re: Paul Mainieri is one of the main reasons Hampton is leaving LSU

I think it's becoming clear Mainieri didn't trust Hampton as a defensive replacement right now. We keep hearing about his rust and losing balls. My thought is he probably hasn't looked great in practice. Notice he's also been put in LF not CF. There's no question he's more athletic than anyone else in the OF, but if he can't track balls, can't take proper angles, etc. then that athleticism becomes somewhat moot. Maybe he's having issues making the proper throws. I honesty don't know, but given Mainieri's career, he loves a fast an athletic outfielder when he has one. It would make no sense to play Bianco over Hampton unless Hampton just can't do it well.

Also, it deserves mentioning that when he's come in as a pinch runner, he made a huge base running mistake. He paid no attention to Cain holding the runner at third (can't remember who it was now) and was 2/3 of the way down the baseline before he realize the runner was held. And this wasn't one of the Cain calls that was late. He was holding all the way. Hampton just had tunnel vision and made an assumption. Mainieri doesn't like mistakes like that.

And as far as at bats are concerned, I agree he probably should have been given some more ABs in these blowouts games, but I'm not sure giving him 10 ABs, give or take, as opposed to 4 would have made him feel any better about his situation. He'd still be riding the bench all conference season, and that's not what he came here to do in his mind. I think he thought since he was skipping football this spring that he'd be a shoe-in to start. And believe me I get it. He knows what money he turned down and is now seeing the writing on the wall that he may never see that money again, and I'm sure that's a tough pill to swallow, and this happens all the time in this sport and others where a huge prospect doesn't end up where he wants to be when he gets to a big program like LSU with a team full of studs.

And, fwiw, I'm his biggest fan. He went to the same high school I did. We don't have a lot of guys playing D1 sports, and we've never had a kid playing for LSU in my lifetime. I wanted him to ball out more than anyone, and I hate that he's leaving.

Good post. I don’t want to keep going in circles because I think you know my stances on some of the points we disagree on but a lot of it is opinion based. So we simply disagree on one or two things. Like you I wish the best for him. And again I think he’s much better than people are saying he is.

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MH had 4 AB. He scored 3 times and got 2 hits. 1 RBI , 1 BB and 1 SO. What didn’t he do to deserve at least 10 more AB this season ? PM supporters like to ignore relevant stats.

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Are we calling 4 at bat sample sizes relevant? If so, can you tell me what Drost did in his first 4 ABs?

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And again I think he’s much better than people are saying he is.

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For his sake, I honestly wish he had just signed out of high school. I was as excited about him as any other player we've ever signed for our shared personal connection of being MUS alums, but in hindsight, I wish he'd have taken the money because he'd likely be in a much better spot now than he is. I also hate to see his struggles on the football field. He made some plays in high school, both as a receiver and as a defensive back, that were unbelievably athletic plays. Kid has so much natural ability. I'll still be his biggest fan wherever he ends upand hope he finds himself in the majors some day.

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He worked his arse off to earn a starting spot on one of the best teams ever. He was talked a lot in 2019 about how good he would be partially because of how hard he worked.

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I don’t think anyone is questioning his work ethic. At least I’m not at all. I just think missing the reps against live pitching than the rest of the team is getting while he is focusing on football puts him behind everyone else. I think people are trying to make it more complicated than it really is.

Those are also reps the coaches are missing out on to evaluate him. Baseball coaches want as much information as they can get. The more numbers they have the better information they have to predict future success.

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I think that’s TBD. Talent is there. It’s not like it disappeared.

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So, Paul isn't sitting a first round talent. He's sitting a kid who was viewed as a 1st round talent in high school.

That's a pretty important distinction. His in ability to show himself as being better than his college teammates (all things considered) is the more important piece of information.

Mainieri, if he saw that first round potential, should be playing him because it's in the team's best interest for him to realize that potential asap. If Mainieri doesn't really see him as that special, then making him compete and outplay the competition makes sense.

So, that's why your opinion of whether he is a first rounder is important or not. That's the position Mainieri is in right now. Identify him as a special player. Or, identify him as one of many who have similar talent and who fall into the same category of may develop or may not develop.

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No one looked good last year on defense. You have to blame the scheme. No way that many players can look so bad outside of cover corners.

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That right there is a true statement! God I'm glad Pelini is GONE!!!! Can't wait to see our defense come alive again this Fall!!

What did he do to earn more ABs over someone else? That’s the central issue here.

I see lots of folks who deserve less at bats. Again, you ignore the 2/1 strike out to walk ratio. I backed up my position with individual and team statistics. We have been blown out and likewise have blown out other teams. We’ve lost Air Force and two games to freaking Oral Roberts. The team as a whole as a collective 2/1 strike out to walk ratio. Are you seriously going to argue that this kid did not deserve more at bats and that there were not “dead” innings during the last three weeks where he could have been inserted into the lineup ? How far will you guys stretch to prop up Paul?