The first of the preseason polls that I've seen came out and we weren't in their top 50 and didn't get any "others receiving votes" which had another 50 teams. I guess we will have a chance to challenge that at the start of the season. There will be several of these coming out and it will be interesting to see if we get any preseason attention. We got hit harder than any other B1G team in the MLB draft to include our top two recruits, which will clearly have an impact on the thinking.
We are No. 100+?......
- Thread starter ptrich
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This will be an interesting and important season for IU baseball, there are many holes to fill. Looks like Coach Mercer found solid players for the open slots “up the middle” at catcher, second, & short and we have solid players for the outfield although I will miss Ashley. What Coach Glant can make of a pitching staff will be key. The schedule IMO sets up nicely for the club to improve as the season goes and I think will end up with more quad 1 and especially quad 2 games, many away, that could produce a good enough RPI to make the dance.The first of the preseason polls that I've seen came out and we weren't in their top 50 and didn't get any "others receiving votes" which had another 50 teams. I guess we will have a chance to challenge that at the start of the season. There will be several of these coming out and it will be interesting to see if we get any preseason attention. We got hit harder than any other B1G team in the MLB draft to include our top two recruits, which will clearly have an impact on the thinking.
This is the biggest turnover of players on the team for quite some time and this season is going to be one big question mark. We lost our weekend rotation plus 7 of 9 everyday position players, so how Coach Mercer approaches the new season player-wise will be very interesting. Our pitching staff last season was third in the country with a team ERA of 3.17, and they led the B1G in strikeouts with 484 and batting average allowed with opposing teams hitting just .204. Obviously, we faltered at the end of last season when we faced better competition and had trouble hitting their pitching. Naturally, with our pitching success, a warm weather school raided the program for our pitching coach in Justin Parker. Our program gets picked over by the warm weather schools more than any other team in the B1G. What's intriguing is we have a bunch of transfers and freshmen players coming in to include some highly touted freshmen pitchers, so it will be interesting to see how Coach Mercer handles this squad coming out of the gate.
If they have to rely on freshman pitchers they are in trouble. I could say as much, but it wouldn’t go over well here. It pains me to say it but, If IU doesn’t stabilize the program (back to the tourney) it’s time to find a new coach.
Given the early schedule, they certainly could take their lumps, but Mercer has really only been coach two seasons (can't count 2020) and has a conference title to his name. He did win that with a team largely built by Chris Lemonis, but I'm willing to give him at least a couple more years to show what kind of team he can build.
It's unlikely you will see any of the frosh in the rotation. I'm guessing the weekend rotation will come from John Modugno, Brayden Tucker, Ty Bothwell or from a couple of the transfers in Jack Perkins and Bradley Brehmer. I guess considering they are the more experienced pitchers on the staff, that this wasn't much of a guess. Not having a midweek schedule last season really hurt the development of our younger players, as well as every other team in the B1G, so it's good to see those games back on the schedule. I just hope we don't have any significant injuries going into the new season.
That last line is a good "hope". My hope is the B1G doesn't freak out again and cancel mid-week games.
