Aaron Fitt's "Fall Report" on GT is out. He has long liked GT. Conclusion: If our defense improves, we can be a top 25 team.
A lot of details on how the pitching has gotten better.
- Connor Thomas - "analytics darling". Against USC he gave up some runs early then struck out 4 of 5.
- Xzavion Curry - has the pitches and power but needed better control to start. Ended first with three straight SOs.
- Tristin English - May be the nations premier 2 way player. Glad that he didn't get drafted or leave post draft!! Aaron noted it was a huge coup for us to get him back.
- Hurter and Archer aren't pitching this fall.
- Jake Lee - Looked good against USC and could be a mid reliever. For whatever reason, I really like Jake; may be his attitude on the hill.
- Amos Willingham - Juco with three quality pitches. Start mid-week and then move to weekend or bullpen was Aaron's guess.
- Luke Bartnicki - "crown jewel" of 2018 Fr recruiting class. Good against USC with 3 pitches. According to Hall, Luke has really improved his slider. (One of these days I'll figure out again how to tell what the pitch is when it's thrown.)
- Cort Roedig - Fr good in his one USC inning.
Offense - good again with McCann, Murray, Serratos were some mentioned.
Defense - sucked (my words to paraphrase Aaron) against USC.
- Waddell made some nice plays at second against USC.
- Austin Wilhite - struggled early in the summer then went to NECBL and was an all star. So we'll see.
- Oscar Serratos - "one of Tech's most phusically gifted players". Capable of making great plays at third but not consistent. Regardless, I love him on the base pads.
- Baron Radcliffe - may get some time at first when Tristin isn't there. Needs to hit better with his power to spare.
- Nick Wilhite - getting better hitting in Sun Belt League over summer. Hit a single and double against USC. If he gets the bat going (with his ninja mind game ability to get walks) there is no keeping him out of the line-up (my opinion). I looked up Nick's summer stats (http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=206183 ). Hit 304 for Norcross Astros, which is a lot higher than his 155 last year (against better pitching).
It's the off season and most teams are projected top 25 potential right now. I'm cautiously optimistic, but like Charlie Brown with Lucy holding, nervous.