*There was a lot of talk prior to the season about how this team was going to manufacture runs by being aggressive on the bases and amassing plenty of steals. So far, that has hardly been the case. In fact, the overall baserunning has been terrible, and this is an area that absolutely must be improved considering that this is not a team that can sit back and rely on the homerun for instant offense. Alabama currently ranks dead last in the SEC in both stolen bases and stolen base percentage. A total of seven steals through 13 games is poor enough, but a 50% success rate is just plain unacceptable; that’s simply giving away outs on the basepaths. If you’re not successful at least 75% of the time, it’s not even worth attempting to steal. As much as I hate to give them credit for anything, Tennessee is a team that knows how to steal bases. They’ve swiped 36 in just 11 games at an 88% success rate.
*I’m certainly an advocate of playing small ball, but there are times when a sacrifice bunt can actually be counterproductive. Bunting in the first inning is just giving away an out, and hindering your chances at jumping out to a big lead. Thus far, there have been five first inning bunt attempts on the season. This is never sound strategy, unless you’re facing a bona fide ace and you know that runs are going to be hard to come by, but to bunt early against teams like Alcorn State and Northwestern State? Come on. The first inning provides a perfect opportunity to get the opposing starter rattled with a big inning, but every time Dugas reaches to lead off a game, a bunt attempt has been automatic. This is actually helping the pitcher out more than anything. Not to mention that it sends a message to the pitcher that the opponent doesn’t think they’ll be able to score many runs off of him, it also indicates a lack of confidence in the ability of the hitters. Early in the game, play for the big inning.
*Hawley’s complete game shutout of Northwestern State was easily one of the most impressive pitching performances this program has seen in recent years, and hopefully portends many more great starts to come for the promising right-hander. He threw strikes and located his pitches down in the zone. You can’t ask for much more than that.
*Smart has really pitched well in his last few appearances. When his command is on, he can be very effective at keeping hitters off-balance with his offspeed assortment and inducing a lot of weak contact.
*It’s time to shuffle the weekend rotation some. Kilcrease has proven that he deserves to be the Friday night guy. Hawley is ahead of Morgan at this point, and bumping Morgan back to Sundays, at least temporarily, might be good for him.
*There really isn’t a prototypical closer on the roster right now, but Kennedy is looking more and more like the top late-inning option, with Smart potentially available to combat tougher lefties.
*After an impressive start to the season, the fielding has gotten sloppy here lately. Given the team’s offensive struggles, it’s understandable why Coach Gaspard might opt to sacrifice some defensive ability in order to get the best bats in the lineup. The downside is that the most powerful lineup also features some noticeable weaknesses in the field. Rosecrans, primarily a catcher in his career, remains relatively unpolished with the glove at first base. McGavin offers superior defense at first, but he seems better-suited to serve as a late-inning defensive replacement right now given his inability to show anything with the bat thus far. Austen Smith is a first baseman being asked to play left field; he’ll be alright if he can at least make the routine plays, but the transition from infield to outfield can be difficult at any level. Jon Kelton hasn’t seen much action in the infield in his career, but his bat necessitates his inclusion in the lineup. He’s not going to win any Gold Gloves at second base, but the only other alternatives are offensive zeroes.
*The bottom line is that this is simply not a great hitting team, and they're not going to pile up tons of runs against SEC-caliber pitching. However, that's not to say that they can't have some success. But for a team that lacks in homerun power, being a bad baserunning team only hurts that much more. It's unreasonable to expect them to start hitting homeruns overnight, but things like smarter (and more aggressive) baserunning, and sound situational hitting, can be accomplished.
*I’m certainly an advocate of playing small ball, but there are times when a sacrifice bunt can actually be counterproductive. Bunting in the first inning is just giving away an out, and hindering your chances at jumping out to a big lead. Thus far, there have been five first inning bunt attempts on the season. This is never sound strategy, unless you’re facing a bona fide ace and you know that runs are going to be hard to come by, but to bunt early against teams like Alcorn State and Northwestern State? Come on. The first inning provides a perfect opportunity to get the opposing starter rattled with a big inning, but every time Dugas reaches to lead off a game, a bunt attempt has been automatic. This is actually helping the pitcher out more than anything. Not to mention that it sends a message to the pitcher that the opponent doesn’t think they’ll be able to score many runs off of him, it also indicates a lack of confidence in the ability of the hitters. Early in the game, play for the big inning.
*Hawley’s complete game shutout of Northwestern State was easily one of the most impressive pitching performances this program has seen in recent years, and hopefully portends many more great starts to come for the promising right-hander. He threw strikes and located his pitches down in the zone. You can’t ask for much more than that.
*Smart has really pitched well in his last few appearances. When his command is on, he can be very effective at keeping hitters off-balance with his offspeed assortment and inducing a lot of weak contact.
*It’s time to shuffle the weekend rotation some. Kilcrease has proven that he deserves to be the Friday night guy. Hawley is ahead of Morgan at this point, and bumping Morgan back to Sundays, at least temporarily, might be good for him.
*There really isn’t a prototypical closer on the roster right now, but Kennedy is looking more and more like the top late-inning option, with Smart potentially available to combat tougher lefties.
*After an impressive start to the season, the fielding has gotten sloppy here lately. Given the team’s offensive struggles, it’s understandable why Coach Gaspard might opt to sacrifice some defensive ability in order to get the best bats in the lineup. The downside is that the most powerful lineup also features some noticeable weaknesses in the field. Rosecrans, primarily a catcher in his career, remains relatively unpolished with the glove at first base. McGavin offers superior defense at first, but he seems better-suited to serve as a late-inning defensive replacement right now given his inability to show anything with the bat thus far. Austen Smith is a first baseman being asked to play left field; he’ll be alright if he can at least make the routine plays, but the transition from infield to outfield can be difficult at any level. Jon Kelton hasn’t seen much action in the infield in his career, but his bat necessitates his inclusion in the lineup. He’s not going to win any Gold Gloves at second base, but the only other alternatives are offensive zeroes.
*The bottom line is that this is simply not a great hitting team, and they're not going to pile up tons of runs against SEC-caliber pitching. However, that's not to say that they can't have some success. But for a team that lacks in homerun power, being a bad baserunning team only hurts that much more. It's unreasonable to expect them to start hitting homeruns overnight, but things like smarter (and more aggressive) baserunning, and sound situational hitting, can be accomplished.
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