Va Tech - ACC Weekend #8

GTNavyNuke

GTNavyNuke

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Great win. How do score in 5 of 9 innings today after 0 of 9 yesterday? No matter. Series win.

Hope Hurter is ok soon.

Win was almost as beautiful as this.

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randerto

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GTNavyNuke said:
First off great win. I had the feeling we were going to do well this weekend, not based on facts but just that we would.

Three phases - hitting, defense & pitching.
  • Hitting.
    • Good of course with 14 hits and 9 walks.
    • But what was best was the return of plate discipline. VT threw 232 pitches over 38 hitters or 6.1 pitches per AB. Compare to Auburn where we were about 4 as I recall.
    • I had been questioning having a .189 player as DH (Jenkins), but he showed out last night and why Ramsey had him in there.
  • Defense -
    • "only" 1 error which is below our dismal 1.7 per game. I only watched end of game so I don't know how many makeable plays we didn't make or how many great plays we made to rob VT. So errors is really a weak statistic, fielding % is better but not for an individual game.
    • I do know we left 7 on base and VT left 12 on base, so don't break out the champagne, VT is for real.
    • We gave up 1 unearned run. Contrast to VT with two errors that also gave us 1 unearned run.
  • Pitching - ahhhh where to start
    • I thought ND and UVa are better coached than we are in "Hook Speed"* before they flame out and destroy the game. I think our overall pitching staff is as good or better than those two but the difference is not riding a pitcher too long. ND pulled one pitcher after 4 pitches.
    • We left Hurter in too long on Friday and that was one (of many) reasons we collapsed and lost the game. Fact remains that GT pitching has been substandard for decades with a few bright spots. I think DBo will turn it around, I really do it just takes time to build a foundation. ANd I don't know who is responsible for Hook Speed, but our Slow Hook has predated DBo.
    • The Slow Hook has the benefit of developing the player to work through really tough spots. But hurts the team as he is learning. If he gets good, he gets drafter after catching on. If he doesn't, then we just have the losses.
    • The Slow Hook also prevents other players from coming in and showing their stuff, good or bad. You'd never know we have 23 pitchers (less on the road) from our stats.
    • We may ***** about the lack of mid-week games to develop pitchers, but riding Huff last night in the ninth was a perfect opportunity missed to develop someone else. Sure we were going to win, but that practice will leave us wanting again in post season.
    • But I do have to say that Bartnicki showed incredible toughness in the 7th. After loading the bases with free passes, a single left the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate with no outs. Bartnicki came back with 3 SOs. Massive. Bartnicki has had his ups and downs, and I think has been left in too long before which contributes to his 6.23 ERA (21.2 IP). But that was still incredible toughness last night. Glad he was pulled for the 8th so he left in a good mental place.
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*Hook Speed should be a new Sabermetric IMHO.
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GTNavyNuke said:
Based on past results, I trust that our fielding will come around as will our hitting. Also based on past results, our pitching probably will not. Hopefully this year will be different.

You are right that every situation is different. It's the decade trend that I base my comments on.
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Great win today and all agree, Hurter's condition could impact this team significantly moving forward, but Grissom appears to have the talent and mental makeup to contribute to this season now - very encouraging as we obviously need another arm. Encouraging to see Maxwell throwing strikes today also - kid could be very good if he can figure out how to throw strikes more consistently. One note regarding the 1.7 errors/game. I don't watch every game but do watch most of them and it seems I often see Compton misplay multiple attempts to dig out throws in the dirt (or turf this weekend) or ground balls. He doesn't help cover up any poor throws from our infielders at all which could significantly help our errors stats. Hope he's taking X ground balls or balls in the dirt at practices to improve as he currently looks very awkward playing 1B. Obviously in their due to his bat - which does have a lot of upside...!
 

MWBATL

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randerto said:
I don't watch every game but do watch most of them and it seems I often see Compton misplay multiple attempts to dig out throws in the dirt (or turf this weekend) or ground balls. He doesn't help cover up any poor throws from our infielders at all which could significantly help our errors stats. Hope he's taking X ground balls or balls in the dirt at practices to improve as he currently looks very awkward playing 1B. Obviously in their due to his bat - which does have a lot of upside...!
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Don't disagree on the throws form the other infielders. But many of the errors have been on plays by our pitchers, and Compton would have had to have been built like the Jolly Green Giant to get some of those!
 

randerto

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213
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Alpharetta
randerto said:
Great win today and all agree, Hurter's condition could impact this team significantly moving forward, but Grissom appears to have the talent and mental makeup to contribute to this season now - very encouraging as we obviously need another arm. Encouraging to see Maxwell throwing strikes today also - kid could be very good if he can figure out how to throw strikes more consistently. One note regarding the 1.7 errors/game. I don't watch every game but do watch most of them and it seems I often see Compton misplay multiple attempts to dig out throws in the dirt (or turf this weekend) or ground balls. He doesn't help cover up any poor throws from our infielders at all which could significantly help our errors stats. Hope he's taking X ground balls or balls in the dirt at practices to improve as he currently looks very awkward playing 1B. Obviously in there due to his bat - which does have a lot of upside...!
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eokerholm

eokerholm

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Great win Sunday and shinning performance from our Normal Bull Pen dudes. Maxwell went deep (for him) and 3 IP is huge and wouldn't suck to get him in that kind of flexibility. He was ON. Love to see the SO and the K struttin! Love it and then the chirping back to the students was awesome! I wonder if they guys miss that kind of energy in a game. Out side of the Ball 6, Ball 7, and Ball 8 stuff on Mannely I thnk the other stuff is more motivating to a pitcher. Christian eats that up and he's partially deaf to speech in one ear so it doesn't phase him but gets him amped.

Funny story, some of the pitchers here (Christian, Carson Babb and others) it is known to not cheer or chirp them or they will destroy you. Be quiet or polite but the softball chirping is never a good idea and will only hurt you. Some of these teams are just obnoxious with it, but in the end only hurts them. The Top 8 6A Team in the state (Round Rock) did it to Christian and he got 13Ks on them in 5 IP. LOL. So fun to see him enjoying it.

Should only have 2 more games this year as his team is bad and won't make playoffs (which I'm not complaining about and only gives him more time to rest and recover and get ready for summer in ATL with East Cobb).
 
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