This isn't going to be the last blown 9th inning the players, coaches, and fans ever experience. And next time we could just as likely be on the other side of it.

A lot of pitching coaches look at relievers as "out getters" more than any defined role. It's a mentality of your job is to pitch every pitch the best you can regardless of situation. The coaches job is to get you in your best matchup. They thought it was a good matchup for Rudis and it didn't work out. That wasn't a horrible decision by the coaches. Learn and move on. Rudis left them hanging and got crushed, that's high level ball. They apparently were sitting on them too.

It's hard to question coaches over 1 game, they are the ones that spend a ton of time with these guys.

That being said, we clearly have a closing issue, that's multiple blown saves/games now. And usually having a defined closer in the 9th, when the margins are smallest/experience really helps, is what most of the top coaches do. Wilson or Jackson seem the most logical choice to me right now, but the coaches are the ones who should know best.

Freshcorn and Rudis have both lost games in the 9th with hanging breakers, but if they are throwing great in practice then I don't blame the coaches for continuing to use them.

My problem with the move last night is that the justification was analytics. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but the public impression I'm getting from this version of Aggie baseball is that we are way too focused on stats.

We don't have a closing issue. We have a coach trying to find a closer issue.

We don't have Aschenbeck, who is the best reliever in the history of our school. In college, you DO NOT TAKE OUT PITCHERS GETTING OUTS barring you have an All-American back there like we did last season

This isn't MLB

It's my hope is that 30 years from now, when he's either finished his coaching career or he's at some high school, Earley will remember 3/14/25 as the night he learned to use his gut AND his head in pitching decisions.

twk said:

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My problem with the move last night is that the justification was analytics. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but the public impression I'm getting from this version of Aggie baseball is that we are way too focused on stats.

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analytics have proven to be better than human judgement when used correctly, we should have 0 problem with analytics being used as justification for decisions as long as the analytics are being used correctly.

nothing is perfect (analytics nor human judgement), but analytics help you make a decision that should give you the highest possible chance of success if you are doing it right.

I'm partly with you. I don't mind the idea of rudis being the next guy out of the pen if we got in trouble - he's shown the ability to get us out of jams.

But…

In a tie game, against that offense when ours was struggling to generate runs, you cannot throw in a guy that has a tendency to get barrelled up when he's slightly off. It was a zero margin for error decision and moment from the staff and the player. Both failed.

75AG said:

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It's my hope is that 30 years from now, when he's either finished his coaching career or he's at some high school, Earley will remember 3/14/25 as the night he learned to use his gut AND his head in pitching decisions.

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Bottom line... Just trying too hard?
I wonder if he isn't out coaching himself

I blame Rudis 0% and would go lower if possible. You just cannot take out a pitcher that is getting outs. Especially after only 14 pitches and 2 Ks.

You can tell that almost every decision this staff makes is on analytics and there is zero feel for the game. Hitting a bunch of pop ups? It's ok because exit velo and wind, they will be hr's later in spring - hit home runs, not line drives. The incessant left vs right matchup bs we do both in the lineup and with relievers is overkill. At this point, it seems like a crutch for someone learning how to manage for the first time.

um, last night was the third blown 9th inning of the season

Cal Poly on Sunday
Arizona at Daikan
Bama on Friday

Last night was our best chance at avoiding the sweep.

It's gonna e a long season boys.

Rudis is not a closer. There seems to be a lover affair with him and the fans but his stuff does not play when the game is on the line. I called my shot with some friends last Sunday watching the game sitting on the coach that Rudis was going to blow some games if he was the closer. It didn't take long.

Bottom line Luke Jackson had 2Ks in an inning of work and was dealing at 97mph. About as hard as he has thrown all year. Control was there as he did not throw many balls and he looked super confident. If your a coach and you can't see that then you probably should not be coaching.

I did not like pulling Jackson but if you are there are only two maybe three guys on this roster you do it for. Josh Stewart, Kaden Wilson, and still not convinced on Freshcorn but I think he can be that guy. All throw gas and have the type of stuff that allows for small errors not to end up as big mistakes.

They then go to Rudis who tops out at 91mph with a hanging frisbee slider. Players sit on his slider and you get what we saw last night. Happened against Oregon in the Super Regionals last year and it happened against UTSA, just not over the fence. Rudis does not have the stuff and has to be absolutely perfect if he is going to be put in those situations. I personally think he is a stop the bleeding guy. Can get him up in hurry. He is a nice change of pace and he can get you a solid inning before teams figure him out. He does have a role on the team as middle relief but he is not a back end guy.

We don't have a closer. When we don't have a closer, ride the hot hand. That simple

OA_02 said:

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You can tell that almost every decision this staff makes is on analytics and there is zero feel for the game. Hitting a bunch of pop ups? It's ok because exit velo and wind, they will be hr's later in spring - hit home runs, not line drives. The incessant left vs right matchup bs we do both in the lineup and with relievers is overkill. At this point, it seems like a crutch for someone learning how to manage for the first time.

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This staff reminds me of a football head coach that goes for 2 up 19 with 2 min left in the game because the card tells them to.
Have a little feel for the game

GymBroFisher said:

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twk said:

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My problem with the move last night is that the justification was analytics. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but the public impression I'm getting from this version of Aggie baseball is that we are way too focused on stats.

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analytics have proven to be better than human judgement when used correctly, we should have 0 problem with analytics being used as justification for decisions as long as the analytics are being used correctly.

nothing is perfect (analytics nor human judgement), but analytics help you make a decision that should give you the highest possible chance of success if you are doing it right.

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in the major leagues...I would tend to agree

in college baseball...it's about (acquiring/developing) superior talent and coaching

Tennessee stole 50 bases last year in 68 attempts -- analytics would not approve of that

GymBroFisher said:

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LJ's last out was a middle middle fast ball that almost went yard. I like him, but I'm not going to sit here and act like he was perfect either.

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Instead of being productive this morning I just finished watching the game since I was unable to do so last night. Jackson's last out was a 3 pitch K to start the 9th. The last out in the 8th was scorched but was a line drive that was not a threat of leaving the yard, if it did not find Kiel's glove it would have been at best a one hop to the wall double.

"It's baseball"

Yeah, its bad baseball. It's grossly underperforming baseball. Last year we lost 15 games TOTAL. Thats including SEC tournament and post-season. We only lost 3 games at home all of last year. Now teams like UTSA and Tx State come to a Blue Bell and spank us.

tonytx05 said:

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twk said:

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My problem with the move last night is that the justification was analytics. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but the public impression I'm getting from this version of Aggie baseball is that we are way too focused on stats.

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Did coach tell you it was analytics? That's some inside connections!

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Seems like you didn't listen to his postgame press conference.

GymBroFisher said:

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twk said:

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My problem with the move last night is that the justification was analytics. I don't know what's happening behind the scenes, but the public impression I'm getting from this version of Aggie baseball is that we are way too focused on stats.

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analytics have proven to be better than human judgement when used correctly, we should have 0 problem with analytics being used as justification for decisions as long as the analytics are being used correctly.

nothing is perfect (analytics nor human judgement), but analytics help you make a decision that should give you the highest possible chance of success if you are doing it right.

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Analytics don't accurately account for the inconsistency of college players. They simply don't have the reps of pro players and that fact is part of the game because of the practice restrictions.

Once you've established that a guy is "on" then that should skew your decision making. If Luke couldn't find the strike zone and you need to go to the pen? Ok use analytics to pick the best matchup. But there's a high chance that replacement doesn't have his best stuff either because it's college. Intentionally rolling the dice on that twice is inexcusable for me.

The best managers know how to balance analytics and human feel for what they're seeing in front of them. If every decision you make is analytic based essentially any computer nerd could have your job. But that is not what you were hired to be

Hank the Grifter said:

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Last night was our best chance at avoiding the sweep.

It's gonna e a long season boys.

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We are going to have an advantage every Sunday with Patton vs whoever, and that's definitely the case vs Bama's Sunday starter who has a 5+ ERA.

I suspect we're more likely to look back and think of last night's game as a missed chance to get the rare SEC sweep.