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D1Baseball Weekly Chat: Feb 21
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Kendall Rogers
1:32
Brandon -- When I get time to write about 300 times I'll release that list. As for college baseball's popularity, I think our website traffic is a good testament to how much more popular college baseball has become, but I think the greatest credit just goes to the fact that we all love a bad ass sport. From the fans, coaches and players, to the passion and atmospheres, it's perfect. That has allowed plenty of schools, power five, mid-major, low-major, etc, to cultivate terrific cultures, crowds and facilities. WTS -- I do think parity is a fragile thing as some things shift at the higher levels of the NCAA. Stay tuned.
EdB
1:34
What did we learn about the Pac12 this weekend?
Aaron Fitt
1:34
Good start for everybody but Oregon -- I did not expect the Ducks to get swept by San Diego. But everybody else in the league had winning weekends, and I thought it was particularly important for Cal and Arizona to each go 3-0, with four of those wins coming against Big 12 teams. Playing well in nonconference early on is so important for a conference's RPI later in the year, and the Pac looks like it has a chance to build up a great cushion here.
Clemsonfan4201
1:35
how far outside the top 25 do yall think clemson is
Kendall Rogers
1:35
We did not discuss Clemson this week, but I'll say this, its weekend against Indiana caught my attention. We expect IU to be a solid club this spring, so the fact the Tigers, in many ways, made easy work for for the Hoosiers, stood out to me. Mack Anglin, who we thought would take a step forward this season, threw really well, and of course, our man Caden Grice was a beast. Check out Burke Granger's video of Grice's HR over the weekend. Ridiculous. Good start!
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Pete
1:35
Thoughts on Ok St after the Vandy series win?
Aaron Fitt
1:35
I'll have a takeaways piece on that series posted this afternoon, so be sure to check that out. But the quick take is I loved what I saw from the Cowboys -- played clean defense all weekend, competed hard on the mound and showed plenty of stuff, and the offense got better as the weekend progressed. Very, very good club.
FittsMagic
1:39
A lot of the power brokers (Vandy, Ark, MSU, Florida) appear to have some things to figure out. Is it just inexperience? How long will it take them to get a good feel for their teams?
Aaron Fitt
1:39
Welcome back to the chat, FittsMagic! I will say that almost all of the SEC teams stuffed up in our rankings still have to establish themselves on the mound -- there are very few proven weekend starters back in that league (Hunter Barco being one of them, and he pitched great for the Gators). All of those teams have a lot of exciting young talent on the mound that is still growing into their new, larger roles. Certainly I liked what I saw from Vandy's pitching, and I think the Commodores will be just fine. They need to be better defensively on the left side of the infield (and they need those guys to have more competitive ABs too), but I think that will happen. I'm not worried about any of those top SEC teams that had uneven weekends.
JD
1:40
Beavers had a Monster weekend but Will Frisch did not pitch. I am wondering if he is hurt?
Aaron Fitt
1:40
The word from Oregon State camp is they are simply being cautious with him, and it's nothing that is expected to be a long-term issue. So stay tuned on that one.
Alex K
1:41
Is Fullerton somewhat back in 2022?
Kendall Rogers
1:41
Alex -- Although the final game of the series was a stinker for the Titans, I was actually encouraged by Jason Dietrich's club over the weekend. Cam Repetti allowed just one run in six innings in the opener and the Titans blew out Stanford in Game Two. They allowed two runs in two games against a top-10 team in college baseball. That's progress. Clearly, Diets has the pitching staff headed the right direction.
Guest
1:41
Overreaction time... which preseason prediction are you most worried about after one weekend?
Aaron Fitt
1:41
Man, my picks all look great! I'm more worried about some of Rooney's and Rogers' picks...
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LT
1:43
Did anyone have a better opening weekend than Tommy White?! Do you think when ACC play rolls around he will continue to be a force? Or was this weekend a little bit of fools gold?
Aaron Fitt
1:43
Oh, no fools gold with Tommy White. He is real, and he is spectacular. As I wrote in Friday's Digest, I think he's like a righthanded Brett Wallace (who won the Pac-12 triple crown during his Arizona State days). If you told me Tommy White will win an ACC triple crown before his season is over, I would nod my head and say, "that sounds about right." Enormous power combined with an uncommonly advanced approach and the sneaky athleticism to play either infield corner adeptly. He's a dude.
Seth
1:47
What were your thoughts on TCU’s and Kirk Saarloos’ performance this weekend?
Kendall Rogers
1:47
Seth -- I appreciated Los showing some fire early in the weekend and almost getting tossed in his debut weekend. Not sure I've seen that fire out of him before! With that said, 2-1 in that tourney is a success. Brayden Taylor had a fantastic weekend as expected, while I've got my eye on Tommy Sacco. The Frogs have hoped for a while that things would click and he would become a consistent offensive contributor, and he might be ready to do that.
Wade
1:47
Could alabama be a sleeper team in the SEC?
Aaron Fitt
1:47
Certainly they could, and our man Mark Etheridge even picked the Tide as his preseason sleeper. I picked them to finish behind Auburn in the standings, but I could see either one of those teams jumping up and being a regional team -- it's just not going to be easy because the top four teams in that division are so absurdly loaded. But good start for the Tide, going 3-0 against Xavier. We'll see if the pitching holds up, but I like some of the bullpen pieces, and I'm very excited about Grayson Hitt in year two (and he was great on Sunday).
Terry
1:48
Any under the radar teams catching your eye this weekend? Was out In tempe and caught ASUs opening series, they really impressed. Playing hard as hell under bloomquist
Kendall Rogers
1:48
Terry -- After struggling a bit at times last year, Sam Houston State could be ready to restore order. The Bearkats took 3 of 4 from Big Ten preseason favorite Nebraska, and frankly, they looked like the clear-cut better team yesterday in Huntsville. Keep an eye on those guys -- I really liked some of their pieces offensively. Really good offensive approaches.
Heel
1:48
Thoughts on UNC after an impressive offensive start to the season against Seton Hall? Should know more about this team after the next two weekends against ECU and Coastal.
Aaron Fitt
1:48
Correct, we'll learn more about the Tar Heels real fast, but it sounded like they played well in all facets this weekend. It's one thing to sweep a cold weather opponent the first weekend, it's another thing to dominate it the way UNC did. Very encouraging start for the Tar Heels (my own preseason sleeper team, by the way).
Adam
1:51
How do you think the freshman did this week for Miami (Carrier, Gonzalez Jr, ) and what do you think it will take for The U to be a factor come late May for an ACC Crown and a shot at making noise in the regionals?
Aaron Fitt
1:51
I think Carrier has a chance to be a superstar -- just dynamic tools, and the fact that he opened his career by going bonkers is very exciting. Good to see Gonzalez hit for some power this weekend too. Kinda felt like Miami did what UNC and Florida State did this weekend -- they took care of business at home against an overmatched colder-weather opponent, but they did it in pretty dominant fashion, which was a positive early sign. So much young talent on that Miami roster, and the key to their season is how those youngsters develop. So far, so good.
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Guest
1:52
Thoughts on who is the favorite in the Big Ten? Nebraska had a rough weekend, but Iowa and Maryland looked very good.
Aaron Fitt
1:52
I'm not burying Nebraska, but give me the Terps! As Kendall said earlier, Iowa also sounds very intriguing. It's gonna be a battle royal as always in that league.
Mnozil
1:54
ECU should not be ranked. They didn't win a game this weekend. They may have a lot of talent and still be one of the favorites as far as mid-majors go, but you should not be ranked after getting swept by Bryant. They should have to win at least one game before being ranked.
Aaron Fitt
1:54
They tumbled 13 spots, from 12 to 25. That's an appropriate reaction to a poor first weekend, but it's still just one weekend. There's a reason we ranked them No. 12 entering the season; they have a good team with a lot of players with strong track records. They'll bounce back.
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Chuck
1:54
How far out is LaTech from the top 25? Would think with a good showing against LSU Wednesday and a series win this upcoming weekend against Tulane they deserve it.
Kendall Rogers
1:54
Chuck -- They're in the discussion, and were also in our preseason discussion as well. I like the balance offensively, and obviously, I was pretty high on the Whorf, Jennings, Fincher combo in the weekend rotation coming into the season. Big week (statement weekend, potentially) ahead for the Bulldogs.
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scott
1:56
What are your thoughts on Liberty this year. It seemed like their bull pen was never ending…..super regional contenders possibly?
Aaron Fitt
1:56
That's a really deep bullpen with a ton of experience and variety, bunch of proven out-getters like David Erickson and Mason Fluharty, both of whom have legit stuff, plus some very exciting young arms like Garrett Horn and Trey Carter, both of whom pitched well this weekend too. Yeah, definitely a super regional contender.
Aaron Fitt
1:56
OK folks, that's all for me today. Thanks for the great questions as usual!
Fe_Mike
1:57
The Green Wave handled business this weekend against an inferior opponent.  Certainly not bad news, but still learning about this team.  What question mark do you think is the biggest need for Tulane to find a surprise answer for that pushes them back into the postseason and potentially bracket buster?  And are they the American favorites if ECU has regressed?
Kendall Rogers
1:57
I actually really liked Tulane's offense on paper coming into the season. Where I had my question marks was with the starting rotation and expecting Tyler Hoffman to make a huge leap, Dylan Carmouche to be a strong addition and Michel Massey to make an immediate impact. All three of those guys were pretty solid over the weekend.
Noah Bieniek
2:07
What is the season outlook for Michigan? I know KR fell in love with Clark Elliott, but I wasn't able to watch on Flo. Give me an overview on the team
Kendall Rogers
2:07
Noah -- I think the biggest takeaway is that Erik Bakich is clearly a little concerned about the bullpen depth -- at least quality depth. He mentioned to me that they're going to use Willie Weiss in a long-relief type of role to mitigate some bullpen depth issues. Offensively, there are some nice pieces present. I think Obertop is going to have a nice year, and Clark Elliott looked like a top two-round type of guy the first two days in Arlington. I was not there for the final day, however.
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