re: NOT Adam's Baseball Preview

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Just remembering that heroic performance fontenot put up during the super regional. Although itll be forgotten since we couldnt put it together at the plate

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Yeah it sucks that a super man effort ended up being meaningless. That kid pitched his arse off, and we couldn't get the job done for him. That has to change this year.

Dass a young team

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Usually a SR in college baseball isn't a very good player.

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Slight correction, they usually aren't a good pro prospect. But they can be very good college players.

One thing that is exciting about this upcoming team is that it will be a very veteran bullpen.

And even the younger guys like Gunter and Costello have crazy good stuff.

Bump... Because in just a few days Adam will take over the baseball preview, and do probably a much better job.

We now have two scrimmages, and Mainieri's press conference to build upon.

It seems like the starting line up, if we started today, would be..

C - Garza/Milazzo split
1B - Beloso (Willis backing up)
2B - Dugas (Doughty backing up)
3B - Mathis (screw back ups... Kids a beast)
SS - Hughes (Cranford backing up)
LF - Bianco (a ton of people backing up)
CF - Gio (Hampton backing up)
RF - Cabrera
DH - Willis/Doughty (don't rule Travinski out)

Biggest change is Dugas starting at 2B over Doughty. I touched on this in the OP, that Dugas could plug in here at any time, despite not spending time here in the fall. It seems that Doughty's glove needs work before he can get his shot. Apparently his glove is worse off than I thought.

Mainieri will roll with Gio in CF to start, but the leash will be short. Hampton will get his shot, and just a gut feeling, he will eventually take this spot. That will leave a whole log jam in LF. Bianco seems to be getting the first crack, and Gio might eventually get thrown into that mix as well.

DH will be a hot hand/match up with Doughty, Willis and Travinski. That's three bats that could be awfully hard to keep out of the line up. They may only all get limited chances to shine. Garza needs to be in the mix here, when Milazzo is catching as well. Mainieri isn't going to punish him by returning to keep him on the bench. If he's hitting, he is not a bat you want sitting on the bench anyway.

This team is DEEP. We are going to stroke the baseball this year. It's just a matter of settling into a lineup, which probably won't happen anytime soon.

I'm not even going to get into pitching. If we stay healthy, this staff is filthy. I'm trying not to get my hopes up though, so I'll just stay quiet.

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Heard a rumor that they are looking at Hill as the closer TIFWIW

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Not a possibility, unless it’s late in the season. Hill’s arm has to be managed back into shape. That means he’ll be called on at pre-determined points. He’ll warm up like a starter, and then get plenty of rest. All of this precludes closing.

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Beloso?

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Sorry. Fixed that.

Thanks for the bump. Missed this thread first time around. I've been so distracted by football domination that I haven't had time to get properly amped up for baseball. I'm going to struggle to make it out to as many games this year as I used to but I'm looking forward to seeing what this team can do. There's always some surprises once the season gets going but there's a lot of potential.

I wonder what people will complain about most this year... Fielding? Errors? Lack of stolen bases? Not bunting enough? Walk up songs?

Hughes and the amount of strikeouts i think will be two of the biggest

I'm sure we'll hear all of the above. Welcome to baseball season