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D1Baseball Weekly Chat
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Eric Simmons
2:13
Will Texas use Dylan Volantis as their Friday starter?
Kendall Rogers
2:13
TBD. Honestly, with the way Volantis threw in his debut on Sunday, allowing just one hit in seven innings, I like him in that spot for now. BTW, thanks to our friends at Synergy, I have some data on Volantis' start. How about this? His low-80s curveball generated a 67% whiff rate this past weekend against UC Davis. Nasty!
Erik
2:15
Well hello, Big Ten. That was LOUD from Michigan, Michigan State, and Nebraska
Kendall Rogers
2:15
Erik -- there is no question it was a big weekend for the Big Ten. For the Big Ten teams to have good RPIs in range to make the NCAA tournament, they've got to rack up some early-season non-conference wins. And the league did that over the weekend. I'd also throw in a team like Minnesota, which looked the real deal, at least on the mound, over the weekend. Heck of a start for the B10 for sure!
cool 1
Heel
2:16
Early thoughts on UNC? Feels like even if their offense is just average to slightly above-average, they have a chance to be in the top tier all season with the arms they have.
Kendall Rogers
2:16
Yeah, that is the conversation we had as a staff coming into the season. We knew the Tar Heels would pitch at a very high level, but would there be enough offense in the tank to make a run to a national title. So far, so good. Erik Paulsen stepped up over the weekend, and my man Gavin Gallaher, was, well, Gavin Gallaher. It's one weekend -- but seems like the Heels hit their stride after the first 4-5 innings of the opening game. Love the look of this team.
WC_Drew
2:19
What do you make of Michigan State's impressive series win over Louisville? Is it a reason to be optimistic or is it too early to draw conclusions?
Joe Healy
2:19
It's too early to make any sweeping proclamations, but if nothing else, MSU has shown that its upside is higher than we thought. I certainly like the core of veteran position players in Ryan McKay, Parker Picot and Randy Seymour. The Spartans often have intriguing players and make some noise; it's just about maintaining consistency as they get into the meat of the schedule.
cool 1
Frank
2:19
What impressed you more for Tennessee this weekend - the offense exploding or the pitching staff dominance?
Kendall Rogers
2:19
For me, it was the pitching staff. With the departures of Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson, the pitching staff was the thing I was curious most about entering the season. Not that I thought that the Vols would struggle, but Josh Reynolds was filling some mighty big shoes. Again, it's one weekend, but super intrigued by the starts of Kuhns and highly touted transfer Landon Mack. 1 run allowed in 12-2 innings of work is a heck of a way for the Reynolds era to begin.
Bryan F
2:21
Bit confused about some choices in the rankings... why does Miami drop after such a dominant opening series? What's the reasoning for putting West Virginia in the Top 25 as opposed to Michigan? Why does TCU jump three after 2 one run wins and a run-rule loss? It's just week one, and these rankings don't mean too much, but still
Kendall Rogers
2:21
Great question. We were very high on WVU coming into the season and had them 26 in our pecking order. The Mountaineers had a dominant weekend on the road against a pretty solid Georgia Southern team. They earned the right to be in the Top 25, IMO. As for Miami, the Canes only dropped one spot because Oklahoma moved in (ahead of the Canes, and rightfully so). Has nothing to do with how Miami played. That was an impressive weekend, particularly offensively. As for TCU, it beat two teams last week who were ranked, one of them a Top 10 team. That's a pretty damn good weekend, I'd say.
cool 1
Eric Simmons
2:22
Time to be concerned about Louisville after losing their opening series to Michigan State?
Joe Healy
2:22
It certainly wasn't a good weekend for Louisville; I'm not going to sugarcoat that. That said, I'd like to see the Cardinals with Zion Rose back in the lineup before we make any judgments. It's also likely that Michigan State is a bit better than we have given them credit for in the preseason.
Dawgfan42
2:23
Thoughts on Mississippi state slow start offensively this
Joe Healy
2:23
I think it's going to take time for that roster to come together. Let's not forget that it's a coaching staff getting acclimated to a whole new set of players, and vice versa. Mississippi State didn't play particularly well against Hofstra, but I think those kinks will get worked out with time.
John
2:24
Aaron, what did you think of the atmosphere in Hattiesburg? Will USM host?
Joe Healy
2:24
Aaron isn't in the chat this week (he's traveling back from being in Hattiesburg and Lafayette), but he and I podcasted last night and he was effusive in his praise for the atmosphere at USM. It's definitely one of the best environments in college baseball. And yes, because I'm speaking for him, let's just say they'll host.
Dan
2:27
Any idea if the University of Wisconsin will ever have a program? Are they the only one in the BIG without
Joe Healy
2:27
You are correct that Wisconsin is the only Big Ten team without a baseball program, but there's enough prep baseball talent in that state that if the Badgers did decide to add the sport, I think it could be competitive. Occasionally the idea gets batted around, but there's never been any momentum for adding it.
Colby Allen
2:28
How good is Southern Miss? Can they keep it rolling this weekend at Round Rock?
Kendall Rogers
2:28
I think we're going to look back and say that's a pretty sizable series win for the Golden Eagles. UCSB is a dang good club, and Jackson Flora looks like he could end up being the No. 1 or No. 2 prospect arm in college baseball this spring. Joey Urban and Drey Barrett looked the part. Very curious to see what Grayden Harris looks like this weekend in Round Rock. He's a guy that Southern Miss really needs to be good this season to reach their goals.
Guest
2:29
Why did L'Ville who lost two drop 7 spots including 1 lower than uGa who lost one to a weak team?
Kendall Rogers
2:29
Louisville dropped two games to Michigan State (lost the series) at home, and got pummeled in one of the losses. Meanwhile, Georgia won 2/3 from a team that for all intents and purposes will likely be in a Regional at the end of the year. Much different situations. UL is lucky it didn't drop even more in our rankings.
Eric Simmons
2:29
What will it take for USC to be ranked?
Joe Healy
2:29
Just keep winning. USC Isn't really on the radar for the rankings right now, but it has a series coming up against Cal Poly on the road, and if it's still rolling by that point, we'll be paying attention.
Isaac Kaufmann
2:31
Reports saying Tyler Bell is out for the year. Any chance he returns next year if that’s true or do you see his draft stock not being effected?
Joe Healy
2:31
Yeah being referred to as out "indefinitely" is certainly ominous. Ultimately, I can't imagine his draft stock being hurt enough for him to reconsider signing in the draft.
PSteves
2:33
I know it’s just week 1 and nothing but a small sample size to the season and overreactions aren’t warranted. That said, who did the most to either make themselves now an Omaha contender or really give pause to a previously predicted Omaha 8 in your book?
Kendall Rogers
2:33
PSteves -- I was personally pretty high on Oklahoma's ability to be a sleeper Top 25 team coming into the season, and I thought the Sooners looked like that and more. The pitching was great, the offense was super balanced, and that's without even throwing Drew Rerick, who now gets the midweek start. OU has a lot of pitching options and had more power production than I was expecting offensively. On the flip side, I'm pretty concerned about Florida if it can't consistently get more than it did from Liam Peterson this past weekend. I didn't have them as an Omaha team, but still, point stands.
PSteves
2:35
Is there any data to back up if it’s better or worse to go 2-1 or even 1-2 against good teams in an early neutral site tournament  vs sweeping a sub 100 RPI team at home when it comes to boosting a resume come selection time?
Joe Healy
2:35
I don't have any data on that available at my fingertips, but I guess the thing I would say is that most of the high-profile early-season tournaments exclusively involve teams that ALSO play (and usually sweep) sub-100 RPI teams at some point before conference play. So it would be difficult to tease out what difference it makes when every team would fall into both buckets, if that makes sense.
Isaac Kaufmann
2:37
How do you think UK can fair with the loss of Tyler Bell?
Joe Healy
2:37
It's a blow for sure, but I saw them with my own eyes on Friday and I like the lineup depth even without him in there. Jayce Tharnish looks like he could be one of the best catalysts in the SEC, Ethan Hindle looks improved, Ryan Schwartz has started off scalding hot, and I could go on and on. And defensively, I don't think Luke Lawrence at the position represents much of a drop-off. Losing Bell lowers UK's ceiling, but it still has a very high floor.
Guest
2:38
How far is Louisiana Tech from being ranked and is it possible they get into the hosting convo? They looked really good this weekend.
Joe Healy
2:38
They did look good last weekend, but they're not really in the rankings conversation just yet. HOWEVER, if they can win that series against Southern Miss coming up in two weekends, we'll almost certainly be talking about them.
Eric Simmons
2:39
I think the SEC is going to be the best conference in College Baseball what do you think?
Joe Healy
2:39
Yes. I can't see that changing this year.
Andrew
2:39
Most impressive team of the weekend outside of the traditional 4 power conferences?   
A few that really caught my eye were Southern Miss, Missouri State, and Mercer.
Kendall Rogers
2:39
I'm going to go with Mercer, who took two of three from Troy, a team that we had competing for an NCAA tournament bid at the end of the season. I still think the Trojans are a really good team, but the Bears won the first two games, and pummeled the Trojans in one of those games. Eli Stephens and Logan Shepherd really stood out. Big shoutout to Shepherd, who played for our good friend Derek Weldon, who runs point at 643 Charts.
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