BB G2 Final: Louisiana 3, Arkansas State 13

[Tejun]

I had some time this evening to go back and look at some things that I think may be of interest.

I made a post recently about what some of the better Cajuns players did as freshmen compared to what they became.

ragincajuns.com stats only go back to 2013, so I started there and looked at every player who came to UL from high school (no JUCO guys) and stayed at least 3 seasons, to see what kind of improvement some of this years freshmen may make over the next couple of years. Listed here are every one of their freshman season avg and HRs followed by their best subsequent season…

Joe Robbins
Fr- .118 and 0 HRs
Jr- .286 and 10 HRs

Nick Thurman
Fr- .275 and 0 HRs
Sr- .281 and 2 HRs

Dylan Butler
Fr- .249 and 8 HRs
So- .295 and 8 HRs

Chase Compton
Fr- .236 and 0 HRs
So- .328 and 1 HR

Jace Conrad
Fr- .286 and 1 HR
Jr- .364 and 9 HRs

Michael Stentz
Fr- .216 and 3 HRs
Jr- .311 and 7 HRs

Blake Trahan
Fr- .319 and 4 HRs
So- .355 and 4 HRs

Ryan Leonards
Fr- .292 and 0 HRs
Sr- .328 and 4 HRs

Tyler Girouard
Fr- .298 and 1 HR
So- .360 and 7 HRs

Kyle Clement
Fr- .333 and 0 HRs
So- .346 and 8 HRs

Kennon Fontenot
Fr- .179 and 0 HRs
Jr- .276 and 6 HRs

Brenn Conrad
Fr- .188 and 0 HRs
Jr- .280 and 4 HRs

Hunter Kasuls
Fr- .234 and 1 HR
Sr- .338 and 7 HRs

Todd Lott
Fr- .266 and 1 HR
Jr- .332 and 8 HRs

Hayden Cantrelle
Fr- .287 and 4 HRs
So- .309 and 9 HRs

Alex Hannie
Fr- .313 and 0 HRs
So- .217 and 0 HRs
(Had 69 career ABs in 3 seasons)

Julian Brock
Fr- .243 and 0 HRs
Sr- .315 and 11 HRs

Carson Roccaforte
Fr- .274 and 4 HRs
So- .374 and 16 HRs

Mason Zambo
Fr- .214 and 0 HRs
So- .230 and 3 HRs

Kyle Debarge
Fr- .293 and 3 HRs
Jr- .355 and 21 HRs

Current players…

Conor Higgs
Fr- .222 and 0 HRs
Sr- .346 and 16 HRs (thru reg season)

Lee Amedee
Fr- .200 and 0 HRs
So- .278 and 4 HRs

Caleb Stelly
Fr- .231 and 1 HR
Jr- .314 and 8 HRs (thru reg season)

Luke Yuhasz
Fr- .233 and 1 HR
So- .318 and 7 HRs


Side note: 8 of the 9 starters on the 2014 team came to UL from high school. A lot of them were on the 2012 team that won 23 games and went 11-19 in conference.

The point of all of this is, as you can see, not many of even the best players over the last decade+ were very good as freshmen. And 22 of the 24 incoming freshmen that have stayed in the program for 3 years have had good to very good to great subsequent seasons.

Maybe the “clean house” crew here needs a little patience. There are some freshmen on this team that will be very good players over the next couple of years. Winning with 4 or 5 of them in the lineup at the same time right now gets you what you’ve seen this season.

The future is bright.

Logic is not allowed on RP! All the experts here know way better how to construct a roster and a lineup.

[zeppelincajun]

What a strange cherry picking of stats. Why post the most recent season’s stats for Higgs and Stelly but not for Amedee and Yuhasz? Surely it’s not because the former progressed this year while the latter did not.

[sportsfanatic21]

What a strange cherry picking of stats. Why post the most recent season’s stats for Higgs and Stelly but not for Amedee and Yuhasz? Surely it’s not because the former progressed this year while the latter did not.

Well if you read the post, it says their freshmen avg and HRs and their subsequent best season stats.

But in both Amedee’s and Yuhasz’s cases, their seasons this year could arguably be better. Amedee has 18 doubles this season but just 2 HRs as opposed to 4 last year. Batting average nearly identical. He has 20 extra base hits this year and had 15 last year.

Yuhasz’s average is about 20 points less, but his RBIs are better this year, walk rate is better, K% is better, etc. And who knows, maybe his numbers would be even better this year had he not played some games with a broken hand. And then a bunch more after coming back a few weeks after having surgery to repair the broken hand. Maybe?

I wasn’t cherry picking stats. I was sticking to the format used for the other 22 players. Best season in regards to avg and HRs.

The fact that this is what you took from that post is pretty telling. Instead of paying attention to the point that there’s a VERY good chance that all of the freshmen that stick around will end up as pretty darn good players. And that when the program has had a whole lot of guys that have been in the program for a few years, the team was the best it’s ever been.

But don’t mind any of that. Just find something else to gripe about and crap on one mediocre season…while ignoring the fact that it’s been the norm for the entirely of the existence of this program…that after every 3 or 4 year good run, there’s a step back before the next good run comes. This team has a lot of freshmen. And from the data I posted, 92% of freshmen that stick around get A LOT better. And very few are good players in their first season.

As a follow up to the format, Kyle Debarge hit .370 his soph year and I listed his .355 year because he had more HRs. Michael Strentz had a season with more HRs than the one I listed, but his average was much lower than in the one I listed.

You cherry picked 2 guys to try to make some kind of point.

[Turbine]

... I made a post recently about what some of the better Cajuns players did as freshmen compared to what they became....

That (overall post with stats) is encouraging.

My worry in the form of a question: Is allowing or setting yourself up to get top heavy every four years really in the best interest of the program?

[zeppelincajun]

Well if you read the post, it says their freshmen avg and HRs and their subsequent best season stats.

But in both Amedee’s and Yuhasz’s cases, their seasons this year could arguably be better. Amedee has 18 doubles this season but just 2 HRs as opposed to 4 last year. Batting average nearly identical. He has 20 extra base hits this year and had 15 last year.

Yuhasz’s average is about 20 points less, but his RBIs are better this year, walk rate is better, K% is better, etc. And who knows, maybe his numbers would be even better this year had he not played some games with a broken hand. And then a bunch more after coming back a few weeks after having surgery to repair the broken hand. Maybe?

I wasn’t cherry picking stats. I was sticking to the format used for the other 22 players. Best season in regards to avg and HRs.

The fact that this is what you took from that post is pretty telling. Instead of paying attention to the point that there’s a VERY good chance that all of the freshmen that stick around will end up as pretty darn good players. And that when the program has had a whole lot of guys that have been in the program for a few years, the team was the best it’s ever been.

But don’t mind any of that. Just find something else to gripe about and crap on one mediocre season…while ignoring the fact that it’s been the norm for the entirely of the existence of this program…that after every 3 or 4 year good run, there’s a step back before the next good run comes. This team has a lot of freshmen. And from the data I posted, 92% of freshmen that stick around get A LOT better. And very few are good players in their first season.

As a follow up to the format, Kyle Debarge hit .370 his soph year and I listed his .355 year because he had more HRs. Michael Strentz had a season with more HRs than the one I listed, but his average was much lower than in the one I listed.

You cherry picked 2 guys to try to make some kind of point.

Fair point. I missed that part of your original post saying you were doing freshman and best season. I apologize. We obviously have very different viewpoints on this season. Hopefully the future is bright as you predicted. I’d rather be wrong in this case.

[babysitter]

One hunnid.

I’m still team Deggs but he has a lot of difficult decisions to make this offseason.

And they will 100% be made. Some may not like the decisions but several heads will roll.

[babysitter]

Oh good grief. No disrespect to Robe, but do you not remember the shape we were in his last 3 seasons?

The 2017 team went 35-21. That's far from terrible. Not to mention had their conference tournament turn into a single elimination. Lost to Ga Southern on a walk off. That team could have easily been a regional team. Playing St.Peter's that year absolutely killed our RPI number as well.

Now, 2018 and 2019 were horrible.

[zeppelincajun]

The 2017 team went 35-21. That's far from terrible. Not to mention had their conference tournament turn into a single elimination. Lost to Ga Southern on a walk off. That team could have easily been a regional team. Playing St.Peter's that year absolutely killed our RPI number as well.

Now, 2018 and 2019 were horrible.

2017 and 2018 were a noticeable drop in quality from the teams of the 2013-2016 run. 2019 was just bad. I believe that stretch was the only time in Robe’s tenure where we missed regionals for 3 straight seasons. The original post I was replying to was implying that Deggs was living off Robe’s program in his early years and failing now that it’s entirely his. Every coach who has this job will owe a debt to Robe for the program him built, but the narrative the poster was trying to establish was not one based in reality. Deggs inherited a rebuild not a ready made squad.

[CrazyCajun]

2017 and 2018 were a noticeable drop in quality from the teams of the 2013-2016 run. 2019 was just bad. I believe that stretch was the only time in Robe’s tenure where we missed regionals for 3 straight seasons. The original post I was replying to was implying that Deggs was living off Robe’s program in his early years and failing now that it’s entirely his. Every coach who has this job will owe a debt to Robe for the program him built, but the narrative the poster was trying to establish was not one based in reality. Deggs inherited a rebuild not a ready made squad.

And Deggs hands were all over the 2013-2016 run.

[Turbine]

And Deggs hands were all over the 2013-2016 run.

True