Who Returns?

[ShockTalk]

I hope Zimmerman heals
From his concussion I would
Love to watch him behind the
Plate next year

From what I've read, IF he plays again, it may likely be at a position other than a catcher.

[1972Shocker]

I never want to see Parker Zimmerman behind the plate again other than maybe doing some bullpen catching for his own well-being.

Parker suffered his concussion when he took a foul ball of his mask on April 5th against Indiana State. Based on most recent reports he is still suffering from pretty severe symptoms.

http://www.kansas.com/2014/05/17/3461647/wsu-notes-zimmerman-tries-to-wait.html

Parker is unlikely to make his living playing baseball. The risk-reward simply isn't there to return as a catcher. I'm not sure what Parker could do other than catch. Maybe 1B. Possibly 3rd. Not sure he has the speed for the outfield. I suppose he could DH.

[Iamsecond]

I never want to see Parker Zimmerman behind the plate again other than maybe doing some bullpen catching for his own well-being.

Parker suffered his concussion when he took a foul ball of his mask on April 5th against Indiana State. Based on most recent reports he is still suffering from pretty severe symptoms.

http://www.kansas.com/2014/05/17/3461647/wsu-notes-zimmerman-tries-to-wait.html

Parker is unlikely to make his living playing baseball. The risk-reward simply isn't there to return as a catcher. I'm not sure what Parker could do other than catch. Maybe 1B. Possibly 3rd. Not sure he has the speed for the outfield. I suppose he could DH.

.

What a great kid. I wish him only the Best

[jdmee]

Show us Where there is a Tanner Boyle or a Kelly Leak on the baseball roster!

Might I suggest asking our friend GOOGLE about Tanner Boyle and Kelly Leak. It might be some "Bad News" when you find out who they are.

[1972Shocker]

With 12 of our incoming recruits pitchers and with 2 others listed as both a pitcher and a position we potentially have 12-14 new pitchers coming in depending on how many of those survive the draft. Hopefully, Sam Tewes will make a full recovery and be in the mix again next year. Sam would seem like the only slam dunk to be returning on the pitching staff. Ray Ashford and Reagan Beichler are probable to return. That would give us 15 to 17 pitchers less whatever we may lose to the draft/pros. We only had 10 pitchers this past season who pitched 10 or more innings including Garrett Brummett who struggled through 11.2 innings.

If all these pitcher survive we have around room for about 18-20 position players. Again depending on the draft 9-11 of these will be filled by incoming recruits.

Leaving room for around 9 or 10 returning position players give or take. That should accommodate about everyone that wants to return and who HCTB wants back including Tyler Baker and Chase Simpson if they don't get drafted and sign pro contracts. We only had 11 position players that saw action this past season that might be coming back and that includes Baker and Simpson. Sounds like Michael Burns will be in the mix next year. But at this point there probably is room to accommodate the majority of them if they desire to come back and if HCTB wants them. Especially if Baker and Simpson get drafted and sign as has been indicated by some as being very likely.

[RoyalShock]

Tanner Boyle is a scrapper, we need him back.
Kelly Leak may have an attitude but he's got a big stick and we need someone to replace Gillaspie.

Is that you, Buttermaker?

[WstateU]

Who the hell are Tanner Boyle and Kelly Leak?

You must be a young'n

Is that you, Buttermaker?

[1972Shocker]

Who is Austin brite? Is he a scholarship guy?

Austin was a preferred walk-on. Was not heavily recruited out of high school. Listed on the Shocks roster at 6-5, 220. Lost 95 pounds at one point in his high school career. Was not heavily recruited out of high school. Bright had looks from Oklahoma Wesleyan, Northeast Oklahoma A&M and Hutchinson. Not sure why Austin redshirted. Injury or just felt like he wasn't ready. In any case, with our lack of bullpen depth this season you have to wonder if Austin isn't another T.J. Looney type of project.

[Iamsecond]

Austin was a preferred walk-on. Was not heavily recruited out of high school. Listed on the Shocks roster at 6-5, 220. Lost 95 pounds at one point in his high school career. Was not heavily recruited out of high school. Bright had looks from Oklahoma Wesleyan, Northeast Oklahoma A&M and Hutchinson. Not sure why Austin redshirted. Injury or just felt like he wasn't ready. In any case, with our lack of bullpen depth this season you have to wonder if Austin isn't another T.J. Looney type of project.

My question for you all: Did we really not have the "Bullpen Depth". Or did we only pitch the same guys over and over leaving guys to wait it out weeks on end that may have been able to help us? Just asking those of you who are more advanced in knowledge where pitching is concerned. I personally liked Reagan Beichler...but he fell off the map early on

[SB Shock]

My question for you all: Did we really not have the "Bullpen Depth". Or did we only pitch the same guys over and over leaving guys to wait it out weeks on end that may have been able to help us? Just asking those of you who are more advanced in knowledge where pitching is concerned. I personally liked Reagan Beichler...but he fell off the map early on

Well, Kemnitz has tried to develop as much depth as possible in his staff in the past, so I don't think he was holding back.

On the face of it, WSU used 12 pitchers which is probably an expected number. I think when you hear "lack of depth" what we really talking about there was a lack of guys who can come in and get people out. There were 6 on the staff that pitched effectively, one in-between (Ashford, 4.26 ERA) and then there were 5 others who couldn't (ERA 4.66, 5.45, 7.27, 13.89, 16.43). With this team offense, it got really costly to bring in one of those 5 guys who were going to give up a run every inning or two. The bottom 5 guys were walk= machines. So in the end they did probably have started extending the top 6 guys.

[KansasShocker]

I did hear that some may have gotten a little tired over the season. Can you confirm this iamsecond?

[1972Shocker]

I did hear that some may have gotten a little tired over the season.

If anyone was going to get tired it would seem to be our Top 3 starters. They pitched 276.2 inning this year representing 52.8% of our total innings. Last year our Top 3 starters pitched 236.3 innings representing 39.5% of our total innings.

Our Top 4 relief pitchers this year made 101 appearances and pitched a total of 154.2 innings representing 29.5% of out total innings. Last year our Top 4 relief pitchers made 98 appearances and pitched a total of 200.2 innings representing 33.6% of the our total innings.

Clearly we relied more heavily on our starting pitching this year than our relief pitching both in terms of what success we did have and the workload. We were fortunate to have 3 starters that consistently gave us quality starts and minimized the need to go real heavily to the bullpen.

[KansasShocker]

I agree. Was listening to the BK show and I thought I heard him say some relievers were getting a little worn down. Believe I read something in the eagle as well about vielock enjoying some rest but i may be mistaken

[1972Shocker]

If any of our relief corps was going to get worn down a little it was Aaron LaBrie. He pitched the most appearances (33) and innings pitched 48.2 among our relievers. By comparison Vielock made 23 appearances and logged 31.1 innings, Ashford made 23 appearances and logged 38.0 innings and Palmer made 22 appearances and 36.2 innings.

LaBrie was clearly the workhorse out of the pen. The rest of the guys were pretty close with Vielock carrying perhaps the lightest workload. He had the lowest innings pitched per appearance at 1.36 innings per outing among these 4 relievers as well.

Now physical fatigue and mental fatigue are two different things and it could be some more than others were just ready to finish their careers and move on with the rest of their lives.

However, from a physical standpoint I don't see that our relievers were overworked. I looked at DBU's Top 4 relievers. They made 97 appearances and pitched 174.3 inning representing 32.7% of DBU's total innings. Slightly more work than the Shocks Top 4 relievers this year.

I'm sure Brent would have loved to had 1 or 2 more dependable arms in the bullpen to spread the workload though.

[Iamsecond]

Well, Kemnitz has tried to develop as much depth as possible in his staff in the past, so I don't think he was holding back.

On the face of it, WSU used 12 pitchers which is probably an expected number. I think when you hear "lack of depth" what we really talking about there was a lack of guys who can come in and get people out. There were 6 on the staff that pitched effectively, one in-between (Ashford, 4.26 ERA) and then there were 5 others who couldn't (ERA 4.66, 5.45, 7.27, 13.89, 16.43). With this team offense, it got really costly to bring in one of those 5 guys who were going to give up a run every inning or two. The bottom 5 guys were walk= machines. So in the end they did probably have started extending the top 6 guys.

Thank you for the clarification