Baseball 2017 Edition - What would you do?

[ShockerFever]

big man hiding behind a keyboard

So no denial? Glad we got that cleared up.

[JohnQShocker]

haha, ok

(this is the worthless dribble I wrote about above)

[shockfan89_]

I'm one of the 'idiot trolls'.

Again, I do have confidence that Butler and crew will get it rolling next season. If he/they don't, then I suppose that you may call me an idiot.......again.

Go Shocks!

I guess my question is what have you possibly seen that gives you this confidence? Even if you give Butler a pass for recruiting his first season (which I can understand), that was his best season (record wise and only one over .500). I can understand seeing improvement for hitting. But I feel there is only one or two pitchers on the current roster that we consider up to Shocker pitching standards. That doesn't even get into the defense and lack of baseball IQ.

I'm not saying HCTB can't get it done here, but other than recruiting big players that can hit the ball (and strike out a lot), I haven't seen anything that gives me confidence for the future.

[Cdizzle]

Let's say that I buy that there is a bunch of potential on the team and they get way better next year. I don't, but let's just say that I do.

Where does that put us? Way better is a .500 ball club and a team trying to finish 3rd in a terrible conference. That is in year 4. And that is not WSU baseball.

If you want to throw out his first recruiting year, fine. But let's also remember that his best record was with that first team with mostly Stephenson players. So far, he's demonstrated that players leftover from the previous regime that may or may not have been very committed to him or the team at that point, WERE STILL WAY BETTER THAN THE CRAP ON THE FIELD NOW.

[Wuzee]

I also voted for "A."

I was on the bubble, but after some reflection, I don't think you can lose your No. 1 and No. 2 starters for significant parts of two straight seasons and expect to have an accurate measure of the head coach. Plus, WSU played a much stronger schedule the past two years (SOS #28 and #56) compared with the years preceding (SOS #120 / #121).

Those facts combined with the strong recruiting classes and nice core of young offensive talent he's built tipped the scales for me.

It's pretty simple: If we pitch, we win. Even with the schedule upgrade, we're playing above .700 baseball when the opponent scores fewer than 5 runs (12-5 this year and 15-6 in 2015). In the BBCOR era you just can't get it done with a team ERA pushing 6.00.

He gets one more year to gain some traction.

[SB Shock]

I'm one of the 'idiot trolls'.

You have to respect someone who will defend their position - I don't know that you are right or wrong. The poll results are interesting in that it shows that regardless that nobody is going to be happy with the diversity of opinion. I just want Shocker baseball back to winning.

You may argue that HCTB has 3 years worth of recruits, but (again, my opinion) the vast majority of those were actually recruits that originated and signed with Gene, were they not?

Actually when Butler took over - there were no signed recruits. This doesn't necessarily hurt your point because that first class was more to fill position than build a program. The only Gene players were the ones who were left over from the previous year.

[JohnQShocker]

Wuzee pretty much summed it up for me. Losing starting pitchers, playing much harder competition, young team. Next season he/they will have no excuse of not putting a good product on the field.

[KansasShocker]

i also voted A and i am not a butler fan.
wuzee pretty much took the words out of my mouth. there is young talent on the team. pitching is obviously the big concern and who knows where we would be with a pitching staff that we are used to seeing. whether that means butler gets his own hand picked pitching Coach or he hands everything over to kemnitz i dont care, but i do think he deserves the chance to try. if we are not improved next year, and by improved i mean better then genes final years and not these last few years then ill be the shouting for butler to be gone as loud as anyone. once again im not a butler fan, he rubbed me and the other players the wrong way when he arrived. call me stupid or whatever you want but i do think we will be much better next year. and if we are not feel free to copy this and rub it in my face at this time next year and ill wear it. idc who is coach, i just want to be able to go to games and proudly say "i played here".

[Cdizzle]

Who are all these good position players you all keep talking about? We had 1 average collegiate defender (Mucha), 1 below average collegiate defender (Vickers), and about 10 guys who could add some value if only we could DH all of them.

[ShockerFever]

haha, ok

(this is the worthless dribble I wrote about above)

Dribble? Is that what they call it in Louisiana?

[Cdizzle]

So, errbody on board to fire the guy who built the program from nothing to nationally elite and brought the school it's only national championship ever. We fired that guy 2 days after his team finished 39-28 (.582), 15-6 (.714) in league and went to a regional.

But hey, let's give the dude with the .362 win pct a little leeway. He could maybe make us an upper-tier Valley baseball club eventually. Just needs some more time to recover from the dumpster fire he was left with.....

[ShockerFever]

Who are all these good position players you all keep talking about? We had 1 average collegiate defender (Mucha), 1 below average collegiate defender (Vickers), and about 10 guys who could add some value if only we could DH all of them.

Yah, no kidding. Butler defenders are throwing around the pitching excuses, but the defense has been bad, the in-game coaching has been terrible, and as was perfectly put on display yesterday to end their season, the BBIQ has been off-the-charts low.

It walks, talks, sounds, and smells like a duck. I can't believe people out there are defending 21-37.

[SB Shock]

So, errbody on board to fire the guy who built the program from nothing to nationally elite and brought the school it's only national championship ever. We fired that guy 2 days after his team finished 39-28 (.582), 15-6 (.714) in league and went to a regional.

But hey, let's give the dude with the .362 win pct a little leeway. He could maybe make us an upper-tier Valley baseball club eventually. Just needs some more time to recover from the dumpster fire he was left with.....

For this program to heal and get back to winning ways - needs somebody like Hooper who know how to win, and for all shocker fans to rally around.

[shockfan89_]

For this program to heal and get back to winning ways - needs somebody like Hooper who know how to win, and for all shocker fans to rally around.

Thanks to everyone for your input, especially those that admitted to voting A and for the former player/player's parent for chiming in. I don't think anyone believes HCTB is getting it done right now with a 21-37 record (78-98 in 3 years), 6th place MVC finish and 0-2 in the MVC tournament.

So my question is, what does the team/HCTB need to do next year to show improvement? I think the conference will be down even more next year so does that mean 40-24 with a 1st or 2nd place finish? Does that mean 36-23? with 3rd or better? (SB Shock - I'm thinking you need to open another poll).

I think SB's last post and this poll says a lot. I know it is not at all scientific but you have 50 votes and only 8 support the current coach (16 %). We either need to hire someone fans will support or find some way to rally behind this team/staff.

[Cdizzle]

Year 4 should be at-large worthy resume, league championship, competitive NCAA appearance.

If those aren't the goals, something is way wrong.

And if you sit back and think "I don't see that happening," then it is time to find a new coach.