2019 Cajuns Baseball Lineup???

[talktomewillis]

Brandon Young and the JC Schultz did not have good years by anyone's standards in junior college. While both are said to have good stuff, they will need work in the fall to be weekend starters.

Three HS arms, Black, Stone and the other Schultz are a better group of arms than our HS class this past season. We shall see what happens.

Young was never going to have good numbers pitching in the JUCO ball park he was in. Very hitter friendly. JC Schultz was a JUCO freshman this year. He's coming in as a soph.

[CrazyCajun]

If they have the stuff they should improve once in Robes system.

[CajunT]

Young was never going to have good numbers pitching in the JUCO ball park he was in. Very hitter friendly. JC Schultz was a JUCO freshman this year. He's coming in as a soph.

His road splits weren't much better, look at that stats from the games pitched on the road. Both are going to have to step up to pitch better at this level.

[ConfusedFan]

Now granted I am a glass half full guy, but I like at least 1/2 of what we return next year hitting wise.

Lahare and Bourgeois are both plus .300 hitters coming back with some pop. Neither had huge HR power but both were very capable doubles plus hitters. Combined they had 26 doubles, they were 1st and 3rd on the team in that category and combined 7 HR's. I know that sucks but they were 3rd and 6th on the team there, Lahare had 4 triples which led the team. They were the most consistent hitters throughout the year and both have great speed. Lahare has to get better at stealing bases, but is very good on the base path from 1st to 3rd and 2nd to home. Gavin was our best base stealing threat. Add to that what I believe is the best upside player on the team in Cantrelle, who finished with a BA of .287 and that is only because he had such a horrendous 1st half. That gives you three proven .300 hitters, all with speed and pop in their bats. At least double to the gap power, and they all handle the bat well and run very well. They are all three better than average in the field and remember their is a good chance that we are moving Gavin out of CF to his natural LF position.

Kasuls is very good at 2nd base and only hit .250, but I perceive him as a .275 hitter with some pop and decent speed and SS range at 2nd base. So that gives you 4 solid players on the field from last year.

I believe at catcher we will be very good. McKinnon will hit better that .188 and gained tremendous experience this year, plus will not be expected to play every day which I think hurt is offense and defense, getting Monica back and adding the other catcher and we will have some good options.

So worse case senario we are as good last year at the top as we were this year and we won 37 games.

The X factors are these on offense:

Todd Lott, he has to hit like he did late in the year all year next year, he gives us options at 1B and DH. If he hits .260 all year, it is better than what we had from him this year. He was awful and could not get on the field to hit or play D. I think that changes next year. So that is 6 positions that we are either better or the same as last year, all of which were strong accept C this year. The difference will be DH/1B. We lose Kennon, who was very good for us and showed what he can do at 1B late in the year. I am hoping that Templet fixes that situation and we at least have similar production there.

I believe Dexter Jordan will be on campus and will be very good very quickly, similar to Cantrelle, struggle early and get it together once he sees D1 pitching for a while.

So while not in any order of hitting because this should change:

SS Cantrelle
LF Bourgois
RF Lahare
2B Kasuls
DH or 1B Lott
3B Templet/Windham
C Monica/McKinnon
CF Jordan
DH Breaux/Lochridge/Windham/Lott and others

My biggest question will not be the offense but pitching. Let's say that Gunner comes back and is Gunner. My assumption is that Dalton is the Saturday guy and we will figure out Sunday, possibly a health Burke. But we have nothing in the pen that I love, we do have a lot of young quality arms that pitched alot this year but have to get better.

Laumont
Batty
Perrin
Cox
Williams

Am I missing something? Why is everyone so high on Breaux?

[CajunVic]

Am I missing something? Why is everyone so high on Breaux?

I guess we will see sooner rather than latter.

[Dad04]

We will be a lot better on the bump next year. Three or four of the signees are going to be important pieces of the puzzle. Brandon Young IMO will be our Sunday starter. The two Schultz kids are really good and Chance Stone could be one of the late inning guys.

Bourgois and Lahare can play for me if they don't get any better. I'll take a .300 hitter with 15 doubles and 20 stolen bases any day of the week. Lahare is an all-conference player. Cantrelle is a star. I think you're selling some of the guys short.

Alright put one or two of them at the top of the order. I'll agree with that. Three D1 hitters who were the three best on this team by a bunch. We need a few more to be competitive. I am skeptical about anybody this team signs until they prove they can play well here. I didn't used to be, don't like it and am not alone.

I could name several players on this team and wonder who they actually beat out for a roster spot, they were so bad at playing baseball. Unfortunately, that was most of the position players.

We were ranked 18th preseason last year and at one point had an RPI over 100. So, all the chatter about who will play what next season is exactly what was said last year, pointless noise. I'll wait and see what they put out on the field.

[ManAboutTown]

So after Vickie’s delusions of grandeur and some pitching discussions, my point stands.. we know nothing, have very few proven commodities and should set our expectation level accordingly.

[CajunVic]

So after Vickie's delusions of grandeur and some pitching discussions, my point stands.. we know nothing, have very few proven commodities and should set our expectation level accordingly.

Thanks Mattie for graciuosly admitting that you know absolutely nothing.

Your post was most inspiring. I'm always impressed with those that hedge with negativity when they admit that they know not a damn thing.

[ManAboutTown]

Thanks Mattie for graciuosly admitting that you know absolutely nothing.

Your post was most inspiring. I'm always impressed with those that hedge with negativity when they admit that they know not a damn thing.

What I do know, is that I own commercial real estate inside your head..

[CajunVic]

What I do know, is that I own commercial real estate inside your head..

Might need to start charging you rent.

[Dad04]

I've been a very active fan for awhile. I see no reason to wave any pom-poms yet.

[wcd35]

I've been a very active fan for awhile. I see no reason to wave any pom-poms yet.

I wasnt that enthusiastic coming into this year either to be honest.

We lost our top 5 batters (by avg) and had basically Kennon, Kasuls and Monica (who didn't produce the year before) as returning starters. Kasuls was like a .230 hitter coming in and actually overperformed considering past stats.

I thought Cantrelle would be good and he overachieved versus my expectations but it's hard to expect much from a freshman. Also JC's are unknowns a lot of times as well. Didn't expect Lahare to perform like that but heard really good things about Bourgeois all fall.

Pitching-wise, we basically had 5 guys returning with meaningful innings (Schmidt, Moore, Burk, Harris and Lee). Schmidt really stepped up but the others were about the same or fell off in some cases.

Going into 2019, we lose the only 3 arms that were under a 4.00 ERA. Grant Cox will be our lowest returning ERA. And Leger is somewhat of an unknown. Definitely need help in this department.