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Post by rowdy4theraiders on May 26, 2024 11:55:29 GMT -5
As disappointing as this season was, especially at the end, there are some silver linings for the future. We lose our 1 thru 4 hitters, plus the regular Fri and Sat starting pitchers. But our Sunday starter (Lax), and arguably our three best relief pitchers (Cam Allen, Griffen Paige, and Brayden Schoetzow) are all true freshmen. Two other relievers with lots of good innings are juniors (Peters, Gallager). Several other pitchers who are Fr and Soph showed a lot of potential, but would have one good outing, followed by a bad one -- with another year to develop, I would expect a couple of them to find regular spots in the bullpen rotation. Of the starting position players, Gregory is a R-Fr, and Fultz a Soph. Boston Smith, Andrew Patrick and Luke Arnold are all jrs. With all the injuries this year, we also got to see the true depth this team has. Once we got healthy, there wasn't enough room on the field for sometimes starters Drew Baker (Jr), Carson Clark and Parker Harrison (both Soph), Nate Manley and JP Peltier (both Fr). All should be able to step right into the lineup next season, though there will be a lot of competition in the infield. If everyone comes back, this team should again be very good next year. If the incoming class of freshman includes anywhere near the same pitching talent as this years class, the overall pitching will improve greatly. I would expect Cam Allen to be converted to a regular rotation starter. Would be nice if we could also land a transfer who fits the mold of a solid rotation starter, and a couple of depth position players and relievers. This is some good insight and lays out the potential for next year! Smith and Patrick are possible draftees, with Patrick most likely forgoing his remaining eligibility to sign a contract. I think Smith will be back to improve his draft stock, but still a chance he leaves. I wouldn’t (and many people around the program) be surprised if Cam Allen opts to enter the transfer portal to increase his stock at a Power Five school. Would it be smart? Who knows. But those are the rumblings that parents have been hearing from their kids on the team. Infield should be rather the same, with Gilkerson replacing Luikart. The coaching staff and team is excited about Gilkerson and think he can be the next big bat to come out of the program. The catching situation won’t be a problem as any of Smith, Baker, and Manley can handle those duties. The outfield will be interesting but I think Smith/Baker will play in left, find someone in the portal for center, and Harrison will play right. I also need to give some love to Dane Thomas, as I think he will be in the mix next year to play in the outfield. We won’t see the best lineup until probably mid-April of next year.
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Post by bearcatraider on May 26, 2024 15:02:25 GMT -5
Wow! I like Cam but he faced almost Horizon teams exclusively. I am all for kids making money, so I hope this comes with good NIL money.
Gongo left last year with an ERA in the low 3s. Almost doubled that this year in the ACC.
Cam's in limited action was almost 5.00.
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Post by raiderrunt on May 27, 2024 23:01:26 GMT -5
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Post by hokieraider on May 28, 2024 1:08:08 GMT -5
As disappointing as this season was, especially at the end, there are some silver linings for the future. We lose our 1 thru 4 hitters, plus the regular Fri and Sat starting pitchers. But our Sunday starter (Lax), and arguably our three best relief pitchers (Cam Allen, Griffen Paige, and Brayden Schoetzow) are all true freshmen. Two other relievers with lots of good innings are juniors (Peters, Gallager). Several other pitchers who are Fr and Soph showed a lot of potential, but would have one good outing, followed by a bad one -- with another year to develop, I would expect a couple of them to find regular spots in the bullpen rotation. Of the starting position players, Gregory is a R-Fr, and Fultz a Soph. Boston Smith, Andrew Patrick and Luke Arnold are all jrs. With all the injuries this year, we also got to see the true depth this team has. Once we got healthy, there wasn't enough room on the field for sometimes starters Drew Baker (Jr), Carson Clark and Parker Harrison (both Soph), Nate Manley and JP Peltier (both Fr). All should be able to step right into the lineup next season, though there will be a lot of competition in the infield. If everyone comes back, this team should again be very good next year. If the incoming class of freshman includes anywhere near the same pitching talent as this years class, the overall pitching will improve greatly. I would expect Cam Allen to be converted to a regular rotation starter. Would be nice if we could also land a transfer who fits the mold of a solid rotation starter, and a couple of depth position players and relievers. This is some good insight and lays out the potential for next year! Smith and Patrick are possible draftees, with Patrick most likely forgoing his remaining eligibility to sign a contract. I think Smith will be back to improve his draft stock, but still a chance he leaves. I wouldn’t (and many people around the program) be surprised if Cam Allen opts to enter the transfer portal to increase his stock at a Power Five school. Would it be smart? Who knows. But those are the rumblings that parents have been hearing from their kids on the team. Infield should be rather the same, with Gilkerson replacing Luikart. The coaching staff and team is excited about Gilkerson and think he can be the next big bat to come out of the program. The catching situation won’t be a problem as any of Smith, Baker, and Manley can handle those duties. The outfield will be interesting but I think Smith/Baker will play in left, find someone in the portal for center, and Harrison will play right. I did forget about the draft eligibility. In my mind, Boston Smith is unlikely to go to the draft -- he's a good college player, but doesn't seem like an early round pick. Andrew Patrick probably could have gone if he played all year, but the injury and drop in production coming off it makes the smart decision to come back for another year. Cam certainly would have offers if he chooses the portal route -- any team that looks at the radar gun and K/BB ratio certainly would be interested. His decision is essentially does he want to come back to Raidergang and get a lot more innings (probably as a starter), or go get some NIL money and just be another arm in the pen? I'm biased, but I would hope all will come to the conclusion that staying here is their best option. Also good catch on Dane Thomas, I debated on whether to mention him and a couple others, but my post was too long already.
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Post by raiderrunt on May 29, 2024 14:10:20 GMT -5
Well, obviously this was a very disappointing year for Raider fans, and I am sure the team is even more disappointed. A combination of injuries for the first half of the season which resulted in some surprising losses and the elephant in the room, the rocky pitching which persisted throughout the year.
Numbers tell the story, so let's look at some numbers.
112 HR tied for 11th 2.0 HR per game tied for 10th Batting average .312 tied for 18th (NKU surged to .320 6th) 615 Hits 17th (NKU 636 8th)
ERA 8.24/opponents 8.20 A good year for RaiderGang is 4.50 or lower.
I think NKU was a slightly better offensive team, and they had better pitching. WSU's RPI was a unusually high 140 and NKU is 149 (low is good). The difference is because WSU played a little tougher schedule.
I think our coaching staff is solid and the team culture is very good. That is why we do not get a ton of guys leaving the program. I think Cam Allen really likes it here and I do not see him going anywhere, at least for a while. I think that can be said for most of the players. Who knows what the future holds for college baseball? It is cloudy at best. This is where a good program culture helps provide stability.
I think that NKU has thrown down the gauntlet and has elevated their program close to the level of Wright State. I think our coaching staff is very motivated to get back to the dominate HL/regional program we have become used to. I think they will add some transfers and hopefully keep recruiting good players that fit the culture. If the two Triple A former Raiders get called up to the MLB, that can only help recruiting. Having six former Raiders in the MLB is huge..
I am very optimistic that this down year is the exception, rather than the rule.
Coach Sogard posted this on X:
"Raider nation, THANK YOU! Thanks to the players, especially our seniors for investing so much into this program. Thank you to all the families, alumni, coaches, admin, support staff, and all of our fans! We will be back, and we will be better!!"
I will be rooting for the Big 10 teams (Indiana and Nebraska) in the Regionals. We are in the old Big 10 footprint, and I think we will be playing one, two or maybe three Big 10 Teams every year going forward.
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Post by hokieraider on May 30, 2024 13:04:48 GMT -5
Runt, good summary (as always!). Very few college teams seem to have ERAs below 5, so I'm wondering if your 4.5 is achievable. Around 6 seems more realistic. Even the ACC and SEC teams often have ERAs in the 5s and 6s (of course they are playing tougher schedules, with many top 25 teams within their leagues). Where have we been the last several years (say, since 2018 since that when the current league tourney or reg season champions run began)?
I just looked up the ACC for reference. 8 teams in the tournament (5 #1 seeds, 2 #2s, and 1 #3). They have only one team (UNC) with an ERA below 4.5. Two more teams are between 4.5-4.55, so around that goal. 1 team at 5.0, 2 btwn 5.0-5.5, 3 from 5.7-6, and 5 are above 6, with the highest at 6.65. I would presume the SEC is similar.
Of those ACC pitchers with enough innings to make the stats, 8 ACC players had an ERA below 4, two more below 4.5, and 13 total below 5. All but the league leader (at 1.98!!) were starters. FYI, WSU transfer Sebastian Gongora's ERA at Louisville was 6.14 in 15 starts. Thats 21st in the league. His opponent batting avg was .277.
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Post by raiderrunt on May 30, 2024 14:57:56 GMT -5
Runt, good summary (as always!). Very few college teams seem to have ERAs below 5, so I'm wondering if your 4.5 is achievable. Around 6 seems more realistic. Even the ACC and SEC teams often have ERAs in the 5s and 6s (of course they are playing tougher schedules, with many top 25 teams within their leagues). Where have we been the last several years (say, since 2018 since that when the current league tourney or reg season champions run began)? I just looked up the ACC for reference. 8 teams in the tournament (5 #1 seeds, 2 #2s, and 1 #3). They have only one team (UNC) with an ERA below 4.5. Two more teams are between 4.5-4.55, so around that goal. 1 team at 5.0, 2 btwn 5.0-5.5, 3 from 5.7-6, and 5 are above 6, with the highest at 6.65. I would presume the SEC is similar. Of those ACC pitchers with enough innings to make the stats, 8 ACC players had an ERA below 4, two more below 4.5, and 13 total below 5. All but the league leader (at 1.98!!) were starters. FYI, WSU transfer Sebastian Gongora's ERA at Louisville was 6.14 in 15 starts. Thats 21st in the league. His opponent batting avg was .277. RaiderGang: In 2019 the team ERA was 4.32. In 2021 it was 4.41 In 2018 it was 3.81. On the offensive side if WSU played in the ACC or SEC they would have a team batting average of maybe .290.
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Post by rowdy4theraiders on May 30, 2024 17:11:34 GMT -5
Sources from Cardinal Mooney baseball program have said that the Raidergang was one of the first programs to reach out to Youngstown State transfer catcher Ian Francis. Looks like statistically he had one of the best tournaments this past week.
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Post by madnesswsu on May 30, 2024 20:08:37 GMT -5
Sources from Cardinal Mooney baseball program have said that the Raidergang was one of the first programs to reach out to Youngstown State transfer catcher Ian Francis. Looks like statistically he had one of the best tournaments this past week. We are looking at Alejandro Covas also from YSU
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Post by hokieraider on May 30, 2024 22:31:27 GMT -5
Ian Francis had an awesome tournament, hitting 4 HRs despite missing a game and a half. This after having only 4 HRs in the regular season. Missing those games was due to a weird ejection for tobacco use, which came with an automatic suspension for the next game (ironically the game that ended Raidergang's season). Francis is a catcher. Even with the loss of Sass we are pretty well stocked, with Boston Smith and Nate Manley, and Drew Baker can also catch if needed. However, this past season showed that Boston can move around and play anywhere he's needed, and you can never have enough catchers. Don't know if Francis could also move to the outfield.
Covas was the HL freshman of the year, and tore it up all season long (.357 BA), but his bat didn't due much in the tournament (he'll fit right in!). He's an outfielder and mostly played in right, where we had Vore graduate.
I would gladly take either or both of these players. But I'd really like to see us looking for a transfer starting pitcher, preferably a southpaw.
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Post by hokieraider on Jun 1, 2024 21:14:34 GMT -5
NKU goes down very quietly in the NCAAs. 9-3 against #1 Tennessee. Then 6-0 against Southern Miss. Southern Miss starter pitched a complete game, and NKU got all of 2 hits. Not a great look for the HL. Any updates on MVC expansion?
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Post by raiderrunt on Jun 3, 2024 13:11:59 GMT -5
So far in the Regionals schools that I would call peer schools to Wright State have been having some success against the big boys.
UConn 4 Duke 1 VCU 1 Wake Forest 0 UNC Wilmington 9 Georgia Tech 0 Coastal Carolina 13 Vanderbilt 3 UCF 8 Alabama 7 Grand Canyon 9 Arizona 4 UNCW 9 Georgia Teach 0 VCU 1 Wake Forest 0 Coastal Carolina 13 Vandy 3 DBU 7 Arizona 0 Stetson 4 Alabama 0 High Point 10 Vandy 9 Indiana St 13 Illinois 2 James Madison 2 South Carolina 0 Southeast Missouri St 6 Arkansas 3
Also, Evansville is still playing today. So, Wright State is not that far from making a run based on what other peer schools are doing. I think we will see a larger number of players leaving the Raiders than usual as the coaching staff meet with each player about their future in the program. It is critical that the coaching staff grab some good pitchers from the transfer portal. So, check back often over the next few days and weeks for RaiderGang personnel announcements.
Update: Evansville beat ECU 6-5. Evansville was a 4-Seed and they are headed to the Super Regional.
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Post by rowdy4theraiders on Jun 4, 2024 7:03:34 GMT -5
Disappointed to see this morning that pitcher Ty Roder has entered the transfer portal.
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Post by madnesswsu on Jun 4, 2024 10:30:32 GMT -5
Disappointed to see this morning that pitcher Ty Roder has entered the transfer portal. he not the only one you just wait
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Post by bearcatraider on Jun 4, 2024 10:39:18 GMT -5
Disappointed to see this morning that pitcher Ty Roder has entered the transfer portal. he not the only one you just wait Don't want to come off as a jerk, but why? Oops! Meant it towards Roder leaving - he really struggled this year.
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