re: Random statistics for LSU baseball to-date

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Will people still want O’Sullivan if he chokes in Omaha and doesn’t win a title with all of this talent?

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Sure they wanted him before when we didn't win with teams much better than last years team. Two of the Rant's other favorite coaches (TCU and Virginia) probably won't even make a regional.

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a big part of why we arent as good of a hitting team as last year.

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Our batting average is better than last year's team's batting average, .289 for 2017 vs. .293 this season.

Our slugging % is better this year, .434 last season vs. .438 this season.

Our on-base % is down slightly, .384 last year vs. .377 this season.

Here are some individual stats from last season compared to this season for players who were starters both years:

Beau Jordan
2017: .268
2018: .311

Zach Watson
2017: .317
2018: .315

Antoine Duplantis
2017: .316
2018: .340

Jake Slaughter
2017: .257
2018: .255

The difference between last season and this season is NOT hitting. It's pitching.

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Will people still want O’Sullivan if he chokes in Omaha and doesn’t win a title with all of this talent?

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People also seem to forget that his 2014 was the #2 overall national seed and went 0-2 in their own regional.

To be fair a bit of the stats in black in white are skewed.

LSU's crushing SEC competition at home, doing at or around what they did a season ago and it's showing 11-4 in the SEC.

But on the road the offense has not been giving starting pitching or the bullpen any relief.

2
0
2
1
0
4
3

Those are the runs scored in 7 of LSU's 9 SEC road loses this year.

You replace all three starters and they're expected to match or exceed this on the ROAD?

I don't care what starting pitching does this weekend, the bats decide the series against Auburn.

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I was responding to the OP that said BA is the measure to compare last year

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So you believe OPS tells the real story about this year's struggles?

2017
Team OPS = .818

2018
Team OPS = .815

The problem this season is not hitting, it's pitching.

Last season we averaged 6.69 runs per game; this year's average to date is 6.15. That's just over a half run less per game(.54).

Our opponent's scored 3.90 runs per game, but this year they scored 4.68 runs per game. That's about 3/4s of a run (.78) more runs allowed.

Overall the bigger issue has been runs allowed versus runs scored.

Are these unusual swings?

Are the SEC numbers better or worse? I don't know because they aren't readily available like they use to be.

Is it a bad road v home swing as some intimate? It may be. We have really struggled on the road both in and out of conference.

Fwiw, in 72 games we gave up 26 unearned runs last year, but to date we've only allowed 16 unearned runs. But That wouldn't account for the numerous wild pitches that Pap blocked successfully compared to how our catchers have done this season. Surely poor catching has cost us maybe 10 runs this year.

ETA Make that about 11.

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So I gave you the team's OPS for this year and last year. I have no idea what "OPB" is. Neither does Google.

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OPB was a typo a-hole and you of all people know it.

As far as OPS, you didn’t want to do it because the results will reveal the truth for the everyday starters. Contribution in baserunning, etc are important measures as well.

In all categories, the hitting is way down from last year and those that use only BA have no idea about baseball.
That’s the same kind of people that think sabermetrics don’t work.
Take Alex Bregman, he walks a lot and is hitting only 250ish off the top of my head, yet he is in the lead or nearly leading his team in OBP.
So he was moved up in the line up to the 2 hole.

Well you lost smith and have hughes who's batting 240 ish. Slaughter is hitting 250,Broussard has not been the same since he broke his thumb. Watson's average is up there but he has struggled of late. He hit 5 HR in the post season last year and has 5 this year. Pitching has been a nightmare of lack of recruiting and injuries. Storz, Walker, Labas has not really been 100%. Gilbert pitched so well in Omaha and has been a train wreck this year. Thank god for Hilliard or where would we be? Hess is just not a starter but what else do you have? Very frustrating year.