LSUtigerNVegas9

Las Vegas ballpark is right next to Red Rock canyon in Summerlin but Mt Charleston is north west of Vegas. More by the centennial hills area. They both offer some great hiking and some of the most beautiful views you can get. If LSU gets to play as the home team you can actually talk to the pitchers in the home bullpen from the right field hill. I’m definitely taking my son.

There’s a few things you can correct here in my opinion. First off, playing in and winning a national title are two completely different things. Michigan has played for 8 nattys in basketball and won 2. Also, ask TCU about playing on the title game and winning it. Ole Miss would have been beaten down just like Miami was in that game. Secondly, yes on average, Louisiana produces more NFL talent than Mississippi. We also only have us as the big instate school. LSU can and will spend to keep our instate talent home. With a better scouting department we should hit a lot more than we miss on instate prospects. Thirdly, a lot of those 3 stars that LSU gets at will from instate can grow into NFL players and college stars. LSU WILL spend the money to keep them. It’s more of a mathematical game for Kiffin. He seems to have a VERY analytical mind and a good grasp of mathematics and how it can correlates to sports (football). So, all things equal he will have a higher quality of player then he would have had at Ole Miss. For a coach who plays the numbers game this is a step up and the logical progression (Nick Saban) to reach the top of the mountain.

If he’s 100% Caden Durham on offense. Defense I’ll go either Pickett or Weeks.

Because he was projected around the 3rd rd before the year. His draft stock is falling. .282 avg with 7 HR and an OPS of .871. That’s not going to cut it with elite MLB pitchers. He’ll probably make a nice chunk from NIL for staying his Sr year as well as he can try to improve his draft stock to go in the 1st or maybe a compensatory pick late in the 1st rd. His slot bonus going in the 5th round would see him make between $300,000-$500,000. He could probably make around that in NIL.

If Milam goes pro he’s insane. I know I’ll be downvoted to oblivion but Milam won’t ever sniff a starting spot in MLB short of being on a team like the 2011-13 Astros who were purposely trying to tank. Very rarely do you have a guy with his size make MLB much less be successful at that level. Modern day pitchers will eat him alive. Especially, considering he has to also make the jump to wooden bats. He has the size of Altuve. He doesn’t have the raw power, bat to ball skills, or speed that Altuve possessed. Chase Utley had much more power than Milam has. I’ll ask a serious question. What does Milam do that’s elite enough for him to hang around a MLB roster? He also needs to stop the switch hitting. He’s not good enough right handed to be trying to bat left handed. Hit .380 batting right handed in college then maybe he can try it.

This is exactly what happens. I live in Vegas and for big games and futures the sports books tell the local paper and sports radio who they have the biggest handle on. In 2018 when the Knights made the Stanley Cup Final as an expansion team, the local sports books stood to get hammered if the Knights would have won it all. Like worst one day sports related losses in their history type bad. Most locals threw a flyer on them at 50/1.

not sure how exactly “heavy analytical leaning organizations” are defined,

Basically, quantify how much it cost you per win and still compete. Low payroll teams like the Brewers, Rays, and Guardians and still consistently make the playoffs or contend for a playoff spot. Or teams like the Astros or Dodgers before Covid whose whole team building identity is through the draft or trades, or the waiver wire looking for specific advanced metrics (Astros: Colin McHugh, Framber Valdez, Lance McCullers…spin rate on their curveballs) in the players they draft or acquire through trades. Those are also going to be the teams who shift the most. Care to guess why? Because more often than not they’ll be right. The math says so……..if you need more proof MLB had to ban it because it was too effective.
Another thing analytics has done is make drafting players a lot less of a crapshoot. Now they can measure exit velocity, spin rate, arm angle, grips etc. A lot more early rounders are having success and early success at the MLB level…..the Astros literally used a high speed camera from NASA (it’s not the same one as they used to steal signs) to judge spin rate before any team in the MLB knew about it. That’s why they acquired Colin McHugh was because he elite spin rate on his curveball. That’s how they had so many good pitchers they picked up for cheap in trades or basically league minimum F.A. Or off the waiver wire. Colin McHugh, Charlie Morton, Dallas Keuchel, Frambar Valdez, Verlander had some of the best seasons of his career as an Astro, Lance McCullers before injuries. They turned Ryan Presley from an early round bust into an all star closer. I can go on and on about the Dodgers, Guardians, and Brewers pitching staffs as well. Guess what they were ALL built with? Home grown (drafted), journeyman FA, and players from trades they got for next to nothing…..using analytical data as a guide and looking for specific advanced metrics that are elite.

The Dodgers are what they are because they have the analytics that tell them who the best players are and they have the money to sign them when they become FA. Mitigating their risk of massive FA busts like they have done in the past. Short of a salary cap or the Dodgers going bankrupt, they will run baseball for the next decade or two.


Last thing…..Jeff Luhnow is the GM the cracked the baseball code. He literally hired rocket scientists to build the algorithms and judge talent, and use physics to unearth players everyone thought couldn’t hack it in the show. The Cardinals literally hacked the Astros scouting and prospect database (called Mission Control) because they were so far ahead of the curve.

In

Sam Mcguffie too.

I completely agree and I’m in the same boat as you! Some of my earliest memories were of my dad and I in the Astrodome in the mid to late 80’s. Spend the day Friday at Astroworld, catch the night game. Spend Saturday at Waterworld, then catch the night game. Day game on Sunday and drive back to N.O. after the game.