2016 was a very good baseball year.

(12-21-2016 08:47 AM)RockTheRock Wrote:  2016 was a very good baseball year.

You are half right.

Go Cards.

IMO is comes down to kids playing/throwing too much. Today's baseball youth programs are not even close to what they used to be.
I remember playing your league ball and then all-stars.
Then we maybe played a year or two of select before high school.
Then we had high school ball and we played maybe a month of summer ball.

Now you have kids (even as young as 7) playing ball 10 months out of the year. Traveling all over, paying gobs of money to be on teams and playing 4-6 games a week(end).

A little side story, I coached hs ball for several years. We had a young kid we brought up to varsity as a freshman pitcher. He was pretty damn good. We wanted to get him a couple outings throughout the end of the season and get him used to some higher competition. Things were going great until we ran in to a problem; his father.
His dad had always been his "coach". He always knew what was "best" for him (in regards to baseball). We had several confrontations with him as a staff because we "never used him effectively". (even though the kid ended his Freshmen season with a 4-1 record, a sub 3.00ERA and all-district honors.)

BUT, guess what happened? His dad decides that his son isn't getting enough attention, so he puts him in a summer league (outside of our concurrent summer ball). He joins the other team as a pitcher. So, when he plays, its to pitch. So just like that, he has doubled his pitches for the summer.

BUT THEN, guess what happened? His father, who knew best, puts him in a fall wooden bat league. More pitches.

So if you see where I am going with this, the kid ended up pitching all freaking year. Some parents believe they are doing what is best for their child when in fact they are destroying their arms.

The kid transferred from our program to another and within the next calendar year he blew his arm out and missed a year of ball. He went on to play CC ball but just like some of the guys on our team, he comes in as already damaged goods and would be an injury liability at a very young age.

Not saying that is what is wrong with our players or even the reason for injury/Tommy John epidemic but I have to believe, in some cases, is the root of it.

That and kids are throwing breaking pitches at age 10-11. That puts remarkable amounts of stress on an undeveloped arm.

(12-21-2016 08:47 AM)RockTheRock Wrote:  2016 was a very good baseball year.

Is that Lanny on the right side of the dugout?

The two things scientifically (i.e., based upon valid research) linked to Tommy John tears are velocity & volume. Types of pitches haven't shown to be a factor with that particular injury.

Typical scenario is a kid throws hard and at a young age becomes what I like to call a "Grade School All-American." Ends up carrying the load for the various teams he plays for year round with hardly more than a week off from Christmas to New Year's. Ends up throwing as many pitches by age 19 as Nolan Ryan did after his first few seasons of pro ball. Then he needs surgery & everybody scratches their heads wondering why.

If a kid has a chance to get paid some day, saving the bullets for then is more prudent than wasting most of them before he even gets out of high school. MLB pitchers who've had long careers almost without exception played multiple sports as kids, which reduced the workload on their arms as opposed to throwing a baseball 3/4 or more of the year. Lots of them did threw a ton of innings over their lifetimes, but it was backloaded to after they'd physically matured and were making a living from it.

(12-21-2016 10:17 AM)shiftyeagle Wrote:  

(12-21-2016 08:47 AM)RockTheRock Wrote:  2016 was a very good baseball year.

Is that Lanny on the right side of the dugout?

(12-21-2016 01:20 PM)HarborPointe Wrote:  Based upon valid research.

No need for that crap Chief.

If we have player and pitcher of the year, we'll be #1 in conference.

(01-01-2017 03:50 PM)EagNBran Wrote:  We'll be #1 in conference.

Thanks to Lamar County !!

(01-01-2017 04:41 AM)BeagleUSM Wrote:  Copying my post from the CUSA board.

My Conference USA preseason all-conference team. Being a bit homerish perhaps with my player and pitcher of the year.

SP - Kirk McCarty (Southern Miss)
SP - Casey Sutton (LaTech)
SP - Nate Harris (LaTech)
RP - Glenn Otto (Rice)
C - Zack Soria (FIU)
1B - Logan Sherer (Charlotte)
2B - Brett Netzer (Charlotte)
SS - Ford Proctor (Rice)
3B - Taylor Braley (Southern Miss)
DH - Jonathan Washam (LaTech)
OF - Dylan Burdeaux (Southern Miss)
OF - TJ Nichting (Charlotte)
OF - Raphael Gladu (LaTech)

Player of the Year: Taylor Braley (Southern Miss)
Pitcher of the Year: Kirk McCarty (Southern Miss)

1) Louisiana Tech (NCAA)
2) Rice (NCAA)
3) Southern Miss (NCAA)
4) FAU (NCAA)
5) FIU
6) Charlotte
7) ODU
8) MTSU
9) UAB
10) WKU
11) Marshall
12) UTSA

I've heard reports that Burdeaux will be at 1B this season.

You're right. Sorry. Still in 2016 mode.

Doing some research on some of our OOC opponents. Big East preseason poll, Xavier (top 75 RPI last year, won 2 regional games) picked to win the Big East.

http://www.bigeast.com/news/2016/12/20/B...64251.aspx

http://www.wdam.com/story/34271907/usm-l...all-season

Confirms that Burdeaux will be at 1st and that Donaldson will probably be behind the plate. Also makes it seem like Roberts will be the Saturday guy with Sunday/midweek open.

ULL #13, Rice #23.

https://d1baseball.com/news/2017-d1baseb...ign=buffer

State coming to Hattiesburg to open 2018. Assuming this is a 3 game series so might have 18-19k over the weekend. Apparently their stadium won't be ready to go by then so they're playing a couple road games to open up the year.

https://twitter.com/loganlowery/status/8...6637315074

http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/story.../96956114/

http://conferenceusa.com/news/2017/1/25/...75319.aspx

1. Rice (5)
2. Florida Atlantic (4)
3. Southern Miss (3)
4. Old Dominion
5. Louisiana Tech
6. Charlotte
FIU
8. Marshall
9. UAB
10. Middle Tennessee
UTSA
12. WKU

Might have been too bullish on Tech, but I still like them.

Northeastern #7 of 9.

http://caasports.com/news/2017/1/25/BB_0125175918.aspx

New billboard in left.