Ever Changing Perspective, Week by week

[senoiajacket]

Thanks, learned something. Probably in college too, here are the NCAA stats. https://www.ncaa.com/stats/baseball/d1/current/team/493/p6

Makes me feel better. Now I'll have to pay better attention

I remembered Bart being better. In 2017, Bart was 10 caught out of 26 or 38% caught. McCann closer to 47% caught.nd he was good.
View attachment 12221

..... and Jackson St is 7th in the country in stolen bases, with an 82% success rate. We caught at least one of their guys as I recall?

 

[GTNavyNuke]

..... and Jackson St is 7th in the country in stolen bases, with an 82% success rate. We caught at least one of their guys as I recall?

Looked at the updated stats after Jackson State. 20 of 27 have successfully stolen (74%).

We did get one Jackson State guy but that was after they had successfully stolen 2 bases to second that inning. Parada threw him out at third like he did to VT. Didn't check all the innings.

So I'm gonna say it's an area of improvement for our pitching staff and a guy who is looking like a top 10 draft pick. I have more stats that before (I had none).

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I'm officially an idiot. We are 20 sb in 27 attempts. Our opponents are 18 for 21 or 86%. So my gut was right and mind was wrong, we are bad at stopping SB attempts. Stats at bottom.

 

[FredJacket]

Perspective. We play in a very strong conference in a very strong division. Nothing is going to be easy. We are "capable" of improved play all-around & it'll be needed to compete for upper quartile of the ACC (a coveted top 4 seed for the ACC tournament). We aren't even close to being eliminated from a great season.

Expectation. My range is pretty big right now. Could be anywhere from really bad to very good.

 

[bensaysitathome]

This weekend was a reality check. Our pitching and defense have plenty of time to settle down, but there's progress to be made. Offense still good.

I expect us to fall from #10 to about #16-18, and our guys to remember there's plenty of season left. All goals still in front of us.

Beating uga is making this series loss much more tolerable. I'll always ride the high of beating the mutts as long as possible, and maybe a little longer.

 

[FittedJacket]

Here’s my take: the ACC is absolutely loaded. Up and down the best conference in baseball. Hard to win in this conference at full strength let alone missing starters. Friday night is a different game if we are at full strength. What happened Saturday happened and it happens. We weren’t going to win 50 games. Today‘s win was huge in so many different ways. We control our own fate in the Coastal. This team has no quit in it nor should we!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

This weekend was a reality check. Our pitching and defense have plenty of time to settle down, but there's progress to be made. Offense still good.

I expect us to fall from #10 to about #16-18, and our guys to remember there's plenty of season left. All goals still in front of us.

Beating uga is making this series loss much more tolerable. I'll always ride the high of beating the mutts as long as possible, and maybe a little longer.

I thought the same till I looked at how the top 25 did this week.

How The Top 25 Fared: Week Five • D1Baseball

Tennessee had another monster weekend, but wasn't alone. Here's how last week's Top 25 teams fared over the past week.

d1baseball.com

Being 4-2 in ACC is massively different than 3-3. NC State and UVa will be tough road trips. And the Huff / Grissom / Carwile starters will need to go deeper into the games.

 

[bensaysitathome]

Being 4-2 in ACC is massively different than 3-3. NC State and UVa will be tough road trips. And the Huff / Grissom / Carwile starters will need to go deeper into the games.

All good points. If the starting rotation goes as you say, I think Maxwell has the stuff to be a great closer. Carwile is just exciting right now; how can he not start?

But also, not all 4-2s are created equal. 2-1 each weekend looks much better than losing a series and a sweep. I point to our #3 overall seed in 2019 as evidence. Baseball polls are slow to react, but this weekend will not be forgotten.

 

[GTJon]

All good points. If the starting rotation goes as you say, I think Maxwell has the stuff to be a great closer. Carwile is just exciting right now; how can he not start?

But also, not all 4-2s are created equal. 2-1 each weekend looks much better than losing a series and a sweep. I point to our #3 overall seed in 2019 as evidence. Baseball polls are slow to react, but this weekend will not be forgotten.

I just don't know what the answer is with Maxwell. There's so much talent there but it's hard to consistently count on him. You can't have your Saturday starter going 2-3 innings every week. Yes, he has closer stuff, but I don't see how you can count on him to come in for the 9th with a one run lead and consistently hold it with the walks. Maybe as one of your top 7th/8th innings set up guys and have the short hook ready for him? Or if you use Carwile in the rotation, maybe move him to his slot as top guy out of the pen on Friday night once Huff is pulled?

 

[MWBATL]

This pitching curse drives me nuts. I am a huge believer that pitching wins in baseball, offense is cool, but good pitching beats good hitting. As we so often see when GT gets into the post-season.

Yet, here we are again. GT has a 5.68 team ERA (admittedly ruined badly by Saturday's game, but still...). (NB, all data in this posting are for the full season stats so far.)

We lead the league in walks. In fact, our 102 walks in 20 games (5 per game) are virtually double the volume of walks given up by good pitching staffs. UVa has yielded 61 walks and UNC only 58. Those are HUGE differences. Same story with HBP. We are tied for league-worst with 31 while good staffs yield 15 (UVa) and 17 (UNC). I am ignoring conference only stats for the moment because it's only 6 games, but trust me when I say we lead the league in being the worst in both those categories.

I simply don't understand why our pitching is so poor. My understanding of pitching excellence is that it is NEVER really about the quality of your "stuff" per se, but about how well you can locate your pitches. Greg Maddox is my hero, but he never had a killer fast ball or anything but pinpoint control. It seems like we keep trotting guys out who have great "stuff" somehow hoping they will learn to control it. Maybe we should be rewarding guys with average "stuff" who can hit their spots? I'm NOT close enough to say that's what we're doing. I am just saying we see this same pattern year, after year, after year.

And I'm getting tired of it.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

This pitching curse drives me nuts. I am a huge believer that pitching wins in baseball, offense is cool, but good pitching beats good hitting. As we so often see when GT gets into the post-season.

Yet, here we are again. GT has a 5.68 team ERA (admittedly ruined badly by Saturday's game, but still...). (NB, all data in this posting are for the full season stats so far.)

We lead the league in walks. In fact, our 102 walks in 20 games (5 per game) are virtually double the volume of walks given up by good pitching staffs. UVa has yielded 61 walks and UNC only 58. Those are HUGE differences. Same story with HBP. We are tied for league-worst with 31 while good staffs yield 15 (UVa) and 17 (UNC). I am ignoring conference only stats for the moment because it's only 6 games, but trust me when I say we lead the league in being the worst in both those categories.

I simply don't understand why our pitching is so poor. My understanding of pitching excellence is that it is NEVER really about the quality of your "stuff" per se, but about how well you can locate your pitches. Greg Maddox is my hero, but he never had a killer fast ball or anything but pinpoint control. It seems like we keep trotting guys out who have great "stuff" somehow hoping they will learn to control it. Maybe we should be rewarding guys with average "stuff" who can hit their spots? I'm NOT close enough to say that's what we're doing. I am just saying we see this same pattern year, after year, after year.

And I'm getting tired of it.

Our opponents know we walk a lot and work for walks more than hits. A self fulfilling prophesy until our pitchers can put away guys. Till then, the better hitters just foul anything close away. Smart.

And it is a curse from the baseball gods; who / what do we sacrifice to lift the curse?

 

[senoiajacket]

Our opponents know we walk a lot and work for walks more than hits. A self fulfilling prophesy until our pitchers can put away guys. Till then, the better hitters just foul anything close away. Smart.

And it is a curse from the baseball gods; who / what do we sacrifice to lift the curse?

Could just be me, but didn’t this all start about the time we changed the field name??????

 

[Northeast Stinger]

Our opponents know we walk a lot and work for walks more than hits. A self fulfilling prophesy until our pitchers can put away guys. Till then, the better hitters just foul anything close away. Smart.

And it is a curse from the baseball gods; who / what do we sacrifice to lift the curse?

On the other hand, if we can maintain a reputation for wild pitching it might keep opposing batters from getting too comfortable at the plate. I’m only half kidding. Was it Nolan Ryan who used to throw a couple of 100 mph fastballs against the backstop when throwing his warm up pitches on the mound? He liked the idea that his was literally throwing pitches that could kill you and batters always wondered how his control was on a given day.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

On the other hand, if we can maintain a reputation for wild pitching it might keep opposing batters from getting too comfortable at the plate. I’m only half kidding. Was it Nolan Ryan who used to throw a couple of 100 mph fastballs against the backstop when throwing his warm up pitches on the mound? He liked the idea that his was literally throwing pitches that could kill you and batters always wondered how his control was on a given day.

Hasn't worked so far with Mannelly pitching (.73 hbp per IP). Or most anyone else as we are in lead in the ACC for HBP.

My perspective remains that our pitching could possibly, maybe be slightly improved. While we are in first for walks, and tied for first in HBP and balks, there are two teams with worse ERA and BA - Pitt and BC.

 

[senoiajacket]

Hasn't worked so far with Mannelly pitching (.73 hbp per IP). Or most anyone else as we are in lead in the ACC for HBP.

My perspective remains that our pitching could possibly, maybe be slightly improved. While we are in first for walks, and tied for first in HBP and balks, there are two teams with worse ERA and BA - Pitt and BC.

View attachment 12235

The thing is, we don’t have 12th in the league talent but we are getting 12th in the league results ……..

 

[randerto]

This pitching curse drives me nuts. I am a huge believer that pitching wins in baseball, offense is cool, but good pitching beats good hitting. As we so often see when GT gets into the post-season.

Yet, here we are again. GT has a 5.68 team ERA (admittedly ruined badly by Saturday's game, but still...). (NB, all data in this posting are for the full season stats so far.)

We lead the league in walks. In fact, our 102 walks in 20 games (5 per game) are virtually double the volume of walks given up by good pitching staffs. UVa has yielded 61 walks and UNC only 58. Those are HUGE differences. Same story with HBP. We are tied for league-worst with 31 while good staffs yield 15 (UVa) and 17 (UNC). I am ignoring conference only stats for the moment because it's only 6 games, but trust me when I say we lead the league in being the worst in both those categories.

I simply don't understand why our pitching is so poor. My understanding of pitching excellence is that it is NEVER really about the quality of your "stuff" per se, but about how well you can locate your pitches. Greg Maddox is my hero, but he never had a killer fast ball or anything but pinpoint control. It seems like we keep trotting guys out who have great "stuff" somehow hoping they will learn to control it. Maybe we should be rewarding guys with average "stuff" who can hit their spots? I'm NOT close enough to say that's what we're doing. I am just saying we see this same pattern year, after year, after year.

And I'm getting tired of it.

I'm starting to wonder with the new "lab" and all the measurement capabilities if we may be emphasizing pitching metrics and analytics over coaching our kids how to get players out... There's a difference between focusing on the top spin rate, speed, movement, etc... and getting a batter out... For example, know every hitter's tendencies and focus on how to pitch to his weaknesses. This implies focus on control of pitches vs metrics...

 

[eokerholm]

I'm starting to wonder with the new "lab" and all the measurement capabilities if we may be emphasizing pitching metrics and analytics over coaching our kids how to get players out... There's a difference between focusing on the top spin rate, speed, movement, etc... and getting a batter out... For example, know every hitter's tendencies and focus on how to pitch to his weaknesses. This implies focus on control of pitches vs metrics...

That is what scouting reports are for. You don't see the pitchers pull out the scouting reports or notes on every batter like you do the fielders so they know what to expect and where to shift. I also don't think the pitchers are the one calling their own pitches. Coaches have the reports, notes, and data on every player and call the pitch in. The pitchers have plenty on their plates and are dealing with a lot. Runners on base, threats of steals, focusing on that pitch, delivering the called pitch and to what location. Lots going on.

The lab, metrics and ball flights are for them to visualize and analyze ball movement and paths so they can better understand the effects of grip, pressure, location, spin and movement and what that means to their pitching package and offerings and how each pitch looks and acts differently. THAT is what the lab is for to to get to a certain spin rate and win a carnival prize. It's learning what to do and how to use your various pitches, grips, and options to confuse and beat the batter, pitch after pitch.

Oh and let's not forget as we all sit at our keyboards, they're also 18-22+ years old and also full time students at a REALLY HARD school. With class loads, tests, projects and labs, significant others, college life, and oh by the way ALSO full time athletes and on TV. No one is trying to screw up and no perform or deliver.

So definitely lots going on. More enjoyable and less stressful to sit back, root them on and try to enjoy the ride.

It truly is amazing to watch given what they are asked to and and what they can do with all the above.

Just my $.02

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I'm starting to wonder with the new "lab" and all the measurement capabilities if we may be emphasizing pitching metrics and analytics over coaching our kids how to get players out... There's a difference between focusing on the top spin rate, speed, movement, etc... and getting a batter out... For example, know every hitter's tendencies and focus on how to pitch to his weaknesses. This implies focus on control of pitches vs metrics...

I think we'd be worse (gasp) without the pitching lab. But I can't prove or disprove the labs impact on getting guys out. The inability to get guys out and the batter's ability to go very deep into the count is very concerning.

We can probably say that their pitches are better now than before. Especially for the Fr who are DBo's first real class. But being better is a very low bar to get over. We aren't even near the middle of the ACC overall in pitching.

Time will tell whether I'm being over optimistic, but I think we will get a lot better ERA within three years as DBo has more time and the PG ranked quality of the pitchers continues to improve.

 

[GT33]

Oh and let's not forget as we all sit at our keyboards, they're also 18-22+ years old and also full time students at a REALLY HARD school. With class loads, tests, projects and labs, significant others, college life, and oh by the way ALSO full time athletes and on TV. No one is trying to screw up and no perform or deliver.

I’m just glad nobody caught any of my college antics on tv. I’d probably still be doing time!

I just hope what we’re doing ends up with better performing players. We all are predisposed to think that technology can solve all our ills- sometimes it’s failing a few times that does the trick, or a good swift kick in the butt, or dumping that crazy chick, or getting lucky when you don’t deserve it, or some innocuous comment from a coach or teammate, etc. Whatever works.

 

[CINCYMETJACKET]

On the other hand, if we can maintain a reputation for wild pitching it might keep opposing batters from getting too comfortable at the plate. I’m only half kidding. Was it Nolan Ryan who used to throw a couple of 100 mph fastballs against the backstop when throwing his warm up pitches on the mound? He liked the idea that his was literally throwing pitches that could kill you and batters always wondered how his control was on a given day.

Nolan Ryan also leads MLB in strikeouts and walks all time from my research. #3 in losses all time. I'd prefer fewer strikeouts and walks, and more wins...