I liked how we were hitting. It wasn't HR or bust. Though Sdao had some rust, overall he did well. That is to be expected. Last night Hacopian was out and we sat TK, and still did well. Overall, I have seen good things....

4-0, that's all that matters. Keep playing one game at a time, one pitch at a time.

Despite giving up some hits, our pitching thus far has only issued 5 walks in 4 games. 41/5 K/BB ratio right now.

Feel better than I did at this point last year. Very small sample size, but overall I like the approach at the plate I'm seeing. Still some guys that are swinging under the ball - Gavin and Bear specifically - but for the most part I've seen improvement over last season.

My pre-season concerns regarding pitching are still there, though maybe not as heightened. Definitely in a wait-and-see mode. I'm a little confused on why we saw Freshcorn last night instead of someone who hasn't seen game time yet. Also, I'd like to see Partida get a shot here soon.

ETA: impressed with Darden and Vargas, so that's a positive!

A bit concerned on what SEC bats will do to this pitching staff

I feel much better about the offense and still a bit of trepidation on pitching.

Yesterday actually gave me more a bit more confidence in the offense because Hacopian was out, Sorrell wasn't good, and the bottom half of the line-up stepped up. I also thought we had some hard hit ABs and outs.

I feel a bit better about the pitching depth with Sims, Freshcorn, Vargas, and Darden looking decent so far, but want to see more out of our front line guys in Sdao and Moss. I suspect Sdao may take some time to regain his form.

I'm with twk on this one - still more questions than answers.

We're still trying to play too much gorilla ball...swinging for the fences, home run or nothing mentality. I know there was a stiff breeze blowing out last night and TAMU-CC hit a couple of early homers, but it was obvious we were trying to get the ball up into the jet stream more than trying to get solid hits, advance runners, etc. We had a disturbing number of infield pop ups last night.

Pitching has been good, but our opponents have been bad. Let's see if we can keep the walk numbers down once we play decent teams and don't have hometown umpires.

One of the things that bugged me the most last year was the stupid, lazy baseball...throwing to the wrong base, making half ass efforts in the outfield, failing to take the extra base when it was being handed to us, getting picked off of 2nd base, etc. That stuff hasn't reared it's ugly head yet. Avoid that garbage and I think we'll be fine.

So…while the coach at Tennessee Tech took them to a super at one point (and two other regionals), I am not sure trying to read the season from the opening series and first mid-week is a productive activity. Celebrating our team and supporting them both make the year more fun!

Its a good start. Lots to be excited about, especially all the holes we had to fill with new and young players. Infielders have been solid and I've been happy with the adjustments (i.e. Grav at 1st). The outfield will need to prove itself so will be interested to see how they respond against strong adversity. Same with our bats. Good potential but will have to see under high caliber pitching. Its a young and different team than the last two years. Easy to be optimistic bit also comes with lots of risk. I would expect the season to have both highs and lows. Question is how frequent and duration. Frankly, the unknown is what makes it fun and exciting. People need to refrain from losing their sht when things go sideways (and it will) and keep in perspective the collective experience.

I'm gonna disagree on some points here questioning what we have seen out of our offense. I get we had too many popouts last night, but if we are talking about the first week as a whole, here's what I saw:

Taking our walks - as a team we weren't swinging at too much junk and have consistently had guys walk each game

Bottom half of the order delivering - they did pretty well this weekend, but this past game was won because of them. It was much more of a black hole last year

Hitting well across 4 games - I know a lot of people aren't as happy about the popups tonight, but what about this weekend? I didn't see home run or bust approach at all against Tennessee Tech. We averaged 15 hits a game against them and Sunday didn't have a single long ball.

Major bullpen arms have been solid - Darden, Freshcorn and Vargas have each had an opportunity to pitch. I have really liked what I've seen from each of them. Not to mention Lyons had a really solid game outside of 1 inning

My remaining questions:

Starting pitching - Sdao and Moss were a bit too hitable. The control was good, but need to see more out of them going forward. There are reasons to believe in them though. No questions Sims looks like a stud so far.

Step up in competition - what happens when the talent level rises? Can we stay in our approach? What happens when the opposing teams gets off to a hot start? All questions that won't be answered until we play a good team.

Well since you asked and my wife is tired of me talking about it all the time!

Offense - I still think we are swinging at some bad pitches early in counts. 0-0, 1-0 type counts to me should be balls you can really handle and not hit a lazy pop up or a easy grounder. Really like most of our swings and the plate discipline overall has been much better. Also like the base running. It is much much better than last year and not just steaming bags. We are much more aggressive in our base running and going 1st to 3rd when we would have lazily jogged to 2nd last year. Solid A

Defense - I mean this isn't even close. We have guys that don't look like they are fighting to make routine plays. We don't have to make the spectacular plays if we can just make the routine plays consistently which we have down and then some. Solid A

Starting Pitching - Has to be better. I think it will be better. Sdao was flat with his fastball and up in the zone. Moss had better run with his fastball but was up in the zone as well. Sims was pretty dang solid. Lyons was up in the zone in the 2nd inning and then was much better. I liked what he settled in and gave us last night. As a rotation we have been great at not killing ourselves with the free passes. Solid B

Relief Pitching - Pffffft they have been solid and much less of a worry than last year so far. Yea some of the youngsters struggled a bit but they got in the game and got their heart rates up without it costing us. Freshcorn, Vargas, and Darden all looked good and as advertised. We are probably going to bank on those guys and then play the hot hand between Lyons, Hubert, Vincent, Cunningham, Stewie, and Bollinger. Concerned that we haven't seen Stewie, Cunningham, or Bollinger. Just need 1 or 2 of those guys to be throwing well at the same time to push over. I would give them a solid B with hopes that someone steps up when needed.

Coaching - Night and day difference. We are utilizing more shading and shifting than I remember last year. Base running is much better. Swings are much better. Team decisions seem much more organized and logical. Solid A

Overall - Solid B to B+ Out floor is much higher this year than last year I believe

JW1612 said:

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Well since you asked and my wife is tired of me talking about it all the time!

Offense - I still think we are swinging at some bad pitches early in counts. 0-0, 1-0 type counts to me should be balls you can really handle and not hit a lazy pop up or a easy grounder. Really like most of our swings and the plate discipline overall has been much better. Also like the base running. It is much much better than last year and not just steaming bags. We are much more aggressive in our base running and going 1st to 3rd when we would have lazily jogged to 2nd last year. Solid A

Defense - I mean this isn't even close. We have guys that don't look like they are fighting to make routine plays. We don't have to make the spectacular plays if we can just make the routine plays consistently which we have down and then some. Solid A

Starting Pitching - Has to be better. I think it will be better. Sdao was flat with his fastball and up in the zone. Moss had better run with his fastball but was up in the zone as well. Sims was pretty dang solid. Lyons was up in the zone in the 2nd inning and then was much better. I liked what he settled in and gave us last night. As a rotation we have been great at not killing ourselves with the free passes. Solid B

Relief Pitching - Pffffft they have been solid and much less of a worry than last year so far. Yea some of the youngsters struggled a bit but they got in the game and got their heart rates up without it costing us. Freshcorn, Vargas, and Darden all looked good and as advertised. We are probably going to bank on those guys and then play the hot hand between Lyons, Hubert, Vincent, Cunningham, Stewie, and Bollinger. Concerned that we haven't seen Stewie, Cunningham, or Bollinger. Just need 1 or 2 of those guys to be throwing well at the same time to push over. I would give them a solid B with hopes that someone steps up when needed.

Coaching - Night and day difference. We are utilizing more shading and shifting than I remember last year. Base running is much better. Swings are much better. Team decisions seem much more organized and logical. Solid A

Overall - Solid B to B+ Out floor is much higher this year than last year I believe

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We're here for you if you ever need to get it off your chest and the wife isn't having it.

MSFC Aggie said:

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A bit concerned on what SEC bats will do to this pitching staff

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Very concerned.