Fire Todd Butler? Yes? No?

[shockfan89_]

I hate to break it to you - but WSU offense was one of the best in the MVC.

Actually I think complaining about the offense is probably a dead end. WSU problem has been and continues to be lack of pitching. 6.21 ERA in the MVC. You could bring back the 1998 offense and they would struggle to be a 0.500 team.

I hate to break it to you - but our offense, while one of the best in the MVC, had major struggles against decent competition (any team with an RPI better than 200). I think concerns about how the offense will perform against good competition are very valid going into next season (since the AAC only had one team with an RPI over 100 this year). You are correct, the pitching is a HUGE concern.

                          Hits-ABs  Avg Runs 2b 3b HR BB   SO
Conference (21 games)     224-747  .300 152  44 6  22 106 144  
Non-Conference (37 games) 304-1232 .247 164  55 12 18 119 297

RPI 200+ (21 games)       240-733  .327 175  46 9  18 109 102
Under 200 RPI (37 games)  288-1246 .231 141  53 9  22 116 339

Note: I included SIU as 200+ (they actually finished at 197). Also doesn't include the three MVC Tournament games.

[SB Shock]

I hate to break it to you - but our offense, while one of the best in the MVC, had major struggles against decent competition (any team with an RPI better than 200). I think concerns about how the offense will perform against good competition are very valid going into next season (since the AAC only had one team with an RPI over 100 this year). You are correct, the pitching is a HUGE concern.

                          Hits-ABs  Avg Runs 2b 3b HR BB   SO
Conference (21 games)     224-747  .300 152  44 6  22 106 144  
Non-Conference (37 games) 304-1232 .247 164  55 12 18 119 297

RPI 200+ (21 games)       240-733  .327 175  46 9  18 109 102
Under 200 RPI (37 games)  288-1246 .231 141  53 9  22 116 339

Note: I included SIU as 200+ (they actually finished at 197). Also doesn't include the three MVC Tournament games.

So I went and broke down WSU and SWMO batting and compared the following to see some context vs opponent

Opponent by RPI
Batting Avg by RPI
Run per Game by RPI
HR per Game by RPI

What SWOMO had was more constency and they had the ability to generate instant offense regardless of the quality of opponent. WSU performance is just and enigma. I can understand struggling against Top 50, but when you put up decent numbers against Top 51-100, how then do you turn around and put up such terrible numbers against Top 101-150 competition.

[shockfan89_]

Very strange. The 51-100 was the smallest sample size with only 9 games, but those numbers defy logic.

It is also weird that SWOMO had a lower batting average against 200+ RPI teams than against 0-50.

[SB Shock]

Very strange. The 51-100 was the smallest sample size with only 9 games, but those numbers defy logic.

It is also weird that SWOMO had a lower batting average against 200+ RPI teams than against 0-50.

I know that was weird also. I went ahead and just broke down the WSU pitching staff. It just brutal.

[shockfan89_]

Same thing with pitching! How were we so good against 101-150 and then sucked against 150+?

So I went back and looked and we only played 2 teams between RPI 101-150 (Grand Canyon Univ. and Cal Poly). We were 3-0 at home vs. GCU scoring 10 runs and giving up 3 runs for the series. We were 1-2 at Cal Poly scoring 6 and giving up 8. Both of theses series were in the first 1/3 of the season when pitching was a little better.

Against GCU we hit .244 (22-90) with 2 HRs but we shut them out twice and only gave up 2 ERs in the final game.
Against Cal Poly we hit .170 (19-112) with 1 HR. Cal Poly had 24 hits but only scored 8 ERs and we shut them out once.

So out of 7 shutouts all year, 3 of them game during these 6 games.

[CharlieHog]

Very strange. The 51-100 was the smallest sample size with only 9 games, but those numbers defy logic.

It is also weird that SWOMO had a lower batting average against 200+ RPI teams than against 0-50.

A team could have a good pitching staff (or a couple of good pitchers) and a bad RPI.

[shockfan89_]

A team could have a good pitching staff (or a couple of good pitchers) and a bad RPI.

Could, but not likely especially given a full season RPI of 200+. Plus, 10 of the 11 200+ RPI games were against MVC teams and we know there were no good pitchers in the group. Now that is not to say there weren't some guys that happened to have good days against SWOMO, they just didn't face any "good pitching staffs" that had 200+ RPIs.

The really amazing part is that they still averaged 7.18 runs per game against these teams while hitting .225. I imagine there were lots of walks and some timely HRs involved.

[1972Shocker]

Sully takes a somewhat critical look (for him anyway) at Shocker baseball.

http://www.kansas.com/sports/college/wichita-state/shockwaves/article153344864.html

No solutions offered but that's not up to Paul.

[1972Shocker]

When is the last time ShockerNet had no thread tracking the MLB draft or where the Shocks were playing Summer baseball?

Perhaps a sign that Shocker baseball has moved into the dreaded Apathetic Fan Phase. The program itself has put out little to no info or where the position guys are playing this summer.

Not surprising but it is a bit sad.

[WstateU]

[1972Shocker]

Iron Eyes Cody. An Italian-American actor who made a living playing Native American roles. His real name was Espera Oscar de Corti. The Europeans even stole the Indians acting roles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Eyes_Cody

[CharlieHog]

When is the last time ShockerNet had no thread tracking the MLB draft or where the Shocks were playing Summer baseball?

Perhaps a sign that Shocker baseball has moved into the dreaded Apathetic Fan Phase. The program itself has put out little to no info or where the position guys are playing this summer.

Not surprising but it is a bit sad.

A few months ago I was at a conference attended by a lot of grad students. Everybody wore a nametag with their school so when a young woman from Wichita State came to my booth I mentioned that I'd been to Wichita years ago to watch baseball. She said, "that's weird, we aren't even a baseball school."

[DUShock]

A few months ago I was at a conference attended by a lot of grad students. Everybody wore a nametag with their school so when a young woman from Wichita State came to my booth I mentioned that I'd been to Wichita years ago to watch baseball. She said, "that's weird, we aren't even a baseball school."

[Cdizzle]

I'm trying to remain mad. Next comes sad. Then comes apathy. I hope something happens before I slide further down the scale.

[shox1989]

A few months ago I was at a conference attended by a lot of grad students. Everybody wore a nametag with their school so when a young woman from Wichita State came to my booth I mentioned that I'd been to Wichita years ago to watch baseball. She said, "that's weird, we aren't even a baseball school."

WOW. That speaks volumes to what has happened to our baseball program.