Is this an Omaha team next year?

Well our “awful” team this year made it to a Super so I’d say next years got a good shot.

I think we're still missing a couple of A+ arms.

Yes.

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and 1-2 more bats.

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We added Berry..... if Dugas stays and improves you got your wish. You won’t be seeing a Beloso in next years lineup. If you can’t hit.... you sit

We will have to see but we have the talent to be in Omaha next season for sure.

Agreed. Seems tough to make it without an ace starter. Maybe one of the freshmen steps in.

Yes

You're a solution at catcher, whether that's a summer addition or a developmental win from the current roster, and a Friday night pitcher away from being a top-8 national seed.

If they can teach McManus to be a serviceable backstop who can occasionally throw out runners (or, probably more likely, if Kelly can coach the pitchers to control the running game, which is something Mainieri's staff hasn't done in a decade), then you probably have that covered. Milazzo can give you the late-inning defensive replacement at catcher to take the edge off whatever defensive deficiencies McManus gives you.

Of course, if you can find an A-level catcher on top of what you have, then look out.

Your batting order is otherwise completely loaded. When you're looking at the legitimate possibility of somebody like Pearson or Merrifield or Justin Thompson occupying the 9-hole and having a Crews-Morgan-Doughty-Berry-Dugas top five in the order, or something like that, you're apt to regularly put up double-figure single-game run totals.

That's going to take enormous pressure off your pitchers, and if Kelly lives up to his reputation for turning pitchers into strike-throwers you'll find yourself in good shape.

You should have a pretty deep bullpen with capable arms. Will you have enough firepower among your weekend starters to keep from having to win 9-7 and 11-8 all weekend? That remains to be seen. If Kelly turns a Blake Money or a Ty Floyd into a consistent arm or if a Gervase or Bollman or Grant Fontenot pops as a quality newcomer, you might look a bit like that 2008 team which won in spite of its starting pitching thanks to offense and a bullpen which pieced games together.

LSU has more production coming back, from what it looks like, than practically anybody else in the SEC. If what we've heard from this coaching staff is real and not just a lot of hot air, it's a well-stocked roster ready to make a big leap next spring.

And we know Johnson is capable. He took his first Arizona team to the final series in Omaha.

Yes