The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

Might as well update as spring training is winding down.

* Travis Shaw is still positioned to get significant time at 3rd for the Brewers. His spring training has been solid with 2 HRs and 7 walks to go with 7 Ks. It was the 2019 spring training performance that set off red flags for me that something was wrong and this is sort of the reverse, where I could see Shaw being an average 3rd baseman instead of in the lower tier.

* The other Kent Brewer, Eric Lauer, has been farmed out to Nashville after a poor spring training. I'm not sure what's wrong, but getting regular work in AAA will give him the opportunity to fix it. Again, I have always heard that he needs to be hitting a minimum velocity on his fastball or things flatten out and he becomes very hitable, so maybe that's it.

* Andrew Chafin has been okay for the Cubs despite two losses. He has 7 Ks and no walks in 7 innings, but gave up one homerun. He will have a significant role in the Cubs bullpen. (oh, and check out the Chafin picture on baseball-reference.com; dude looks like he hasn't gotten a haircut since the pandemic started)

* Taylor Williams is still in the fight for a back of the bullpen job in San Diego. He missed some time when he dived for a baseball covering first and hurt his shoulder, but he pitched fine yesterday. He has too many walks (as usual), but shows that power arm that keeps people interested. If he had better command, I think he'd be a good major league reliever, but he hasn't shown any improvement in command over the last half decade.