Fall Ball 2017

[RoosterJacket]

...and @twofortheroad did some quality research to figure this out.

@ Ga Southern 2/20
Ga State 3/7
@Auburn3/13
Auburn 3/20
Ga Southern 3/27
@ UGA 4/3
@ Ga State 4/11
UGA 4/24 .
UGA SUntrust 5/8
Have heard we are playing Minnesota this year. Pretty sure it's the Gophers but maybe it's another school in Minnesota. Playing in Atlanta.

...I looked at the ACC schedules and put this together

Mar 9-11 @ Clemson
Mar 16-18 Home v Va Tech
Mar 23-25 @ NC State (not official.. my educated guess)
Mar 30-Apr 1 Home v Miami (not official.. my educated guess)
Apr 6-8 Home v FSU
Apr 13-15 @ Pitt
Apr 20-22 @ UNC
Apr 27-29 Home v Wake Forest
May 11-13 @ UVA
May 17-19 Home v Duke

That first weekend we are playing Minnesota, Bradley, and UCONN. Those teams will also play Kennesaw St and Ga State. UCONN has a couple of pitchers that are supposed to be really good—one was a freshman that we faced in the FLA Regional in 2016 and beat us.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I’d expect Connor Thomas to be one of the starters based off of how CDH talked about him last fall and last season while he was ineligible. He got several chances last year in the last few weeks and struggled, but CDH still sounded very high on him. Hopefully Hughes has a bounce back year. Lee had some very promising outings the last few weeks of the season so I hope he is able to grow upon that.

I've learned that what CDH says about players has a loose correlation with future performance. Hope springs eternal and we are undefeated!

Have you guys given up on English? I think he has more potential than any of our pitchers.

I agree with this about potential but don't think English will be that sharp this year given how little he has pitched recently. His injury wasn't reportedly Tommy John but it was something to the elbow so maybe he'll be coming back quicker. The GT pitching experience recently is that our pitchers aren't sharp after sitting out a year.

I hope English (or someone better) is at first base. That was a weakness last year. And English has a good bat. I guess what I'm saying is that Tristin is just a good baseball player.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

Hang on, baseball season is coming!!!!!

(It's what I keep telling myself.)

 

[THWG]

Hang on, baseball season is coming!!!!!

(It's what I keep telling myself.)

I can almost smell the hotdogs and taste the peanuts.

 

[FredJacket]

Hang on, baseball season is coming!!!!!

(It's what I keep telling myself.)

What's the over/under (date sometime in the Feb-May range) when @GTNavyNuke posts something like this... "...hang on, football season is coming!!"
Seems my emotional responses to this football season mirrored those I felt during the baseball season. ...yet, I keep coming back for more with no regrets. GO JACKETS!!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

What's the over/under (date sometime in the Feb-May range) when @GTNavyNuke posts something like this... "...hang on, football season is coming!!"
Seems my emotional responses to this football season mirrored those I felt during the baseball season. ...yet, I keep coming back for more with no regrets. GO JACKETS!!

This year I've lowered my expectations as we are going to be developing pitching depth (again); just want to make the NCAAs. As long as we play well for our talent level, I'll be satisfied. I'm already thinking about going to the ACC Tourney ...... it is going to be back in NC isn't it?

Football is much more emotional for me; in hindsight, I was actually glad that my plane Saturday was delayed 5 hours (IAD) and I missed the second fluke half entirely. I have NO intention to check out the details of what led to the debacle as there is no joy to be found there. Maybe I'll get to the point in late Spring that I'll be looking forward to football again. Hopefully baseball will fill the spring into summer!

 

[MikeJackets1967]

I hope GT baseball will be on the upswing in 2018. Spring is so much better when the baseball team is doing well!

 

[FredJacket]

This year I've lowered my expectations as we are going to be developing pitching depth (again); just want to make the NCAAs. As long as we play well for our talent level, I'll be satisfied. I'm already thinking about going to the ACC Tourney ...... it is going to be back in NC isn't it?

Football is much more emotional for me; in hindsight, I was actually glad that my plane Saturday was delayed 5 hours (IAD) and I missed the second fluke half entirely. I have NO intention to check out the details of what led to the debacle as there is no joy to be found there. Maybe I'll get to the point in late Spring that I'll be looking forward to football again. Hopefully baseball will fill the spring into summer!

I highly recommend the ACC Baseball Tournament if you like college baseball. Yes.. back in Durham in 2018.

I'll warn you now, though.. IF you commit to going to the tournament, the angst of those last few season series should Ga Tech be on the bubble for making the tournament can be pretty brutal.

I'm hoping the ACC takes a look at the tournament format too. I feel there is no perfect format to make each game meaningful (for tournament purposes)... but maybe some genius out there has figured out something better than what they did last year.

 

[THWG]

This year I've lowered my expectations as we are going to be developing pitching depth (again); just want to make the NCAAs. As long as we play well for our talent level, I'll be satisfied. I'm already thinking about going to the ACC Tourney ...... it is going to be back in NC isn't it?

Football is much more emotional for me; in hindsight, I was actually glad that my plane Saturday was delayed 5 hours (IAD) and I missed the second fluke half entirely. I have NO intention to check out the details of what led to the debacle as there is no joy to be found there. Maybe I'll get to the point in late Spring that I'll be looking forward to football again. Hopefully baseball will fill the spring into summer!

My expectations for this season are for the team to be over .500 in ACC play and to make it to the NCAA tourney. The offense should be a lot better with Bailey, English, Bart, Wilhite, and Johnson. I have to believe that the pitching will be better this year, especially in the pen with Carpenter, Datoc, and Winborne being the primary 3 out of the pen. I believe that we will be pleasantly surprised this year as it is the 3rd year for that top 5 class and this should be the year when that class reaches its potential.

 

[MikeJackets1967]

My expectations for this season are for the team to be over .500 in ACC play and to make it to the NCAA tourney. The offense should be a lot better with Bailey, English, Bart, Wilhite, and Johnson. I have to believe that the pitching will be better this year, especially in the pen with Carpenter, Datoc, and Winborne being the primary 3 out of the pen. I believe that we will be pleasantly surprised this year as it is the 3rd year for that top 5 class and this should be the year when that class reaches its potential.

 

[FredJacket]

I hope you are correct @THWG. Over .500 in ACC play would be huge. Last time we were "over" that mark was 2011 (21-7). In 2013 we were exactly .500 (15-15). Otherwise, it has been quite awhile since we manage doing that.

 

[twofortheroad]

I have heard that during the gold and white series Winborne has changed his mechanics and now throws side-arm. Hopefully that will help his control and give us that option out of the bullpen. Also some observations from someone that was at the series:
- Nick Wilhite is a pretty good center fielder as is Carter Hall.
- Connor Thomas looked very smooth in his outing as did Keyton Gibson
- Jonathan Thomas looks like he is back. Strong outings and looked confident.
- Third base is going to be a challenge no matter how you stack it up. A lot of the errors recorded were at third. Working out McCann there and he may just be your best bet.
- Ratliff really doesn't have an arm from the outfield, anticipate lots of cut-offs if he is out there. Nice bat but you have to play both sides of the ball.
- Oscar strikes out a lot, really needs to work on control at the plate in the off-season, he did not pitch during the series
- Freshmen Brace and Chapman got hit up a lot during their outings. Not sure what's going on there.

One things for sure, they have got to have team unity to make it all come together.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I have heard that during the gold and white series Winborne has changed his mechanics and now throws side-arm. Hopefully that will help his control and give us that option out of the bullpen. Also some observations from someone that was at the series:
- Nick Wilhite is a pretty good center fielder as is Carter Hall.
- Connor Thomas looked very smooth in his outing as did Keyton Gibson
- Jonathan Thomas looks like he is back. Strong outings and looked confident.
- Third base is going to be a challenge no matter how you stack it up. A lot of the errors recorded were at third. Working out McCann there and he may just be your best bet.
- Ratliff really doesn't have an arm from the outfield, anticipate lots of cut-offs if he is out there. Nice bat but you have to play both sides of the ball.
- Oscar strikes out a lot, really needs to work on control at the plate in the off-season, he did not pitch during the series
- Freshmen Brace and Chapman got hit up a lot during their outings. Not sure what's going on there.

One things for sure, they have got to have team unity to make it all come together.

Great post.

In game 2, Connor Thomas pitched 3.0 innings, no hits (batter or otherwise ), no walks and three SOs. I was wondering why he faced 11 batters. Must have been errors. So yeah, lights out! But then in Game 3, Connor gave up 5 hits in 3.0 innings, no walks and 5 SOs. While there were 5 runs in the 3 innings, he only gave up 1 run. 4 errors by Gold.

We have to have better D to give our pitchers a chance.

Sure it's fall ball and people are being tried out so there will be errors. But 3rd and 1st were nightmares on and off last year. English (or better) back at first is reassuring. 3rd still open from what I read and @twofortheroad said, that is the key. So glad Bailey is back! With Wilhite, we should be solid at 2nd and SS.

Here are the stats from Game 2 http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...isc_non_event/wgseries17_game_2_box_score.pdf Freshmen have trouble pitching in the fall. Go figure (tic).

Here are the stats from Game 3 http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...isc_non_event/wgseries17_game_3_box_score.pdf

 

[THWG]

Great post.

In game 2, Connor Thomas pitched 3.0 innings, no hits (batter or otherwise ), no walks and three SOs. I was wondering why he faced 11 batters. Must have been errors. So yeah, lights out! But then in Game 3, Connor gave up 5 hits in 3.0 innings, no walks and 5 SOs. While there were 5 runs in the 3 innings, he only gave up 1 run. 4 errors by Gold.

We have to have better D to give our pitchers a chance.

Sure it's fall ball and people are being tried out so there will be errors. But 3rd and 1st were nightmares on and off last year. English (or better) back at first is reassuring. 3rd still open from what I read and @twofortheroad said, that is the key. So glad Bailey is back! With Wilhite, we should be solid at 2nd and SS.

Here are the stats from Game 2 http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...isc_non_event/wgseries17_game_2_box_score.pdf Freshmen have trouble pitching in the fall. Go figure (tic).

Here are the stats from Game 3 http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools...isc_non_event/wgseries17_game_3_box_score.pdf

The one thing that I can't accept in baseball is errors. If a team just comes out and shells your pitcher, tip your cap to them and move on, I can accept that. However, losing a game because you had multiple errors is just unacceptable and extremely frustrating. They need to clean it up before the season starts.

 

[FredJacket]

The one thing that I can't accept in baseball is errors. If a team just comes out and shells your pitcher, tip your cap to them and move on, I can accept that. However, losing a game because you had multiple errors is just unacceptable and extremely frustrating. They need to clean it up before the season starts.

My top 4 baseball 'things' that boil my blood:
1) Failing to score after getting a runner on 3rd and less than 2 outs.
2) When called upon...failing to successfully get a bunt down...on the ground... in play.
3) Free passes from the mound (HBPs and BBs).
4) Those errors... those dad-gum errors!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

My top baseball "thing" that pisses me off is losing due to unforced errors. That's a lot of things including hitting the lead off batter and the things mentioned above. Our D wasn't nearly as good last year; it needs to be better this year to make the NCAAs....... but hey, it's winter (or feels like it) and we're undefeated.

 

[FredJacket]

http://www.ramblinwreck.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/112917aaa.html

Good wrap up on fall baseball... mostly CDH's perspective. As always, he's generally positive. I would expect no less sitting undefeated for 2018. I'm not going back to compare his 'review' with those who saw some fall action live and provided their own perspectives; but my recall is he's pretty consistent with the few who posted here.

Some things I note from the article:
1) I'm a total sucker for this kind of optimism. I'm all in. ...convinced we're going to be better this year.. maybe much better. I know...it's silly to say/think that based on 'results'. However, there are no 2018 results.... yet.
2) The one negative comment from CDH is poor defense. If this is a thing, that'll suck. Hopefully, A.Wilhite back to SS will significantly shore things up.
3) I don't follow our recruiting/signees closely, so I may have missed it.. but it was news to me that we have a hard-throwing LHP (Will Shirah) enrolling in January and eligible to play this coming season. THAT could be HUGE!
4) I must admit reading through the article, it does seem our lineup could really be a run-producer again. I love the speed of Hall and Bailey's leadership/consistency at the top of the order.
5) I must assume English is NOT a pitcher anymore...although he's listed as RHP/1B. Anyone know more than the 'feeling' I have?
6) I'm most curious about how pitching will settle... starting rotation (great to hear specifics on Curry's improvement) AND the closer??
7) Finally... minor thing. But this article starts off a little in the 'not quite right' realm. Spring bulb planting? Hall with the 'green thumb'? The team is blooming beautifully? Yikes!!

GO Jackets!!

 

[THWG]

I thought I heard somewhere that English would be used a little out of the pen, but mainly at 1st base.

 

[MWBATL]

I'll get excited when I see some consistently good pitching.

Now get off my lawn!

 

[65Jacket]

Fred, I disagree with you on English. He has not been allowed to hit this Fall, but he has thrown some. Sounds to me like they do plan to pitch him.