Fire Todd Butler

[shock10]

With a record of 17 - 31 leaving 8 games in the regular season IF Butler plays .500 ball ball they will be 21 - 35. That's a stretch being they have played. 333 most of the year. This last week they went 1 - 4 with 4 of 5 games at the Eck. Unbelievable!!!

[shockfan89_]

With a record of 17 - 31 leaving 8 games in the regular season IF Butler plays .500 ball ball they will be 21 - 35. That's a stretch being they have played. 333 most of the year. This last week they went 1 - 4 with 4 of 5 games at the Eck. Unbelievable!!!

Against mediocre competition...

[shockfan89_]

The "grow and develop" is kind of myth. Boyd Nation did a study of his hitting database and found that you would find the following improvements by year (for starters)

Avg: +1%
SLG: +3%
OBP: +2%

That stats that had the best predictability from year to year was - HR, BB, SO. Meaning you are what you are.

Troutwine
Avg/OBP/SLG
0.298/0.404/0.405
0.288/0.395/0.451

Vickers
0.252/0.355/0.269
0.310/0.373/0.372

Rader
0.239/0.363/0.383
0.267/0.368/0.416

Tinkham
0.333/0.446/0.576
0.229/0.333/0.369

Mucha
0.313/0.354/0.374
0.296/0.350/0.358

Kihl
0.313/.0.369/0.456
0.301/0.387/0.390

Looking back at some notable shockers their progression was (Batting Avg for their 3 or 4 years)

Hooper 0.321/0.348/0.360/0.402
Ryan 0.391/0.340/0.439/0.304
Preston 0.269/0.393/0.330/0.299
Schermorhorn 0.286/0.329/0.329/0.347
Sublette 0.314/0.394/0.354
Cody C 0.264/0.320/0.320
Blake B 0.277/0.396/0.391
Blue 0.263/0.257/0.317/0.285
Koyie H 0.327/0.347/0.391/0.356
Magness 0.409/0.464/0.364/0.344

I think in general, either you are good hitter or not. There is no "sure thing" they will get better each year - look at Hill or Magness. They bounced around, but regardless of their numbers from year to year they were good, just some better than other.

SB - Thanks for going through the effort of pulling the numbers together, I appreciate the stats and I know JJ does too. While grow and develop may be somewhat of a myth when looking at the stats across all teams, the players in that first group all had pretty sizable jumps at some point compared to their 1st year (even though some of them started with great #s). The second group hasn’t had near the same results.

Hooper - +81 points
Ryan - +48 points
Preston - +124 point
Schermorhorn - +61 points
Sublette - +80 points
Cody C - +56 points
Blake B - +119 points
Blue - +54 points
Koyie H - +64 points
Magness - +55 points

Troutwine - (-10 points)
Vickers - +58 points
Rader - +28 points
Tinkham - (-104 points)
Mucha - (-17 points)
Kihl - (-12 points)
Kirk - +21 points
Eaton - (-140 points)

Pitching is likely even more pronounced. My point was if the current Fr hitters see results more in line with the first group, I think this will be a great group of Fr. If they continue like the second group has I think it will be a very average group of Fr.

Confidence and tradition may also provide greater impact for a specific team. That first group had leaders that had been in the program for three or four years that the younger guys could look to and learn from. In a mental game like baseball, I think confidence and watching how successful upperclassman approach the game can make a difference.

Next year will be HCTB’s 4th season and there will be only a few players that have been Shockers that long: Jr Reagan Biechler and R-So Cody Tyler (assuming Tewes and Schwanke don’t return). Hopefully we can get away from the huge recruiting classes with the “turn and burn” style we have had the past few years and a bit more towards having players in the program 3 or 4 years that can build a tradition and loyalty from the fan base (I know, I am old-school, or maybe just plain old).

[DUShock]

Butler seems to lack all aspects of the Bushido Code, so I suspect that he is too dense to do the honorable thing and pop smoke early in a career seppuku. Boatright should act as Butler's "second" and finish him quickly.

[SB Shock]

Confidence and tradition may also provide greater impact for a specific team.

I agree .....Esprit De Corp lives!

[Ricardo del Rio]

A novel concept.

"The formula hasn’t changed,” Servais said. “It’s about throwing strikes and playing defense. Then, create offense.”

[shockfan89_]

A novel concept.

"The formula hasn’t changed,” Servais said. “It’s about throwing strikes and playing defense. Then, create offense.”

It appears we are trying to go about with the formula of score more runs than we give up. So far Ed's way seems to be working out better.

[Cdizzle]

There is a game tonight. Against a former rival. In Wichita. I'm not going to start a new thread though. Because, well, because this thread. And because I accidentally looked at our record.

On the bright side, a good pitching performance could move the team ERA out of the bottom 30. So, we have that to cheer for.

[shockfan89_]

Thank god for yesterday's huge come from behind win or we would now be under .500 against 200+ RPI times. As it sits we are 1-7 against the top 50, 7-14 against 51-100, 7-9 against 101-200, and 4-3 against 200+.

We would also be in 7th place without the big win yesterday!

[shockfan89_]

If we get swept next weekend by DBU there is a pretty good chance we will finish 7th in the MVC. Illinois State is now only one game behind us in the win column and they go to cellar dweller MSU next weekend.

[ShockerFever]

12 days.

[Veritas]

12 days.

Very difficult to spin why he shouldn't be fired unless it simply comes down to money.
He really is a very poor head coach.

[ShockTalk]

Very difficult to spin why he shouldn't be fired unless it simply comes down to money.
He really is a very poor head coach.

On this, we agree.

[Play Angry]

Shockers' RPI sits at 177 heading into the final week of the regular season.

[ShockTalk]

Shockers' RPI sits at 177 heading into the final week of the regular season.

Had not looked at the RPI (why would I) and this is higher than I thought it would be. I wonder if this means it will go up if we lose 3 to DBU?