What is problem with Tiger pitching.5

They get behind in every count

It’s like they are trying to make the perfect pitch to strike a guy out instead of playing to contact. But who can blame them with this defense unless it’s hit to Milam there’s a good chance it will end up an error.

Here's how I think it goes. Every pitcher tries to hit the corners and command their off speed pitches. As they start to miss (or umps do) they start walking people and eventually they just groove one to get a strike.

Yes it's pressure. Yes it's the difference between college and high school where they could maybe blow batters away with fast balls down the middle.

Some of it is pitch calling, but no one is calling for a fast ball right down the middle. Some of it is technique. I'm not sure what causes these guys to jerk a slider 3-4 feet outside. Also part of the hit batter situation.

Personally I don't think it's all on Yeskie. I think their was poor talent evaluation and an over-estimation of how quickly these kids could be developed or even if they could be developed.

I'll admit before speaking that these are random thoughts and may have no validity whatsoever.

Yes these guys were all monsters in high school but a few things change.

Generally as you move up in classification the strike zone gets a little bit tighter. The expectation is higher at the higher levels. It's a stretch of an example but the umps in little league obviously have a much bigger strike zone than what the book says. Otherwise every kid in little league would walk. It tightens each step up so maybe these guys are getting squeezed a little more than they're used to in high school

Also it's the first time they're probably getting true professional pitching "help." Probably more tinkering with their delivery, arm slot, mechanics than they've ever had before. I suspect this creates even more movement on their pitches than they had in high school. Which means they are harder to hit but also struggle more with control. Hence the extremely high walk, HBP number along with high strikeouts.

And lastly seems like every pitcher we bring on is 6"5" +. We all know in any sport the taller you are the harder it is to duplicate mechanics. That can be where leverage, velocity, and other things come from but it can also work against you on consistency and hitting spots.

May have nothing to do with any of that or could be some combo. Just what pops into my brain while trying to make sense of these great high school athletes struggling once they hit tigertown

Schmidt was cruising until the ump gave him bad call on a 3/2 count. It looked like he wanted to cry. Then he loads the bases with wild pitches and voila; HOME RUN.

These kids are very immature!

Like all big problems, there's more than one reason.

But, if you were going to try and identify the biggest problems it would relate to our control.

Now, part of that is strategic. We don't pitch to contact because we have no defense. But, that has been a philosophy of our pitching staff for as long as Jay has been here...even when we had good defensive teams.

But, the results are different because we walk more (due to lack of control), throw more in the dirt (due to lack of control), and don't get the marginal outs when the ball is put into play.

Runners on base are almost automatic to be moved into scoring position.

That's probably 85% of our problems. Overall, the talent level is also probably down...but not to the level of performance we have seen.

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These kids are very immature!

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You can't hold that against them. The majority of 18 to 21 year old boys are immature.

None of these guys want to fail especially in front of 10,000 people. One good thing is we have a lot of young guys getting experience that will help them mature for upcoming seasons.

Bad calls happen and you can't let them rattle you

I think we put a premium on striking hitters out because it's been a winning formula in the past. This staff just may be incapable of finding the balance of challenging hitters and going for the strikeout. You have to be somewhat efficient in the approach even if the end goal is a punchie.

I think they realize the risk (and failure) of the approach, but we also have a problem on defense. Just challenging hitters would be a different formula but the end result would likely be similar, if not the same. The defense isn't fixable at this point. We don't have the personnel to fix it.

Catchers also have a hard time handling the staff. You have big arms with diverse skill sets that make it tough at the surface, but our catchers also seem to try really hard to steal strikes which sometimes results in lack of blocking and just flat out clanking marginal pitches. I will say, some of the pitches are just downright bad pitches that even the best catchers would struggle keeping in front.

Finally, I feel like teams know what's coming alot of the time. I'm not sure if this is pitch calling, pitch tipping, or just pitch execution. It may be a bit of all of the above.

Let's not forget that we're down Cooper Moore to help hold up a starting rotation that was already shaky. And now we're without another starting piece. Cooper Williams was supposed to be a trusted reliever but has not been. Cowan and Guidry have gotten hit around. Noot has been a non factor. Sheerin is basically the only reliable arm on the entire staff. You can't make chicken salad out of chicken shite.

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Is it fundamentals or can most of them unable to handle the pressure of being at LSU? Are other teams scouting reports on us more precise than ours is with them?

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No.
Step back and take a breath.

LSU has recruited high-end prospects who are very raw. If they were polished, they'd have gone into the draft. If Mavrick Rizi, at 6'9 and high 90's fastball, was able to locate that for strikes consistently and also have an offspeed he could consistently throw for a strike, he'd have been a 1st rd pick out of high school.

He can't, and he wasn't. But he could potentially develop into that. If he does, he becomes a monster on the college level, and a high pick. Far higher than someone who can throw strikes around 90 or so, without movement or room to improve a lot. LSU signed him knowing this, and hoping he can figure it out within the 3 years he would be here, so we could benefit from that. He may develop here, he may develop in the minors in a couple of years, he may never develop. It's not about the pressure "at LSU", it's the pressure of a potential MLB career.
That applies to almost every pitcher we have. This isn't the peak they aim for, and we knew that, and we (Jay and the other coaches) sold them that we would work to develop them, while they are here.