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- Thread starter hookyIU1990
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I think they’ll miss Glasser (duh), but dang that everyday lineup is stout. With even average pitching, there’s no reason to not be around 45 wins. Goal should definitely be to host.
I'm afraid pitching is going to be where they struggle this year unless 2 or 3 guy's really step it up.
You'd like to think that's possible, right? I mean, we've got what 20-ish arms to choose from. And the pitching coach is supposed to be an analytics savant. I really believe we should be able to win slugfests even if our pitching is average.
The problem is that a team needs very good pitching to go very far in the NCAA tourney. Having only superb hitting won't work against the top pitching staffs.
IMO, it's not a problem until it shows itself to be a problem. I would rather call it a question mark going into the season. Coach Mercer has been quoted as saying this despite not having Sinnard for this season:
"I feel the best that I’ve felt about our depth on the mound as far as having eight, 10, 12, 14 quality competitors with quality stuff,” said Mercer. “We haven’t had this much depth.”
Potential players for the rotation are Risedorph who pitched well last season while having an ERA of 4.47. Kraft had an ERA of 2.48 while having the second most innings pitched, and he could be part of the rotation rather than coming out of the bullpen. Bothwell pitched extremely well at the end of the season and if he picks up where he left off, he could be a third starter.
There are two transfers in Grable and Moffitt that could challenge for a starting spot or could be big arms out of the bullpen. Holderfield is also back after missing all of last season. There are certainly other pitchers in the mix for a starting position and our freshmen pitchers are considered strong prospects coming in. Foley has the ability to be one of the top closers in the conference.
I guess what I'm saying is we have to get through the early part of the non-conference season to get some semblance of what we have before we get concerned about the pitching staff.
I guess I missed it, but according to a preseason preview article I saw today, it indicated that Foley was moving from a reliever to a starter. I certainly thought going in that they would look to him to be a closer candidate. They presently have Games 2 and 3 this weekend as TBA on starting pitching. Here's a part of that article:
"The biggest x-factor of the starting group is Foley. Foley is moving from reliever to starter this season. As a freshman, Foley had three saves and allowed a .163 batting average. It was a successful first season in Bloomington, but he was a bit of a one-trick pony."
“Last year I came into games just trying to attack, attack,” Foley said. “I had like one pitch — it was just throwing it by guys hopefully.”
Foley’s fastball is just shy of reaching triple digits on the radar gun, and he left a lot of batters hopeless in the box last season. Coming into 2024, there’s a concerted emphasis on Foley expanding his diversity of pitches.
“Forcing him to get a lot of those off-speed pitches out of his hands is a big deal,” Mercer said.
"The biggest x-factor of the starting group is Foley. Foley is moving from reliever to starter this season. As a freshman, Foley had three saves and allowed a .163 batting average. It was a successful first season in Bloomington, but he was a bit of a one-trick pony."
“Last year I came into games just trying to attack, attack,” Foley said. “I had like one pitch — it was just throwing it by guys hopefully.”
Foley’s fastball is just shy of reaching triple digits on the radar gun, and he left a lot of batters hopeless in the box last season. Coming into 2024, there’s a concerted emphasis on Foley expanding his diversity of pitches.
“Forcing him to get a lot of those off-speed pitches out of his hands is a big deal,” Mercer said.
