Wasn't Metten the 4th best SS prospect in Texas.

Gutierrez was playing 2nd and catching during the fall. I see him more at catcher. Good size and strong.

I think this is a talented team. If they can put it together, it could be a fun year. Just don't have the lofty expectations that surrounded the program the past two years. There are going to be growing pains. So be ready.

Duck Patrol said:

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I think this is a talented team. If they can put it together, it could be a fun year. Just don't have the lofty expectations that surrounded the program the past two years. There are going to be growing pains. So be ready.

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So what exactly does that mean?

Captain Pablo said:

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Duck Patrol said:

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I think this is a talented team. If they can put it together, it could be a fun year. Just don't have the lofty expectations that surrounded the program the past two years. There are going to be growing pains. So be ready.

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So what exactly does that mean?

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That there is talent on the squad but for most of the players this season will be their first real opportunity to show what they can do at the D1 level so it is likely that at least some will have their struggles at some point during year.

jkag89 said:

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Captain Pablo said:

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Duck Patrol said:

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I think this is a talented team. If they can put it together, it could be a fun year. Just don't have the lofty expectations that surrounded the program the past two years. There are going to be growing pains. So be ready.

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So what exactly does that mean?

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That there is talent on the squad but for most of the players this season will be their first real opportunity to to show what they can do at the D1 level so it is likely that at least some will have their struggles at some point during year.

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So what do you think?

Are we good enough for 35 regular season wins?

Over .500 in the SEC?

40?

Rebuilding year where we miss regionals?

Make a regional, but miss Supers?

All the way to Omaha?

If this team wins 36+ games with an above .500 SEC record then I will be amazed.

MaroonStain said:

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If this team wins 36+ games with an above .500 SEC record then I will be amazed.

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So you don't think we're going to be all that good this year?

Captain Pablo said:

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jkag89 said:

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Captain Pablo said:

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Duck Patrol said:

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I think this is a talented team. If they can put it together, it could be a fun year. Just don't have the lofty expectations that surrounded the program the past two years. There are going to be growing pains. So be ready.

---

So what exactly does that mean?

---

That there is talent on the squad but for most of the players this season will be their first real opportunity to to show what they can do at the D1 level so it is likely that at least some will have their struggles at some point during year.

---

So what do you think?

Are we good enough for 35 regular season wins?

Over .500 in the SEC?

40?

Rebuilding year where we miss regionals?

Make a regional, but miss Supers?

All the way to Omaha?

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I don't know but I am hopeful like I am at the start of every baseball season.

I've seen seasons where the returning talent seemed to indicate Omaha was a realistic goal only to be poor or at least disappointing years ('94 & '12 for example). I've also witnessed seasons in which there were quite a number of question marks and saw players step up at key moments producing somewhat surprising years ('07 & '15). I expect this season will have a number of bumps along the way. I expect we'll finish in the middle of the pack in the SEC, maybe a little higher due to an easier conference schedule. If I'm correct I expect being a #2 Seed somewhere come Tournament time.

What everyone would like to see is a team that sort of mirrors the trajectory that LSU had last year--they were a much better team at the end of the year than at the beginning. If we start slow, and look like a bubble team to even make the NCAA tournament, that wouldn't be surprising. Hosting a regional (i.e., being a top 16 team) would be a good season, but we might do better (let's hope we don't do worse).

Welp, could be an interesting year.

I am about like everyone else. Who knows how this is going to turn out.

My gut tells me that, in reality, it's going to be a rebuilding year and we are going to slip significantly from where we have been the last two seasons

I'm not as hung up on the youth issues as a lot of people. True freshman come in and knock it dead all the time.

One thing that does give me hope is that we have will bolt on the staff. He's done a phenomenal job with our guys at the plate the last couple of years, and he will have even more speed to work with on the basepaths.

I would not necessarily be happy with a number two seed road trip for regionals, but that's probably a a reasonable expectation for this team, and a season that will certainly bring Rob back for 2018, when we should be pretty salty

I will say I like the schedule a lot more this year...last year we had to play the top 3 teams from the east (Florida, South Carolina, Vanderbilt)...this year we only play one of those big 3 (Vanderbilt).

LSU Baseball Fan said:

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technoviking said:

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i've got my eye on the series in baton rouge. i've never been to a LSU venue before. if i did go, what would be some gameday stuff to do?

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Tailgating is great for SEC games. Tons of great restaurants in and around campus. Also a golf course not far away, if you're into golf. Good casinos and nightlife in downtown BR, like 5 minutes from the Box.

When the LSU series approaches, I'll make a thread recommending some things you can do to maximize your trip to BR.

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thanks brah!

With such a young baseball squad, we can expect the inconsistency at Blue Bell that we are experiencing at Reed Arena this year,

If we are .500 on April 2 after hosting a series with Pepperdine, a weekend at Minute Maid which includes Texas Tech, TCU - a trip to Austin against a David Pierce coached tu team (no more Augie), hosting Rice, then series at Vandy and at the Box in BR - we should be pleased.

35 wins and going to a Regional (not as a host) should be the hope & expectation gang........anything beyond that would be a great overachievement with big props to RC, Bolt and Sealy.

RC is not losing any sleep over let's bring in the fences David Pierce at tu. Pierce has not even been to a Super let alone a Elite coach

Hop said:

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RAMunger83 said:

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With such a young baseball squad, we can expect the inconsistency at Blue Bell that we are experiencing at Reed Arena this year,

If we are .500 on April 2 after hosting a series with Pepperdine, a weekend at Minute Maid which includes Texas Tech, TCU - a trip to Austin against a David Pierce coached tu team (no more Augie), hosting Rice, then series at Vandy and at the Box in BR - we should be pleased.

35 wins and going to a Regional (not as a host) should be the hope & expectation gang........anything beyond that would be a great overachievement with big props to RC, Bolt and Sealy.

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I keep hearing everybody say this will be such a young squad, but it really isn't by college baseball standards.

Brigham Hill - jr
Turner Larkins - jr
Corbin Martin - jr
Mitchell Kilkenny - so
Stephen Kolek - so.
Walker Pennington - sr
Blake Kopetsky - sr
Nick Choruby - sr
Homan - jr
Davis - sr
Janca - so.

There will be 2-3 freshmen that will play...Shewmake, Foster, Coleman. That's not a huge number for college baseball.

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Yup

Put the "we are soooooooo young" excuse to bed before the season starts

If we don't have some serious contributions from freshmen, I'll be shocked to see us make a super regional. So if you are telling me only 2 or 3 freshmen play, then I'll just go ahead and agree with the poster who said a 2 seed is just about this teams ceiling.

Young/inexperienced/less talented

Call it whatever you want.

I'm sticking with my December 6th comments. Childress' best teams come in pairs; and it's great offense that has led to the 2nd place West division finishes the past 2 years.

the wildcard for 2017 is the seemingly easier schedule.

I'll say 34-21 (with 1 rainout) and 16-14 in league play.

Ags will probably be a #2 seed

Ragoo said:

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Young/inexperienced/less talented

Call it whatever you want.

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Well.those are all different things

W said:

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I'm sticking with my December 6th comments. Childress' best teams come in pairs; and it's great offense that has led to the 2nd place West division finishes the past 2 years.

the wildcard for 2017 is the seemingly easier schedule.

I'll say 34-21 (with 1 rainout) and 16-14 in league play.

Ags will probably be a #2 seed

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I could definitely live with that. But it won't be easy at all to get to that

Then I would hope we ramp it back up in 2018, or here come the pots and pans

as we've seen from watching the Ags in the SEC for 4 seasons now...not many players tear up the league their first go-round.

Boomer did last year and of course he had already played a lot of D1 baseball. Homan hit .300 his first year vs. SEC pitching. Banks and Birk did as freshmen in 2014; and Lankford hit over .300 as a sophomore in 2013.

pretty much everybody else struggled their first season in the league. That's why the team will lean heavily on Davis, Pennington, Choruby, and Janca --- players that have already tasted SEC pitching. Need at least 2 of those guys to hit over .300

also another barometer...and perhaps a strange one...is A&M's success vs. 2 of the middle-of-the-pack league teams: Alabama and Auburn.

2013 record vs. Bama and AU ---> 1-4

2014 ---> 2-4

2015 ---> 5-1 (plus another win vs. Bama in the tourney)

2016 ---> 4-2

the great aggie teams take care of the Tide and Tigers. The not-so-great ones struggle with them.

A&M plays Bama and Auburn the 4th and 5th weekends of conference play in 2017

There's youth and then there's experience.

-The Aggies have hung their hat on "instant offense" the past few years. Last years team hit 62 home runs, and only 8 belong to returning players. That means 12.9% of our proven power is coming back.

The remaining home runs belong to Pennington (4), Davis (3) and Homan (1). Pennington and Davis are certainly capable of upping those totals. as their totals came in part time roles. For instance, Boomer and Moss hit 5 and 6 homers in about 260 at bats. Pennington got his in just 62.

So it will be interesting to see what kind of offensive identity we have this season. Maybe all the new guys are giants who eat nails for breakfast.

-We lost our regular 1B, 2B, 3B, C, LF and RF and a lot of DH ABs from last season. That's a lot of new guys in the lineup.

-The pitching staff also lost about 59% of their innings pitched from last year. I would think we'd lean on the pitching to get us through ironing things out, as we're getting back Larkins and Hill who have had plenty of experience against good baseball teams. Kilkenny and Kolek both looked good last season as well, combining for 57 innings when it was all said and done.

While there are some guys there with experience, we lost a weekend starter and long reliever + closer that usually accounted for the last 3 innings of a lot of big games. The advantage is that there are guys to choose from that had significant experience last season.

That's a lot of turnover to work with. Childress said in the Texags interview that they "wouldn't be a polished product in February, but they expect to be good by April". That's concerning, but also probably true. It's hard for anyone to say with a straight face that a lineup with 6-7 new guys in it is coming out of the gate as contenders.

But there's no reason there can't be improvement through the season and that they would be incapable of beating teams they're supposed to beat and picking up wins against the better teams. The 2013 team started 3 upperclassmen (Bratsen, Statum, Reynolds) and with a pitching staff 2/3 in flux for most of the season, still went 34-29 (13-16) and made the postseason.

W said:

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I'm sticking with my December 6th comments. Childress' best teams come in pairs; and it's great offense that has led to the 2nd place West division finishes the past 2 years.

the wildcard for 2017 is the seemingly easier schedule.

I'll say 34-21 (with 1 rainout) and 16-14 in league play.

Ags will probably be a #2 seed

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I could see that happening. I could also see it happening that A&M as a #2 seed will be one that one wants to have in their bracket. A&M teams that don't have a whole lot of hype tend to perform better than expected. There are going to be struggles as this team works to find its identity, but I have faith that RC and Bolt will get this team rolling at some point. Hopefully, it'll be in May and June. From what I've read/listened to, there's a lot of talent on this team. Just sucks that most of it is untested.

Duck Patrol said:

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W said:

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I'm sticking with my December 6th comments. Childress' best teams come in pairs; and it's great offense that has led to the 2nd place West division finishes the past 2 years.

the wildcard for 2017 is the seemingly easier schedule.

I'll say 34-21 (with 1 rainout) and 16-14 in league play.

Ags will probably be a #2 seed

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I could see that happening. I could also see it happening that A&M as a #2 seed will be one that one wants to have in their bracket. A&M teams that don't have a whole lot of hype tend to perform better than expected. There are going to be struggles as this team works to find its identity, but I have faith that RC and Bolt will get this team rolling at some point. Hopefully, it'll be in May and June. From what I've read/listened to, there's a lot of talent on this team. Just sucks that most of it is untested.

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While I think 35-21 (let's not predict the weather) with a 16-14 conference record and a #2 seed is probably realistic, that should be the floor for what an A&M team accomplishes...anything worse than that is an absolute failure. This program should be at a point where hosting a regional every year is the expectation regardless of circumstance.

HoustonAg2106 said:

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Duck Patrol said:

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W said:

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I'm sticking with my December 6th comments. Childress' best teams come in pairs; and it's great offense that has led to the 2nd place West division finishes the past 2 years.

the wildcard for 2017 is the seemingly easier schedule.

I'll say 34-21 (with 1 rainout) and 16-14 in league play.

Ags will probably be a #2 seed

---

I could see that happening. I could also see it happening that A&M as a #2 seed will be one that one wants to have in their bracket. A&M teams that don't have a whole lot of hype tend to perform better than expected. There are going to be struggles as this team works to find its identity, but I have faith that RC and Bolt will get this team rolling at some point. Hopefully, it'll be in May and June. From what I've read/listened to, there's a lot of talent on this team. Just sucks that most of it is untested.

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While I think 35-21 (let's not predict the weather) with a 16-14 conference record and a #2 seed is probably realistic, that should be the floor for what an A&M team accomplishes...anything worse than that is an absolute failure. This program should be at a point where hosting a regional every year is the expectation regardless of circumstance.

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That's what I'm saying -- for me, 35 wins and 16-14 is an "acceptable floor" this year

I hate the term "rebuilding year"

But if that term was ever spot on, this year is it. This is a textbook rebuilding year.

And if we can win 35 games and have a winning record in the SEC, I will take it all day long.

Now, will that happen? I don't know. I hope we end up with something like that or better, but I can also see the wheels completely coming off.

I am just damn glad we have Bolt

IMO, this is where Rob has to earn his paycheck. Coaching up an older, but unaccomplished starting lineup that is going to have to rely on several freshmen to a quality ball Club

We will see what happens

Prediction: 43-13 season record

If we advance to a Super Regional I would be pleased
If we host a Super Regional I would be thrilled
If we advance to Omaha....

http://gigemgazette.com/2017/02/12/texas-baseball-2017-preview/

100% agree

I haven't seen much info about the scrimmage Saturday so this is what I was told. 2 home runs hit, many balls hit off the wall. Logan Foster had a good day hitting. Shewmake can play second base well. Not much more info.

I heard Martin looked good, as did Sherrod, on the rubber. Scouts were jumping with the guns to get in place.

dirkjones said:

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I haven't seen much info about the scrimmage Saturday so this is what I was told. 2 home runs hit, many balls hit off the wall. Logan Foster had a good day hitting. Shewmake can play second base well. Not much more info.

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The scrimmage Saturday was fun to watch. Only six innings played but the score was 8-5 with White (the starters) beating the Maroon. Pennington and Davis had multiple hits and Shewmake, Janca, Coleman and Choruby each had a hit apiece. Tommie Gillman looked really good for the Maroon with three hits including a HR but hasn't hit well the rest of the spring. Bedford hit one off the scoreboard but he too has not hit well in the spring. I only remember one hit from Foster during the scrimmage but I could be wrong. At this point, there are six or seven players in the mix to start in the DH role on Friday. Lichty, Gutierrez, Gillman, Foster, Bedford, and Shanevogel (I'm sure that is misspelled) could all see action in the DH role.

Hop said:

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If A&M goes 43-13, they will be a national seed. I don't see any scenario playing in the SEC where a 43-13 record doesn't get you a national seed.

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Weren't we 45-11 in 2015 and we didn't get a national seed?