Virginia Tech

[THWG]

CDH said it would be Maxwell tomorrow against Auburn in his postgame interview. I like our 4 starting pitchers... and I don't have a strong opinion on this really. I am certain the coaches have a good feel for what makes sense beyond what we see. I'd keep Hughes right where he is. He's doing great. But the other 3 could all be weekend or mid-week guys as far as I'm concerned. I do like having a LHP (at least one) in the weekend rotation just to mix up that kind of matchup with the oppositions lineup... as a general sort of approach. And Bartnicki is the only lefty... so, everything else being equal... I like him on the weekend. I think all of us are seeing control as a concern across the staff. Strikeouts are up.... but so are all the walks, WPs, etc. Of the 4, Maxwell (I think...without looking) is giving up the most 'freebies'.

I'm concerned about the walks, but I'm not at the same time. This is a really, really young pitching staff. I mean we really only have 2 pitchers that have a lot of experience in Hughes and Archer and Archer was hurt all of last year. This is one of the reasons that I thought we would struggle early on. As the freshmen grow and guys like Roedig, Bartnciki, and Chapman put it together, we will be fine.

 

[FredJacket]

I was thinking about that this morning. Would we rather go 0-3 against Georgia and 2-1 against VT, or would we rather go 2-1 against Georgia and 0-3 against VT. I’d prefer what we did.

LOL! You like to poke the bear, don't you? Like you, I'd rather go 0-3 to a top 5 team (road/home/neutral)... then 2-1 in a conference series at home against a team we should beat THAN the other way around. Being swept at home to VT would be a killer to our post-season prospects this year. But.... there are a ton more combinations of win/loss in those 6 games I'd rather have that would be better than what we did.

 

[MWBATL]

Good on this catcher. I can’t stand incompetent umpires and referees. You can go slow mo and watch the ball hit the strike zone. Sad.

The $EC...it ju$t pay$ more...isn't that their motto?

 

[MWBATL]

I'm concerned about the walks, but I'm not at the same time. This is a really, really young pitching staff. I mean we really only have 2 pitchers that have a lot of experience in Hughes and Archer and Archer was hurt all of last year. This is one of the reasons that I thought we would struggle early on. As the freshmen grow and guys like Roedig, Bartnciki, and Chapman put it together, we will be fine.

I also expected trouble early, but I did not expect the fielding and base running problems we have had, especially catching.

We have more growth necessary than I expected, and it may take us all year which means we may be pointing towards next year...

 

[THWG]

I also expected trouble early, but I did not expect the fielding and base running problems we have had, especially catching.

We have more growth necessary than I expected, and it may take us all year which means we may be pointing towards next year...

I still think that we'll be in the postseason, but it's a long season. Next year is going to be a monster year though.

 

[eokerholm]

Next year is going to be a monster year though.

Next 2 - as these freshman will be juniors, next year’s class will be sophomores, and you have an arsenal of arms coming in 2021.

Huge future trajectory !!

 

[GTNavyNuke]

I also expected trouble early, but I did not expect the fielding and base running problems we have had, especially catching.

We have more growth necessary than I expected, and it may take us all year which means we may be pointing towards next year...

I expected the upperclassmen to improve their batting averages overall too. Some have (Guldberg, Waddell), they rest eh.

I was thinking about that this morning. Would we rather go 0-3 against Georgia and 2-1 against VT, or would we rather go 2-1 against Georgia and 0-3 against VT. I’d prefer what we did.

Would you rather have to sacrifice your mother or your father? I try not to think about such things.

But I'd rather have taken the series from uGag just because I hate them and it probably would have helped our RPI more. (Real RPIs out on March 18th I think.)

 

[FredJacket]

But I'd rather have taken the series from uGag just because I hate them and it probably would have helped our RPI more. (Real RPIs out on March 18th I think.)

You think so?
2-1 v UGA & 0-3 at home against VT? That (in total) would not be very good RPI-wise. Those home losses would hurt.

 

[GTNavyNuke]

You think so?
2-1 v UGA & 0-3 at home against VT? That (in total) would not be very good RPI-wise. Those home losses would hurt.

Either way hurts. Since the rpi is a ratio format and uGag is a lot higher ranked, I *think* we would be slightly higher in rpi with those wins (one at uGag and one elsewhere) than losing to VT.

Where it really would have helped was the end of the year discussion about marquee series against highly ranked opponents. VT would be forgotten if we were in the mix.

Moot point. There is no crying or do overs in baseball.