I mean you guys seem pretty pessimistic about the guys we’ve lost, and Jeff Mercers ability to manage this program. Did Glass make a “baseball Archie” hire?
So……are we going to suck?
- Thread starter fkfootball
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Only speaking for myself, but I think it's waaaay too early to tell. I like a lot of what I see and hate a good bit too. It's hard to really tell from watching on a monitor what's really going on within the program. Once they decide the world is a safe place to live again and open the gates to The Bart, we'll all have a better idea.
That said, there is certainly room for improvement across the board. I mentioned (multiple times) during the season I thought our situation hitting was horrible. Our hitting in general was lackluster. Our baserunning was a killer in multiple games. And our infield play was russian roulette at times. All these areas under the umbrella of the the same coach. Serious improvement needs to take place or we'll drop back to a middle of the pack B1G team - and that'll really suck.
He’s coached a whopping two seasons and has a Big Ten title. Might want to step away from the ledge.
Since COVID screwed up the NCAA's last year feels like we've missed two years instead of one. Going from ranked to out in a few short weeks wasn't good. Been a while since we've failed to deliver key wins. Looking forward to off season moves. I believe we have a good baseball brand. We'll see if others do too. Go Hoosiers!.
you will (already have) get some doom and gloomers. If he wins the conference 50% of the time, as he has so far, I think we'll all be happy. If he makes the tournament 75-80% of the time, I think we'll be fairly happy.
We need to be competitive for the conference title every year.
If I may echo what has already been said in that it is way too early to give Coach Mercer a pass/fail evaluation. Are there areas we need to be concerned about? Absolutely, and I'm sure that Coach Mercer is well aware of the areas that need to be shored up. This next season will be very interesting, and we should at least have a nonconference schedule to help develop the team before the conference season starts, and that was something that hurt the conference this past season.
In my case, I knew you weren't directly targeting the coach with your post and it was all about the upcoming season after all of the attrition, but I wanted to address his situation as I saw it with my post. With the attrition due to the draft and the transfer portal, we don't even know what the team will exactly look like next season. We may lose some players due to the portal and add some players, but who knows other than the staff themselves. We also don't know what the rest of the B1G will look like for much of the same reason, since we aren't the only ones facing player turnover. It's safe to say that we aren't privy to what is going on behind the scenes in the program. Hopefully, the younger players that return will be much improved next season after having a season under their belts and some of our incoming freshman are able to be major contributors. It's just one big question mark right now.
The fact we kept three recruits viewed as mlb draft candidates is a plus. Colson was clear top pick and tj white was a steal from South Carolina to get a commitment. Granted going mlb but not bad. I’m sure there are other quality recruits. Transfer portal is a toss up but I think a lot of this is likely kids were told they were not locked into a position or faced tough competition next year. Expect to see is pickup a few catchers via transfer which is a major lineup gap unless I’ve missed something so I think one to watch for
Just got a catcher from Rutger tonight. Added a SP from Wright State also.
If
If you follow only Ptrich on this forum, you’ll be in pretty good company and pretty well informed.
Level-headed, I think. I’m damn near depressed with every loss and doing cartwheels with every win. At 63, it’s about time to stop that. Ptrich stays on the balance beam and I’ll be damned if I know how he does it. 🤪
Does this info come from D1 baseball? I can figure out some of the guys involved but can’t find a complete source for coming or going. Nonetheless, generally numbers are not the issue. Even with draft, transfers, and graduations the roster remains pretty full when you add in the 10 incoming freshmen. Kip looks likely at 1st, Ashley could go 2nd or 3rd while there are plenty of freshman infielders plus Rowe but no experience.
Perkins has yet to reach what looked to be high potential coming out of Kokomo. Hope the year after returning from TJ is magic for him. Catcher, of course is a position of great need. Seemed strange to me that Reid who was a legit D1 power conference recruit didn’t get any PT at all last season. I guess it was part of the lack of early season and mid-week games that seemed to trouble Coach Mercer all year. No idea what he is going to do but Ashley has eligibility left & if he returns he strikes me as the best catcher prospect at IU right now, Serruto notwithstanding. Tibbitts looks to be an interesting prospect but not ready to take the reins in 2022 IMO.
In full disclosure I felt part of last year’s problem was a bloated roster made worse by the lack of early season & mid-week games. I hope that does not become a problem this year. FWIW IMO last year’s “problems“ were there all year, they were only partially masked by the weak opponents in the beginning of the year.
Twitter. Jon Blau. Although he’s leaving to cover Clemson next week.
Thanks, that was a good source, wish I had found it sooner. Hard to get baseball info, hopefully practices will be open this fall.
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He wasn't saying he thought that - he was saying he read the board as thinking that and was asking why.
Here is the link to an article from iubase.com on the four D-1 transfers that are coming in. Is there a baseball program in the B1G that has had their coaching staff raided more than IU? We lose two head coaches and now we have to replace the pitching coach, and our pitching was the bright spot on this year's team. I don't know who they will bring in to take his place, but they absolutely have to get this hire right, since it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know how critical pitching is to the game.
