Billy Heywood said:

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Interesting to predict that guys who have yet to play one inning of SEC baseball for the Ags will be greater than starters who have moved on to pro ball or retired. Experience counts and I think we'll miss them more than some expect. But time will tell. Hope 2019 is a great season for the players, coaches and fans.

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A team like A&M that recruits Top 15-20 classes will have plenty of solid/average college baseball players coming into the program in every class. The key to a good run is having 4-5 of those guys become above average or elite college players.

SEC teams will have as a baseline the bottom 3-4 in the batting order players that hit .220-.270 with average, decent skill sets. The very good teams have above average hitters in 4-5 spots...the elite teams have a couple of stud all-American type hitters as well.

What I'm saying is the .220-.270 hitters are for the most part a commodity easy to come by at the SEC level. Guys like Janca, Bedford, and Andritsos brought value to A&M and did some good things, but not "next level" guys that separate you from the pack

Yes, does losing Bedford cause A&M to lose some intangibles behind the plate? Sure. But as far as production at the plate and overall performance, there will not be a significant drop-off. Has A&M ever had a starting catcher hit .220 with a below average arm? Bedford was a gamer and had some great moments as an Aggie. He represented A&M superbly and I'm proud he wore the uniform. But if we are talking about cold, hard numbers, his lost production shouldn't hard to replace. If history is any indication, A&M should have plenty of resources to have a starting catcher that hits .240 and throws out 23% of baserunners.

Yes, it's a loss to lose veteran players that contributed, but this season's losses aren't worse than most seasons. How many above average players did A&M lose this year?

1. Helman
2. Hoffman
3. Kilkenny
4. ?

Oh, and No. 1 and No. 2 were both newcomers last season. There will be another "Hoffman" and "Helman" entering the program this fall.

Billy Heywood said:

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Hop said:

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Billy Heywood said:

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Interesting to predict that guys who have yet to play one inning of SEC baseball for the Ags will be greater than starters who have moved on to pro ball or retired. Experience counts and I think we'll miss them more than some expect. But time will tell. Hope 2019 is a great season for the players, coaches and fans.

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A team like A&M that recruits Top 15-20 classes will have plenty of solid/average college baseball players coming into the program in every class. The key to a good run is having 4-5 of those guys become above average or elite college players.

SEC teams will have as a baseline the bottom 3-4 in the batting order players that hit .220-.270 with average, decent skill sets. The very good teams have above average hitters in 4-5 spots...the elite teams have a couple of stud all-American type hitters as well.

What I'm saying is the .220-.270 hitters are for the most part a commodity easy to come by at the SEC level. Guys like Janca, Bedford, and Andritsos brought value to A&M and did some good things, but not "next level" guys that separate you from the pack

Yes, does losing Bedford cause A&M to lose some intangibles behind the plate? Sure. But as far as production at the plate and overall performance, there will not be a significant drop-off. Has A&M ever had a starting catcher hit .220 with a below average arm? Bedford was a gamer and had some great moments as an Aggie. He represented A&M superbly and I'm proud he wore the uniform. But if we are talking about cold, hard numbers, his lost production shouldn't hard to replace. If history is any indication, A&M should have plenty of resources to have a starting catcher that hits .240 and throws out 23% of baserunners.

Yes, it's a loss to lose veteran players that contributed, but this season's losses aren't worse than most seasons. How many above average players did A&M lose this year?

1. Helman
2. Hoffman
3. Kilkenny
4. ?

Oh, and No. 1 and No. 2 were both newcomers last season. There will be another "Hoffman" and "Helman" entering the program this fall.

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Agree Hop that we have a good core coming back, and exciting freshman coming in. Not sure I agree though that Hoffman and Helman will be easily replaced, but I'll take your word for it. All I was saying is the three guys being discussed on this thread had experience that will be missed. Andritsos just played part of one season, but Bedford and Janca have been around for three years. Actually, Bedford for four since he was redshirted his freshman year. Bedford played in 124 games (97 starts) as catcher. Janca played in 148 games (134 starts--26 games as freshman starting ss and as our everyday 3B as a soph and jr). During those three years, if I recall correctly, Aggie Baseball had an SEC tournament championship, three regional appearances, two regional championships, two super regional appearances, one super regional championship, and one trip to the CWS. These guys weren't just taking up space. They made an impact in more ways than a batting average. Feel like all three would have had outstanding seasons were it not for injuries. Wish all the Ags who have moved on the best of luck, and look forward to hearing more about the 2019 team.

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I didn't say Helman and Hoffman will be easily replaced. I'm saying that on average, A&M usually brings in 3-4 newcomers that are significant contributors. History shows that 1-2 newcomers become top players on the next team. It may not be at closer. It may not be at 2B. But there will be new faces that will be key starters next season that make up a lot of the difference. You hope the staff did a good job at evaluation and snagged 4-5 newcomers that become key contributors. Those classes that get you to Omaha.

Tex100 said:

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Hop, you are giving some credit for defense but then circling back to average. First, Andritsos's average was closer to .290 than .280. Second, you are discounting power. Andritsos hit 7 home runs per Gabe's post. I think both he and Bedford have hit HR's in NCAA tournament settings. Bedford's defense was good and he would be someone who I think was likely for a breakout year in 2019. Call it senior magic.

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I'm just saying that a 1B hitting .287 with 33 RBI is not a player that causes a sea level change on your team. Not saying he wouldn't be good or have his moments, but special elite teams are such because they have 3-4 elite players. The 2011 team would have been a very mediocre team if it wasn't for Wacha and Stripling. They were the elite guys the team was built around.

As far as Bedford, hoping that he would have a breakout magical season in his fifth year is a bit of a stretch. He retired so that answers that. Again, he was a great teammate and worked as hard as any human to ever put on the jersey and for that he will be a fan favorite. But if we're looking unpassionately at the production, his numbers can and should be at a minimum repeated with the next starting catcher.

Tex100 said:

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I'm not saying their loss crushes our chance of a good season. But I think we would be better with them, so it is a loss..

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We wont know it's a loss until we see who replaces him and how they perform. If the guy that replaces him is a solid defensive backstop and hits .280, then it won;t be a loss. If the replacement isn't a good defender and hits.220, then it will be a loss.

I'm just saying there's not a huge hill to climb to match last year's production.

Lance Uppercut said:

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Not sure why we're shrugging aside Andritsos because he hit .280. You would have to make the assumption he made no improvements.

His slugging percentage was third best this year....and would have been top 3 on the team in 2017 and 2016 as well. 4th in 2015.

He hit 7 home runs, one short of the team leader who did so in 20 more games played. If he only hit 3 more in an extra 60-70 ABs, it would be the team lead for this season, 2017, 2nd in 2016, and 1st in 2015.

Losing a guy with experience who's coming back to start upperclassmen seasons and the very real chance of being a double-digit HR producer seems like more than an "oh well" situation to me.

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I'm not saying "oh well". This started when a poster bemoaned the Andritsos loss as the final straw to a sub-par rebuilding season in 2019. I'm saying that the loss can be replaced...and the replacement could be even better. My point was more about baseball is different from football where age, physical maturity, and experience are significantly tangible. In a sport with constant turnover and where JUCO's and freshmen (Shewmake two years ago...Helman last year) come in and can be elite players from the first pitch, baseball programs can easily replace solid talent. Andritsos is a solid player, but he wasn't an elite player that carried the team.