JotCast | D1Baseball Weekly Chat: Feb. 27

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D1Baseball Weekly Chat: Feb. 27

Aaron Fitt

1:34

Hello everybody, hope you enjoyed week two. Pretty exciting stuff around the country this week, I thought.

BigDuck

1:37

Panic meter for the Oregon offense? Pitching has surprisingly been the strong suit through two weeks, not seeing the run support I was expecting though

Aaron Fitt

1:37

Nah, this falls into the old "small sample size" bucket -- there's a reason they play 162 games in the majors (and 56-plus at our level, not just six). Bats run hot and cold, but ultimately Oregon has a lot of really talented hitters and I don't have the slightest concern about the long-term outlook for this offense. Just a slow start, but once Walsh and Cowley and Diodati get going, this team will be a handful.

WC_Drew

1:39

It was a pretty good weekend for the mid-majors (especially for the Gauchos, Lopes, and Pilots). With that in mind, which mid-majors are the closest to cracking into the top 25 (not including SoMiss & East Carolina since they’re already ranked)?

Aaron Fitt

1:39

The Gauchos were on the cusp this week, probably team No. 26 or 27 (depending on whether or not you give Oregon State the nod over UCSB based on the one head-to-head result). GCU was in our discussion next week and is still in that 26-30 group I'd say -- we are very high on that team. Roons mentioned today on our podcast that as much as he likes GCU, he might even like Sam Houston more, so that team is now very much on the top 25 radar. Portland obviously had a big weekend, but there's less track record there so I'd like to see them sustain the success longer before I really buy in. But the Pilots certainly have my attention.

D1Hater

1:39

Why does Kendall hate my team?? He's biased and unfair!

Aaron Fitt

1:39

You answered your own question!

Guest

1:40

Thoughts on the start for Iowa? 5-1 record with a win over #1 LSU.

Kendall Rogers

1:40

I thought Iowa was a pretty good looking club. It will not remotely surprise me if it wins the Big Ten. The thing about Iowa is that you have three bonafide very talented weekend starters in Ty Langenberg (even if he didn't look great against Sam), Brody Brecht and Marcus Morgan. You'll be hard pressed to find a better rotation in the B1G this season. I think Iowa is just fine offensively, too -- Kyle Huckstorf in particular stood out to me.

Brendan Bell

1:42

From the outside, it appears like Link Jarrett has some sort of magic touch that instantly improves the programs he takes over as head coach. From your knowledge, what are some of the things he does so well as a coach?

Kendall Rogers

1:42

Brendan -- I think one of the big things about Link is that if you notice his coaching style, he's very much a teacher of the game and a very laid back individual (with high expectations). I think kids respond well to that. Combine that with the fact he's an outstanding offensive mind, and you've got a pretty good recipe for success. Clearly, Rich Wallace and Chuck Ristano do a great job s well, but Link is pretty special.

Not Ray Charles in Sanford

1:44

But in all seriousness, Payton Green has been on a tear so far, do you think his level of production is closer to this year or last year when he hit .256 with 7 HRs?

Aaron Fitt

1:44

I see you working, Not Ray. Definitely feels like this is closer to Green really is than last year -- we thought he would be a star as a freshman, and it just took him a little longer to come into his own. But the experience he gained last year was valuable, and now I think we are seeing him really take that leap to stardom right before our eyes. I think he's the real deal.

Erik

1:46

Will a sweep over South Alabama look good on a resume at the end of the year or is this a down year for USA?

Aaron Fitt

1:46

Feels like a nice resumé builder for the Huskers, but not an enormous hang-your-hat-on-it type weekend. South Alabama should be competitive, but we don't have them projected as one of the top teams in the Sun Belt this year. Still, great bounceback for Nebraska after a rough weekend in San Diego.

WorriedVol

1:48

What is your read on the situation with Tony V? Is the suspension a way to put all of this behind him or should we be worried that worse things are on the horizon?

Kendall Rogers

1:48

Well, Tony was just cleared, so that's good news for the Vols. I just think Tony got caught with his hand in the cookie jar a little early ... but the thing is, a TON of teams are doing the same things to some degree. It's pretty rampant in college baseball, and singling out Tony as the only one who's doing it is just having your head in the sand. With that said, with all the drama in Knoxville over the last year, Tony needs to realize moving forward that there are people gunning for him and would love nothing more than to bring him down.

Brendan Bell

1:49

With the combination of Rutgers getting off to a slow start along with a collection of Big Ten teams acquitting themselves well against strong competition, is there any reason to be concerned about Rutgers status as one of the top contenders in the conference?

Aaron Fitt

1:49

You know, I saw Rutgers get its doors blown off twice in a row last weekend at Campbell, but I still walked away feeling pretty good about the talent on that Rutgers roster. I think right now they're still trying to figure out how the pieces fit together on the mound, but I think they've got enough pieces, and I really do like that experienced, balanced lineup. I'm definitely buying low on Rutgers right now -- feels like those guys will be right in the mix at the end.

BaseballLover

1:50

Biggest surprise of the weekend that wasn’t front page news like Portland over A&M

Kendall Rogers

1:50

Give me UCF sweeping Clemson on the road. I thought UCF would be pretty solid coming into the season, but scoring 23 runs in the final two games to sweep the Tigers in Clemson was pretty impressive to say the least. They are clear-cut No. 2 team in that league right now.

COJoe

1:51

Thoughts on Oregon State? How close do you have them to being top 25? Slow start to the season, but it appears they are coming together.

Aaron Fitt

1:51

We talked about the Beavers a bunch on the podcast today -- we are really high on that OSU bullpen, still not completely sold on the rotation, excited about the young talent on the lineup but expect some ups and downs as those guys mature. It's a team on the cusp of our Top 25, as it was heading into the season. Overall feel pretty good about OSU's first two weeks, feels like they're on a solid path.

Guest

1:53

What exactly do you guys have against the Beavs? They are one hundred percent a Top 25 team!!!!

Aaron Fitt

1:53

To follow up -- OSU is right in the mix for the top 25, but we only had one spot open up this week, and it had to go to Florida State after winning a road series at TCU -- which is just a litttttttttle bit louder than sweeping Coppin State.

Evan

1:53

Does Wake have the pitching depth to overcome the potential season-ending loss of Teddy McGraw?

Kendall Rogers

1:53

I think the answer is yes. I also think that Wake's offense is so good, but they don't necessarily need to have stellar pitching from top to bottom. I was just talking to Aaron about this last night, but even with some weak competition this past weekend, I'm impressed with the fact that Wake is just obliterating everyone. Some teams are struggling with some of the low mid-majors out there. Pretty impressive, and let's not forget, they roughed up Illinois, who just took two from USM.

Aaron Fitt

1:57

I'll chime in here to add that Sean Sullivan is really good -- I know he was facing an overmatched opponent this weekend, but his metrics are pretty special. Go back and read our Wake Forest fall report for more detail on that. McGraw is super talented and you hate to see him go down, but a rotation of Lowder-Hartle-Sullivan is absolutely good enough to get this team to Omaha, especially with that offense and that deep bullpen (which has an all-america closer in Cam Minacci). There is just so much star power on that roster.

TSUS

1:54

No movement for the Gamecocks in the Top 25 after an impressive weekend sweep over a quality Penn team. Why?

Aaron Fitt

1:54

Just a lot of static in the middle of the rankings right now, most of those teams are taking care of business against lesser competition, or else holding their own against tougher competition (as UCLA did with a road series at Vandy -- that's the kind of 2-2 week that allows a team to hold its position in the Top 25 despite losing its series). But certainly you have to be encouraged by South Carolina's strong start, which should help them build some confidence and momentum heading into the Clemson series and the SEC slate beyond.

TheFanatic

1:58

Does a series win over Campbell this upcoming weekend propel the Cajuns into the top 25?

Aaron Fitt

1:58

Could certainly see that happening -- Campbell is another team right in the mix for a Top 25 spot, so winning that series would be a big statement for a Louisiana club that has gotten off to a strong 6-1 start. That's a sneaky-good series coming up this week.

WC_Drew

2:01

Here’s another one for you guys: with the CFP expanding from 4 to 12 teams and talks about expanding March Madness happening, do you think the same could happen with baseball?

Aaron Fitt

2:01

I could see that happening at some point -- only 64 teams out of 300ish making the NCAA tournament is a pretty small percentage, relative to most other sports. There have been occasional discussions about this over the years but they have always fizzled out. But obviously there's a lot of change happening quickly across college athletics right now, so maybe this could gain some traction in the coming years. But it does not feel imminent.

BaseballLover

2:03

Kendall, saw your tweet about Northwestern. How in the world can a team function with those three positions vacant??

Kendall Rogers

2:03

that's a great question. My understanding is that Northwestern literally had two coaches over the weekend with Strauss, Napoleon, etc, out. I don't know how that's sustainable for the duration of the season, but we will see. I can tell you the things I'm hearing out of there are not good -- but with that said, I am not going to speculate on further details at the moment. I've got my eye on it.

Greg

2:04

Any concerns about UNC's bullpen after this weekend? Holding 3 run leads late in both games and letting both slip away has to hurt

Aaron Fitt

2:04

I wrote about that very question at some length in today's column. I definitely understand that this is a question worth asking based on what happened this weekend, but I actually do like the personnel in that bullpen and I think they will grow from the experience of this weekend. They just need some more experience, and they need somebody to just grab that stopper job like Davis Palermo did. I feel like Ben Peterson would make a lot of sense as that guy. Maybe the freshman Matthijs could be that guy, we didn't see him this weekend and Scott Forbes said that perhaps that was a mistake. If all else fails, they can move Bovair into the back end and ride with Knapp and Percival in the rotation, but Forbes indicated he would prefer to keep Bovair in the rotation until his hand is forced. I say give it a little time to gel.

Mike

2:05

How is Texas A&M still ranked? Very k

Kendall Rogers

2:05

Mike -- it's college baseball and it's the second week of the season. Zero doubt the Aggies are scuffling and there's a reason they dropped a whopping 10 spots. However, we will know everything we need to know about A&M this weekend, facing Louisville and Michigan, and to a lesser degree, Rice. That Louisville game on Friday will be illuminating for me. They must get their offensive lineup going -- Trevor Werner, Austin Bost and Ryan Targac are ALL hitting under .200.

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