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Some thoughts on Weber...
Posted on: March 31, 2021 at 14:11:51 CT
bluetiger_ MU
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1. I have the most confidence in her right now, if we had to win a game, and apparently Coach LA agrees with me, as she has gotten the critical Friday night starting slot in both our first 2 SEC series. And came through in both games, pitching very, very well in leading us to critical Friday wins. Those were her best two performances of the year. She shut down a good hitting Georgia team, and really shut down a not so good hitting Auburn team (13 strikeouts in 6.0 innings). So she is our best pitcher right now. However, I don’t think she is that much better than whoever the next 3 pitchers are, the distances between each of our top 4 pitchers is very small.
2. How would she match up against any of the top 10 teams in the country? I don’t think that well, although she is clearly improving. She has pitched in what I would call 8 meaningful games this year. In the two Series openers against GA and Auburn, and in the win over FSU, she threw a combined 13.2 innings, allowed only 2 runs, both earned, struck out 19 and walked only 5, for an ERA of 1.06. Pretty impressive. However, in the games she pitched against ISU, UCF, OU, and the Sunday games against GA and Auburn, she threw 12.2 innings, allowed 18 runs, 17 earned, for an ERA of 9.75. Not so good.
3. When she is on, and if she keeps improving, then yes she can be effective for a period of time (not the full 7 innings), and keep us in a game against some really good teams, but not probably the top 5-6 in the country. She’s just not that kind of dominating pitcher. If she can give us her best 4-5 innings, then we bring in Nichols who has also improved a lot, that seem like our best prescription to win a really important game right now.
I’m cautiously optimistic that if everyone keeps improving and developing, our deep pitching staff will make us competitive against almost any team we might face in the tournament. But none of them right now is a dominating type ace that most of the better teams have (and some of them, two), and that can shut down a top 15 type team for a complete game.
Weber has earned the right though to start the first game of each SEC series and I expect to see her starting tomorrow against SC in the rare Thursday-Saturday SEC series (due to the Easter holiday).
Edited by bluetiger_ at 14:13:56 on 03/31/21
2. How would she match up against any of the top 10 teams in the country? I don’t think that well, although she is clearly improving. She has pitched in what I would call 8 meaningful games this year. In the two Series openers against GA and Auburn, and in the win over FSU, she threw a combined 13.2 innings, allowed only 2 runs, both earned, struck out 19 and walked only 5, for an ERA of 1.06. Pretty impressive. However, in the games she pitched against ISU, UCF, OU, and the Sunday games against GA and Auburn, she threw 12.2 innings, allowed 18 runs, 17 earned, for an ERA of 9.75. Not so good.
3. When she is on, and if she keeps improving, then yes she can be effective for a period of time (not the full 7 innings), and keep us in a game against some really good teams, but not probably the top 5-6 in the country. She’s just not that kind of dominating pitcher. If she can give us her best 4-5 innings, then we bring in Nichols who has also improved a lot, that seem like our best prescription to win a really important game right now.
I’m cautiously optimistic that if everyone keeps improving and developing, our deep pitching staff will make us competitive against almost any team we might face in the tournament. But none of them right now is a dominating type ace that most of the better teams have (and some of them, two), and that can shut down a top 15 type team for a complete game.
Weber has earned the right though to start the first game of each SEC series and I expect to see her starting tomorrow against SC in the rare Thursday-Saturday SEC series (due to the Easter holiday).
Edited by bluetiger_ at 14:13:56 on 03/31/21
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Some thoughts on Weber... - bluetiger_ MU - 3/31 14:11:51