re: 2016 UGA Baseball Thread (27-30, 11-20) // Season Complete

I just can't understand why we can get lead off batters on but then choke once we have runners in scoring position. We do it al consistently and don't know why it happens or how you can fix it

Dawgs down 5-2 in the 9th. Regional hopes officially dead and we are all but guaranteed to finish with another losing record.

Oh and we lost to a hapless Tennessee program

Fire Stricklin

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I dont think he is getting the talent to Athens

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Pretty sure he has the 16th ranked class currently....

Our last guy basically quit on the program and he inherited a pretty shitty program. It could be better but it could also be a lot worse.

I think calling this team awful is being a bit overdramatic. But they're not good either. This team is just mediocre and happens to have to play in a conference and in a region of the country that necessitates us having the #1 SOS in the country.

Furthermore, the problem isn't talent (at least not at the plate or in the field, save maybe 3B); individually, guys like Wrenn, Curry, McGovern, and Weber are talented enough to excel on most any lineup you put them on. The problem is a horrendous lack of consistency. This team is just not smart at the plate and lacks any apparent confidence with runners in scoring position. Today, we swung at garbage change up after garbage change up from a pitcher with a 6+ ERA on the season and batted into at least 3 double plays. Against Tech, we struck out swinging at what would have been ball 4 with the bases already loaded and consistently squandered opportunities with RISP by doing everything but trying to hit into the right field gap. I assume you can only put that on the coaches.

If there's a lack of talent, it's on the mound. This program has suffered horribly from a lack of a true closer over the past few years. We've gotten some really solid outings from our starters this year only to have them completely fall apart in the later innings, compounded by the fact that we can't seem to generate any run support as the game moves on.

All told, I think Stricklin will have an opportunity next season to coach the best team this program has had on paper since 2011. But if he can't at least win a game or two in an NCAA regional, I think you have to move on. And I think that McGarity deserves to feel some of the heat, as well, given that this has been his biggest hire other than Kirby (which was kind of a no brainer).

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It could be better but it could also be a lot worse.

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Let's be clear: this program is better now than it was when Stricklin got it. The problem is it's not good enough, not in a conference like the SEC.

Also realize that Perno consistently brought in the #1 class year after year while he was here. The problem is that this isn't football and those rankings come prior to that year's draft. So, if you want to make comparisons to football, it's like automatically losing your 5*s and maybe a high 4* or two. What you're left with are a small group of 4*s and a lot of 3*s that you have to develop over the next 3-4 years and, usually, it takes them 2 or 3 years before they're developed enough to really make an impact. That's why teams like Florida with all that senior talent (or the 2008 UGA team with seniors like Beckham, Peisel, and Fields and Juniors like Poythress, Masineri, and Lewis) are so damn good; they're full of developed talent.

Entering year 4 with Stricklin, you want to see evidence that the talent he has recruited has been developed to a point that we can be competitive with teams like A&M, UF, Vandy, USCe, etc. There were flashes this year of that talent and development coming through but, again, it's the lack of consistency and smart play at the plate that is troubling.

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this program is better now than it was when Stricklin got it.

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based on what, exactly?

If you want to debate that going from a negative 10 to a negative 9 is improvement then ok, but we aren't any better off as a program now than we were under the end of perno's regime.

If stricklin isn't fired after this season then mcgarity is truly and utterly worthless. IDGAF about what our SOS is (really? People want to use that as justification to keep a coach? Please..), I don't care what recruits we have that may or may not come next year. We are a horrendous program and have been every season CSS has been here, there is zero hope of improvement in the near future, and there are about 4 or 5 programs in our own convference that are legit national powerhouses. There is zero reason whatsoever to keep this bum, but looking at the history of mcgarity's hirings and firings I alreayd know what to expect.

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based on what, exactly?

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For one, this has been our highest RPI ranking since 2011.

2016 - 35
2015 - 92
2014 - 59
2013 - 133
2012 - 55

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If you want to debate that going from a negative 10 to a negative 9 is improvement then ok, but we aren't any better off as a program now than we were under the end of perno's regime.

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The feel of the program is in a better place than what it felt like in Perno's later years, c'mon. The program isn't close to its halcyon days but let's not act like it isn't in a better place now than it was the season Perno was fired. It's just not good enough.

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f stricklin isn't fired after this season then mcgarity is truly and utterly worthless.

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At this point, I'm not going to be too broken up about it if he stays or goes. But just like when Perno left and Stricklin came in, expect another 2 years or so of transitional shite baseball as the recruits are released from their NLIs, the current players transfer and quit the team, and whoever the new guy is tries to find success in the strongest baseball conference in the country with a non-con slate that will always feature Tech, Clemson, Kennesaw, and Mercer. There is no good option here. Perno screwed over the very program he built (for reasons I still can't comprehend) and now we have to rely on our weakest AD maybe ever to find someone to bring us back up to par with a decent hire in an unprecedentedly strong conference. So, either accept the mediocrity we have with hopes that it will catch on in the next year or two as the current players gain more experience and are developed or play the same demolition game over and over until the conference gets weaker or our AD becomes competent.

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5th round this year if he's willing to sign at 450k. He turned it down

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If he's truly a 5th rounder, this is more then any 5th rounder made last year and would be a complete idiot not to take that amount and go get coached up by coaches that know what their doing to develop talent for the next level.

Come on, this is the Dawg Rant. Don't let facts get in the way of the negative rhetoric!