Auburn @ Ole Miss Game 3

[jared52 4,354]

Butch has been around SEC baseball a while and been around success. He knows what it takes and I believe he will get there given time to get the players in that will help him and AU be successful.

[AU64 10,122]

We will see. Hope I am wrong, but with the team's SEC record at the present and lack of fundamentals being displayed, plus a lack of confidence, doesn't bode well for the reminder of the season. This team is on a fast track for the cellar of the SEC unless Butch and his staff finds some answers very soon.

I agree completely. Unfortunately, I think the cellar is ours this year, especially ending with MSU and at Vandy. I think it's safe to say Butch has underperformed this season, and with Keegan gone this year, I didn't expect a regional, but I sure as heck didn't forsee a 10-20 (if they're lucky) conference season. Mize has had a couple ugly starts this season despite being great as of late, but assuming Keegan stays, that's two-thirds of a rotation that can win you some games. But then some bullpen arms DESPERATELY need to be found. I think Sprinkle will develop nicely and some of the others will probably rebound next season, but there's currently not a guy in the pen with filthy stuff that I can think of right now. So with that said, next season will probably be like this year ought to have been, with a trip to Hoover and maybe nothing else, which should put a lot of pressure on Butch for the ever-important third season.

Yep ....a tough way to wrap up the season but the team has shown the ability to play toe to toe with some good teams....so might pick up another win or two along the way.

Mize was outstanding and as noted, those errors probably cost him two innings of pitch count....and after him...who knew. Braymer and Klobo have both had good relief stints....but today they were helpless.

As for Thompson....he was gone a good part of last year too which was why AU stumbled into the Regionals....but Mize and Mitchell have come along pretty well...and Camp has his moments.

Still a chance to win a few more but going nowhere this year.

And I think it's on Butch to become a HC who can win games by using strategy and milking the most out of his players. Haven't seen that yet but his career here is still new.

[Mikey 16,586]

Another instance of Butch leaving a pitcher in one batter too long. That's been concerning for me: you don't wait until the pitcher makes the big mistake, you take him out before he gets there. UM lit up Braymer for what was the equivalent of an inning and butch gets him after he walks the lead off batter and the next guy gets a base knock. Poor coaching move IMO

Knowing when one pitch too long is coming would require 100% clairvoyance. Nobody has that. All a manager can do is know his players and when the players under perform it's on them. Six errors and walking the #9 batter on 4 pitches to start the 9th inning is on the players.

[AU64 10,122]

Another instance of Butch leaving a pitcher in one batter too long. That's been concerning for me: you don't wait until the pitcher makes the big mistake, you take him out before he gets there. UM lit up Braymer for what was the equivalent of an inning and butch gets him after he walks the lead off batter and the next guy gets a base knock. Poor coaching move IMO

Knowing when one pitch too long is coming would require 100% clairvoyance. Nobody has that. All a manager can do is know his players and when the players under perform it's on them. Six errors and walking the #9 batter on 4 pitches to start the 9th inning is on the players.

Yep it's been said that all a manager has to be able to do to be successful is fill out the line-up card and know when to change pitchers.

By and large if you figure the odds, the manager will either change pitchers too soon (which we will never know for certain) or he will do it one pitch too late in which case the whole world knows that he made a mistake.

[AU_Tiger_88 417]

Another instance of Butch leaving a pitcher in one batter too long. That's been concerning for me: you don't wait until the pitcher makes the big mistake, you take him out before he gets there. UM lit up Braymer for what was the equivalent of an inning and butch gets him after he walks the lead off batter and the next guy gets a base knock. Poor coaching move IMO

Knowing when one pitch too long is coming would require 100% clairvoyance. Nobody has that. All a manager can do is know his players and when the players under perform it's on them. Six errors and walking the #9 batter on 4 pitches to start the 9th inning is on the players.

Totally agree with the bolded...if the errors weren't there we wouldn't have to put in another pitcher...and we may have made it all the way through without his pitch count getting up there....too many errors killed us

[FUZZYAUFAN 134]

18-22 and yet AU has out scored opponents by almost 80 runs. If only the pitching or defense was better the overall record would probably be a lot better the way this team can hit the ball. Baseball teams with losing record do not normally out score opponents by that many runs. There have been plenty of games AU could/should have won. Today being one of them.

[AU64 10,122]

18-22 and yet AU has out scored opponents by almost 80 runs. If only the pitching or defense was better the overall record would probably be a lot better the way this team can hit the ball. Baseball teams with losing record do not normally out score opponents by that many runs. There have been plenty of games AU could/should have won. Today being one of them.

Yep..l did a count a few days ago and we have lost 14 ...plus today...by one or two runs......no real excuse for that.

[milehighfan 1,240]

Rudy Abbott is a good friend of mine and he stressed pitching and defense. So, unless those two areas can be resolved not much is going to change.

[Mikey 16,586]

Rudy Abbott is a good friend of mine and he stressed pitching and defense. So, unless those two areas can be resolved not much is going to change.

I'm confident that it will change. Butch Thompson is a solid coach and IMHO was a great hire for Auburn. It will be next year before we see positive results. Fall Practice and recruiting for this year's team were both over before Butch got here.

[AU64 10,122]

Rudy Abbott is a good friend of mine and he stressed pitching and defense. So, unless those two areas can be resolved not much is going to change.

I'm confident that it will change. Butch Thompson is a solid coach and IMHO was a great hire for Auburn. It will be next year before we see positive results. Fall Practice and recruiting for this year's team were both over before Butch got here.

IF Butch has as good a recruiting year as SG did on his way out the door (#10) he might be able to find some infielders.

Otherwise, I don't care if Butch just arrived yesterday, seeing a team of SEC players booting the ball all over the place is inexcusable. Seems he's willing to accept the errors in hopes that the bats will offset the runs they allow....though certainly he must see what those errors have done to his pitching staff.

[SCTiger2011 1,277]

Rudy Abbott is a good friend of mine and he stressed pitching and defense. So, unless those two areas can be resolved not much is going to change.

I'm confident that it will change. Butch Thompson is a solid coach and IMHO was a great hire for Auburn. It will be next year before we see positive results. Fall Practice and recruiting for this year's team were both over before Butch got here.

IF Butch has as good a recruiting year as SG did on his way out the door (#10) he might be able to find some infielders.

Otherwise, I don't care if Butch just arrived yesterday, seeing a team of SEC players booting the ball all over the place is inexcusable. Seems he's willing to accept the errors in hopes that the bats will offset the runs they allow....though certainly he must see what those errors have done to his pitching staff.

Last year's recruiting class brought in guys who contributed right away like P-Lo (pre-injury, JuCo sign), Buentello (JuCo), and Mize (frosh), but also has some fixer-uppers (i.e the entire bullpen) that hopefully recapture their potential next year. If I remember correctly, infield wasn't highly recruited last year.

An interesting thing to watch recruiting-wise will be the overall recruiting ranking vs the high school recruiting ranking. Butch has gained a reputation on recruiting very well at the high school level, which is hard to do with the draft poaching the best players from playing college ball. The past two seasons Auburn has barely cracked the top 50, and finished 12th and last in the league in high school recruiting (or 10th and 13th depending on the publication). Having a core to build around for 3 years makes much more of a difference than a one and done, mish-mosh of overloaded talent at one or two positions. In fact other than two seasons near the end of Pawlowski's tenure where Auburn was top 10 in the high school ranks, since 2006, Auburn has only fielded a top 25 high school recruiting class one other time.

So in my opinion, its not hard to see why Auburn struggles. If you can't compete with the rest of the league in getting the best high school talent, you're not going to make up that talent deficit with one or two big-contributing JuCo players.

[AU64 10,122]

Rudy Abbott is a good friend of mine and he stressed pitching and defense. So, unless those two areas can be resolved not much is going to change.

I'm confident that it will change. Butch Thompson is a solid coach and IMHO was a great hire for Auburn. It will be next year before we see positive results. Fall Practice and recruiting for this year's team were both over before Butch got here.

IF Butch has as good a recruiting year as SG did on his way out the door (#10) he might be able to find some infielders.

Otherwise, I don't care if Butch just arrived yesterday, seeing a team of SEC players booting the ball all over the place is inexcusable. Seems he's willing to accept the errors in hopes that the bats will offset the runs they allow....though certainly he must see what those errors have done to his pitching staff.

Last year's recruiting class brought in guys who contributed right away like P-Lo (pre-injury, JuCo sign), Buentello (JuCo), and Mize (frosh), but also has some fixer-uppers (i.e the entire bullpen) that hopefully recapture their potential next year. If I remember correctly, infield wasn't highly recruited last year.

An interesting thing to watch recruiting-wise will be the overall recruiting ranking vs the high school recruiting ranking. Butch has gained a reputation on recruiting very well at the high school level, which is hard to do with the draft poaching the best players from playing college ball. The past two seasons Auburn has barely cracked the top 50, and finished 12th and last in the league in high school recruiting (or 10th and 13th depending on the publication). Having a core to build around for 3 years makes much more of a difference than a one and done, mish-mosh of overloaded talent at one or two positions. In fact other than two seasons near the end of Pawlowski's tenure where Auburn was top 10 in the high school ranks, since 2006, Auburn has only fielded a top 25 high school recruiting class one other time.

So in my opinion, its not hard to see why Auburn struggles. If you can't compete with the rest of the league in getting the best high school talent, you're not going to make up that talent deficit with one or two big-contributing JuCo players.

Basically that could be true but Miss State totally turned themselves around in one season with some Jucos at critical places.

JMO but looking at the AU roster after last season, we had the entire infield returning ....and most of the outfield....and mostly needed some power which we got via Juco...plus a couple pretty good pitchers which we also signed.

If you go back to the end of last season and look at the names of returning Auburn players ....and then look at the recruiting class, you would think that we had filled every need..... It was reasonable to believe that all those returning players would be better this year after a season of SEC ball....and there sure was no reason to expect so many experienced returning players would not be able to play decent defense.

[steeleagle 2,945]

But pitching and defense was better last year...so why...

1. Are we so poor a fielding team this year. WHat..they had 6 errors yesterday? Pitchers mentally cant perform well when they our D cant make the easy outs.

2. What has happened to C Lipscomb? Last year he was strong down the stretch...especially since we were on the hump for making the NCAA playoffs. I believe he had around an 7-2 record and a pretty good era. This year he gives up way too many runs.

3. Is this just a case of a coaching philosophy change and we are suffering during the transition?

I thought CBT strength was pitching. We have no consistent #1 and our middle and late relief is average at best...No lead is safe.

[SCTiger2011 1,277]

But pitching and defense was better last year...so why...

1. Are we so poor a fielding team this year. WHat..they had 6 errors yesterday? Pitchers mentally cant perform well when they our D cant make the easy outs.

2. What has happened to C Lipscomb? Last year he was strong down the stretch...especially since we were on the hump for making the NCAA playoffs. I believe he had around an 7-2 record and a pretty good era. This year he gives up way too many runs.

3. Is this just a case of a coaching philosophy change and we are suffering during the transition?

I thought CBT strength was pitching. We have no consistent #1 and our middle and late relief is average at best...No lead is safe.

While I do think there is some suffering during the mid-offseason transition, I also don't think any coaching philosophy change in the world makes guys whiff grounders and throw balls over people's heads. As for the no consistent number one, I agree with you. He's on the bench recovering from Tommy John. The bullpen floundering is the most concerning in my opinion. Especially since a lot of those guys are new.

[SCTiger2011 1,277]

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So in my opinion, its not hard to see why Auburn struggles. If you can't compete with the rest of the league in getting the best high school talent, you're not going to make up that talent deficit with one or two big-contributing JuCo players.

Basically that could be true but Miss State totally turned themselves around in one season with some Jucos at critical places.

JMO but looking at the AU roster after last season, we had the entire infield returning ....and most of the outfield....and mostly needed some power which we got via Juco...plus a couple pretty good pitchers which we also signed.

If you go back to the end of last season and look at the names of returning Auburn players ....and then look at the recruiting class, you would think that we had filled every need..... It was reasonable to believe that all those returning players would be better this year after a season of SEC ball....and there sure was no reason to expect so many experienced returning players would not be able to play decent defense.

My only counterpoint to MSU's "turnaround" with JuCo's would be, it's not necessarily that hard to turn around MSU's program compared to AU. They are consistently in the conversation for division/conference championships with a multitude of regional/CWS appearances in recent history. A "rebuild" for them and a rebuild for AU really aren't in the same class, I don't think. Although I wish they were...

[AU64 10,122]

But pitching and defense was better last year...so why...

1. Are we so poor a fielding team this year. WHat..they had 6 errors yesterday? Pitchers mentally cant perform well when they our D cant make the easy outs.

2. What has happened to C Lipscomb? Last year he was strong down the stretch...especially since we were on the hump for making the NCAA playoffs. I believe he had around an 7-2 record and a pretty good era. This year he gives up way too many runs.

3. Is this just a case of a coaching philosophy change and we are suffering during the transition?

I thought CBT strength was pitching. We have no consistent #1 and our middle and late relief is average at best...No lead is safe.

While I do think there is some suffering during the mid-offseason transition, I also don't think any coaching philosophy change in the world makes guys whiff grounders and throw balls over people's heads. As for the no consistent number one, I agree with you. He's on the bench recovering from Tommy John. The bullpen floundering is the most concerning in my opinion. Especially since a lot of those guys are new.

Maybe because I was a poor HS pitcher back in the day, I take pity on them. The ERAs are deceptive in my view....the loose defense causes them to pitch in more stressful situations following the errors, they throw more pitches than necessary and that in general has caused the coaches difficulty in figuring out how long to leave the pitchers in a game. Summary: It's a mess.

SC.....Just noting that MSU finished behind AU Last year...about the same record we have now. We've swapped places with them.

[autigeremt 6,608]

Plus...we don't have one of our best starters out there in Thompson. That's a lot of starts/games without your best pitcher.

Auburn Baseball has eroded my love of college baseball season. THANK GOD FOR COACH MYERS and his wonderful group of athletes.

[FUZZYAUFAN 134]

2015 AU was 15-13 in games decided by one or two runs. 2016 is 4-14. Big diference and one reason for the current losing record.

[autigeremt 6,608]

2015 AU was 15-13 in games decided by one or two runs. 2016 is 4-14. Big diference and one reason for the current losing record.

Errors.......

[AU64 10,122]

2015 AU was 15-13 in games decided by one or two runs. 2016 is 4-14. Big diference and one reason for the current losing record.

Errors.......PB s and WPs too. We've found lots of ways to give up runs this year.