Dabblin' With the Cockspur: Week 1 Baseball Observations/Thoughts
posted by Roger Olivieri, 2/24/2009 07:53:00 PM
So, what have we learned after Opening Weekend at The Sar… errrr, Carolina Stadium?
Aside from finally learning to spell “Duquesne” without looking it up, I saw several things stand out. Keep in mind several things though:
1) By no means is this SEC competition. A dominating sweep of the Duquesne Dukes spells out nothing for us in terms of how the team will perform once the rough and tumble SEC schedule kicks into high gear – not to mention how they’ll fare in the home and home with the little orange school from the north.
2) Three games is barely enough cumulative statistics to project anything. In other words, just because DeAngelo Mack hit two bombs in three games doesn’t mean he should be expected to do that consistently. Most of you don’t need to be told that, but believe me, some do.
That in mind, what I noticed:
Andrew Crisp is swinging way too early in the count. In the first game he popped out to CF in the sixth on the first pitch. In the second game he grounded out to the 3B twice on the first pitch. In the third game he grounded out to the SS and flew out to right field on the first pitch.
In twelve at bats, that is too frequent. There is a fine line between being aggressive and being over-aggressive.
Making matters worse, he had two more two-pitch at bats. In 12 official at-bats Crisp has seen a total of 32 pitches – less than three pitches per at bat. He has not drawn a walk yet.
The good news is this: Crisp is a senior who’s shown the ability to be a dangerous hitter. It’s safe to assume the veteran was a victim of early season rust.
Sam Dyson was hitting the upper nineties on the radar gun 75 pitches in to his first outing of the season. That, all by itself, should scare the “you know what” out of hitters.
After giving up his first hit of the game in the fourth inning, thus faced with runners on second and third and only one out, Dyson could have given an inch to get out of the inning. A ground ball may score one, but he still records the important second out.
Instead, Sam reared back and painted the outside corner of the plate with a 96 mph heater. Duquesne 1B Mark Tracy never had a chance.
The next batter, shortstop Andrew Heck, was behind in the count. Rather than throw something away and hope Heck goes fishing, Dyson blew another 96 mph fastball across the middle of the plate.
Fear? Yeah, right…
Speaking of fear, it’s an unspoken war in baseball. Who controls the corners? Is it the batter or the pitcher? Not only does Dyson stand and deliver, but so does Curtis Johnson.
I asked if he ever gets into a psychological battle with himself after hitting two batters so close together. Neither was intentional, obviously, as there were already runners on base. One has to think though, considering there were already several hit batsmen going back to last season’s Scott Wingo plunk-fest against Duquesne, if the next one would draw a brawl.
I was extremely impressed when Johnson told me, “I don’t care what they think. My job is to get people out. That’s how I pitch. I pitch in. If I hit somebody, it’s alright. That’s just how I pitch, so…”
He left the comment hanging after the word “so,” as if he was tempting anyone to question his approach. I wasn’t about to.
Jackie Bradley Jr. saw a ton of pitches, odd for a freshman. Usually the freshmen have the worst discipline on the team. It’s the one glaring weakness no matter how good they may be – not in Bradley’s case.
Not only did he have two multiple hit games, go yard and drive a few in, he also forced the pitchers to “show their hand” for the batters behind him. The benefits of having a damn good leadoff guy go far beyond the “speed at the top of the order” cliché.
Whit Merrifield got caught stealing for the first time in his Gamecock career Monday – the sign of a good base stealer. Don’t mistake that for simply being fast. There is an art to stealing, bunting and getting the extra base – it’s called “base running” and Whit is great at it.
Blake Cooper looks bigger than in the past. How does the extra weight affect him? Positively. He hit 90 on the radar gun several times Monday – something he’s never done in the past.
When a guy with command of the strike zone and the ability to locate breaking balls can suddenly blow one by you, he becomes nasty. Not only did Blake add a change up last season, but now he compliments the repertoire with gas. Ouch.
Of his seven strikeouts Monday – six were of the “caught looking” variety – a sure sign that the Duquesne hitters were simply overmatched.
See ya’ in Clemson.
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So, what have we learned after Opening Weekend at The Sar… errrr, Carolina Stadium?
Aside from finally learning to spell “Duquesne” without looking it up, I saw several things stand out. Keep in mind several things though:
1) By no means is this SEC competition. A dominating sweep of the Duquesne Dukes spells out nothing for us in terms of how the team will perform once the rough and tumble SEC schedule kicks into high gear – not to mention how they’ll fare in the home and home with the little orange school from the north.
2) Three games is barely enough cumulative statistics to project anything. In other words, just because DeAngelo Mack hit two bombs in three games doesn’t mean he should be expected to do that consistently. Most of you don’t need to be told that, but believe me, some do.
That in mind, what I noticed:
Andrew Crisp is swinging way too early in the count. In the first game he popped out to CF in the sixth on the first pitch. In the second game he grounded out to the 3B twice on the first pitch. In the third game he grounded out to the SS and flew out to right field on the first pitch.
In twelve at bats, that is too frequent. There is a fine line between being aggressive and being over-aggressive.
Making matters worse, he had two more two-pitch at bats. In 12 official at-bats Crisp has seen a total of 32 pitches – less than three pitches per at bat. He has not drawn a walk yet.
The good news is this: Crisp is a senior who’s shown the ability to be a dangerous hitter. It’s safe to assume the veteran was a victim of early season rust.
Sam Dyson was hitting the upper nineties on the radar gun 75 pitches in to his first outing of the season. That, all by itself, should scare the “you know what” out of hitters.
After giving up his first hit of the game in the fourth inning, thus faced with runners on second and third and only one out, Dyson could have given an inch to get out of the inning. A ground ball may score one, but he still records the important second out.
Instead, Sam reared back and painted the outside corner of the plate with a 96 mph heater. Duquesne 1B Mark Tracy never had a chance.
The next batter, shortstop Andrew Heck, was behind in the count. Rather than throw something away and hope Heck goes fishing, Dyson blew another 96 mph fastball across the middle of the plate.
Fear? Yeah, right…
Speaking of fear, it’s an unspoken war in baseball. Who controls the corners? Is it the batter or the pitcher? Not only does Dyson stand and deliver, but so does Curtis Johnson.
I asked if he ever gets into a psychological battle with himself after hitting two batters so close together. Neither was intentional, obviously, as there were already runners on base. One has to think though, considering there were already several hit batsmen going back to last season’s Scott Wingo plunk-fest against Duquesne, if the next one would draw a brawl.
I was extremely impressed when Johnson told me, “I don’t care what they think. My job is to get people out. That’s how I pitch. I pitch in. If I hit somebody, it’s alright. That’s just how I pitch, so…”
He left the comment hanging after the word “so,” as if he was tempting anyone to question his approach. I wasn’t about to.
Jackie Bradley Jr. saw a ton of pitches, odd for a freshman. Usually the freshmen have the worst discipline on the team. It’s the one glaring weakness no matter how good they may be – not in Bradley’s case.
Not only did he have two multiple hit games, go yard and drive a few in, he also forced the pitchers to “show their hand” for the batters behind him. The benefits of having a damn good leadoff guy go far beyond the “speed at the top of the order” cliché.
Whit Merrifield got caught stealing for the first time in his Gamecock career Monday – the sign of a good base stealer. Don’t mistake that for simply being fast. There is an art to stealing, bunting and getting the extra base – it’s called “base running” and Whit is great at it.
Blake Cooper looks bigger than in the past. How does the extra weight affect him? Positively. He hit 90 on the radar gun several times Monday – something he’s never done in the past.
When a guy with command of the strike zone and the ability to locate breaking balls can suddenly blow one by you, he becomes nasty. Not only did Blake add a change up last season, but now he compliments the repertoire with gas. Ouch.
Of his seven strikeouts Monday – six were of the “caught looking” variety – a sure sign that the Duquesne hitters were simply overmatched.
See ya’ in Clemson.
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Roger Olivieri. Roger began working with GamecockCentral in December of 2007. He currently serves as the site's chief videographer. He may be reached by email at roger(at)gamecockcentral.com. Replace (at) with @.