waltgreenberg
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I Root For: Rice Owls
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RE: Fall Ball (Baseball) Has Begun
(11-17-2016 10:28 AM)OptimisticOwl Wrote: (11-17-2016 10:21 AM)waltgreenberg Wrote: Proctor ends Fall Ball (pre-Cuba) with 7 consecutive hits. Wunderlich also heating up the past couple weeks. See what transpires in Cuba, but given The OG's desire to increase overall team speed and preference for defense, I wouldn't be surprised if Wunderlich starts in LF, with Sarchet as our everyday DH. It also adds another right-handed bat in the lineup (along with Myers and DiCaprio). Appears that Kendall Jefferies has jumped ahead of the competition for the 3B slot when he's not pitching, with Mueller taking over 1B when Myers is on the bump.
Warren, Chandler, Wunderlich, Staab and Jefferies are all "plus" runners (though not basestealers), while Gray, Proctor and Myers all have better than average speed. Now, if we could only learn how to read pitchers and steal bases. 
Walt, based on what you have seen so far, do you expect the 2017 team to be better than the 2016?
Remains to be seen, but will be highly dependent on how the pitching develops. I do think the offense could be the best top-to-bottom since the glory days of the mid-00s (with Savery, Friday, Henley, Buchanan, Dodson, Luna, Lehmann, et al.). Last year's offense was very young and inexperienced, and crippled by injuries to Gray, Warren and Wunderlich. On the mound, the loss of Fox and Duplantier obviously hurts, but what killed us last year more than anything else was lack of pitching depth (especially after Parthasarathy went down in March) and no reliable option out of the bullpen outside of the Otto-man. I think Myers, Salinas and Amador represents a solid, if not elite, weekend rotation, and I really like what I've seen of Jefferies, Gayle and Garcia as potential mid-week starters. The further development of Kravetz gives us a strong, and potentially elite, 1-2 punch in the bullpen. If Orewiler and Esquivel can show some consistency and throw strikes (both certainly have the stuff), and/or if Parthasarathy comes back in the Spring, the bullpen could once again be a team strength rather than a liability. As Kendall pointed out in his article, Otto has been shut down for much of the Fall, and likely will not pitch in Cuba, as he has had some arm tightness. Given he's one of our MVPs, it's not surprising that Coach is being extremely cautious with him. We need him to be healthy and at peak form come February.
Defense should be very good, with the lone exception at catcher, where DiCaprio is still developing there (but vastly improved over last year). At this point, Lammons is the superior defensive catcher, but I suspect Dom will catch 3 of the 4 weekly games. Outfield D will be exceptional, and our middle infield with Proctor and Gray should be one of the best in the country.
So, IMO, we will have improved offense and much improved pitching depth offset by lack of proven, elite-level starting pitching (though Salinas was arguably our most consistent starting pitcher last year, Amador proved his potential vs. A&M and LSU, and Myers is by all reports a totally different pitcher after working out with The OG and Coach Pope all Summer).
(This post was last modified: 11-17-2016 11:54 AM by waltgreenberg.)
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