Pitching

[Seyton]

Does anyone here know why we continue to have such serious issues with our pitching? It's something Mercer has always had and after four games it doesn't appear to be much different. I've heard before that Mercer's philosophy is to outscore the lack of pitching, but that's silly (but something I think he actually said directly or indirectly). The only hope I have is that it's only four games, however, given Mercer's track record it's hard to be optimistic.

I know the ERAs are going to be higher than what we expect in minor league ball. I get that. But this isn't that.

It's frustrating. Year after year. And it's almost every pitcher - the best have been up and down - not knowing what you're going to get, but that's the minority. Most have been consistently poor to very poor. You can't give up seven, eight, nine runs per game and expect to win. If there's defensive issues on top of it it's even more demoralizing.

What do you think the issue is? My thought is Mercer has a real blind spot here, both with philosophy and evaluation.

 

[kraft cheese+macaroni]

Does anyone here know why we continue to have such serious issues with our pitching? It's something Mercer has always had and after four games it doesn't appear to be much different. I've heard before that Mercer's philosophy is to outscore the lack of pitching, but that's silly (but something I think he actually said directly or indirectly). The only hope I have is that it's only four games, however, given Mercer's track record it's hard to be optimistic.

I know the ERAs are going to be higher than what we expect in minor league ball. I get that. But this isn't that.

It's frustrating. Year after year. And it's almost every pitcher - the best have been up and down - not knowing what you're going to get, but that's the minority. Most have been consistently poor to very poor. You can't give up seven, eight, nine runs per game and expect to win. If there's defensive issues on top of it it's even more demoralizing.

What do you think the issue is? My thought is Mercer has a real blind spot here, both with philosophy and evaluation.

I think it's a little overblown. We ranked middle of the Big Ten or higher in most of the important pitching stats last year. We walk a lot but we also lead the conference in Ks and had the 4th best BAA. And that was with how many starters injured last year? Our ace for sure, but I think at least one other.

We're not a program that leans on pitching, that's for sure, but I don't think it's as bad as it seems comparatively. Now a few years ago when we hit 500 batters, that was GD ridiculous.

 

[ptrich]

Does anyone here know why we continue to have such serious issues with our pitching? It's something Mercer has always had and after four games it doesn't appear to be much different. I've heard before that Mercer's philosophy is to outscore the lack of pitching, but that's silly (but something I think he actually said directly or indirectly). The only hope I have is that it's only four games, however, given Mercer's track record it's hard to be optimistic.

I know the ERAs are going to be higher than what we expect in minor league ball. I get that. But this isn't that.

It's frustrating. Year after year. And it's almost every pitcher - the best have been up and down - not knowing what you're going to get, but that's the minority. Most have been consistently poor to very poor. You can't give up seven, eight, nine runs per game and expect to win. If there's defensive issues on top of it it's even more demoralizing.

What do you think the issue is? My thought is Mercer has a real blind spot here, both with philosophy and evaluation.

We actually had some pretty good pitching during the tournament over the weekend and the first two starters in the tournament in Seebold and Gilley looked really good in their outings. Buhr in middle relief was also outstanding. The bullpen was a mixed bag during the tournament, but we had some pitchers out of the pen that pitched well. Delaware transfer Gubitosi pitched three really great innings in his first appearance as a Hoosier in the middle innings of the game yesterday.

Granted, our bullpen faltered in both extra innings games, but we are finding out who we can rely on and that should reflect in future games this season, at least you would expect that. Kraft had a really good summer but his first two appearances in the tournament were pretty bad, so he's looking a lot like he did last season and he might find himself buried in the bullpen.

If anything, our hitting, which should come around, and our fielding to include the ridiculous number of errors we had, were the immediate concern coming out of the weekend.

At least, that is how I see it.

 

[Bucket Getter]

We actually had some pretty good pitching during the tournament over the weekend and the first two starters in the tournament in Seebold and Gilley looked really good in their outings. Buhr in middle relief was also outstanding. The bullpen was a mixed bag during the tournament, but we had some pitchers out of the pen that pitched well. Delaware transfer Gubitosi pitched three really great innings in his first appearance as a Hoosier in the middle innings of the game yesterday.

Granted, our bullpen faltered in both extra innings games, but we are finding out who we can rely on and that should reflect in future games this season, at least you would expect that. Kraft had a really good summer but his first two appearances in the tournament were pretty bad, so he's looking a lot like he did last season and he might find himself buried in the bullpen.

If anything, our hitting, which should come around, and our fielding to include the ridiculous number of errors we had, were the immediate concern coming out of the weekend.

At least, that is how I see it.

Don’t disagree with anything there. As usual, you’ve got your proverbial thumb on the pulse on this team. Much appreciated. And stay well!

 

[Next time]

I think there is a blind spot or gap between the talent and execution. I’ll use an extreme example to prove my point. Craig Yoyo, pitched one year for us and in that year was a spot reliever, nothing special and certainly was not used or highlighted as elite. Fast forward and the guy is knocking on door to be called up. He’s had an unbelievable run at every level in the minors over the past 3 years. How can a guy have such success at the highest level and be a spot guy at IU? There are a few more recent examples, but this one highlights the gap. In my opinion.

 

[Seyton]

I'm not seeing it, boys.

 

[ptrich]

I'm not seeing it, boys.

I still think we will be okay with the weekend guys.

Both Seebold and Gilley had off outings over the weekend, but they will rebound from that. We are getting great middle relief from Buhr and hopefully Vogel is back out there shortly to shore up that area. Some of the other pitchers that have fared well are Gubitosi, Telfer, Rushing (who appeared Tues and had a somewhat effective outing), and Grable who struggled in his first appearance but pitched well in his last outing.

We played four games over the past weekend and then went into the Tues contest with backend bullpen pitchers and I didn't know how that would affect the game and we saw the outcome. Pretty much every pitcher put in there on Tues struggled to get outs with Rushing and Haas the only pitchers that didn't have many issues in their appearance. If we continue to see that on midweek games, we will not win many of those.

I'm obviously still bullish on the weekend pitchers we may use. Hitting needs to be more than a five-inning affair when it comes to the weekend games and our fielding needs to improve dramatically, although despite the disaster on Tues, fielding was not an issue in that game.