional, 2005 lost in Super Regional, 2006 lost in CWS. Our win totals in those years: 50, 41, 52, 44, 44, 45, 50. Some years we had injuries. Some years, the ball didn't bounce our way. But I don't understand how you can say that Danny Hall "hasn't built squat" when looking at those records and where we ended our seasons (Regional 2, Super Regional 3, CWS 2, which is double the number of CWS we had been to "prior to Danny" if you give Jim Morris credit for the one in 1994 and not Hall). If you give credit to Hall for the 1994 CWS, since he was the coach, he's guided us to all of our CWS appearances.

College baseball has changed as well. Back in 2000 through 2006, we had players on our bench that could have started for other ACC or SEC programs. Today, since college baseball has become an ESPN darling, those kids are probably going to Mercer, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, etc. It's a different game today than it was 10 to 20 years ago. Great for College Baseball. Not so great for GT making a deep run into the post-season every year...

 

[ScGold]

I disagree with Danny not building a program after inheriting Jim's team. Yes, Danny lost in the championship game with Morris's players in 1994 (but he coached them there, and if it had been best 2/3 like it is today, I like our chances to win that one!). The core of that team left for pro ball after that.

I must admit at this point, that I got to Tech as a graduate student in fall 1995, so didn't see any of the 1994 or 1995 season.

Results after the 1994 CWS season: 1995-1998 lost in regionals. 1999 didn't make the NCAA's with a 38-20 record (that decision by the NCAA surprised me, but what do I know???). There was also a change during this period (I believe it was 1999) from 48 teams in the NCAA tournament with 8, 6 team regionals to 64 teams and 16, 4 team regionals.

2000 through 2006: 2000 lost in Super Regional, 2001 Lost in Regional, 2002 Lost in CWS, 2003 lost in Regional, 2004 lost in Super Regional, 2005 lost in Super Regional, 2006 lost in CWS. Our win totals in those years: 50, 41, 52, 44, 44, 45, 50. Some years we had injuries. Some years, the ball didn't bounce our way. But I don't understand how you can say that Danny Hall "hasn't built squat" when looking at those records and where we ended our seasons (Regional 2, Super Regional 3, CWS 2, which is double the number of CWS we had been to "prior to Danny" if you give Jim Morris credit for the one in 1994 and not Hall). If you give credit to Hall for the 1994 CWS, since he was the coach, he's guided us to all of our CWS appearances.

College baseball has changed as well. Back in 2000 through 2006, we had players on our bench that could have started for other ACC or SEC programs. Today, since college baseball has become an ESPN darling, those kids are probably going to Mercer, Georgia State, Georgia Southern, Kennesaw State, etc. It's a different game today than it was 10 to 20 years ago. Great for College Baseball. Not so great for GT making a deep run into the post-season every year...

I am not disagreeing with anything you said. I will leave like this danny hall is the welfare version of mike martin. Only danny is regional or super loser instead of cws loser.

 

[JacketOff]

Arguments like these just show that y’all don’t really know baseball. The MLB team with the best regular season record wins the World Series less than 20% of the time, and that’s in a 30 team league with playoff fields of 8, 10, and now 12 since 1995. College baseball is a 200+ team league with a playoff field of 64.

In baseball the “best” team will win the game on the field less often than in any other sport. Add in a tournament format and it’s literally a crapshoot. At GT, if you aren’t hosting a regional then you’re almost assuredly going to play at a top 16 ranked SEC school in a hostile environment. And even if GT does host a regional, we’re probably getting a top 30 SEC school along with a very good mid-major out of the Sun Belt, SoCon, or AAC. It’s not easy to win in the postseason at any level of baseball, and especially not in college at a place like Georgia Tech. There’s no such thing as an easy regional, usually at least 3 of the 4 teams are capable of getting to Omaha, and some really good regionals all 4 participants will have legit Omaha aspirations. I think getting out of a Super is much easier than getting out of a regional, and we just haven’t been able to get out of a regional. That in no way makes Danny Hall less of a coach than anyone in the game today. Up until the most recent renovations our baseball facilities had fallen waaaayyyy behind the rest of the P5, even schools without deep baseball history like Tennessee, Baylor, Oregon, Virginia Tech, Ohio State, and countless more. Yet DH kept pulling in star studded recruiting classes and putting his teams in regionals, but once you get to a regional anything can happen. If you think Mike Martin not winning a natty makes him less of a coach than say, Gary Gilmore (guarantee you’ll have to look up who that is), then you’re insane.

Sure, there’s been years go by without making it out of a regional where we can all say, “damn, we really had too good of a team to not even get to a Super.” But that happens every single year with dozens of teams, both regional hosts and guests. The #1 overall seed in the tournament has failed to make it to Omaha for 20 consecutive years. It damn sure ain’t easy, and it requires a good bit of luck. DH is a GT legend, and a college baseball legend whether or not he ever makes it back to Omaha. If you feel otherwise it’s okay to stick your head where the sun don’t shine.

 

[randerto]

Great topic and discussion.
I do agree there is a level of success that lead GT to you and you to GT. We have some seriously elite players and arms on the staff. You make a valid point and one of the things that lead my son and others to choose GT was DBo. That is a theme you will hear A LOT. DBo is a maestro. He can make huge improvements with minimal and minute changes to mechanics, ball grip, pitching packages, and we're seeing the benefits of that across the staff, even the new guys. JoMan, Bartniki, Cort and others. A slight change to the arm angle, approach, routine, delivery makes huge differences in how the ball is thrown, looks to the batter and behaves in the air. Other programs and coaches want to or will Overhaul a pitcher when the get to campus. That is definitely a detractor. Build upon what made these guys great and make them greater. This improves safety, longevity, and recovery. That is what DBo, Ramsey, and Hall are all doing.

This minute changes take time to take effect and change. These guys have been throwing "their way" for years and years, so practice, repetition, and confidence are big factors. I hear somewhere the difference between you and a professional golfer was, 10,000 balls (more like 50,000 with my golf game). But think about it - these pitchers show up to campus with close to that on their resumes regarding pitch counts. (Annual pitch count reference or guidance is something like 100 x your age). Of course some of the travel ball programs will exceed that, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

But make a change or a minute tweak and it feels different, and better, but different and still takes time and confidence for it to "stick" and overtake the previous 10,000 pitch muscle memory. I think and agree guys need time to get in the reps to get it to stick and to get confidence in their pitching package. Their recovery time to adopt the new mechanics is faster, but still takes time. They've all commented on the improvements. Archer and others and even DBo has posted and comparisons on Trackman/Rapsoto, etc. with pitch & ball metrics and flights and shown improvements on spin, break, and speed. The new pitching facilities really help the guys see and better understand what these changes do and what differences in force here or there has. It's truly amazing.

Change up is a great example. A lot of guys never get a chance to throw that (or many) in HS or Travel ball and therefore don't have the confidence in that pitch. I was listening to the draft in 2019 and 2020 and shocked at how many guys drafter were 2 or 3 pitch guys. But it makes sense. If someone throws 5-10% change ups, it takes quite awhile to get to 10,000 pitches.

The facilities and coaches we have are PHEnominal here. The professors we have are great too. That's why I told you all years ago when my son committed, the buzz of and draw to GT is real, from across the nation, and GT is doing a wonderful job recruiting, harnessing, and growing/developing talent.

Hall has been a solid and stable foundation and Rock of this program for decades - a true beacon, Ramsey has been stellar with the guys on hitting and mental game, Catcher U, and DBo has been brilliant, calming, and a maestro. We are reaping and seeing benefits of their oversight across the staff.

Change takes time and we're seeing the benefits of that hard work everyone has put in.

It's truly a great time to be a Jacket and a Jacket fan!!!

Love and appreciate the optimism and inside perspective. It's truly refreshing and provides a glimmer of hope for the last part of this season. But it is admittedly difficult to see overall pitching staff improvement this season given GT's 201st national team ERA ranking. Granted the infield defense has been bad which has clearly required our pitchers to get four outs in too many innings. But the general feel in most games has been we need to score double digits to win.

So truly very glad you are observing significant improvement of our pitching staff and hearing positive internal feedback regarding DBo. I can't wait for that improvement to start showing up in a quantifiable, factual way relative to in-game results. For a majority of fans, the jury will be out on DBo until this happens.