re: How do you end up with guys like Ethan Frey and Jared Jones

quote:

---

None of the players that left are good enough to be the best player on a championship team for weeks-months-years like Frey & Jones were, at times.

---

Exactly. And Jay is never gonna punt on a season. Ever. I don’t think he processed most of those guys as much as they left on their own knowing Jay was going to hit the portal to try to replace the production of Jones, Frey, and Dickinson. So the guys who left probably just didn’t want to wait until their 3rd years to get on the field everyday.

Can’t really blame them. Some have pro aspirations, and most just like actually playing baseball, not just being on the team. And they already won an NC. I think we downplay how much winning an NC scratches a lifetime itch and guys then begin to focus on other dreams to accomplish. Almost all championship teams lose guys to either the draft or the portal that probably would have come back if they didn’t win the CWS.

And I think Stanny coming back was kind of a surprise that may have pushed a couple OFers out that would have probably come back otherwise.

I think Jay was caught off guard by some of those leaving. But we don’t talk about this enough either—there weren’t a ton of high-level guys in the portal last year. Probably less than any season prior since it became a thing. So he had to gamble on some guys with high ceilings and low floors. And they’ve played closer to their floors for whatever reason.

So it was a combination of a lot of things that lead to this season. But I’m confident he’ll learn and adapt.