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T. Dugas in the 3 spot

C

crimsonkelly

All-American
Feb 2, 2002
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Thomasville, GA, USA
What do you guys think about that?

He is legit at the lead off spot, but if Gregory can get on base and allow Gaspard to hit Dugas in the 3 hole, that should help this team. Granted anytime you put a guy in that hasn't been playing much and he gets on base, it always helps the team regardless where he is put in at. But, in the lead off spot it could be very beneficial for this team and then when Kelton comes back, we could be a decent offensive club, not great, but adequate enough with our pitching to date.
 
My answer depends on whether he was just shuffling the lineup because he was giving a couple of regular guys some rest (Bennett, Hendricks), or if this lineup is a legit option for Thursday night. I think it was the former, but to be clear though, I like the order of the lineup like it was last night. Insert Bennett at the leadoff spot gives him an opportunity to swing the bat.

If last night's lineup was an anomaly due to resting guys, here's what my lineup tonight/Thursday would look like:

1. Bennett - swings a good stick and it would give him an opportunity each game to swing away rather than just bunting Dugas over.
2. Reaves - been struggling against SEC competition, maybe a slight "change of scenery" would do him good.
3. Dugas - been a big "power" guy for us. If we get guys on, he should be able to be a big RBI man.
4. Smith - last night's shot just reinforces my opinion about this guy.
5. Rosecrans - Good power, and seems to have really come on strong since struggling early.
6. Miller - seems to have cooled off of late, but can still be a doubles guy.
7. Booth - Best clutch hitter on the team at this point. I can see him and Miller swapping these two spots.
8. Hendricks - when he makes contact, he hits it hard. He just has to make contact.
9. Tullidge - he got hot when first inserted into the lineup, but then cooled off, has hit the ball hard, just right to people most of the time.

If last night's lineup was the "new" lineup (minus Bennett), then I'd leave it mostly as is, I would just put Rosecrans in the DH instead of Kindred:

1. Gregory
2. Bennett
3. Dugas
4. Smith
5. Rosecrans
6. Reaves - more of the "change of scenery" I had in mind for Reaves. He, Miller, and Booth can be in any order.
7. Miller
8. Booth
9. Tullidge
 
I know Booth has a game-winning hit. He's slugging .280. That's not very good. Bennett is a great singles hitter and needs to be at the top of the lineup where he can be allowed to swing and not bunt ALL THE DAMN TIME

I'd like to see Rosecrans in the lineup every day. Why he keeps getting removed from the lineup for guys like Kindred is beyond me. Something like Bennett-Dugas-Rosecrans-Smith is a good 1-4 for me, or put Reaves at 2 and slide the other 3 down a spot.

The rest of the guys aren't that good. It's heartwarming to see Gregory get a few walks here and there, but he's another walk-on from the Tuscaloosa area that we rest our laurels on for some reason. Both Tullidges and Hendricks and JOsh Sanders have more Ks than hits.

It's sad how this coaching staff has let the talent level get this low.
 
Last year, they experimented with Dugas batting third in a few games, and he did not fare well at all. He stated that he was much more comfortable hitting leadoff, and he was promptly moved back to the top of the order. Granted, that was last year, and the circumstances are a little different now.

The problem is the Dugas is the team's best option at both leadoff and the 3 spot this year. He has the best on-base skills, is the best hitter for both power and average, and has the best speed.

Dugas is clearly one of the best leadoff hitters in the country. If he leads off, he's obviously going to get the most plate appearances, which is a good thing. The downside is that he hasn't had many opportunities to drive in runs because he rarely hits with runners on base, a problem that is unlikely to change given the automatic outs that currently occupy the bottom of the order.

At this point, it's worth giving him a chance to hit third and see how it goes. If he struggles, you can always move him back to leadoff.

As far as replacing Dugas at the top of the order goes, the best option may very well be Bennett. I can understand playing the hot hand, but I'm not yet sold on Hunter Gregory after he got a hit against Vanderbilt and had one good game against MVSU. I like that he's shown the ability to work counts and draw some walks, but we're still talking about a guy who has all of three hits in his career.

For a team that is starved for runs, I don't understand benching one of the few guys on the team who is actually capable of leaving the yard every now and then. Rosecrans' inclusion in the everyday lineup should be a no-brainer.

Ladson Montgomery played some second base during preseason scrimmages. Obviously, he's not going to be a defensive whiz, but if he can just make the routine plays until Kelton returns, his bat would be a massive improvement over what we've been getting from the position.
 
Aside from Dugas, Reaves, Smith, and Bennett Gaspards philosphy at the plate has been "what have you done for me lately". If Rosie gets hot he stays in, if not then Kindred comes in, if Brandt gets a hit he stays in if he stuggles then not and so on and so on. Gregory hit the ball hard against Vandy so he stays in - for now. Booth has to stay in at third -Tullidge is scared to death over there and can't make half the plays Booth can. At least at second he has time to react, hard to play decent baseball when you are on your toes all the time. Tullidge has a pure softball swing and pops up all the time, which leads to the question as to why can't our great new hitting coach see it? If and when Kelton comes back it will be interesting - remember he has been out awhile now and it will take some time to get back to hitting, after all he started off extremely slow and got a kickstart by having a good outing against a very bad pitching staff.
 
tidehawk83 said:
If and when Kelton comes back it will be interesting - remember he has been out awhile now and it will take some time to get back to hitting, after all he started off extremely slow and got a kickstart by having a good outing against a very bad pitching staff.
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Very true. But Kelton at least demonstrated last season that he is capable of hitting fairly well against SEC pitching, which is more than one can say for the other second basemen, who just can't hit, period. I'd take my chances with a slumping, injured Kelton over the other alternatives at second any day.
 
Tullidge has a softball swing? Lol. Though it wouldn't surprise me if we did recruit him from the intramural fields.
 
Zona said:
Tullidge has a pure softball swing and pops up all the time, which leads to the question as to why can't our great new hitting coach see it?

Tullidge has a softball swing? Lol. Though it wouldn't surprise me if we did recruit him from the intramural fields.
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Little confused on the comment about "new hitting coach cannot see it". Being that the new hitting coach got here in January not a lot of time to change stuff, should Dax have already started the process of fixing it?
 
I've watched numerous games at the Joe this year and it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Tullidge swings up on every ball. My point is we have a hitting coach that from all accounts is either not seeing these type of simple things and working with the guys or he is working with them and nothing is changing. Dax was a fine hitting coach and has the stats to back him up (albeit with a different bat). Time will tell with Phillips.
 
tidehawk83 said:
I've watched numerous games at the Joe this year and it really doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Tullidge swings up on every ball. My point is we have a hitting coach that from all accounts is either not seeing these type of simple things and working with the guys or he is working with them and nothing is changing. Dax was a fine hitting coach and has the stats to back him up (albeit with a different bat). Time will tell with Phillips.
Click to expand...

All I was pointing out was James has been here a while and if his swing is so bad then why didn't Dax start fixing it? No need to wait until Andy gets here. If his swing is so easy to see then we should have fixed it before now.

Back to the question I think Dugas would be a solid 3 hitter and allow Bennett a chance to show his ability as a hitter. Not a fan of playing small ball from the second batter of the game.
 
dddice said:
All I was pointing out was James has been here a while and if his swing is so bad then why didn't Dax start fixing it? No need to wait until Andy gets here. If his swing is so easy to see then we should have fixed it before now.
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Perhaps they never envisioned him actually seeing the field.

Not sure whether this had anything to do with it, but prior to this season, he had been listed on the roster as a pitcher.
 
JoJoforHeisman said:
Perhaps they never envisioned him actually seeing the field.

Not sure whether this had anything to do with it, but prior to this season, he had been listed on the roster as a pitcher.
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Your first part would be a pretty lousy thing to do as a coach.

Second part would probably have a lot more to do with it.
 
Zona,

Just curious as to why you continue to ride the kids (James T.) sack? I hear ya on all the "Tuscaloosa All Star" comments you write and I certainly can't figure it out myself. There's nothing we can do about it now but support the guys on the team. Do you know something we don't? I was told the reason there was so many local kids was for attendance purposes. We are the only team in the SEC with so many local kids and IMO it hasn't helped attendance. Maybe the old recruiting cord. didn't like to leave town
 
RoyDMercer said:
Zona,

Just curious as to why you continue to ride the kids (James T.) sack? I hear ya on all the "Tuscaloosa All Star" comments you write and I certainly can't figure it out myself. There's nothing we can do about it now but support the guys on the team. Do you know something we don't? I was told the reason there was so many local kids was for attendance purposes. We are the only team in the SEC with so many local kids and IMO it hasn't helped attendance. Maybe the old recruiting cord. didn't like to leave town
Click to expand...

I have a feeling this will soon go the way of to do-do, but IMO, we're taking these local kids cause we've missed on some key guys, not talking about drafted guys, just guys that we've recruited that signed with other schools.

If we're signing them just to try to beef attendance at ball games, that clearly hasn't been working, and is a terrible strategy to have as a recruiting coord in the first place. Regardless of how many local kids you have, if you don't win consistently you're not going to put butts in the seats. Although, in our case, if you win consistently, you still won't put butts in the seats.

But the fact still remains that these kids on the team right now, are the ones we're "stuck" with. They're also the ones who have us sitting at first place in the West. No it's not pretty all the time, and they're not the most talented, but they've been winning, and there's no substitute for that. And if the "Tuscaloosa All-stars" end up winning the West or win a Regional, what will be said about them then?
 
RoyDMercer said:
I was told the reason there was so many local kids was for attendance purposes.
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Man, I really, really hope that's not true.

When this program was at its peak, in terms of both attendance and on-field performance, there were hardly any local kids on the team. The only one who even remotely contributed back then would have been Antonio Bostic. Attendance has actually declined with the dramatic increase in local recruits in recent years.

I'll retract my earlier comment about Hunter Gregory and his dismal showing against the Delta Devils. He had a nice game at the plate in the Tennessee opener.
 
Well, to get back to the original topic, what if moving Dugas helps the team out because other teams know he can hit for average and power (at times), but Dugas himself struggles in the 3 spot. Now, if the team keeps winning and he struggles, it becomes a huge question to ask, is he a high draft pick or not? If so, do you sacrifice that chance or do MLB teams over look it knowing what he has done in the past and see what he is doing for his team (unselfish).

Now as far as bunting guys over goes:

According to this book:
Baseball strategies: American ... - Google Books

The major league average scoring from second with 1 out is 45%, BUT, the chances of scoring from 1st with 0 outs is 43%. Not much of a difference assuming the bunt is down and the bunter is out while the runner moves to second.

The chance of scoring from third with 0 out is 70% and the runner on first has a 43% chance again. So, if you can execute a hit a run and get runners on 1st and 3rd, you have a great chance to score multiple runs an inning. Obviously the worst case scenario is to hit into a DP, but the upside is so much more.

Now, we could just go back to old time baseball and utilize the steal and have a runner on second with 0 outs. This team imo, is set up for the steal/hit and run plays. I'm not saying trash the bunt, we need to be aggressive on the bases without giving up an out.

Now, as far as bunting a runner over to 3rd (from second) with 0 outs, the MLB average scoring from 3rd with 1 out is 54%. But the average from second with 0 outs is 60%.

**Obviously we don't have an MLB team, but the numbers are probably pretty close in the SEC to MLB numbers for most teams.


My grand conclusion is simple hit home runs. The chance of scoring with a HR is 100 no matter the base or the outs! ;)
 
crimsonkelly said:
Well, to get back to the original topic, what if moving Dugas helps the team out because other teams know he can hit for average and power (at times), but Dugas himself struggles in the 3 spot. Now, if the team keeps winning and he struggles, it becomes a huge question to ask, is he a high draft pick or not? If so, do you sacrifice that chance or do MLB teams over look it knowing what he has done in the past and see what he is doing for his team (unselfish).
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Dugas went 0-for-4 last night, but he did draw a walk and reached base on an error that was struck well enough that some might have credited him with a hit. Still, on a night when the team combined for 13 hits, you'd never guess that Dugas wouldn't have at least had a couple of them.

I'd have to guess that by now, MLB teams evaluating Dugas already have a pretty good idea of what he's capable of at the plate, and would likely overlook any potential struggles he might encounter as the #3 hitter. On any normal team, he's a leadoff man, and he has two and a half years of experience thriving in that role at the highest level of college baseball.

I'm with you on the home runs 100%...
"The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers." -- Earl Weaver
 
JoJoforHeisman said:
Dugas went 0-for-4 last night, but he did draw a walk and reached base on an error that was struck well enough that some might have credited him with a hit. Still, on a night when the team combined for 13 hits, you'd never guess that Dugas wouldn't have at least had a couple of them.

I'd have to guess that by now, MLB teams evaluating Dugas already have a pretty good idea of what he's capable of at the plate, and would likely overlook any potential struggles he might encounter as the #3 hitter. On any normal team, he's a leadoff man, and he has two and a half years of experience thriving in that role at the highest level of college baseball.

I'm with you on the home runs 100%...
"The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers." -- Earl Weaver
Click to expand...

I figured that MLB teams would have him pegged by now. As far was what Earl Weaver said, it couldn't be more true!!!
 
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