re: For the baseball team to reach its potential

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Jobert is the worst outfielder I’ve ever seen.

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This is just beyond false. Jacob Berry could not track a ball worth a damn in the outfield. He ended up being a pretty decent third baseman but was beyond terrible in the outfield.

Jobert is average in the outfield. Also his hitting ability is above Pearson right now. Pearson does not have that kind of pop. So even if Jobert goes cold you can always sub him out with the options we have. But when hes hot its bombs away and he will get hot.

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I liked they tried Frey in RF last night.

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I liked that he got some PT but that first inning K was bad. Bases loaded and he watched 3 fastballs down the pipe and didn't take the bat off his shoulder on any of them. He did foul one off but that was just extremely disappointing.

He's only s freshman and he'll get better but he needs to prove himself in the midweek before any PT in sec play

100%. That's why I said he is a work in progress. I don't expect him to have a major role on this years team. I was just glad they got him a start to get out their and get a few extra at bats. As also mentioned, RH bats off the bench are kind of slim so I think getting him and Travinski some reps can benefit this team in the long run.

Jay seems excited for Frey's future. He said the other day that he likes his ability to play multiple positions and that can be a big advantage in the future but he sees him as an OF because he can run and cover ground. I don't know if Frey ever played much OF before getting to LSU so that can take some adjusting also. He played multiple sports at a small Louisiana school so we knew it would take some adjusting but his potential is super high.

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Pearson didn't get alot of hits or at bats before conference last season. He didn't look great. Good approach, though.

He looks disinterested so far this year. Approach has not been as good as last year's. Something is off.

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Something is definitely off, and it’s weird. There’s no bigger fan of Pearson on here than me. I went to West Monroe, played a year with his dad, and have been keeping up with him since he was a freshman in high school. I predicted before last season began that he would wind up hitting his way into the every day lineup and was right. And you could tell Jay loved him because he was getting so many PH ABs early on. He was the 1st bat off the bench in just about every game he didn’t start until he did wind up hitting his way into the everyday lineup. Jay was determined to give him every opportunity to do so until he finally did.

But he had a terrible summer, fall, spring, and beginning to this season. Yes, his approach is always good, but he just can’t seem to find the barrel for whatever reason. Even his double last night, while a nice swing to hit it the other way, wasn’t barreled up. He didn’t hit it very hard (exit velo couldn’t have been over 95), he just put a good swing on it, and it found grass.

Our highest potential is probably for last year’s Pearson to emerge and take the LF spot. But there’s a plenty big enough sample size going back to the summer that says that’s not likely. And his only having 15 PAs this deep into the season with all the blowouts we’ve been in says something about Jay’s lack of confidence he will turn into last year’s version of himself, which is who he is.

That’s why this is so confusing and indicates something is off. I don’t know if he changed his swing for some reason and hasn’t found it yet or if he’s battling a nagging injury we don’t know about or what. Maybe he’s got a girlfriend and isn’t living in the cage like he was. But something’s definitely not right with him, and I can’t figure it out. Hopefully he and Jay do before the end of the season.

He’s definitely toned up, but I don’t think it’s that. Probably something mechanical , because his approach looks the same

You know, they tinkered with Kling and he was an awful to start the year. He went back to hitting the way he feels comfortable and he has been raking

OP is a little too dramatic. Agree that Jobert in left is one of the weaker spots, but this team is too deep to say that is the key to reach our potential. So many new studs on the team that it is difficult to single out one player as the key. The key could easily be more related to middle-relief pitching than a hard swinging left fielder.

The key to this team's potential will be determined in Omaha and not who is in left field before we have played a conference game yet.

Bump