Great to get the W. Hats off to the pitching and defense definitely. Kind of a mixed bag other than that.
Positives:
-Curtis had a nasty breaking ball. They couldn't touch it. This kid is going to be really good in time. Strike thrower and he'll put on some velo as he develops. Very excited about him.
-Cortez has very impressive command for a freshman. I do worry about his usage though, it's a little more probably than what you'd want this early but they're trying to win games and he's been reliable.
-Menefee was solid. Better location, fastball could probably still use a tick of juice but good inning for sure.
-A bit disappointing to see Kaler's miscue in the 9th because to that point it was probably his best game of the year. Looked much more like the guy the staff thought they were getting from Hawaii. His first three at bats were excellent and made a nice play on the throw out to home on D. If he continues all that, will be a big shot in the arm for the team.
-Baserunning was very good & loved the aggressiveness, it was a weapon for them all night.
Negatives:
Offense is still figuring things out. There was some progess overall. But approaches are still not great at times... Too many pitches taken in the zone that they should be looking to do damage on. Smith had multiple ones, and then he does swing & even off the end of the bat hits a ball to the warning track. You've got that type of power, gotta look to smash hittable pitches in the zone. He did take an aggressive cut on his last swing on a good pitch to hit. Rock took a FB right down the pipe in his last at bat. On the other hand, guys like Harrison are chasing too much. But there were a lot of nice swings too, Bost's single made a nice adjustment getting on top of the ball, Britt staying up the middle on the HR, and Minnich looked good.
Just need to stay the course and keep getting better. Tough test with Santa Clara, their pitching #'s are impressive so hope to continue to see improvement with the swings and approach.
Positives:
-Curtis had a nasty breaking ball. They couldn't touch it. This kid is going to be really good in time. Strike thrower and he'll put on some velo as he develops. Very excited about him.
-Cortez has very impressive command for a freshman. I do worry about his usage though, it's a little more probably than what you'd want this early but they're trying to win games and he's been reliable.
-Menefee was solid. Better location, fastball could probably still use a tick of juice but good inning for sure.
-A bit disappointing to see Kaler's miscue in the 9th because to that point it was probably his best game of the year. Looked much more like the guy the staff thought they were getting from Hawaii. His first three at bats were excellent and made a nice play on the throw out to home on D. If he continues all that, will be a big shot in the arm for the team.
-Baserunning was very good & loved the aggressiveness, it was a weapon for them all night.
Negatives:
Offense is still figuring things out. There was some progess overall. But approaches are still not great at times... Too many pitches taken in the zone that they should be looking to do damage on. Smith had multiple ones, and then he does swing & even off the end of the bat hits a ball to the warning track. You've got that type of power, gotta look to smash hittable pitches in the zone. He did take an aggressive cut on his last swing on a good pitch to hit. Rock took a FB right down the pipe in his last at bat. On the other hand, guys like Harrison are chasing too much. But there were a lot of nice swings too, Bost's single made a nice adjustment getting on top of the ball, Britt staying up the middle on the HR, and Minnich looked good.
Just need to stay the course and keep getting better. Tough test with Santa Clara, their pitching #'s are impressive so hope to continue to see improvement with the swings and approach.