re: Baseball Preview 2024 Edition (Feb 10th - Pro Prospects & SEC Predictions)

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He hasn’t played defensively at all this spring.

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Yeah don't believe that I've seen him bat at all either in the scrimmages.

This outfield is crowded even without Cooley. Mitchell's speed has impressed me and Paul's instincts and abilities out in the field look to be as good as any.

I think Bingham is a big piece of how well this team ends up being offensively.

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I think Bingham is a big piece of how well this team ends up being offensively.

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We need Bingham to hit .300 or more. This lineup isn’t as strong 1-9 as last years, and Bingham is an experienced bat that has shown he can be a good hitter at this level. If he has a good year we can score a few runs and count on our pitching staff to hold other teams down.

D1 Baseball released their SoCon preview today. Opening weekend opponent VMI features their preseason conference player of the year in 3B Justin Starke. VMI is picked to finish third in the league.

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Was the 23 group score due to more depth?

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The position grade as a whole takes into account more than tools (depth, intangibles, experience).

In 2023 you had a combination of Dylan Crews, Tre Morgan, Brayden Jobert, Josh Pearson, Paxton Kling etc...

This years potential starting outfield has a combined 21 starts between the three. I'm shying on the side of caution here with respect to how I graded it because there are still questions that need to be answered.

I hope this explained my rational.

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We all know Adam isn't a professional scout

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Fwiw he used to tell people he was

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2024 would need an 80 SP and 80 RP to get there. 75 was probably a bit heavy for last year’s staff - though it included Shores. Same for 65 RP - that included Grant Taylor.

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Yea it goes to show just how good Skenes was that's not quantifiable in preseason numbers.

Typo obviously.

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Mac Bingham’s starts don’t count?

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Listening to some local media, some people are really discounting Bingham's production because it came in the Pac 12. Not saying that's what's happening here, this just gave me an opening to talk about it.

On the Hannycast, Canevari said Bingham would hit like .275 in the SEC. In about 280 PAs over the last two years, Bingham hit like .343 in conference games.

The SEC is great, but it's not so much better than the Pac 12 that Bingham will suddenly drop 80 points on his average. Pac 12 is really good. It's more pitchability than power arms (on average) and the fields are generally bigger than in the SEC, so the hitting environment is a little different. But Bingham will be fine here.

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How can you remotely quantify that if you're not spending time with these players?

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Great question. What would you rate the OF as a whole in 2023 and in 2024?

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Huh? I'm not saying my ratings are better or matter any more. My point was you saying that you take intangibles into account, which doesn't make any sense unless you are seeing how these guys interact with each other in the dugout, clubhouse, etc. Just felt like a catch-all word you threw in there to explain away the unexplainable.

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Yea I’m not following. You’re asking me if I’m in the dugout and hanging out with these players to explain why the outfield received a higher grade last year? Much of last years team was together for the better part of 2-3-4 years.