Irish333 Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 I'm a year round baseball fan. Let's look at the upcoming season..... It will be a completely new look. Kelly M, Brendon, Petralli, Van Kirk, Luna, Jarmin, TJ Kelly etc have moved on. To me, pitching and defense are what makes the team. Of course you need a few boppers in the lineup to keep things interesting. I'll use the roster as posted on the team site at this time as things will likely change. Outfield: Justin Mitchell - interesting lad in that he seems to be a contact hitter. Has decent speed as noted in his stolen base stats. Not sure as to the strength of his arm, but his speed should help him catch up with most balls to the outfield. IMO - should be a good hit and run guy in the line up. Johnny Roberts. - .423 avg with 9 grand salami's last year. A lefty.... that's good! Nothing in the bio talks about his speed, arm strength or on base percentage. IMO - could be our clean up hitter this year. You can't replace Van Kirks HR production that easily, but I'll take the .423 any day. Jared Reynolds - Only other OF currently on the roster. Sat out last season as a redshirt. Good head on his shoulders as he graduated from H.S with honors. Baseball is in his family as his uncle played with the Padres. Sounds promising.... but the proof is in the pudding. I learned something interesting this year about pitching while listening to a Yankee Game. Al Leiter was discussing situationaly pitching. The topic was the 0-2 count. No balls.... two strikes. Do you go after the batter or do you execute a waste pitch. Mr. Leiter stated that there are actually organizations (He would not provide the names) in MLB that have stated policies that if a pitcher gives up a hit or a run on the next pitch in an 0-2 count, that they would be fined. WOW! That explains a lot about the pitching up in the Cape this year. Most every hitter that had an 0-2 count sat on that 3rd pitch without swinging. Now having said that, I have read many times Rob Walton stating that " he needs to bounce a ball to the plate in that situation" Awesome! He understands that the batter has to protect the plate on an 0-2 count. A ball right down the middle but "bounced" has a good chance to be swung at and ...... it's K time .... another one bites the dust. Good philosophy in keeping a pitchers pitch count down. I'll discuss the infield and pitchers in another post. Just want to generate a post to get some jabber jawing going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theeagleman5 Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 very good analysis, Irish....i like you just as long as you are not a Notre Dame fan........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ORUTerry Posted August 30, 2008 Share Posted August 30, 2008 Great post.... I look forward to the rest of your analysis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Minyard Posted September 1, 2008 Share Posted September 1, 2008 TJ is back despite thoughts of pursuing personals professional goals. He was one of my favorites last year. I'm glad he is back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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