re: Official Adam4848 Baseball Preview Feb 11th (SEC Preview) *PAGE 25*

HEIGHT: 6'0"
WEIGHT: 190 lbs.

SHORTSTOP

Alex Bregman Fr.*
Casey Yocom Sr.

Alex Bregman should have never made it to campus...period. Joining the likes of Jared Mitchell, Anthony Ranaudo, DJ LeMahieu, and Kevin Gausman in recent years Alex was courted by major league teams early in the draft selection and asked how strong his commitment was to LSU. The answer? Real Strong. Bregman steps in with some big shoes to fill in Austin Nola, who will go down as one of the best shortstops ever to play at LSU. The good news is Alex has a chance to become even better. Hailing out of the state of New Mexico, Bregman was one of the top hitters in all of high school baseball before injuring his hand in his senior year. Defensively Bregman's not going to make the flashy plays right off the bat that Tiger fans have become accustomed to but his glove and arm are above average for his age and he'll jell with Jones in the middle as the year warms up. Speed wise Bregman may steal 8-10 bases, he won't be called upon to steal but has the ability to run. What makes Alex special is his rare power and gap to gap pop that will see him bat in the 3 hole when LSU opens the year vs. Maryland in less than two weeks. There is a strong possibility he'll hit over 320. with 12+ HR's in his freshman year, he's that polished at the plate. As Mainieri said he's never seen such a hard worker and for Alex that means good things on the horizon sooner rather than later for this upcoming star. Casey Yocom will backup SS as well as possibly 3B for the Tigers as a defensive specialist.

Power------65
Hitting------60
Speed------55
Fielding----60
Arm---------55

*Scale 20-Lowest, 50-Average, 80-Top of the Charts*

Strength-Star Potential
Weakness-He's not Nola defensively

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Power------65
Hitting------60

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Unlimited power!!!!!!!!!

The best freshman in the nation!!!

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Please tell me he won't be a draft eligible sophomore.

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:kige:

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Jones started CF. Then Foster did. Then Sciambra did. Then Fields did. Then Katz did.

The problem was that Fields was already in the dog house and going south, and that Sciambra & Foster were too green to be stable hitters. So it was all about hitting, not fielding.

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Um, the problem with Sciambra was that he nearly broke his neck chasing a fly ball into the centerfield fence.

He went a while without his first hit, but he was putting the ball in play, then he started getting the hits to fall, then he got injured. Really tough break for a kid who was just heating up.

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Bregman steps in with some big shoes to fill in Austin Nola, who will go down as one of the best shortstops ever to play at LSU. The good news is Alex has a chance to become even better.

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Bold statement. I've heard good things about this kid, Can't wait to see if he lives up to the hype. It's going to be really hard to replace Nola

I remember what happened. I just didn't care to go into all the details of Yocom and the 5 different centerfielders.

The main point was to say that the extraordinary step of moving JaCoby from 2B to CF to start the season had little to do with needing more speed out there, and almost everything to do with not having a proven hitter who was a true centerfielder.

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he started getting the hits to fall

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For a very brief period of time. Arby Fields had a couple of good stretches too. Maybe Sciambra would have brought his averages up given enough time, or maybe not.

Even so, remember that I was the guy who was always saying that JaCoby should have never been moved out the infield, even if it meant platooning Fields & Foster & Sciambra out in CF. So it's not like I was ever against him starting or anything, then or now.

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I don't look at Sciambra's time in center as a failed trial.

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Neither do I, but as it relates to JaCoby's move to CF, it was something unknown that occurred after the fact. I can't remember the exact order of who started when, but I think he was either the 3rd or the 4th guy that Mainieri tried out there.

What bothered me at the time (before I knew a thing about Sciambra) was that I thought JaCoby was playing the very best out of all LSU's infielders to end the 2011 season, when Austin Nola was having an error-prone season. Why move a guy who was playing lights out defensively to end his freshman year?

But that's all water under the bridge now. As far as coaching decisions go, now I'm all focused on making sure Ibarra works at 3B and finding ways to get Moore into the batting lineup.

Got to think Moore will be DH for a lot of games especially against right handers.

Rhymes leading off?
I think he's more an RBI guy.
You want runners on when he comes up, and in this case you have the bottom of the lineup ahead of him.