hall59tiger

Throwing this out as a thought experiment but is there a world in which you lean more heavily in the portal for starting pitching relative to other positions? Obviously if you have “no doubter” type guys coming through your program then it can take some of the pressure off but it just seems like a position that holds so much weight in determining your season. Would suck for guys like casan but, with losing Paz you are gambling on Casan and Ricken to make a jump and for Schmidt (I have more confidence in him) to progress into potentially a dominate Friday night guy.

Seems like when we’ve done well we’ve had Friday and Saturday guys who can eat a lot of innings.

I’m not saying we should emulate them, but things like Paz leaving makes me understand Georgia’s mercenary strategy when it comes to recruiting. It’s hard to want to focus on developing from within when your guys can just up and leave with bigger offers. I don’t envy Jay’s job right now

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Maybe it means Jay got word that the Freshman OF class is getting gutted by the draft

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He was visibly frustrated with how last years hs class shook up so I could see him not wanting to play any games going into next year.

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With Kurland it is all about keeping him healthy

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Agreed, I could understand where being injured 3/4 years would and should make someone skeptical. Still, 17 hr in the sec as a freshman is not a fluke and he still put up decent numbers despite being injured. We are always talking about wanting portal players to translate and it’s hard to be more confident than having a guy come from UF and who has been in the sec for a long time. He just seems like a super high floor guy if healthy and it’s nice to have a guy like that.

Couple overall thoughts when picking a rod:

I recommend sticking with a manufacturer that you already have experience with. Rod power/actions are unfortunately not standardized and changes from manufacturer to manufacturer and sometimes varies with each product line.

St croixs are pretty consistent across lines outside of a few first gen iterations (first batch of victory’s and a batch of one of their Mexico lines).

I have started to really like the daiwa tatula elite line but they are almost a full power down from the st croix lines (I’m way more familiar with st croix). The 7’3 M/XF would be a good rod for what you intend to use. It’s actually an extremely versatile rod and I will throw everything from a One knocker to lil John’s on 1/16th oz jig heads while rarely feeling over or under powered. Good taper to keep fish buttoned up with heavier or treble hooked baits.

If you want to stay within the st croix line then the 7’3” ML/XF would be my go to. I’m actually eyeing that one up right now as a back up to my tatula elite.

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The greatest part about having Park locked in coming here and playing at 3rd is, god forbid Milam get hurt, you still have an easy fix to that problem.

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The 2025 infield was so fun to watch with Danny at 2nd and Bras at 3rd. LSU baseball is just so much more fun to watch when we are playing good defense. So pumped that Park, Milam, and Kurland have the potential to be as good or better than the 2025 crew

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All 4 guys listed as OF can play CF. Roberson and Murphy I believe are specifically noted for their gloves. But Davis and Washington can also play there.

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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. Snag a couple more pitchers who can throw strikes and we will be in for some fun

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I'd rather 2-4 years of Ruckert versus 1 from Kurland.

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I’d have fully agreed with you a few years ago. Having said that, Ruckert may turn out to be an elite player but in the portal era he may not be irreplaceable. I think Kurland is a worthwhile player to take a gamble on. Insane amount of SEC experience that will almost certainly translate IF he can stay healthy.

Park’s big arm at 3rd and Milam at SS would be a beautiful sight to see

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That is correct…

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Is it bad that the first thing I thought after Bino’s announcement was how happy I was to shite on this guy? We may have our new Nicholastiger