Baseball Lineups: 2010

[bruh]

Yeah I hear ya, and yeah its nice to have guys like that and we get them every now and then, but speed guys who can create shananigans on the base paths and can get themselves into scoring position takes pressure off hitters.

I loved the way A&M played in 07. Everyone in their lineup could lay down a drag at any time and that puts a ton of pressure and fear on a defense.

[CajunProud]

_ I'd like to see a lot more small ball next year anyway. The Tigue is a graveyard, playing for the homerun in that park is not a strategy.

We have guys who can run, but we don't steal bases at all. bunts for base hits, hit and runs, steals and putting pressure on the defense is the best option for the kind of lineup we will put on the field next year _

Have to respectfully disagree. We do run and have run a lot in the past. However, we did not have the speed this year that we have had in the past. I saw a lot of base running errors this year also. Also, small ball is dead in the college game, at least the way we used to use it. One of the reasons we are so ineffective at it is becuase our guys don't execute the bunt. I would much rather see a hit and run 80%, or more of the time, and the ocassional sacrifice when absolutely needed.

Just my opinion though.

[ManAboutTown]

_ This is what pitchers fear. They fear getting stuck in a 5 run inning with only 1 earned run. They really fear a line up with no holes, a bunch of guys with .340 averages who hit good pitches. Decent pitchers can work around one baller in a weak line up. _

You have GOT to have a couple of guys, that can make pitchers pay for mistakes, by putting the ball over the fence. I solid hitter who can put the ball in play can get a two out, two on hit. But if someone hits a homer in that spot, the situation goes from bad to devastating.. It's a momentum grabber, and a game changer. It doesn't have to be a constant, and we should never RELY on it, but it's got to be an element to a productive lineup.

[BrudaCajun]

_ You have GOT to have a couple of guys, that can make pitchers pay for mistakes, by putting the ball over the fence. I solid hitter who can put the ball in play can get a two out, two on hit. But if someone hits a homer in that spot, the situation goes from bad to devastating.. It's a momentum grabber, and a game changer. It doesn't have to be a constant, and we should never RELY on it, but it's got to be an element to a productive lineup. _

I agree 100%
You hang em', we bang em'

[Dad04]

_ You have GOT to have a couple of guys, that can make pitchers pay for mistakes, by putting the ball over the fence. I solid hitter who can put the ball in play can get a two out, two on hit. But if someone hits a homer in that spot, the situation goes from bad to devastating.. It's a momentum grabber, and a game changer. It doesn't have to be a constant, and we should never RELY on it, but it's got to be an element to a productive lineup. _

I agree. Some power is better than no power. Smith will hit bombs, probably more on the road though. Home runs come when there are less holes in the line up, when they can't pitch around your middle line up guys because your 6, 7 and 8 hole guys can hit too. That hasn't been the case lately though. We need more conssistency in the line-up. Hawkins was a great hitter, but he can't do it alone, as we saw. Hopefully he can continue this summer with wood bats.

[BrudaCajun]

_ I agree. Some power is better than no power. Smith will hit bombs, probably more on the road though. Home runs come when there are less holes in the line up, when they can't pitch around your middle line up guys because your 6, 7 and 8 hole guys can hit too. That hasn't been the case lately though. We need more conssistency in the line-up. Hawkins was a great hitter, but he can't do it alone, as we saw. Hopefully he can continue this summer with wood bats. _

Whoa, "Great" is an overstatement. He was "good" when Lucroy was hitting in front of him and Tatford was hitting behind him. He is by no means great, with all due respect to Mr. Hawkins

[CajunProud]

_ I agree. Some power is better than no power. Smith will hit bombs, probably more on the road though. Home runs come when there are less holes in the line up, when they can't pitch around your middle line up guys because your 6, 7 and 8 hole guys can hit too. That hasn't been the case lately though. We need more conssistency in the line-up. Hawkins was a great hitter, but he can't do it alone, as we saw. Hopefully he can continue this summer with wood bats. _

This is why Griffen is soooo important. We need for him to come around on his hitting. With the kind of raw power that he possesses in the lineup, we can do more things.

[Dad04]

Choose your own adjective. That's fine. We'll agree I'm sure 400 foot moon shots are not easy to do. You illustrate the value of the solid line up though.

[ManAboutTown]

_ This is why Griffen is soooo important. We need for him to come around on his hitting. With the kind of raw power that he possesses in the lineup, we can do more things. _

Thad is a guy that posses sheer, raw talent. If he works hard this off-season, he could be the talk of the SBC next year. He's an excellent defensive catcher, he's got a brilliant arm, and we've all seen what he can do when he makes contact. He needs to be more alert at times, and IMO, step up and be a team leader next season; a role that will probably STILL be vacant. Bottom line: If he puts in the work, he'll be a great player. Not good, GREAT.

[bruh]

I agree with that and for the poster who says small ball is dead, I say watch the way every west coast team plays. Small ball is alive and well and makes a lot of average teams very good.

I do think that we need to have at least 3 guys with 10+ homerun potential, but getting that 1 20+ bomb guy isnt as crucial as finding guys who can steal 20+ bags is, to me, more important then the 20 bomb guy. (for our park and our league)

Also, we have to do a better job of identifying true bullpen guys like Pilgreen, Laughter, Sham, Beck, Farquhar etc. We didnt have any guys like that this year and it killed us. I liked Haggan but having him as our top reliever is unacceptable. He is at best a lefty-lefty matchup guy.

We will always have good starting pitching, but until we can truly identify and build a bullpen, we will not be going back to a regional.

I think Les, Keefer, Goulas, and even Griffen can be those 10 homer guys. Griffen needs to be in a positon where he can hit in front of our best hitter so that he can get fastballs. Hitting him at the bottom of the lineup isnt going to help him because there is no one to protect him and people can junk ball him into bad at bats. The million dollar question is where is that in the lineup as he is too much of a liability as a 3 or 4 hitter. If you can really get him to focus on having a disciplined strike zone you can hit him 2 hole. 2 hole hitters see the most fastballs because pitchers dont want to walk him with the meat coming up. (Worked beautifully for Gisclair in 07).

Here is my lineup for next year. (9 guys who all played important roles this year)

1.CF Olasin SR
2.C Griffen JR
3.RF Smith SO
4.LF Goulas JR
5.1B Keefer SR
6.DH Long DR
7.3B Benzel JR
8.2B Bostick SR
9.SS Fontenot JR

[ManAboutTown]

1.CF Olasin SR
2.C Griffen JR
3.RF Smith SO
4.LF Goulas JR
5.1B Keefer SR
6.DH Long DR
7.3B Benzel JR
8.2B Bostick SR
9.SS Fontenot JR _

I'm going this route:

1 - Olasin CF
2 - Bowman LF
3 - Smith 1B
4 - Keefer 3B
5- Griffen C
6 - Fontenot SS
7 - Long or Porrier DH
8 - Goulas RF
9 - Bostick 2B

This is obviously pending JUCO transfers that come in and make an impact immediately. I also think Bostick started to figure some things out in the last 3 weeks. Good signs for next season.

[cajun2bag]

_ I'm going this route:

1 - Olasin CF
2 - Bowman LF
3 - Smith 1B
4 - Keefer 3B
5- Griffen C
6 - Fontenot SS
7 - Long or Porrier DH
8 - Goulas RF
9 - Bostick 2B

This is obviously pending JUCO transfers that come in and make an impact immediately. I also think Bostick started to figure some things out in the last 3 weeks. Good signs for next season. _

1-Olasin CF
2-Goulas LF
3-Smith RF
4-Keefer 1B
5- DH
6- 3B
7- SS
8-Griffin C?????Will he make contact next year??????
9-Fontenot 2B

In my opinion I think the other positions are open for competition. Those are the guys with the exception of Griffin who have earned a spot on the field. We will have to wait and see what happens with the rest of the line-up