re: Baseball Preview 2023 Edition (Feb 10th - Pro Prospects & SEC Standings)

Yes, if Jones does not go as a sophomore he’s going to be one of the better junior pro prospects.

I would say yes

Hunt and Musso this morning

Discussed their picks at every position, nothing groundbreaking, stuff we talk about on here...but it's obvious how deep this team is.

I guess highlights from what I remember:

- 2nd base Musso had Merrifield/Dugas early on while Hunt has Nippolt

- Both agree Neal/Milazzo catch a ton of games this year and they seemed to hint at Neal eventually taking the job over mostly with Milazzo as a late inning tight game defensive replacement to get both on the field often and lend to their strengths

- Both like Pearson in LF

- Mentioned Kling and Jobert in RF and said with Kling struggling right now Jobert might get nod opening day

- DH mentioned Beloso and Jones and of them was super high on Jones being a star here

- Mentioned Shores as the guy who can definitely break into the weekend rotation if there's any struggle at all between Skenes/Floyd/Hurd and they wouldnt look back...talked about Nola's freshman year how he broke into weekend rotation after pitching 8 shutout innings in a mid-week against Tulane

- Musso talked about Money and Edwards as 2 relievers that have been here a while not many people will talk about but could have really good years as relievers, Edwards up to 96mph, looks more like he did his freshman year (promising year) than last year (disaster year), thinks Money is just better as a 1-2 inning spurt guy

Thanks for the cliffs

There are ways around milazzo batting with the game on the line.

Think of him as a closer; he’ll enter game with a lead, mostly. And lsu should be winning more games then they are losing. So more opportunities in that scenario compared to him starting games.

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This is interesting, West is extremely loaded.

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I'm not sure that TN has an easier road to the regular season title.


I was comparing LSU's and TN SEC schedules the other day:

Tennesese - @ Mizzou, A&M, @ LSU, Florida, @ Arky, Vandy, State, @ UGA, Kentucky, @ SCar

LSU - @ A&M, Arky, TN, @ Scar, Kentucky, @ Ole Miss, Bama, @ Auburn, State, @ UGA.

Six common opponents and face each other.

I could buy the argument that LSU's Ole Miss, Auburn, Bama is slightly easier than Mizzou, Florida, and Vandy. Now TN gets Vandy and UF at home while LSU has to travel to OM and Barn. Seeing that UF and Vandy are built around their pitching, playing in TN's joke of a park can shift that advantage a bit.

As always, there will be a team that over-performs preseason expectations and another that falls flat on their face.

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Personally I'm more in favor of having the strong LH bat available for a late game offensive replacement. I get that we have a few good LH bats available depending on who's DHing that day. But would you rather Neal catch the 9th in a close game or Milazzo up to bat in the 9th in a close game? There's no way Milazzo is getting that AB whereas you might trust Neal to catch the rest of a close one. I don't know, I guess I can see it both ways

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It would be done strategically. For example, if we're tied or down some, they arent probably ever making that replacement late in a game. If we are up 1-3 runs, and Neal just batted in the 7th or 8th, I can see them making the switch after that.

I dont think if we're up 1 run going into the 8th and the catcher spot is due up they will take the bat out of Neal's hands.

Even though, say they make the switch and we end up going into extras or the catcher spot comes up again maybe in 9th after they made switch in 8th and we need an offensive bat, we have options there with Travinski, Jones and Frey probably.

This information is neither here nor there but here is a breakdown of the roster based on who the Recruiting Coordinator was when the player committed. Jay Johnson is listed for the periods of time when we got commits but there was no recruiting coordinator.

Andy Cannizaro 1
Nolan Cain 27
Jay Johnson 3
Dan Fitzgerald 9
Josh Jordan 2

Jay winning with Mainieri’s recruits

I don’t think we know yet. May find out tomorrow during Jays presser