Butch has had some good seasons, but....

[arktiger1975 518]

Why does he have a season every fourth year or so where the bottom completely falls out? Here we are mid April, and the season is virtually over. That's the big reason I never have been all in on him. Why no consistency?

[LPTiger 5,166]

Because he only gets 11 scholarships and we have no education lottery/Hope Scholarships like all others in the SEC.  If we miss on 2 or 3 players or have a few players get injured we are doomed because we don't have the depth all other teams have.  Gonzo clearly isn't healthy, and that has impacted us for 2 years now.

  

[arktiger1975 518]

20 hours ago, LPTiger said:

Because he only gets 11 scholarships and we have no education lottery/Hope Scholarships like all others in the SEC.  If we miss on 2 or 3 players or have a few players get injured we are doomed because we don't have the depth all other teams have.  Gonzo clearly isn't healthy, and that has impacted us for 2 years now.

  

Wouldn't NIL make that argument obsolete?

[passthebiscuits 6,846]

I think NIL here is one of the problems here. See, there’s a limited number of dollars. So when let’s say I give $10,000 to OTV, I want it to go to football. Then they ask me for $10K more, and I put it to basketball. Then they want some for baseball, and I’m like, no thanks…_the turnip is dry. So while the rest of the league can supplement a scholarship, Auburn is left with tier two guys in baseball. So we look like a tier two team. It’s only going to get worse imo. 
 

the fact of the matter is, we expected much better pitching than what we got. Unlike a professional league, we can’t just go get somebody from the minors to promote. When the backups are performing poorly, there’s just not much left to do. When we miss, we miss like center of the plate. It just isn’t our year. 

 

[CameronCrazy 1,062]

Butch Thompson is not the problem! He’s one of the greatest things to ever happen to Auburn baseball. Get rid of him and we’ll go back to where we were before we got him. The pitching coach and NIL are the biggest issues. We desperately need Tim Hudson back.

We also need more people with money ALL IN on this program. 

[Mikey 16,605]

5 hours ago, arktiger1975 said:

Wouldn't NIL make that argument obsolete?

No. Other schools have scholarships from gambling money PLUS more NIL for baseball than AU has.

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

Drye, Smith, Hudson, Schoenrock, Teaford/Foxhall.

Tough to get consistency with that kind of turnover at one spot.

Edited April 15 by PowerOfDixieland

[LPTiger 5,166]

On 4/14/2024 at 10:01 PM, PowerOfDixieland said:

Drye, Smith, Hudson, Schoenrock, Teaford/Foxhall.

Tough to get consistency with that kind of turnover at one spot.

I agree with the tenor of Power's post, but PTB hit it on the head.   CBT is first a pitching coach.   Even if Teaford might not be the answer, CBT is still on staff. Coaching isn't the reason we have back to back games where we give up 6 homers.    The reason we give up 12 homers over 2 games is because of the players throwing the ball (and the players hitting the ball).   We have guy on staff who 2 years ago was a legit 1st rounder when he became eligible and because of injuries he pitched 5 innings last year and still isn't right this year.   Not only do you lose the very good quality innings he would have given us, but it forces you us to fill those innings with someone down the depth chart.   Because of our scholarship limitations, we have no room for error in missed evaluations or injuries.   Having the 2 HS shortstops go in the draft and then the Sacred Heart kid go in the draft coupled with the kids we had drafted last year -- we are simply in a hole.    And no one hates it more than Butch!!1

 

[PowerOfDixieland 3,226]

Oof.  Coaching matters, especially with as many "philosophies" on pitching.  Particularly in the transition from high school/travel to the SEC.  I remember David Adams used to tell the story about Dewayne Friend going to the mound in the middle of a game and asking him "Do you ever throwing a [effing] fastball with less than [effing] max effort?"  With the hyper focus on the gun currently, it's gotten even worse.  It seems simple, attack the zone and work fast...but in the SEC it's much more complicated.  As a former catcher, it's a given that pitchers can be flaky and the mental side is much more significant once arm talent is established.  Butch can't be teaching that every day with everything else he has to deal with, only so much time those guys can be on the field or in the pen.  Take a look at the programs that have entrenched themselves at the top of the league and see who has pitching coach turnover.  Alan Dunn was at LSU how long...?  Arkansas and Vandy likewise.

Gonzo seemed very promising, but something (or someone) got inside his head and that ship sailed long ago.

Again, as a former catcher, I happen to think that receiving has huge implications for a pitcher as well.  Current #1 will go a long way with a bat in his hands, but not as a catcher.  

Edited April 17 by PowerOfDixieland

[Gowebb11 9,326]

On 4/17/2024 at 9:28 AM, PowerOfDixieland said:

Butch can't be teaching that every day with everything else he has to deal with, only so much time those guys can be on the field or in the pen.  Take a look at the programs that have entrenched themselves at the top of the league and see who has pitching coach turnover.  Alan Dunn was at LSU how long...?  Arkansas and Vandy likewise.

I agree with this. But would add a couple of things. The first is obvious: recruit better arms. I saw a stat from last night that we threw over 130 pitches and less than 50% were strikes. That’s scary at a collegiate level shouldn’t require a coach to fix at this point. The second is our physical training program. We’ve got two or three starters in the field who look soft and underdeveloped physically. We have some studs but not enough and not well developed enough for the SEC. 
FWIW, I’m a big fan of Butch and I know Cohen is a baseball guy. I hope they work together to get this program better able to compete consistently in the SEC. 

Edited April 20 by Gowebb11