Gripe, Concern with Baseball

[raginbeef]

I know I’m not the only one who has been troubled by the handling of certain situations in the baseball program. At the end of last year, there was zero confidence and stability in the lineup from day to day with no rhyme or reason behind some of the changes. Kids being asked to play unfamiliar positions. Pitchers not knowing they are starting until the day of. Players being dismissed/leaving the team and then coming back. Hanging Durke out to dry last year against Southern Miss. Very similar situation happened with Talley this weekend. Granted, he’s a veteran and not a freshman, but that kind of thing sticks with you as a player, and the rest of the team sees it too.

How are you supposed to build trust in a situation like that? How can you feel like the staff is looking out for you when you see your teammate throw 50 pitches in one inning, get tagged for 7 runs, and still not get the hook? It seems as though proving a point sometimes supersedes the actual game and the players themselves. And who would speak out or confide their concerns to a coach, for fear of being benched as retribution and labeled as “soft”?

That kind of environment is not conducive to success. Every questionable decision is passed off under the guise of it being somehow beneficial to character building. The excuse can’t always be that the players are soft, aren’t “water hose boys”, or can’t handle tough love. Even strong-willed and tough-minded people don’t want to be subjected to constant mental stress when it’s unnecessary.

Carter Robinson, Jason Nelson, and Ben Fitzgerald were key contributors last season, and were all hailed as being cut out for this team - made of the right stuff. Yet when they leave, we gloss over it and say, “They must not have been able to hack it.” These weren’t players departing for better opportunities, as we’ve seen in football. They also weren’t the ones who were homesick or didn’t have the playing time/ability. They all had guaranteed roles, but chose to make arguably lateral moves to comparable, competitive programs. This is extremely concerning to me, but I feel like most of us wrote it off and looked past it.

Don’t get me wrong, we definitely need guys with true toughness and grit. The term “alpha” is thrown around a lot. Players like that are few and far between, especially in today’s youth. Even if you have all the right guys in the clubhouse, I still don’t agree with seemingly treating everyone like replaceable parts. Dragging everyone through the dirt, making an example of them, and replacing the scraps anew. You can cut the dead weight and get rid of the ones who don’t belong without going overboard for the sake of it. This approach drives away players who actually deserve to be here, and alienates the coaching staff instead of building trust. Just my take.

[laf1049]

Valid-- of course the same thing is to keep running guys out there that can't finish off a single inning-- (Chipper) . Since last year he has been determined to make this kid a pitcher and he digs us a hole each and every time.. This is not a "bad patch" like i think Talley is in-- its a never was and probably won't ever be. Its not Chippers fault- Like Skip Bertman once told a pitcher - its not your fault- its my fault for recruiting you.

[Dad04]

The revolving door roster is concerning. Seven games in is too soon to characterize a season, but the 3-4 start coupled with dreadful stats is very disappointing for the regional team we were told this is. The nice thing is the next game is just around the corner.

[ULvictory]

I stated on one of our recent episodes (Ragin Review) that the first 20 or so games will have some “topsy turvy-ness” to it. Between a challenging non-conference schedule and some new faces, I expected us to lose some games early on. So far, the expectations have been pretty on point. I think the next ten games will tell us where we are. If we go anything less than 6-4, I will be a little concerned. Granted, conference play should tell us a lot. Remember, last season we started 20-11 and was projected as a 3 seed in a regional. And then, we hit a slump at possibly the worst time. I’m hoping that this team doesn’t do that.

Also, this is honestly Deggs’ full second year. And in spite of the last year’s disappointing finish, we still managed to win the division. This season, we are only 7 games in and played 5 of those against top 15 competition while playing our backups against Indiana. Starting tonight, let’s see what we are made of moving forward.

[raginbeef]

I’m not talking about wins and losses here. I’m talking about managing the team and treating players/relationships the right way

[ManAboutTown]

You’re not the only one concerned, my friend.

While of course it’s been a whirl-wind tenure for Deggs with Robe and Covid, the way you LEAD doesn’t change. The way you BUILD doesn’t change. I’ve seen plenty and heard plenty enough to be concerned from early on in 2019.

I think we have a talented roster. I think we can be a very good baseball team. But I am very much on the fence about this head coach. I’ve said it 100 times on this board: There is a huge difference between being the second in command and being the HMFIC.

I agree with Victory that we’ll learn a lot about our team in the next 2 weeks. But similar patterns are forming with regard to decision making, following analytics over manalytics and trying to send “messages” to guys by setting them up for failure.

[ULvictory]

I’m not talking about wins and losses here. I’m talking about managing the team and treating players/relationships the right way

The wins and losses usually come from how one manages. I’m just saying the sample size is still kind of small to really gauge the direction we are heading. I do think there was some concern from last year. At the same time, there was also a common denominator on the staff who is now no longer here. If we don’t show improvement in spite of that, then there will be problems.

[CajunT]

I stated on one of our recent episodes (Ragin Review) that the first 20 or so games will have some “topsy turvy-ness” to it. Between a challenging non-conference schedule and some new faces, I expected us to lose some games early on. So far, the expectations have been pretty on point. I think the next ten games will tell us where we are. If we go anything less than 6-4, I will be a little concerned. Granted, conference play should tell us a lot. Remember, last season we started 20-11 and was projected as a 3 seed in a regional. And then, we hit a slump at possibly the worst time. I’m hoping that this team doesn’t do that.

Also, this is honestly Deggs’ full second year. And in spite of the last year’s disappointing finish, we still managed to win the division. This season, we are only 7 games in and played 5 of those against top 15 competition while playing our backups against Indiana. Starting tonight, let’s see what we are made of moving forward.

This!^ I wish people would stop viewing baseball through the lens of football. This team has played 7 games, 6 of them were against ranked teams. We are 2-3 against those teams, Saturdays game against Indiana was ugly and an Coach Deggs trying to send a message to his team. Friday night was a decent game until Stanford got in to our bullpen. Against this schedule our opponents are only hitting .245. That is not terrible, this team is still a work in progress.

The next 10 games with series against USM and Houston will tell us what type of team we have moving forward. It we play less than .500% during this stretch, I will join the concern voiced in this thread. But I want to see how this team and staff respond.

[LifeTimeCajun]

I know I’m not the only one who has been troubled by the handling of certain situations in the baseball program. At the end of last year, there was zero confidence and stability in the lineup from day to day with no rhyme or reason behind some of the changes. Kids being asked to play unfamiliar positions. Pitchers not knowing they are starting until the day of. Players being dismissed/leaving the team and then coming back. Hanging Durke out to dry last year against Southern Miss. Very similar situation happened with Talley this weekend. Granted, he’s a veteran and not a freshman, but that kind of thing sticks with you as a player, and the rest of the team sees it too.

How are you supposed to build trust in a situation like that? How can you feel like the staff is looking out for you when you see your teammate throw 50 pitches in one inning, get tagged for 7 runs, and still not get the hook? It seems as though proving a point sometimes supersedes the actual game and the players themselves. And who would speak out or confide their concerns to a coach, for fear of being benched as retribution and labeled as “soft”?

That kind of environment is not conducive to success. Every questionable decision is passed off under the guise of it being somehow beneficial to character building. The excuse can’t always be that the players are soft, aren’t “water hose boys”, or can’t handle tough love. Even strong-willed and tough-minded people don’t want to be subjected to constant mental stress when it’s unnecessary.

Carter Robinson, Jason Nelson, and Ben Fitzgerald were key contributors last season, and were all hailed as being cut out for this team - made of the right stuff. Yet when they leave, we gloss over it and say, “They must not have been able to hack it.” These weren’t players departing for better opportunities, as we’ve seen in football. They also weren’t the ones who were homesick or didn’t have the playing time/ability. They all had guaranteed roles, but chose to make arguably lateral moves to comparable, competitive programs. This is extremely concerning to me, but I feel like most of us wrote it off and looked past it.

Don’t get me wrong, we definitely need guys with true toughness and grit. The term “alpha” is thrown around a lot. Players like that are few and far between, especially in today’s youth. Even if you have all the right guys in the clubhouse, I still don’t agree with seemingly treating everyone like replaceable parts. Dragging everyone through the dirt, making an example of them, and replacing the scraps anew. You can cut the dead weight and get rid of the ones who don’t belong without going overboard for the sake of it. This approach drives away players who actually deserve to be here, and alienates the coaching staff instead of building trust. Just my take.

I do believe i mentioned some of these comments in a thread last week and was “questioned” like this was the first baseball team i ever watched. Deggs is a difficult guy to play for. It does take a special kid to play for him. Right wrong or indifferent it is what it is. In all fairness, these kids are mostly his kind of guys. We will see how that goes. We are all “trained” to the style of coaching of a guy that was here for a very long time. We could predict his next move. Whose way is right…idk. Thats not for me to decide. I can have an opinion but its whatever makes each coach successful. I said it yesterday, that he makes knee jerk reactions. I dont like it, im sure his players dont like it some times but it is what it is. There was a ying and a yang with he and Robe. And Robe could harness it. But hes the one calling the shots now. We all knew these shoes would be tough to fill, we just didnt think the difference in coaching philosophies would be that far apart.

[raginsaints]

Rational post and I agree with it.

To add, baseball needs to start producing. I’ve been a season ticket holder for 8 years now and the price keeps going up, but the product has stagnated or gotten worse in most years. I love Cajuns baseball but I’m beginning to find it difficult to justify the money I’m spending on tickets/RCAF.

[LifeTimeCajun]

Rational post and I agree with it.

To add, baseball needs to start producing. I’ve been a season ticket holder for 8 years now and the price keeps going up, but the product has stagnated or gotten worse in most years. I love Cajuns baseball but I’m beginning to find it difficult to justify the money I’m spending on tickets/RCAF.

Ive been a season ticket holder for 25 yrs. I know what u mean

[raginbeef]

I do believe i mentioned some of these comments in a thread last week and was “questioned” like this was the first baseball team i ever watched. Deggs is a difficult guy to play for. It does take a special kid to play for him. Right wrong or indifferent it is what it is. In all fairness, these kids are mostly his kind of guys. We will see how that goes. We are all “trained” to the style of coaching of a guy that was here for a very long time. We could predict his next move. Whose way is right…idk. Thats not for me to decide. I can have an opinion but its whatever makes each coach successful. I said it yesterday, that he makes knee jerk reactions. I dont like it, im sure his players dont like it some times but it is what it is. There was a ying and a yang with he and Robe. And Robe could harness it. But hes the one calling the shots now. We all knew these shoes would be tough to fill, we just didnt think the difference in coaching philosophies would be that far apart.

That’s more so what I’m getting at. Not talking about wins and losses. It’s the approach and the style. Difficult guy to play for. It has pushed some solid guys away from our program. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re soft. Maybe they just didn’t want to put up with the unnecessary BS