You can’t talk about he and Jud in the same sentence. One finished in the top 3 in the country in home runs and was a threat to leave the ball park every time he stepped to the plate. Carrion’s best attribute at the plate was that he could bunt. If Carrion can put on 10-15 pounds it will help. He also could pitch a little here and there down the line but the last time I saw him throw velo was down 84-86. At a Stetson or JU he could really flourish.
As I’ve said before, kid can flat out fly. Same program as Guthrie, Rivera, Guscette. Big time program and travels with a great program. Like Guscette excelled the second he stepped on the field as a freshman at Venice and that’s saying something. As I said about Guscette kids that play at Venice seem to be wise beyond their years. Faulkner is a great coach ( Played at LSU under Skip).
Carrion hit 244 in year one, Jud hit 249 in year three (Jud hit 232 in year one). Yeah, I can kinda talk about them in the same sentence....which is mind boggling in and of itself. And I don't care if he bunted to get on, in fact I applaud it.
Calilao, Thompson, and Armstrong I like Calilao in right Thompson at DH Armstrong at first Armstrong and THOMPSON may rotate back-and-forth between DH and first base All 3 need to hit and not sit. Armstrong and Calilao sat a little too much, especially KC.
Ha, and If you’ve read anything about how I feel about bunts you’d know i like that too but you cannot tell me you don’t get what I’m saying. One is a top 40 pick that has crazy tools. The other struggled to hit the ball out of the infield late in the year. Sully, after seeing him strike out on three fastballs in a row, saw the same thing and started not playing him much. Jud has some bad mechanics from time to time but can change a game with one swing. Carrion was completely overmatched and just couldn’t catch up to 93 late in the year and it clearly showed. I can’t believe I’m having to explain this. One was a 3rd Team All American that’s signing for big money and the other is transferring because one of the best Coaches in America wasn’t going to play him and probably told him that. Apples and Oranges.
Thompson can DH. Callilao and Armstrong have to be in the line up. I think we learned a valuable lesson this year with watching Calilao sit a bunch. Heck, even Armstrong sat a good bit early. Gotta have those bats in the line up all the time.
Of course Jud has more tools and raw talent. That's the point, Jud (and too many on the roster) floundered and performed at a level comparable to the guy that was "completely overmatched". There's the issue and what my comment was about. Want to talk overmatched? How about a little streak of 0-19 with 12k? That's 3rd team AA
None that I know of. He was a catcher at Trenton I believe but not sure how often he played 1st. I just put him in there for now since he is having a good summer.
Talbot got some reps two years ago in CF while we could watch practice. I would think that if he showed much progress Sully would have given him an occasional appearance even with Jud in CF. Kids got speed so he should be able to at least steal bases.
87— That was my thought about seeing what he could do at first base. He’s played SS/3rd so convert ground balls to picking long and short hops and having played infield the foot work around the bag shouldn’t be a big problem for him. I just like his build (it should give him the ability to make the stretch plays) to play first base.
^^^^ I certainly agree when you trying to put the best 9 guys in the lineup to find them a place somewhere. But we have plenty of options at first already with Calilao, Armstrong, Langford and the new kid Caglianone. But not as many options at third, assuming nobody comes back, other than new players. I do think Deric Fabian could take third, not because of his fielding, but because Fabian 2.0 is going to surprise many on here with his bat. However it works out, I don't think Sully will force two high school teammates to fight for the same position. Since they are both from Ocala you know they will both find the field somewhere.
He could but at this point, assuming no one comes back from the draft, the only choice we would have is the true freshman Jorge De Goti for second. That's why I'm penciling in Fabian 2.0 at third for now, unless Thompson is giving the opportunity. I think Halter is better suited at 2nd based on who we have.
I don't know diddly, but I did watch Calilao make some great plays at 1st as a Freshman. I would like to see more of that.
Derec Fabian, who is from Ocala by the way, is listed by Perfect Game as a SS/2B. Historically, O'Sullivan recruits shortstops and then moves some guys to 2nd & 3rd, playing the best one at SS. He raved about Halter's defense prior to the start of the season and I think he was surprised at the number of errors (11) he made, primarily at second base. Halter did play a few games at 3rd this year and played SS all though high school when he wasn't pitching, so we'll see how it plays out. We, also, have to make sure Hickey and Fox both sign MLB contracts. They probably will, but if either of them shows up at UF, that changes everything as far as the infield goes.
