The problem is beyond Talbot [Not that he's not a huge part of it]. What we lack in this program is "player development". We simply do not develop players during there time here at UL. Look at the miserable 2012 season [23-33]. No post season tournament and to top it off we get swept by ULM the last series of the season [Thank God it was over].
Fast forward to 2013 and 2014 and compare to 2012. Look at those two seasons and tell me that Tyler Girouard didn't get better. Tell me Mike Strentz didn't get better, tell me Ryan Leonards didn't get better, Jace Conrad, Blake Trahan [2013-2014]. They were all better. It was night and day compared to 2012. Reason why.Matt Deggs. Period. End of story. He EXPECTED improvement almost on a daily basis and accepted nothing else.
I ask you now to look at Kennon Fontenot, Hunter Kasuls, Tyler Stover [in his second year from JUCO], Zach Lafleur [in his second year from JUCO]. All awesome young men with a bright future in life but as college baseball players, have they gotten better since they got here ? Have they been developed. You can put it on Robe, Talbot, Babs, whoever you want but this is where I think we are lacking in a huge way.
I haven't touched on pitching in respect to Robe because you can't knock what he's done over the years in that department however, what's taking place currently in this program is all on his watch. We had 2013, 2014, and 2015 mainly to build on, sell our product, and develop our product and it seems we missed the boat. That's how you build successful programs. You sell the past success.
We have $16 million staring at us right off of Bertrand and W. Congress St every single day and it ain't going anywhere. You have got to put asses in the seats to pay for it and until a few people wake up and realize that something needs to change, it's gonna be a real long and painful haul.
LaFleur is a senior too. He hit .292 last year. He is hitting .154 this year, His OB% was .418 last year and half that this year, .214. Is he hurt? Is everybody in a slump at the same time? Something stinks.
I see it more as inexperience hitting d1 pitching. Who in this lineup has had many at bats against d1 pitching? Kennon who has perennially been a late bloomer, kasuls who has been an average hitter for his career, and Stover who played about 1/3 of the season. Not saying this doesn’t fall on Talbot as well, because he doesn’t trust the guys to get it done so he is micromanaging from the 3rd base box, which is further complicating the struggles. Everyone else is slowly getting adjusted. Would you hope they would be weathered 1/3 of the way through their inaugural d1 season. sure. But I’ve seen better at bats as the season has progressed. Is it good enough? Not even close, but if the young/new guys continue to progress, I still think we have a puncher’s chance to be relevant in the tournament. Still going to have to win the tournament to have any hopes of a post season birth, but let’s just hope at worst they continue to improve throughout the season, don’t pack it in, and can come out much more prepared next year.
What happened to Zach LaFleur Campo? Why do Lott and Cantrelle hit .300 plus with wood bats against D1 pitching last summer?
I’ll give you Izzy.
Sensley was crucified, (me included) for starting a player mutiny against the staff. He started going at it alone. Much more to that story, but he still underachived in his career here.
Robbins had a good month in 2016, then injuries held him back. I think Joe did what Joe could do. He was a solid player for us.
Kyle Clement was just a superior baseball player.
Btw, all Deggs recruits.
Cajun batting is a conundrum. But it's clearly a system issue. Robe needs to fix it.
Kyle and Robbins were Deggs recruits. The others were Talbot I believe. Although with Brenns' journey I'm not sure when UL first recruited him.
And Clement was a walk on. I enjoyed watching him play.
Joe made a substantial jump from 2015 to 2016 and 2017. In 2015 he was all about the infield pop up. 2016 he drove the ball consistently before injury. He was clutch on several occasions last year too. Texas comes to mind.
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