The Bull Pen

[shock10]

If LHP Josh smith, RHP Mitch Mormann, LHP Albert Minnis, RHP Zach Beringer, RHP A. J. Ladwig, and LHP Kris Gardner are starters. That leaves this as the bull pen.

RHP Cale Elam, RHP T J McGreevy, LHP Aaron LaBrie, LHP Drew Rainey, RHP Foster Vielock, LHP Kyle Bouman, LHP Kyle Vail, RHP Connor Knight, RHP Tyler Baker, LHP Garrett Bayliff, and RHP Tobin Mateychick.

Thats a deep Bull Pen that I have a lot of confidence in and a Starting rotation that I have even more confidence in. I have to say this is 2008 all over again if we hit and score 5 to 6 runs a game.

[shocker3]

If LHP Josh smith, RHP Mitch Mormann, LHP Albert Minnis, RHP Zach Beringer, RHP A. J. Ladwig, and LHP Kris Gardner are starters. That leaves this as the bull pen.

RHP Cale Elam, RHP T J McGreevy, LHP Aaron LaBrie, LHP Drew Rainey, RHP Foster Vielock, LHP Kyle Bouman, LHP Kyle Vail, RHP Connor Knight, RHP Tyler Baker, LHP Garrett Bayliff, and RHP Tobin Mateychick.

Thats a deep Bull Pen that I have a lot of confidence in and a Starting rotation that I have even more confidence in. I have to say this is 2008 all over again if we hit and score 5 to 6 runs a game.

I agree that the pitching looks very strong and deep. It is a case of great Shocker reloading after losing Charlie Lowell and Tim Kelly.

[SB Shock]

If LHP Josh smith, RHP Mitch Mormann, LHP Albert Minnis, RHP Zach Beringer, RHP A. J. Ladwig, and LHP Kris Gardner are starters. That leaves this as the bull pen.

RHP Cale Elam, RHP T J McGreevy, LHP Aaron LaBrie, LHP Drew Rainey, RHP Foster Vielock, LHP Kyle Bouman, LHP Kyle Vail, RHP Connor Knight, RHP Tyler Baker, LHP Garrett Bayliff, and RHP Tobin Mateychick.

Thats a deep Bull Pen that I have a lot of confidence in and a Starting rotation that I have even more confidence in. I have to say this is 2008 all over again if we hit and score 5 to 6 runs a game.

WSU is going to have to score more than 5-6 runs a game to repeat 2008. WSU scored an average of 8 rpg that year. If WSU improves from last year it will because of improvement in the offensive numbers - 0.280/0.375/0.402 are pretty ugly numbers.

[shox1989]

WSU is going to have to score more than 5-6 runs a game to repeat 2008. WSU scored an average of 8 rpg that year. If WSU improves from last year it will because of improvement in the offensive numbers - 0.280/0.375/0.402 are pretty ugly numbers.

The pitching looks strong. I agree that it is the hitting that will be the question mark.

But with the new bats I don't think they will have to average 8 runs a game to repeat 2008. They will have to hit better overall than last year, which is a tall order and a big question mark right now.

[SB Shock]

The pitching looks strong. I agree that it is the hitting that will be the question mark.

But with the new bats I don't think they will have to average 8 runs a game to repeat 2008. They will have to hit better overall than last year, which is a tall order and a big question mark right now.

all depends on how good the pitching really is (or how much it falls off).

108th Slugging
147th batting avg
68th runs per game

Maybe they won't be able to score 8 rpg (16 teams did average 7+ including Dallas Baptist who average 8+ rpg), but if you look at historic WSU teams that did well - not only were they a good pitching team, but they were good hitting teams ranked in the 95th percentile, not in the 50th percentile.

[pogo]

SB is right when he talks about the great teams as also at least good hitting teams. It just seemed that for so many years lately that our guys attitude was to swing away and not just drive the ball or go with the pitch. I think Gene called it hard headedness. I think we all have other more suitable/descriptive terms. Lets hope with the new bats going into another year they may realize not everyone is Albert Pujols.

[KC Shox]

Is middle relief looking that good? That's been a problem for the past couple of years and it looks to be a question mark again this year. As far as the offense is concerned, it has to get better. I mean, it can't get any worse from last year - can it?

[1972Shocker]

Subject to cancellations I figure there will be 12 times we need a 4th starter and 5 times we need a 5th starter.

A particularly challenging stretch is at the beginning of March when we have 6 games (4 with Hawaii and 2 with UT-Arlington) in 7 days with Tulane coming to town the following weekend.

I think LH Josh Smith, RH Mitch Mormann, LH Albert Minnis and RH Zach Beringer will make up the primary 4-man rotation, although I have no idea what order they will go. I think RH Foster Vielock, LH Kris Gardner and RH A.J. Ladwig will be in the mix for the 5 times we may need a 5th starter. I can see these starts being sprinkled among these 3 in addition to some middle relief duties. Other middle relievers look to be RH TJ McGreevey, LH Aaron LaBrie, LH Drew Rainey, LH Kyle Vail and LH Kyle Boumann. Not sure if RH Tyler Baker, RH Connor Knight and LH Garrett Baylif will be in line for any innings or not. How Tobin Mateychick will recover from his arm surgery and whehter or not he will be in the mix remains to be seen.

Yes I think our offense can get worse. Consider the offense we got from Chris O'Brien and Tyler Grimes and what we have at our disposal to replace that with and, yes, the offense is a challenge. We need good years from Kevin Hall (who looked great in the FWS), Johnny Coy (can we protect him), Tyler Coughenour and we need a couple of other guys to step up. Perhaps Casey Gillaspie or a Garrett Baylif (if recovered) can provide a needed boost. Any positive surprises on the offensive side would be very welcomed and needed.

[WSU Baseball Guy]

Vielock should help in middle relief. He was a beast in the fall. Tyler C should have better production. Hit .300 as a freshman up to the last five games last year and had a great summer. Should be exciting. A lot of speed burners and, with the addition of Billy Halls expertise, a lot of extra bases and steals. We'll see lots more steals, bunts, bunt and run, hit and run, runners advancing from 1st to 3rd on the hit, and stretching singles to doubles. They are young- 11 freshmen and 14 sophomores. Watch out! They'll force good teams into a lot of mistakes with their speed. Extra bases mean more runners in scoring position and more opportunity to score. It's going to be fun to watch!!!

[Ta town]

Vielock should help in middle relief. He was a beast in the fall. Tyler C should have better production. Hit .300 as a freshman up to the last five games last year and had a great summer. Should be exciting. A lot of speed burners and, with the addition of Billy Halls expertise, a lot of extra bases and steals. We'll see lots more steals, bunts, bunt and run, hit and run, runners advancing from 1st to 3rd on the hit, and stretching singles to doubles. They are young- 11 freshmen and 14 sophomores. Watch out! They'll force good teams into a lot of mistakes with their speed. Extra bases mean more runners in scoring position and more opportunity to score. It's going to be fun to watch!!!

This is all fine and good but my main concern is putting the bat on the ball consistently, otherwise all of this goes out the window.

[Wuzee]

Is middle relief looking that good? That's been a problem for the past couple of years and it looks to be a question mark again this year. As far as the offense is concerned, it has to get better. I mean, it can't get any worse from last year - can it?

I think you're going to see a lot of games where TJ picks up the ball in the mid-6th or 7th and hands it to Cale in the 9th. There's more depth there, but this year we've got a strong middle-relief guy and closer package to work with, and I think we'll ride 'em.