LSU=Champions

From what I can tell, he’s not following, and he’s not being followed by, any of the LSU staff. The same can’t be said for other teams. His followers and following list is heavy with Miss St and Georgia coaches and staff.

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I don't see how Jay would work hard to get Milam back and then not place him at SS when he has talked about him being the best defensive SS at LSU.

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The only legitimate reason where moving Milam moving from SS to 2B makes sense is if there’s truth to rumors about Milam’s health (rumblings about playing thru a labrum issue which may require surgery. I’m not saying this is established as fact).

I listened to Jason Armstrong’s video on this and neither point he tried to make is persuasive to me. They’re both easily debunked by simple baseball logic.

The first reason he cited is that Milam is protectable as a 2B in pro ball, not a SS. While I don’t disagree with that statement by itself, I find it hard to believe that such a fact being true is the reason or even a reason to move him from SS to 2B in college. First of all, Milam already played an entire year of college ball at 2B and did so at an elite level. Pro teams don’t need more “tape” on Milam playing 2B to know whether or not he could stick there in pro ball. That’s his natural landing spot on a professional field. Few, if any, pro teams are going to give him a look at SS due to his stature. Secondly, unlike SS, even if Milam had never played 2B in college, pro teams still do not need to see a player play at 2B in his senior year in order to project Milam at 2B, especially after he played back to back stellar years defensively at a much more difficult position in SS. This happens with countless players every year. Milam is already projected at 2B, likely universally, and has been pegged at 2B for quite some time now. More “work” at that position will not move the needle from a projectability standpoint.

The second reason he cited is because Park is a natural SS who also projects as a SS in pro ball. Again, I don’t disagree with that statement by itself. However, I find it hard to believe that it is a reason or the reason to (1) promise the SS position to a player transferring from a mid major program with a questionable off the field concern when you (2) already have an existing and returning player who is, at least at the collegiate level, objectively elite defensively at the SS position. While Park would not doubt stand to gain something personally to his professional projectables by playing SS at the power conference level, that reason doesn’t benefit the collective team of LSU. And I highly doubt Jay would do that as he is a team before me guy every day of the week. It flies against team-focused logical decision making.

This is all aside from the fact that Jay also has repeatedly stated Milam is the best defensive SS in LSU baseball history. The stats back that up. Jay would not cast that aside for the reasons cited by some of these social media pundits.

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The older I get the more I try to temper my expectations when it comes to almost everything in life but it’s getting hard to not be really excited about next years team.

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I identify with this so much :lol:

When I was younger, I would be very invested in college football recruiting and it became such a toxic interest. I completely withdrew from it about a decade before the portal/NIL era.

With that said, there’s only 1 thread I ever follow annually and it’s this LSU baseball recruitment/portal/draft thread in the summer months. It gets the baseball juices flowing. Reminds me of the feeling I’d have when I was younger being excited about getting a HS football commit which is next to meaningless these days.

64 Analytics has some proprietary algorithm they use to compute player rankings in the portal. From what I understand, the younger the player (and perhaps even the less experience the player has), the calculation weighs previous metrics (high school or junior college) heavier. Whereas, upperclassmen with multiple years of college experience have little to no weight in their statistics from previous stops at lower levels, be it HS or JC. I believe they’ve tweaked the formula multiple times over the years and did so even this past offseason (or maybe year prior, can’t remember), so it’s far from being established.

They’re also putting a lot into their marketed advanced metrics and data profiles for sale to colleges around the country. Like what 643 Charts has carved out, with 643 seemingly leading the pack in this niche.

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I disagree regarding Braun. I would much rather him in LF than 1B. I wasn't very impressed by his defense at 1st. Plus he has a small frame which isn't going to change. He's plenty athletic enough to play LF which is more conventional for his body type.

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I couldn’t disagree more with this take. Braun was a true freshman who got plugged into 1B midseason due to team necessity, at a position he did not play in high school, despite what the uninformed Perfect Game profile readers claimed.

Though I’m not of the opinion that he was flawless, his fielding percentage would say otherwise. What I saw was someone who played the position solidly for a college level player and above average for a true freshman with very little prior experience. While I don’t think he’d be a bad OF, I also don’t think he has the overall athleticism to be an above average OF. Whereas, given an entire offseason of field work, he does have the capacity to become a consistent above-average defensive 1B, which is more about technique than raw athletic (Tre Morgan was the rare exception here).

Braun’s frame isn’t enormous but 6’0” is more than fine for college, where ability to scoop a ball out of the dirt is vastly more important than having a massive frame. If anything, I don’t see his “body type” fitting the mold of a college OF. Receiving the ball from the left side also helps (a specific play in the SECT comes to mind).

I’m willing to bet on Braun as a long term option at 1B, especially given his bat.

Solitaria hit 8 HR in 33 MAC games, whereas he hit 8 HR in 25 non-conf games.

In 8 games vs power conf teams (LSU, Tenn, Ohio St, Pitt, Mich), he went 12-for-31 (0.387) with 2 HR and 7 RBI. The vast majority of that damage was against LSU and Tenn early in the season, but he did have a stretch later in year during conf play where he hit a HR in 4 straight games.

Looking at his game by game outcomes, it’s safe to say he was scorching hot first part of the year and cooled off considerably by year’s end.

I’m shocked nicholastiger had yet another asinine idea in this legitimate, annual thread. RA’d for shitposting.

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Jacksonville state & Virginia aren’t bad either (seriously)

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-and-

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Jax State is pretty good.

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Wow, really some hard hitting analysis in here.

You can only do so much prep for it. I think it’s mostly intuitive, and subjective to the individual catcher. The catchers who have baseball brains are going to be naturals at it. I’m not sure that’s Cade. Think more of a Milazzo type.

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Jeff Head had only 5 calls overturned by challenge. 308 total pitches in the UK vs Vandy game (77 batters). Some are hit/fouled off and some are swung on and missed, but 5 out of 200 or so that were taken is not bad.

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I’m not so sure that’s a good ratio. There is way more than meets the eye here.

The denominator - that is, the number of pitches that are essentially subject of umpire discretion - is much fewer than 200ish in a 308 pitch game. As you noted, we’re not considering the pitches that are swung on (hit and put into play, hit and out of play, or missed and auto strike), as those are auto calls. There are also a significant number of pitches that are blatant balls and strikes where the any guy with a pulse standing on the rafters could make the call. Those pitches aren’t really part of the calculus. The denominator really is only the close, marginal pitches within a few inches around the strike zone where you’re relying upon someone who’s supposed to be an “expert” in his field to objectively determine a borderline ball or strike. The number of those pitches in a given game is not 3 figures, it’s 2 figures, and I’d suggest it’s somewhere around 50-75.

Then there are also pitches that are erroneously called a ball or strike that are not challenged for any number of reasons, so the missed call number very likely should be much higher.

TLDR version: Jeff Head does not get the benefit of the doubt from me.

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Theoretically, LSU should have an advantage in that they have to have these games and the other teams, most of them do not. They are looking to get guys work to prepare for the regional. LSU, in theory, should be grinding every pitch in every at bat.

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This may be the definition of overthinking it.