Portal Update

THWG

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,157
Senese just entered
It sucks that both Senese and Diamant entered the portal. I was hoping one of them would lock down the second base spot. And now that FittedJacket said that Jaros won't be available to start the year, the other at 3rd would have been nice. I know we have some stud shortstops coming in though if they don't get drafted.
 

Eli

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,612
It sucks that both Senese and Diamant entered the portal. I was hoping one of them would lock down the second base spot. And now that FittedJacket said that Jaros won't be available to start the year, the other at 3rd would have been nice. I know we have some stud shortstops coming in though if they don't get drafted.
And we just got one of the top portal players. A SS from Augusta University
 

THWG

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,157
And we just got one of the top portal players. A SS from Augusta University
I just looked into this and Lodise looks like a very good pickup. He hit .370 with 14 HRs and more walks than strikeouts this year. The one thing that needs to improve is his defense. We'll see how he improves but I imagine Kerce will be at SS and Lodise at 2B.
 

Killerbees

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
197
I just looked into this and Lodise looks like a very good pickup. He hit .370 with 14 HRs and more walks than strikeouts this year. The one thing that needs to improve is his defense. We'll see how he improves but I imagine Kerce will be at SS and Lodise at 2B.
This is a DII school right? Where is my friend talking about our transfers leveling down as a negative? Is he excited about this one? 😁
 

LargeFO

Helluva Engineer
Messages
3,419
How did we not get him on the field? Guy was a top 100 prospect. This is what I hate about using the portal. We took a lot of guys in the portal to play this year but fail to develop the solid recruits we’re bringing on campus.
Ugh...I was excited about him. Thought he was gonna be a slugger.

Lodise also had 24 steals. Seems to have some wheels.
 

gtbeak

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
529
This is a DII school right? Where is my friend talking about our transfers leveling down as a negative? Is he excited about this one? 😁
Based on a few other comments you've made, I think you're talking about me. If you are, you're not just putting words into my mouth that I never said, you're putting an entire 2 hour speech into my mouth that I didn't say. Nowhere did I say a single word about transfers into the program, it simply wasn't a part of the discussion. What I did ask was an honest and simple question, that being who was the last transfer out of the program who went on to do well at his next school. Not stated, but implied, was someone who we regretted letting leave our program. Bradley Frye was mentioned as one, and I made the observation that perhaps he counts, but probably not since he has earned a starting position at a lower level school and performed decently, but I wouldn't say he has been a great player there. I challenge you to explain how that even comes closet to implying that transfers from lower level schools are a bad thing, I would have to ignore reality to make that argument.

BTW, on the original question, I agree with you that Tyler Hare has had a great season at Wofford and we likely are regretting letting him get away. I also found another example in Jon Anderson at Samford.
 
Last edited:

Eli

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,612
Ugh...I was excited about him. Thought he was gonna be a slugger.

Lodise also had 24 steals. Seems to have some wheels.

Agree. I’m just not big on us using the portal to such a major extent. We have recruited at a high level I think there is zero reason for Tech to have 5-6 starters on a given day that are transfers. Having Bobby Z play the entire season was dumb. I’d rather have Graziano and Brosius rotate. Bobby Z hit .275 with 3 HRs. Wasted a year of someone like Graziano getting acclimatized to college pitching
 

Killerbees

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
197
Updated
Nico Senese
Carsten Sabathia
Drew Byers
Tyler Minnick
Petey Craska
Terry Busse
JD Smith
Jackson Vaughn
Demitri Diamant
Nicholas Romano -Florida International
 

FredJacket

Helluva Engineer
Messages
6,241
Location
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Agree. I’m just not big on us using the portal to such a major extent. We have recruited at a high level I think there is zero reason for Tech to have 5-6 starters on a given day that are transfers. Having Bobby Z play the entire season was dumb. I’d rather have Graziano and Brosius rotate. Bobby Z hit .275 with 3 HRs. Wasted a year of someone like Graziano getting acclimatized to college pitching
I like the sentiment. But if putting together the best roster year to year is the goal... you have to use the portal. Lots of excellent players (ready to contribute) look to transfer.

I'd love to know in detail how the recruiting strategy has changed in last couple years to "optimize" the roster. Seems much more complicated & dynamic than it once was.
 

Eli

Helluva Engineer
Messages
1,612
I like the sentiment. But if putting together the best roster year to year is the goal... you have to use the portal. Lots of excellent players (ready to contribute) look to transfer.

I'd love to know in detail how the recruiting strategy has changed in last couple years to "optimize" the roster. Seems much more complicated & dynamic than it once was.
I just believe you gain nothing by playing a 5th year transfer over a guy who committed to your program especially if that guy struggles all season. There was zero gain from Ga Tech by playing Bobby Z even half the time. Now we did rotate freshman INF but that was mainly due to the Giesler injury and Bechetti starting ACC play 3-32

Now I’m not saying we should never take a transfer but half our starting lineup should never be all 5th year senior transfers when you are recruiting top 10 classes.
 

Killerbees

Jolly Good Fellow
Messages
197
I just believe you gain nothing by playing a 5th year transfer over a guy who committed to your program especially if that guy struggles all season. There was zero gain from Ga Tech by playing Bobby Z even half the time.
Fully agree with you. At this point GT should only be recruiting 4-5 from high school if they are not going to play and/or develop them. CDH loves caveman baseball. If you can hit a HR you will get plenty of opportunities.
 

gtbeak

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
529
Fully agree with you. At this point GT should only be recruiting 4-5 from high school if they are not going to play and/or develop them. CDH loves caveman baseball. If you can hit a HR you will get plenty of opportunities.
I agree about the senior transfers with only one year to play. Perhaps one of these to plug an area of need, I'm thinking Matthew Ellis and the catching position here before the emergence of Vahn Lackey, but not on a large scale like we had this past season. This "problem" will lessen as we see the 6th year guys with Covid seasons remaining cycling through (Matthew Ellis is also an example of this). When you get down to it, there are only about 11 or 12 roster spots for hitters who get playing time (we seem to be talking only about hitters here) unless you have injuries. You have the starting 9, a 2nd catcher, and one or maybe two platoon type players. With 6 different classes still being eligible to play, that is only 2 spots per class. This past year we played 3 true freshmen a lot (Burress, Lackey, Kerce), and a 4th got a decent amount of action before what appears to be an injury based on the chatter from the past couple of days. That is a decent showing; without doing the research; my guess is that it is above the norm. The issue, of course, is next season....without developing more young position players, are we going to fill the need to bring in a bunch of transfers again? It becomes a vicious cycle.

BTW, I think we also have a transfer from Cornell already planned for next season. I can't remember the player's name, and Google didn't help, but I remember that one of Cornell's players had already announced back in February that he would be coming to Georgia Tech in 2026 for his 5th season. Apparently the Ivy League doesn't allow 5th seasons, so he couldn't return to Cornell.
 

THWG

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,157
I agree about the senior transfers with only one year to play. Perhaps one of these to plug an area of need, I'm thinking Matthew Ellis and the catching position here before the emergence of Vahn Lackey, but not on a large scale like we had this past season. This "problem" will lessen as we see the 6th year guys with Covid seasons remaining cycling through (Matthew Ellis is also an example of this). When you get down to it, there are only about 11 or 12 roster spots for hitters who get playing time (we seem to be talking only about hitters here) unless you have injuries. You have the starting 9, a 2nd catcher, and one or maybe two platoon type players. With 6 different classes still being eligible to play, that is only 2 spots per class. This past year we played 3 true freshmen a lot (Burress, Lackey, Kerce), and a 4th got a decent amount of action before what appears to be an injury based on the chatter from the past couple of days. That is a decent showing; without doing the research; my guess is that it is above the norm. The issue, of course, is next season....without developing more young position players, are we going to fill the need to bring in a bunch of transfers again? It becomes a vicious cycle.

BTW, I think we also have a transfer from Cornell already planned for next season. I can't remember the player's name, and Google didn't help, but I remember that one of Cornell's players had already announced back in February that he would be coming to Georgia Tech in 2026 for his 5th season. Apparently the Ivy League doesn't allow 5th seasons, so he couldn't return to Cornell.
Nathan Waugh. He hit .283 with 7 Hrs this year. Also only made 2 errors behind the plate. I would imagine that he is the DH next year and then gives Lackey a day off behind the plate once in a while.

I will say that I really like our core next year. Burress, Lackey, Kerce, and Lodise up the middle is very solid offensively and defensively. Then add in Brosius in right who can really get on base and plays great defense. The holes that I see right now are 3B with the Jaros update, unless he can get healthy before the year like another font suggested, left field, and then 1B. Although, I think that Neises will get one of those spots.

Then it all comes down to pitching. McKee is a great piece to have and I have to imagine that Finateri will be back along with McGuire. I could see Cam Hill getting drafted because of his stuff and being a lefty. Then we have Stanford, Ballard, Barfield, and Kovala for various roles. We really need to get a lock down closer and hopefully an ace from the portal. I'm also hoping that a couple of our incoming freshmen pitchers, Lippmann and Musci, perform like their billing.
 

gtbeak

Ramblin' Wreck
Messages
529
Nathan Waugh. He hit .283 with 7 Hrs this year. Also only made 2 errors behind the plate. I would imagine that he is the DH next year and then gives Lackey a day off behind the plate once in a while.

I will say that I really like our core next year. Burress, Lackey, Kerce, and Lodise up the middle is very solid offensively and defensively. Then add in Brosius in right who can really get on base and plays great defense. The holes that I see right now are 3B with the Jaros update, unless he can get healthy before the year like another font suggested, left field, and then 1B. Although, I think that Neises will get one of those spots.

Then it all comes down to pitching. McKee is a great piece to have and I have to imagine that Finateri will be back along with McGuire. I could see Cam Hill getting drafted because of his stuff and being a lefty. Then we have Stanford, Ballard, Barfield, and Kovala for various roles. We really need to get a lock down closer and hopefully an ace from the portal. I'm also hoping that a couple of our incoming freshmen pitchers, Lippmann and Musci, perform like their billing.
If we can get him throwing strikes more often I like Kovala as a back-end of the bullpen piece. I think we under-utilized him this season.

What about Payton Green? Do we expect him to get drafted?

ETA: Wiley mentioned at some point during the regional that Giesler still has a year of eligibility left, and seemed to think he may be back. I love John Giesler as a ballplayer, but if he returned this would be an example of a Covid 6th year guy who clogs up the pipeline for the younger players. He's 24 years old and has been in the program 5 years already. IMO its time to move on for him. But it's his life, so chase your goals, young man.
 
Last edited:

THWG

Helluva Engineer
Messages
4,157
If we can get him throwing strikes more often I like Kovala as a back-end of the bullpen piece. I think we under-utilized him this season.

What about Payton Green? Do we expect him to get drafted?
I expect him to get drafted but it would definitely be nice to have him back next year.
 
Top