 |
|
Yeah, it was interesting about the catcher position...
Posted on: June 14, 2017 at 10:51:32 CT
bluetiger_ MU
Posts:
6510
Member For:
11.95 yrs
Level:
User
M.O.B. Votes:
0
Hope this works out better than the ill-fated experiment with Sami Fagan a few years ago. That flopped pretty badly. I'm not a big fan of the 'oh she played catcher when she was 15, why not now' school of thought. But I think EE is trying to be proactive and anticipates he may well have a problem at catcher next year. He either has to play an untested freshman, or put a current player back there. It surprised me to see him mention Sanchez though instead of Pierce, who has actually played the position a few times at Mizzou.
My other takeaway from the interview, related to trying Sanchez at catcher, is that EE realizes he has very little top line SEC talent on the team right now, and hopes he will get significant contributions from the host of freshmen position players coming in, many of whom are infielders, and can't play catcher. Hence trying Sanchez at catcher. Because if Sanchez and Burnside hold down one side of the infield (as they should/would), it doesn't leave many positions open for some of these talented newcomers. Sounds like part of this is him trying to give as many of these freshmen a chance to contribute right away, in part because he realizes that transfers and recruiting misses have caused the elite talent here to drop through the floor as compared to the other elite teams in the country.
If I'm Pierce and Romaine, I don't feel too good after reading this article, with EE referencing the competition for 3B (potentially), 2B, and 1B.
It's also clear to me from the article, despite the strange analysis regarding Baumgartner, that EE feels Rice and any potential transfers from D1 or D2/JUCO will pretty much automatically be his go to pitchers in 2018, which is a pretty scary thought. I was going to put together some thoughts on the 2018 season, but it will involve so much speculation about new players it's hard to do. I'm going to at least wait until we see what transfers we get. There are, as usual, a bunch of them out there, but so far the speculation I've seen has the bigger names looking elsewhere, including one of LSUs pitchers (who would of course have to sit out a year to play here anyways).
One thing is clear, this team is going to look dramatically different next year, a lot of new faces across the board, and very few returning players will not be competing hard for playing time. The only safe players IMO are Sanchez (assuming a full recovery from her arm injury) and Burnside. Literally everything else is up for grabs. Romaine and Kessinger showed good improvement over the course of 2017, but is it enough to keep their starting positions? And while I loved Pierce as a freshman, hitting .264 just isn't going to cut it, anywhere. And regarding the pitching, well you know how I feel about that. If our two returning pitchers combine for any more than 30% of our innings next year we are in big trouble. We need to draw the equivalent of an inside straight with Rice and any transfers we can land being top SEC talent from day 1.
My other takeaway from the interview, related to trying Sanchez at catcher, is that EE realizes he has very little top line SEC talent on the team right now, and hopes he will get significant contributions from the host of freshmen position players coming in, many of whom are infielders, and can't play catcher. Hence trying Sanchez at catcher. Because if Sanchez and Burnside hold down one side of the infield (as they should/would), it doesn't leave many positions open for some of these talented newcomers. Sounds like part of this is him trying to give as many of these freshmen a chance to contribute right away, in part because he realizes that transfers and recruiting misses have caused the elite talent here to drop through the floor as compared to the other elite teams in the country.
If I'm Pierce and Romaine, I don't feel too good after reading this article, with EE referencing the competition for 3B (potentially), 2B, and 1B.
It's also clear to me from the article, despite the strange analysis regarding Baumgartner, that EE feels Rice and any potential transfers from D1 or D2/JUCO will pretty much automatically be his go to pitchers in 2018, which is a pretty scary thought. I was going to put together some thoughts on the 2018 season, but it will involve so much speculation about new players it's hard to do. I'm going to at least wait until we see what transfers we get. There are, as usual, a bunch of them out there, but so far the speculation I've seen has the bigger names looking elsewhere, including one of LSUs pitchers (who would of course have to sit out a year to play here anyways).
One thing is clear, this team is going to look dramatically different next year, a lot of new faces across the board, and very few returning players will not be competing hard for playing time. The only safe players IMO are Sanchez (assuming a full recovery from her arm injury) and Burnside. Literally everything else is up for grabs. Romaine and Kessinger showed good improvement over the course of 2017, but is it enough to keep their starting positions? And while I loved Pierce as a freshman, hitting .264 just isn't going to cut it, anywhere. And regarding the pitching, well you know how I feel about that. If our two returning pitchers combine for any more than 30% of our innings next year we are in big trouble. We need to draw the equivalent of an inside straight with Rice and any transfers we can land being top SEC talent from day 1.
Please explain why this message is being reported.
MESSAGE THREAD
Yeah, it was interesting about the catcher position... - bluetiger_ MU - 6/14 10:51:32