No NCAA This Year & Now What?

[ShockTalk]

No doubt, a lot of improvement will be needed by the remaining players, fast growth by the in-coming class, and a strong recruiting class for 2012.

Where this team stood:

Hitting: The .296 BA was only the 5th time WSU finished under .300 and is the 3rd lowest. Runs scored is the 2nd lowest total, but is around the average per game for the 2000s. It's also only the 4th time we finished under 100 stolen bases and 7th time time under 1000 total bases, although both fair somewhat better on a per game basis. HRs were the best since 2004.

Pitching: The 4.45 ERA was the worst since 2000, then back to 1987.

Fielding: The .961 was the worst since 2001.

What we know we're losing offensively:

Approximately 50% or more of runs, doubles, triples, HRs, RBIs, and total bases. The remaining players batting average was .279.

If Coy and Springer go in the draft, all those loss in numbers increase to 70% to 85% and the BA drops to .256 for remaining players.

What we could lose in pitching if Coop and Kelley are gone along with seniors:

25-6 record (remaining staff 16-13), 50% of our starts, 53% of our innings, 56% of the SO, 50% of saves, and a 3.10 ERA from those gone, leaving a 5.94 ERA by the remaining staff.

We had no particular strength this year. Hitting, speed, depth of pitching, and fielding and most of what was good about it is leaving. The challenges for the up coming year and beyond will be huge. We all need to prepare ourselves and be in the best frame of mind we can to support our future players. I only hope our coaching staff is up to a challenge that they may have never faced before. I hope they realize that the future of Shocker baseball (and their own legacy) is on the line.

[Shirley Schmidt]

Gene will have his hands full next year and Kemnitz needs to get back out there and find some quality arms.

All the errors sucked this weekend but so did the pitching.

[tripleshock]

We had no particular strength this year. Hitting, speed, depth of pitching, and fielding and most of what was good about it is leaving. The challenges for the up coming year and beyond will be huge. We all need to prepare ourselves and be in the best frame of mind we can to support our future players. I only hope our coaching staff is up to a challenge that they may have never faced before. I hope they realize that the future of Shocker baseball (and their own legacy) is on the line.



This is exactly right.....and if I could expand on it a little:

I think the future of the baseball program (whose obvious decline is becoming not only more visible, but is also accelerating down the slope)....is looking pretty bleak.

At some point, even the most faithful Shocker supporters may have to face up to who is really responsible for increasingly poor recruiting and poor performance.

But we're probably not quite there yet. There's still some excuses to be made and blame to be placed that does not involve the "Main Problem".

Stepping aside gracefully is probably not an option for this crew. So, plan on riding this one all the way down to rock bottom.

[XManCometh]

We had no particular strength this year. Hitting, speed, depth of pitching, and fielding and most of what was good about it is leaving. The challenges for the up coming year and beyond will be huge. We all need to prepare ourselves and be in the best frame of mind we can to support our future players. I only hope our coaching staff is up to a challenge that they may have never faced before. I hope they realize that the future of Shocker baseball (and their own legacy) is on the line.



This is exactly right.....and if I could expand on it a little:

I think the future of the baseball program (whose obvious decline is becoming not only more visible, but is also accelerating down the slope)....is looking pretty bleak.

At some point, even the most faithful Shocker supporters may have to face up to who is really responsible for increasingly poor recruiting and poor performance.

But we're probably not quite there yet. There's still some excuses to be made and blame to be placed that does not involve the "Main Problem".

Stepping aside gracefully is probably not an option for this crew. So, plan on riding this one all the way down to rock bottom.

I'm sorry, but I don't think going 41-19 and co-champs of the MVC is "accelerating down the slope". This team wasn't supposed to be very good this year (or last year, for that matter) anyway, due to a majority of the recruits the past few years going pro out of high school and having huge question marks in the bullpen. I think having AT LEAST Logan Watkins and Garrett Gould would have helped quite a bit this year actually, and I'm sure many would have to agree. As a matter of fact, just a few years ago we were in a Super Regional and lost to a team that did quite well in the CWS. This "down the tubes" talk is getting a little out of control lately. Every college baseball team, especially any teams in the Missouri Valley, are going to have a few years where they have a solid season and don't make the NCAA field. It's a lot tougher than it was in the 90s due to more teams, with more money and in bigger conferences focusing on baseball. This isn't 1989 anymore, folks.

[ICT Ragman]

Good post X Man. Good perspective.

This isn't 1989 anymore, folks.

Will say one thing: The bigger schools concentrated plenty on baseball in the 80s and 90s too. We routinely were up against Texas, Fla St, Ariz St, LSU etc in the post season. Today, Coastal Carolina, Rice and TCU are national powers. We will get where we want to go.

I'll take the assets we have for baseball - which plenty of 'big' schools would kill for- any day.

[SB Shock]

I'm sorry, but I don't think going 41-19 and co-champs of the MVC is "accelerating down the slope". This team wasn't supposed to be very good this year. [snippage] snippage of apologist excuses........[/snippage]

WSU had 10 SENIORS. Next year has a making of train wreck.

WSU excuse last year as that they had tsunami of pitching injuries. 2nd it was not like WSU has never lost recruits before.

Gene is fond of saying "maybe the game has passed him by". More and more are starting to agree with him. He should have stayed at OU.

[shox1989]

We had no particular strength this year. Hitting, speed, depth of pitching, and fielding and most of what was good about it is leaving. The challenges for the up coming year and beyond will be huge. We all need to prepare ourselves and be in the best frame of mind we can to support our future players. I only hope our coaching staff is up to a challenge that they may have never faced before. I hope they realize that the future of Shocker baseball (and their own legacy) is on the line.



This is exactly right.....and if I could expand on it a little:

I think the future of the baseball program (whose obvious decline is becoming not only more visible, but is also accelerating down the slope)....is looking pretty bleak.

At some point, even the most faithful Shocker supporters may have to face up to who is really responsible for increasingly poor recruiting and poor performance.

But we're probably not quite there yet. There's still some excuses to be made and blame to be placed that does not involve the "Main Problem".

Stepping aside gracefully is probably not an option for this crew. So, plan on riding this one all the way down to rock bottom.

I'm sorry, but I don't think going 41-19 and co-champs of the MVC is "accelerating down the slope". This team wasn't supposed to be very good this year (or last year, for that matter) anyway, due to a majority of the recruits the past few years going pro out of high school and having huge question marks in the bullpen. I think having AT LEAST Logan Watkins and Garrett Gould would have helped quite a bit this year actually, and I'm sure many would have to agree. As a matter of fact, just a few years ago we were in a Super Regional and lost to a team that did quite well in the CWS. This "down the tubes" talk is getting a little out of control lately. Every college baseball team, especially any teams in the Missouri Valley, are going to have a few years where they have a solid season and don't make the NCAA field. It's a lot tougher than it was in the 90s due to more teams, with more money and in bigger conferences focusing on baseball. This isn't 1989 anymore, folks.

I like your comments.

This season would have been totally different if Flynn hadn't screwed up in school and Charlie had remained healthy.

We might even be hosting right now, as it is we almost made it to a regional anyway.

[ShockerFever]

We had no particular strength this year. Hitting, speed, depth of pitching, and fielding and most of what was good about it is leaving. The challenges for the up coming year and beyond will be huge. We all need to prepare ourselves and be in the best frame of mind we can to support our future players. I only hope our coaching staff is up to a challenge that they may have never faced before. I hope they realize that the future of Shocker baseball (and their own legacy) is on the line.



This is exactly right.....and if I could expand on it a little:

I think the future of the baseball program (whose obvious decline is becoming not only more visible, but is also accelerating down the slope)....is looking pretty bleak.

At some point, even the most faithful Shocker supporters may have to face up to who is really responsible for increasingly poor recruiting and poor performance.

But we're probably not quite there yet. There's still some excuses to be made and blame to be placed that does not involve the "Main Problem".

Stepping aside gracefully is probably not an option for this crew. So, plan on riding this one all the way down to rock bottom.

I'm sorry, but I don't think going 41-19 and co-champs of the MVC is "accelerating down the slope". This team wasn't supposed to be very good this year (or last year, for that matter) anyway, due to a majority of the recruits the past few years going pro out of high school and having huge question marks in the bullpen. I think having AT LEAST Logan Watkins and Garrett Gould would have helped quite a bit this year actually, and I'm sure many would have to agree. As a matter of fact, just a few years ago we were in a Super Regional and lost to a team that did quite well in the CWS. This "down the tubes" talk is getting a little out of control lately. Every college baseball team, especially any teams in the Missouri Valley, are going to have a few years where they have a solid season and don't make the NCAA field. It's a lot tougher than it was in the 90s due to more teams, with more money and in bigger conferences focusing on baseball. This isn't 1989 anymore, folks.

I like your comments.

This season would have been totally different if Flynn hadn't screwed up in school and Charlie had remained healthy.

We might even be hosting right now, as it is we almost made it to a regional anyway.

Uh, easy there bud. Those guys are pretty valuable contributors but our season tanked before Lowell got injured and I don't think one guy in Flynn (who still is yet to be totally proven) would have made that big of a dent to our bullpen issues.

Hosting? Uh... no.

[tru2thaduce]

Having 10 seniors isn't exactly the sign of a strong program.The positive this year was that a couple of those seniors(Bascue and Lassley)had career seasons.I am usually down more than up on this team of late but outside of losing Coop,i think we will be fine.I see Kelley is playing for the Foresters this summer and may or may not sign after the draft.I'm not a Baez hater but anyone is an improvement over his fielding and no power.OB is way better behind the plate that Cody.cody was a monster hitting this season but I think OB will take positive strides this summer and fall.Coy and Springer will both be back.Tough to find a position that either play well.They will be an awesome combo next season in the middle of the order.I was doom and gloom after last year.Not this season.Oh yeah Jones is gone..260 something.Need I say more.Micha Green or the Juco kid from Iowa can do that.There's my rant.Can't wait for the Fall. :posterwsu:

[1972Shocker]

I actually think Kelley is more likely to sign than Cooper, although right now I'm thinking they both will sign.

Kelley has an MLB body at 6'6" and 225 lbs and may actually project better than Cooper in the minds of the pro scouts. Plus Kelley is a Redshirt Junior so he doesn't have as much flexibility as Cooper in the leverage department. Neither are flamethrowers that the pros seem to like in righties, so their draft status is hard to predict.

Assuming Cooper and Kelley both sign then what do have at this point:

Proven Talent: Charlie Lowell

Some Experience/Improvement Needed: Tobey Mateychick, TJ McGreevey, Brian Flynn(?), Josh Smith, Chance Sossamon, Remington Johnson, Grant Muncrief, Justin Kemp, Mitch Caster.

Inexperienced/Unproven: Aaron LaBrie, Zach Beringer, Cale Elam, Kris Gardner and Albert Minnis.

Even if Cooper and/or Kelley return we still would have a staff of questionable depth and a a bullpen of questionable quality -- same as this year.

The Hope: That both Cooper and Kelley return and that at least a handful of guys step up and show significant improvement year-over-year or some of the incoming freshman prove to be phenoms.

The Reality: The hope is a long shot at best.

[SB Shock]

I actually think Kelley is more likely to sign than Cooper, although right now I'm thinking they both will sign.

I'd heard that the scouts were saying cooper would go in the 3rd or 4th round.

[1972Shocker]

Infield prospects for next year.

Need to replace starting 2nd baseman and catcher. Need to find dependable 3rd baseman. Need to improve defense at 1st base.

Draft: Johnny Coy and Preston Springer are potential losses although not with any certainty. Johnny is probably the higher draft simply because of his raw power potential. He showed a lot of improvement at the plate during the year. However, he needs more than a little work on his defense at 1B. Not sure Preston has the kind of consistent power the pros are looking for in a player that mostly DH'd.

Catcher: Probably Chris O'Brien's job to lose. Has a big edge in working with the pitching staff. Should be as good or better than Cody defensively. Has the potential to be a good offensive player, but will be more of a base clogger than Cody was.

1st Base: Probably Johnny's job to lose if he returns. Love the way the ball jumps off his bat. Defensive issues are obvious and need work.
Preston Springer, if he returns, will probably back up Johnny and fill the DH role.

2nd Base: Walker Davidson can really field this position but can he hit. I wouldn't be surprised to see Erik Harbutz at 2nd if his offense is clearly superior to Walker's.

Shortstop: Tyler Grimes has to be a lock here, but we need Tyler to step up his offense a couple of notches.

3rd Base: Nate Goro by default maybe. If Walker wins the 2B position than we might see a Goro/Harbutz platoon here unless one of the other really steps it up at the plate. I thought Nate did show some signs of improvement at the plate during the MVC Tournament. Maybe he just needs some consistent playing time.

Outside of Johnny and Preston, not much power from this group. Hopefully, they both will be back.

[1972Shocker]

I actually think Kelley is more likely to sign than Cooper, although right now I'm thinking they both will sign.

I'd heard that the scouts were saying cooper would go in the 3rd or 4th round.

If he does, then I wish him well in the pros.

[ShauXTyme]

Honestly, I get tired of hearing the "our good recruits go to the draft" every year. Do you think Texas, Florida State, etc. don't have guys going to the draft out of HS? That's what "coaching" is supposed to be about. Getting the best out of your team. GS has not done it for a number of years, and it's time everyone gets on-board and looks for a change.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks will be totally replacing the starting outfield (at least the outfield that started over the latter portion of the year),Bascue, Jones and Bennett.

CF - This job would appear to belong to Kevin Hall. Obviously and oustanding defensive player but we lose some offensive production at the plate which is not good since Ryan's overall numbers were so-so with a 0.267 batting average, althouhg Ryan had good HR numbers (10) and RBI's (57). Power numbers that Kevin will not produce. Kevin needs to have a good OBA and be able to steal a load of bases. Hopefully, the switch-hitting will get much better. If it doesn't perhaps he should drop it and work very hard on his bunting skills.

LF - What an offensive year Bret Bascue put up. Hard to see any replacement coming in and duplicating that effort. Bret was decent in LF although he had a couple of big misplays this year. This position would seem to be pretty wide open. Candidates at this point are Scott Schebler, Garrett Bayliff and Micah Green. Perhaps they will try Johnny Coy in left with Preston at 1st. Maybe even Mitch Caster could get in the mix.

RF - Travis was unspectacular but steady both in the field and at the plate. Another wide open position with the same candidates as for the LF position.

Replacing the offensive production in the outfield looks to be the big challenge here.