re: Will Greg Deichmann hit 20 bombs this season?

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After speaking with Antoine's father a few months back, and how he expressed from his son's POV how CPM treats people who put the ball in the air...I will only give Deichmann 15+ not 20 though.

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Now why might that be? Possibly because a lot of guys with average bat speed start swinging for the fences and instead are easy outs. Can't blame PM for that mindset. If GD is dialed in and feasts on some average pitchers he can hit 20. Unlike some 180 lb guys he has a big frame and + bat speed without having to swing out of his cleats. If Slaughter, Smith and/or Woley remain productive it can happen.

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Don't think that... Look what happened to Bregman when a minor league coach changed his swing a touch.

It's evident based on the teams that we have put out since the BBCore Era started. No big time homerun hitters, or big fly ball hitters. You can see it in CPM's recruiting as well.

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eh, you have to look how Bregman was used. He was protected in the lineup his freshman year by Mason Katz, who had 17 homeruns and 70 RBIs in 2013. It was Bregman's and Laird's job to make sure they got on base for Katz. After Mainieri saw what happened to us in the CWS in 2013 (having well hit balls die in the outfield time and time again), he changed his strategy and wanted players to basically play the season like they'd have to play if they made it to Omaha.

Last year kind of changed some of that with the introduction of new baseballs with lower seams. Power numbers went up across the country. TDA Ameritrade is still somewhat of a wasteland for home runs, but there were 10 home runs hit in 17 games played. Deichmann also has more raw power than any player we've had since probably Blake Dean and Ryan Schimpf, and he might honestly have more power than both of those players. Matt Clark was probably the last player with comparable power.

Bregman does have power but he also sprays the ball to all fields and is a great contact hitter. Like I said, in 2013, we were not short on power with Katz protecting Bregman. In 2014, our hitting was not reliable, and we really needed Bregman to get base hits more than trying to hit home runs. His final year in 2015, he hit 9, which isn't a small number with the BBCOR bats, and he also hit 22 doubles.

But realistically speaking, 15 homeruns is a lot of homeruns at the college level. If you think about it, 15 homeruns in about 70 games played (including post season) amounts to about 35 in a 162 game season. These bats they use now don't have any more pop than a wooden bat.