So for TCU baseball, 2 and 3 is a bad week. Very disappointing. However, it's early in the season, we have a couple of bats from veterans that still need to wake up after a year of sleep and we know that our skipper believes he has an Omaha quality team. And clearly no one wants to peak in March. So I'm willing to be the optimist here and say it was a bad week, we'll settle in on a good rotation and the bats will come alive with RISP. So is that the right thought process, or do we need to be concerned?
Baseball: Bad week or cause for concern?
- Thread starter AustFrog
- Start date
LVH
Active Member
We need to stop recruiting travel ball baseball players.
Travel ball RUINS baseball players. It has ruined youth baseball in general.
Travel ball either makes the kids hate playing baseball because it becomes more of a year round chore than a fun seasonal activity, OR it turns them into cocky arrogant aholes.
Travel ball RUINS baseball players. It has ruined youth baseball in general.
Travel ball either makes the kids hate playing baseball because it becomes more of a year round chore than a fun seasonal activity, OR it turns them into cocky arrogant aholes.
jake102
Active Member
My (very unqualified) thoughts:
Losing Ray (and Perez last weekend) caused two of those losses. I don't think you lose to Sam Houston last weekend if King and Perez are available in the bullpen. And then I feel somewhat confident you get one back against Gonzaga with King throwing 3-6 innings in relief over those three games instead of guys like Mihlbauer, Cornelio, Beethe and Speaker.
That being said - you would hope to not give up so many runs to those types of teams with just one starter out. No getting around the fact that we are a starter short, and a few guys in the bullpen are failing. If we want to think about Omaha, we will need a fully healthy Ray, Smith, Krob, Green and King. Lose one and I think it's game over.
The bats seem pretty obvious at this point. Mediocre at best. Zero power. Taylor is our best hitter, Nunez is probably going to hit .250 but have a .450 OBP, Sikes has some upside and is doing great, Boyers is a soft hitting quality hitter. Shepherd hitting better is a good sign. Wolfe, Sacco, Wood and Goodloe are turrible. We need Shepherd and Boyers to be healthy or whatever reason they missed yesterday's game.
BrewingFrog
Was I supposed to type something here?
We're doomed.
Bonner4Prez
KMA
Big concern. Should be blowing these kind of teams away.
Purp
Active Member
Goodloe had the worst luck at the plate this weekend. A couple outs on great plays by the right fielder and a couple other well hit balls right at guys. I thought he had good plate appearances against the Zags and will be fine.
Big Frog II
Active Member
Must pitch better. Having Ray out really hurts, darn virus. Other pitchers must be better. There is no reason we should have lost any games to Gonzaga.
Moose Stuff
Active Member
Moose Stuff
Active Member
In response to the OP..... Little bit of both
82 Frog Fever
Active Member
If it was just hitting or just pitching, I’d say it will come around.
It’s both and it’s against mediocre competition.
Certainly not impossible, but they need to make big improvements.
It’s both and it’s against mediocre competition.
Certainly not impossible, but they need to make big improvements.
flyfishingfrog
Active Member
I am sure I will get told I am incorrect - but I think the big concern with our bullpen and the "lots of bodies but not a lot of dependable depth" issue will be 1) in getting to the post season with a good enough record to secure a host for regionals and 2) be able to fight through a regional or the WS if we end up in the losers bracket.
And the number of bodies and the lack for real time, stress situations to determine who can deliver now and who will be able to deliver with a little more experience seems to be the issue - at least the issue when so many of the chances do not result in positive results.
Right now - outside of Big Russ, Haylen and King when he gets to go back to middle relief - do we really have anyone on the mound that we are not holding our breath for at every new batter?
I like how Krob dealt with the bad inning yesterday and came back with a strong finish - maybe he can carry that over and not get into the problem to start but tend to agree with Moose that if he has to rely on our bats to overcome a bad inning every outing - he won't finish as the Sunday starter.
J Ray has looked great at times but has also shown to let a bad call get to him and affect his ability to execute - we will see how missing two weeks changes that.
Meador and Hill have obviously been the focus of mid-week starts - are we going to focus on one given that we only have 1 midweek game at most the rest of the season? or go back and forth in case we need another starter due to COVID? and if back and forth, what role does the other one play in the bullpen in their "off" week?
Perez has been pretty solid but limited innings with COVID situation.
If we can figure out the roles of those 8 - that will be define what else we need. It either opens up some spots for other guys if some of the big 8 don't execute and have to be moved out - or it limits the rest to late game support and closing, both of which we have shown a real weakness in so far this season.
The number of guys that have come out of the bullpen is pretty long and none of them have really raised themselves above the group - Speaker, Beethe, Cornellio, Kodros, Storm, Augie, Ridings, Wright, .... but a few have have some really bad moments.
So when they struggle - are they done because of lack of remaining opportunities?
If someone has two good outings - does that fill one more roster spot and you start "Riding" (pun intended) them more over the others?
And how do you get a couple more of the group to stand above the rest and narrow down the rotation so you can focus on getting each of those guys to the point of being dependable?
The bat things is just the same crap, different year. Our entire offensive approach seems to still depend on getting past the starter by going deep in counts. But then we seem to struggle against the less talented bullpen pitchers also - watch too many strikes and aren't good enough at getting the barrel on the ball when guys are throwing 90 mph fastballs or 70 mph junk - so not sure what our hitting sweet spot is honestly.
And the number of bodies and the lack for real time, stress situations to determine who can deliver now and who will be able to deliver with a little more experience seems to be the issue - at least the issue when so many of the chances do not result in positive results.
Right now - outside of Big Russ, Haylen and King when he gets to go back to middle relief - do we really have anyone on the mound that we are not holding our breath for at every new batter?
I like how Krob dealt with the bad inning yesterday and came back with a strong finish - maybe he can carry that over and not get into the problem to start but tend to agree with Moose that if he has to rely on our bats to overcome a bad inning every outing - he won't finish as the Sunday starter.
J Ray has looked great at times but has also shown to let a bad call get to him and affect his ability to execute - we will see how missing two weeks changes that.
Meador and Hill have obviously been the focus of mid-week starts - are we going to focus on one given that we only have 1 midweek game at most the rest of the season? or go back and forth in case we need another starter due to COVID? and if back and forth, what role does the other one play in the bullpen in their "off" week?
Perez has been pretty solid but limited innings with COVID situation.
If we can figure out the roles of those 8 - that will be define what else we need. It either opens up some spots for other guys if some of the big 8 don't execute and have to be moved out - or it limits the rest to late game support and closing, both of which we have shown a real weakness in so far this season.
The number of guys that have come out of the bullpen is pretty long and none of them have really raised themselves above the group - Speaker, Beethe, Cornellio, Kodros, Storm, Augie, Ridings, Wright, .... but a few have have some really bad moments.
So when they struggle - are they done because of lack of remaining opportunities?
If someone has two good outings - does that fill one more roster spot and you start "Riding" (pun intended) them more over the others?
And how do you get a couple more of the group to stand above the rest and narrow down the rotation so you can focus on getting each of those guys to the point of being dependable?
The bat things is just the same crap, different year. Our entire offensive approach seems to still depend on getting past the starter by going deep in counts. But then we seem to struggle against the less talented bullpen pitchers also - watch too many strikes and aren't good enough at getting the barrel on the ball when guys are throwing 90 mph fastballs or 70 mph junk - so not sure what our hitting sweet spot is honestly.
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LeagueCityFrog
Active Member
Right now this team looks like they make the tournament but get bounced out at someone else's regional going 1-2. Disappointing so far this season. I went to two games in Houston when they were here. Omaha type teams should not lose to a bad SHSU team, then get run ruled by Texas State two days later, then drop a home series to a 7-7 Gonzaga.
No more trying out players during games. Going forward if we want to host a regional, play your best until we've won 44 games then try out the others. The TCU baseball ship has taken on water this month and it shouldn't have. We should be 13-3 right now.
No more trying out players during games. Going forward if we want to host a regional, play your best until we've won 44 games then try out the others. The TCU baseball ship has taken on water this month and it shouldn't have. We should be 13-3 right now.
jake102
Active Member
Outside of trying to figure out one hole in the outfield (Wolfe/Goodloe/etc), I don't think we are really trying out people too much. I certainly assume Shepherd and Boyers are injury or COVID.
bmoney214
OUCH!!!
They said Shep has an arm issue during the radio broadcast yesterday. Said it doesn't seem too serious.
flyfishingfrog
Active Member
actually I think the only open question we have outside of pitching is our DH.
Not saying we won't see some others get shots midweek - but feel like our 8 defensive starters are pretty well set unless someone just goes on a terrible hitting streak or injury.
