re: Hunt mentioned there was some dissent on last year's team

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Young kids frustrated with lack of playing time compiled with graduating or losing the vast majority of your leaders and upper classman to the draft the offseason prior didn't help that matter.

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My niece dated baseball player back in the early 2000's. She said the tension in the stands when she would go there to watch intersquad scrimmages where the kids were basically fighting for spots was palpable.

Not only do the kids all think they should be starting but so do their parents and their girlfriends and it gets a bit chippy. You are very fortunate if the kids who think they should be playing more don't bring that to the park some days in a not always positive vibe.

I’m not sure Loer added positivity

I think Braswell was an immediate team guy

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I have nothing to back this up personally but I have read & heard in multiple places that some guys like Neal, Kling, Ruddell, Johnson, & Dutton were not pleased last year due to lack of playing time.

Young kids frustrated with lack of playing time compiled with graduating or losing the vast majority of your leaders and upper classman to the draft the offseason prior didn't help that matter.

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Kids are almost always slow to understand coaching decisions when the players that are playing in front of you are not performing. Now, Johnson and Dutton must be pretty dense to not see why they were not taking the hill.

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He was given so many chances Jay wanted to him to be the guy so bad.

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THIS. Neal of all people was given countless opportunities and even started multiple games in the outfield just to give him PT. Frey, who waited his turn, homering against Bama right in front of Brady Neal while wearing Neal's old jersey number was badass.

Between Hunt's fashion takes with the uniforms and retreading old takes, he's really been on a roll lately

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That not just isolated to LSU. And it's not just isolated to last season. I think some try to portray a lack of team chemistry as a "cause" for losing...

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I think it was the inverse. I think they started losing and there really wasn't a group of leaders.

I caught a weird exchange between Fidel Ulloa and Cam Johnson in the handshake line after a game last year. I believe Ulloa had just gotten a save, and when he went to clap Johnson’s hand I believe one of them pulled away and gave a shitty look to the other. I thought it was strange when it happened. I have nothing to back this up other than seeing it on the broadcast after a game, but seems to line up with team chemistry not being great.

Thatcher Hurd seemed to not be fully bought in to what they were doing and focused on winning.

Loer did not live up to expectations.

Johnson could not hit the backstop with the ball.

Other than the two starters and Ulloa who came on at the end the pitching was not consistent or good.


Travinski slumped at the DH most of the year so there were probably kids who wanted that spot.

Kling and Neal probably did not love their use.

Well we know for sure it was bad enough that Jay had to ban the boys from using phones in the clubhouse. I think there was some back and forth online drama that made things bad. Jay said he had never had to do that before.

Then you had the boys starting out SEC on a losing streak. It was crazy that they came together enough to get into the playoffs.

At one point Jay was talking about getting on the players for poor play wasn't working and it was having the opposite effect. That is when he started talking about having to be overwhelmingly positive with the guys 100% of the time. If a coach can't bitch at his players without them shutting down it shows how soft some of those players were.

Go ahead and downvote me if you like, but based on my own eyes, it sure did seem like Tommy Tanks was over it and ready to move on. He went from a patient hitter in 23 to a guy that swung at every first pitch and couldn't get out of the batters box quick enough by the end of last year.