OT: Boogs Not Mens Softball
- Thread starter WDE_Tarp
- Start date
That’s a pretty accurate description of how we’re playing right now.
What did you think about Butch’s comments this week? Sounded waaaay too Gusish to me. We have a lot of issues right now. Hard to believe we’re in a better spot on paper than we were at this time last year. We need the arms back but we have to hit the ball better. We pitched well enough to have won that series this weekend.
I think Butch was just being honest. Didn’t see it as Gusish at all. Butch has always been a hands-off coach that empowers his assistants and let’s them coach without interference or micromanagement. While Gus has claimed to be that type of coach in the past, supposedly that wasn’t ever actually the case as he always meddled and micromanaged. Butch has stayed back and tried to let his assistants and players work through everything. It hasn’t worked. So now it’s time for him to step in directly some and see if he can help turn things around. I don’t expect this to be a complete philosophy change going forward, just more of a change-of-pace to see if he can help get some things jumpstarted.
I like the comments. I think we need a different voice, a different thought, a change to what we’re currently doing. Butch has let Karl and Gabe and Steve be the voices. Maybe his voice and his thoughts and his involvement directly can help the players make some different adjustments. I think we will see Butch more involved with pitch calling. I think we will see Butch more involved in pitcher management and changes and who he goes to out of the pen. I even think we will see him talk to some hitters about adjustments he sees that they could make at the plate.
Butch commented on our hitting approach with no one on versus runners in scoring position. I think he wants us to more of a station-to-station approach. More contact swings, less full throttle swings. Less swing-and-miss, more opposite field hitting. And I know he wants to cut down on the walks on the mound. If we can somehow get the guys in the lineup to stop trying to do too much and look for nice solid contact and if we can get the pitchers to trust their stuff and continue to throw strikes, I think we will be ok. But that message has to get through and be executed somehow.
Could go either way. This past weekend we win with better hitting, the weekend before we win with one more arm.
Agreed. We’re a better hitting team than we’ve shown so far this season. Not sure on if we’re better as a pitching staff, but I do think we can control more of our biggest problem than we’re currently controlling it. Minimize the walks, put together more complete at bats and string together some competitive ABs, and I think a lot of this will work itself out.
It seems like we either don’t know/understand our weaknesses or do and haven’t figured out how to minimize or overcome them. My hope is that Butch stepping in is a sign that we can get that sorted out because, from my perspective, the issues aren’t many but they’re pretty clear.
I don't know how you minimize our weaknesses right now. Young pitchers walking too many guys happens a lot. Hitting slumps happen. I don't love the approach some of the guys in these slumps have, but hopefully they will come out of it soon. Some of the hitting problems has been bad luck. We had one less hit than A&M on Friday and lost 4-0. It happens. This team could tank or we could get our injured arms back, play well and potentially host a regional.
In general I hate the "wait till next year" stuff, but honestly I feel like next year is going to be the best pitching staff top to bottom that we have ever had. All these freshman will have had a year of being tossed into the fire and a year with Butch. Tanner, Greenhill and Owen will be back. Never know what Daniel will do but I guess he could come back after having missed so much time this year.
The only way I would think to approach it is basically tell the young guys that giving up hits is a better result than walks. Don’t be afraid of base hits. You have no chance to record an out if you walk the hitter. You gotta give them the confidence to throw the ball in the strike zone. Confidence is where I think we’re lacking most on the pitching staff. Guys just seem to trust their stuff enough.
On the hitting side, I’d like to see us cut back on the swings and put the ball in play the opposite way. Generally, that means you're not out on your front foot, you can handle the offspeed better, and you’re more relaxed and less jumpy at pitches. I don’t think there are any big adjustments to make unless you start talking about wholesale lineup changes. It’s just some little adjustments all these guys are capable of making. Maybe hearing it from a different voice and in a different way will help it click for some of these guys.
As for the “next year” stuff, I said most of the offseason that I expected a little bit of a step back for this team because of how much it looked like we were going to rely on young pitching. And that didn’t factor in not having Daniel or Owen. I also didn’t expect the offense to be this blah either. So it’s a little worse than I thought it might be, but the team still has potential to be pretty good. And I really like the experience Fuller, Skipper, Wade, and Fitts are getting right now. Should be a huge help for next year.
Since we’re boog boarding.
I can only imagine your excitement level when Auburn makes the CWS in the next few years.
“Somebody” is going to get a racy pic of my a$$ live from Omaha, you can bet that!
I guarantee you Jimmy would be thrilled to see your ass if that happens.
Well Dick Fitts shoved it and we came back and won. Would be awesome if Tanner could pull a complete game W out of his ass tomorrow.
If the Dick Fitts you must not quit.
Damn impressive performance by Fitts tonight. And Greenhill was damn near unhittable. Good to see the offense compete and make some clutch swings.
That HR by Julien was demolished. Pretty much straight into the breeze.
Can’t believe Greenhill hit 97. His velocity seems to be improving as the year goes on.
Kind of amazing that Auburn is only two games out of first place in the SEC given the pitching injuries and the suckage by both Holland and Williams
If aTm loses and we win tonight, we’re a game back of the Arkansas/Miss St winner tonight.
Boom! Come from behind in the 10th to win it and the series against #17 Ole Miss.
Needed this series won big time. The pack at the top of the conference is tight and we can't afford to fall behind.
Plus Jack Owen pitched today and looked good (though only like 2 innings). Getting him back would be huge.
Great AB’s against a great closer to get a win. Maybe this will give us some momentum.
Oh look we finally won a series
We need to sweep bama because our 3 other remaining series are brutal.
@ Vandy
@ LSU
Georgia at home but they are probably the best team in the SEC
@ Vandy
@ LSU
Georgia at home but they are probably the best team in the SEC
Don’t think we have to sweep Bama, but that would be nice. Just need to avoid sweeps against those other three series. All of those series are top 20 RPI teams.
Good to get Owen back. If he bounces back well the next couple of days, I think he will start Thursday at Vandy. If he can give us 4-5 innings similar to what we saw today, that will be a huge help.
Wouldn’t be surprised if we kept him on Saturday, but would still be nice if he was starting one of the games Tanner isn’t.
Probably so. He threw 29 pitches. So I think either option is possible. Don’t think we will move up Burns or Fuller, and Fuller is pitching well enough to stay in the rotation. Maybe Fitts gets the start at Vandy after his last couple of impressive outings.
Yeah that’s a good point too. Could go either way. I agree Butch won’t move Tanner off of Friday.
I think whatever we do should set up for Jack to be the Sunday starter against Bama in two weeks.
Last I heard Daniel might be ready to throw a few innings bama weekend too. I’m hopeful for a basketball-like scenario where we start clicking just in time for the post season.
I’ve been told by a couple different people that he’s done for the season. I hope your info is better than mine.
Dang. Mine isn’t a good source, it’s just stuff that’s been out there. That sucks.
Yeah, it does. Both told me that within the last few days. Not sure if there was a setback in his rehab or if it just never got better. Don’t really have any details, which is why I’m still a bit hesitant.
