With all the talk of the portal and hopefully bringing in Maxwell and/or Vawter, I want to move the subject to the new 3rd assistant; and, I just want to say that I hope Tim makes him/her the new batting coach. I really think the Gators need a different approach at the plate (except for Skylar, let her do what she does). This taking good pitches until there's two strikes method (especially for the weaker hitters) is not the way. I think they're looking for walks. It's drives me nuts though because then they wind up swinging at shit for the K. I would also, hopefully like to see maybe some adjustments if they're having a tough time with a pitcher. Move up in the box or choke up a little. But doing the same thing over and over again.... ugh. I would love to see them be aggressive at the plate. Hit hit and hit. There's no reason the Gators of '24 (with the right coaching) shouldn't have one of the top team BAs in the country. That's just my opinion from what I've seen the last few years of the watch approach.
Well I was specifically replying to your comment that the 2 freshmen could handle it without a lot of help……2014 only Gourley was a freshman and 2015 only Ocasio was a freshman. You cannot reasonably expect the freshmen to throw more than 130 innings or so each and be worth a crap at the end of the year.
Agree with the above and something that has driven me nuts as well. We've seen too many good hitters come in and get caught up in trying to snag a walk/work the count mentality. IMHO the strategy at the plate should never be to sacrifice hittable pitches hoping to lengthen the count. Occasionaly we get a superior hitter that can placate Tim's strategy (Skylar and Amanda come to mind) and still lay the barrel on the ball. A good many though get caught up in their own heads and lose their best pitch or two to hit, and then strike out swinging in desperation. I want our players to recognize hittable pitches when available and have the confidence to drive them when the opportunity arises. Of course with the best pitchers, that can be a difficult to do at times, which makes seizing your opportunity when it is thrown even more important.
The 5 lowest ERA'S by freshman last season pitched 135, 79, 127, 154, and 115 innings. The lowest ERA in the country last year was a freshman, Stanford's Canady. Gives something for Ava and Kaegan to shoot for.
No doubt a season can be very successful with 3 really good pitchers, regardless of their class/age. But it's a highly risky proposition because if one of them gets hurt, or even sick for a period of time, a lot of pressure and work goes to the remaining two. And with one or both of our incoming pitchers possibly being an everyday player, the risk of injury increases. I think across the board, rosters have betters hitters up and down the lineup than they did 8-10+ years ago and that's why most elite teams have gone to staffs of 5-7 pitchers. I want Maxwell AND Vawter!!
Lol…..and I said north of 130 innings could be trouble and I get a come on man….. Thanks for the info making my point.
UF had one of the top offensive teams in the country last season. I'm not sure what people want, but we were good in batting average, very good in runs scored, and great in OB%
I agree this was a very potent offense against non-SEC opponents and some SEC teams. Our pitching was the big issue. But you gotta admit when they played top notch pitching, hitting and offense was spotty at best.. our numbers were kind of enhanced by the non-sec schedule though; but, yes, offense was better this year. WITH that said. The taking pitches, you have to admit, has been an issue. I just would like to see more aggressive at bats (Reagans pretty aggressive). My biggest gripe is lack of adjustments against top notch pitcher.
I mean, that's the way softball and baseball work.....good pitching beats good hitting. That's true for every offense. As has been mentioned, the offense actually was a little more aggressive last year. Pretty sure we could find plenty of game posts complaining about short innings with less than 10 pitches, swinging first pitch after a walk, etc etc. I'm like every other fan, tend to remember the negative....but the bottom line is hard to argue with. The team was productive, and played an elite schedule. I think an outsider would be scratching their heads at calls for a new hitting coach.
Here's a theory. Hitters get better when they face high quality pitching from their teammates in scrimmages and situational play in practice. Could part of the reason our offense suffered against elite pitching was because we didn't face it during the fall and winter practices leading up to the season? That should certainly change for the upcoming season.
I know that most of us are cautiously optimistic but, you have to agree that there is a great deal of smoke here!
