Transfer Outs

[THam]

With roster turnover much heavier than it was under Gene, maybe we need a thread to keep track of the guys who've transferred out of the program. After hitting below the Mendoza Line for WSU in 2015 as a redshirt freshman, and having his 2016 year in JUCO cut short due to cancer, Michael Burns is competing for a starting spot this year with the Miami Hurricanes. He joins Jeb Bargfeldt there as products of this new WSU to Cisco to Miami pipeline.

https://d1baseball.com/columns/miamis-burns-beats-cancer-eyes-breakout/

[shockfan89_]

“We have a lot of scrappy guys who love to compete,” Burns said. “I don’t know how big we look in our uniforms or what the preseason polls will say, but we’re tough.”

It doesn't seem like Collegiate Baseball minds the lack of size much as Miami is at #8 in the pre-season poll.

Scrappy guys who love to compete is something we have been missing. At 5'9" I'm not sure Burns would have been able to stay at WSU if he wanted to. I noticed we don't have anyone on the roster under 6'0" for the second year in a row.

[1972Shocker]

Scrappy guys who love to compete is something we have been missing. At 5'9" I'm not sure Burns would have been able to stay at WSU if he wanted to. I noticed we don't have anyone on the roster under 6'0" for the second year in a row.

Scrappy guys who love to compete is the key. Whether they are over or under 6-0 is irrelevant. Eric Wedge at 6-3 and Greg Brummett at 6-0 were fierce competitors. But to eliminate guys simply due to stature doesn't seem to be the brightest move. Whether that is an absolute litmus test under HCTB is hard to say but the make up of the HCTB's rosters seem to imply that is the case.

In any case, I don't care if we have scrappy, competitive little guys or scrappy, competitive big guys just get us some scrappy, competitive guys.

The irony of HCTB's lineups are they are the antithesis of HCTB himself who by all accounts was a scrappy, comptetive little guy.

[xazshox]

Michael Burns

Michael Burns hit 0.179 2 yrs ago. I think he was a RS frosh then. I do remember him as being very fast.

I'll just be glad when the WSU Baseball season starts so we can see how things are going to turn out for everyone on the team. Some of the cream in the pitching staff is going to have to rise to the top.

Alex Jackson, an incoming frosh SS from Dallas, sat at a table where I sat at the 1st pitch banquet. He told us that Willie Swanke is the best at hitting spots in the strike zone of anyone he's ever seen. He also said that Willie's fastball moves a lot. I don't recall if he said it is a cutter or what it is. Willie just needs to stay healthy.

[Shocker85]

Scrappy guys who love to compete is the key. Whehter they are over or under 6-0 is irrelevant. Eric Wedge at 6-3 and Greg Brummett at 6-0 were fierce competitors. But to eliminate guys simply due to stature doesn't seem to be the brightest move. Whehter that is an absolute litmus test under HCTB is hard to say but the make up of the HCTB's rosters seem to imply that is the case.

In any case, I don't care if we have scrappy, competitive little guys or scrappy, competitive big guys just get us some scrappy, competitive guys.

The irony of HCTB's lineups are they are the antithesis of HCTB himself who by all accounts was a scrappy, comptetive little guy.

FTFY ...

In any case, I don't care if we have scrappy, competitive little guys or scrappy, competitive big guys just get us some scrappy, competitive guys with enough ability to win.

[Cdizzle]

I'd be more willing to watch the losing if they were scrappy competitive losers. Right now, we only have the losing part down.

[xazshox]

Response

Yes, you've made that clear in the past. People have also complained about the outfield, the catcher, etc. On the plus side, WSU started around 5 frosh last year and most of them hit very well. Baseball is a very skillfull game so it takes time & experience to learn how to field well and that sort of thing.

Another thing about this is that HCTB asked about incoming recruits when he 1st arrived at WSU & there were none in the pipeline which made his 1st recruiting class not so good. And, there were also already some young players here who weren't very good either as Gene S hadn't worked much on recruiting. We heard stories from other baseball coaches about how they never saw Gene out on the recruitilng trails anymore.

At this point, there are a whole lot of new pitchers at WSU now including a few redshirts from last year who didn't pitch then. I think Hollfield was one of them. Some of the players told me at the 1st pitch banquest that Hollfield should be a very good pitcher this season.

[1972Shocker]

At this point, there are a whole lot of new pitchers at WSU now including a few redshirts from last year who didn't pitch then. I think Hollfield was one of them. Some of the players told me at the 1st pitch banquest that Hollfield should be a very good pitcher this season.

If Landon Holfiled did turn out to be a very good pitcher for the Shockers it would be quite the unusual road traveled. Pitched his freshman year at Fort Scott CC seeing only 3.1 inning so worked. Pitched 28 innings for Ft. Scott but had a 6.43 ERA. Played his Junior year (2015) at Abilene Christian where he had a 4.34 ERA in 18.2 innings. I assume he sat out last season at WSU under the transfer rules and will play his final year of eligibility this year (assuming he makes the 35-man roster).

Doesn't seem like the a player you would expect to step up and play a key role. If he does I assume it would most likely be in some kind of relief role. He simply does not have a lot of inning under his belt. It might also say something good about new PCMS if Landon plays a key role. It would be really unusual and pretty cool if that somehow happened.

[xazshox]

Hollifield

I think Hollifield walked by our group while we were talking is what brought his name up. They told me he throws in the 90's. There are probably several other new pitchers more worthy of discussion than he is. There are 25 pitchers on the roster although I'm not sure how many of those are walk-ons. As you know, the roster has to be cut to 35 before the 1st game.

[xazshox]

A Quick Perusal of the pitching staff

This is by means a thorough review of the pitching staff, but here are a few quick observations:

Willie Schwanke - should be the ace of the staff if he stays healthy; Cody Tyler was named most Outstanding pitcher for last season & Reagan Biechler was named Most Improved player.

Impressive Bios: Ben Hecht, 6-3, 185, RS Jr; Keylan Kilgore, 6-3, 175, RS Fr, & I heard he did very well in a FL summer league playing for a former Shocker; Alex Segal, 6-4, 190, Fr; Nathan Hawkins, 6-2, 165, Fr.

Improved last season: Cody Heuer, 6-4, 185, So. His stats from last season are a bit misleading as he started out poorly but improved greatly during the season. I do remember seeing an impressive outing of his late in the season; Connor Lungwitz, 6-5, 220, Soph. Heard he did very well pitching in a summer league in
Alaska this past summer.

There are other pitchers who could be mentioned here,too.

[xazshox]

meant to say "not a thorough review".

[1972Shocker]

There are 25 pitchers on the roster although I'm not sure how many of those are walk-ons. As you know, the roster has to be cut to 35 before the 1st game.

The roster on goShockers.com lists a total of 38 players, 22 of which are pitchers (16 RHP and 6 LHP). So 3 of those players will not be on the official roster few days. Most likely they will be pitchers.

Did you have another roster source that showed 25 pitchers?

We know that with a roster of 38 players that 11 of those players are non-scholarship players. How many of those are pitchers is hard to know.

[Shocker3435]

This is by means a thorough review of the pitching staff, but here are a few quick observations:

Willie Schwanke - should be the ace of the staff if he stays healthy; Cody Tyler was named most Outstanding pitcher for last season & Reagan Biechler was named Most Improved player.

Impressive Bios: Ben Hecht, 6-3, 185, RS Jr; Keylan Kilgore, 6-3, 175, RS Fr, & I heard he did very well in a FL summer league playing for a former Shocker; Alex Segal, 6-4, 190, Fr; Nathan Hawkins, 6-2, 165, Fr.

Improved last season: Cody Heuer, 6-4, 185, So. His stats from last season are a bit misleading as he started out poorly but improved greatly during the season. I do remember seeing an impressive outing of his late in the season; Connor Lungwitz, 6-5, 220, Soph. Heard he did very well pitching in a summer league in
Alaska this past summer.

There are other pitchers who could be mentioned here,too.

Segal has a lot of upside. Hope he gets a chance to throw early because he could be special. Willie will be really good if he can stay healthy for once! Like what PCMS has brought and looking forward to this weekend! Good weather and a return to what Shocker baseball is supposed to be!

[xazshox]

No of Pitchers

72, I put together a spreadsheet a long time ago that shows 25 pitchers on it plus the whole team, but I've not tried to check it lately Vs the roster shown on GoShockers.com. Now that the season is getting close to starting, I'm getting more interested in reviewing things more closely.

[xazshox]

No of Pitchers

Ok 72, I audited my spreadsheet and agree there are 22 pitchers. Somewhere along the line, several frosh pitchers have been cut. The roster is indeed currently at 38 players, so 3 must be cut before the 1st game on Fri, Feb 17th.