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D1Baseball Weekly Chat: March 6
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Aaron Fitt
1:10
To be fair, Fullerton and Rice both look improved, though neither is likely to be a regional team, that's true. You're right that Stanford's pitching is more of a question mark than its position player group, but I'm still in on a staff built around Quinn Mathews and Drew Dowd and Ryan Bruno, with plenty of other quality arms around them. Still a work in progress, sure, but I think the pieces are there for this to be a solid staff. But I don't think the gap between the Cardinal and Bruins is very wide at all -- could see that race going either way, really. I am very high on this UCLA team, feels like they belong in the top 10 and will get there soon.
Guest
1:14
Don't sleep on the Sun Belt's reloaded Old Dominion team.
Kendall Rogers
1:14
Guest -- I actually wondered how ODU would be offensively after losing Logan Robbins in the offseason, but boy, the Monarchs have not skipped a bit have they? Granted the schedule has been weak, but Jake Ticer is flat out ridiculous right now (1.693 OPS) and Hunter Fitzgerald isn't far behind at 1.360 with 8 bombs. Wash, Rinse, Repeat for the Monarchs. That league race this year will be flat-out fascinating.
Brendan Bell
1:16
It’s obviously too early to make any definitive observations, but with how the SEC has fared in non conference play, it looks like the deepest its ever been. Could this be the year a conference sends more than 10 to the tournament?
Aaron Fitt
1:16
You know, I think this is the year. Feels to me like every team in the West is regional-caliber (which doesn't mean they're all going to make regionals, but it's impossible to write any of them off at this point). Every team in the league in both division has a winning record. Missouri and Kentucky, the two teams everybody agreed would be the last two in the standings, are a combined 17-4. It feels like everything is shaping up for the SEC to get more than 10 bids.
Sam
1:16
When Tennessee had a player flip off another player it was the end of baseball and a disgrace to the game. When Florida has a guy do it not a word out of anyone. How would you explain that Is it as simple as Tony bad O’Sullivan good?
Kendall Rogers
1:16
Sam, as you well know, I never took the bait on the Tennessee stuff last year and criticized the program much at all. I'm not even sure I addressed the flip off incident. But I do think we'd all agree that there's a big difference between what Cags did at Florida and unsportsmanlike actions being a common theme. Again, as you know, I didn't care at all about the UT stuff last year, but the instances aren't quite the same IMO.
Tyler
1:19
13/14 teams in the FunBelt are currently .500 or better. Who's your favorite to win the league this year? Who all do you have going to regionals and are there any teams that will have an opportunity to host based on what you've seen so far?
Kendall Rogers
1:19
I'm still on team Southern Miss. As for bids, I'll say four total with about six more teams outside of USM in the mix. Hell, they could get five bids.
party 1
Guest
1:20
Is it too early to worry about how rutgers looks? The schedule doesn’t get any easier the next two weeks.
Kendall Rogers
1:20
Guest -- they definitely need to get on their horse so to speak. I know Aaron actually liked their upside opening weekend against Campbell. But the fact is RU has struggled so far and has put itself in a precarious spot already from a position standpoint. They need to get on a roll.
GoBeavs
1:21
I don't think anyone knew exactly what to make of the Beavs coming into the year, but 9-2 to start the year feels like the same ole story in Corvallis: they just win. Are you buying this team yet?
Aaron Fitt
1:21
Still reserving judgment until they face better competition, but early returns are definitely encouraging.
Southaltiger
1:22
Auburn doesn’t seem to get much love from you guys coming off a sweep without their ace. Is the pitching too much of a question mark right now? What do you guys need to see from them going forward to put them in the rankings?
Kendall Rogers
1:22
I actually really like what I've seen from Auburn so far. The fact of the matter is we had about five Top 25 teams in the mix for three spots in the Top 25. I've been pretty impressed with the Tigers, especially considering they haven't been 100 percent on the mound. I would say Auburn and UC Irvine were our first two teams outside of the Top 25.
Greg
1:22
Five undefeated teams remain, which will be the last one standing?
Aaron Fitt
1:22
I'll go with Alabama, feels like a manageable schedule for a while longer yet. Tide sounds really good too -- we are hearing rave reviews on the depth and quality of that pitching staff, and they're scoring runs by the bushel right now.
Guest
1:24
Outside of Tennessee and Florida, who are a couple of other teams with an elite wknd rotation?
Aaron Fitt
1:24
I think Wake Forest's rotation is elite even without Teddy McGraw. Lowder, Hartle and Sean Sullivan is really good. Deacs are loaded.
Geaux
1:24
Predict LSU’s conference record after the first two weeks of SEC play against A&M away and Arkansas at home
Kendall Rogers
1:24
I'll say LSU splits those two series.
BFaIS Brendan
1:25
I have no idea what to think of Oregon.  Shut down against UC Santa Barbara last weekend, then rolled San Diego, who's probably the best team in the WCC.  Their staff ERA is 7th best in the country, yet their offense is 264th in RPG which is opposite of what I thought it would be in the preseason.  What do you make of the Ducks?
Aaron Fitt
1:25
I mentioned earlier that I'm still really high on the Oregon position players, and the fact that they haven't really found their stride yet leads me to believe this team is going to be really good -- because I have no question that team will hit. Just a slow start. And the pitching looks much better than I anticipated, which is very encouraging.
Brian D
1:27
Know it’s not much time into the season yet, but biggest surprises to make a regional so far after 3 weeks that you weren’t expecting?
Aaron Fitt
1:27
UC Irvine comes to mind -- we figured the Big West was basically UCSB and then everybody else. But the Anteaters look like a legit threat to challenge the Gauchos for league supremacy, and that is starting to look like a multi-bid league, given the overall strong performance of the Big West in nonconference play.
Loftin
1:28
Thoughts on South Carolina so far this season?
Kendall Rogers
1:28
I've liked what I've seen. Obviously the schedule the first couple of weeks wasn't great, but like Wake, the Gamecocks were obliterating people. I also like how they responded after the first game against Clemson. Something else that stood out to me were some of Mark Kingston's quotes after the game yesterday. That team just seems ultra dialed in and Kingston notices it. That bodes very very well for the season IMO.
Larry
1:28
Who do you like most, both as a college player and as a pro prospect, on the Ole Miss offense after Jacob Gonzalez? Groff, Harris, or Alderman?
Aaron Fitt
1:28
Man that's tough -- those are all really good players, and all prospects too. But I'll go with Harris as a prospect because he is a catcher (and a good one, too). I do believe Alderman's power is insane and will make him a high pick as well, and Groff is just a premium performer who does it all. They're all studs.
Not Ray Charles again
1:31
I'd like to apologize for mentioning Payton Green last week and how good he was hitting. Should have known a 2/12 weekend was coming. But is Cannon Peebles the best name, and possibly player (joking), in baseball? And what can be done to get power 5 teams to play other power 5 teams in early season series? I'd think going 1-2 or 2-1 against another power 5 opponent is as good or better than  blowout wins against a team only a handful of people could locate without a google search.
Aaron Fitt
1:31
Cannon Peebles was the best player in college baseball on Saturday, I'll give you that. What a game. Also a dynamite name, even though I keep wanting to call him Cannon Van Peebles.

I do like to power programs face off against each other in nonconference, would love to see more of it. Too many teams get fat and happy at home against lighter competition for my taste. And we've seen in recent years the committee will punish a power-five team for playing a soft nonconference schedule come selection day, so I would think those power five teams would start to schedule a little more aggressively in those early weekends, considering some of the selection day snubs we've seen recently that have been justified by NSOS.
Guest
1:31
Thoughts on the Vandyboys? Their pitching has done fantastic but their hitting has been a little light. Given how difficult and competitive their scheduling has been so far, how concerned about hitting should we be?
Kendall Rogers
1:31
Guest -- I think Vanderbilt's offense is going to have a pretty up and down season. There's a lot of talent, but Vandy is also relying on some young guys to put up big numbers. Anytime that's your situation, there will be fluctuations. With that said, those younger guys are supremely talented. They'll be fine.
Kevin R.
1:32
What team that has mostly played against a soft schedule are you most looking forward to see in conference play to see if they're legit.
Kendall Rogers
1:32
Wake Forest and Virginia immediately come to mind.
ecupir8s
1:32
Any worries about ECU or is it just an early season let down to Duke and LB State and everyone is trying to find the right chemistry in their line-ups?
Aaron Fitt
1:32
Nah, no worries at all -- that's baseball, it's a long season and 2-2 weeks won't kill you. Duke and Long Beach are both also clearly much improved from last year. ECU has a very good team.
Erik
1:35
Ole Miss aside, they're just a machine - it's safe to say this Nebraska team is legit and will be right there in the postseason picture come May, yes?
Aaron Fitt
1:35
I'm not quite ready to commit fully, but I sure like how Nebraska has played the last two weeks, and the reports from our guys up in Minneapolis this weekend were positive. I do believe the Huskers are a real contender in the Big Ten, which is shaping up as a pretty interesting league with Illinois also off to a strong start, Ohio State showing us something this week in Frisco, Iowa looking like a big-time force, and uneven starts by Maryland and Rutgers. This could be a free-for-all.
Aaron Fitt
1:35
OK folks, that's all I have time for today. Thanks for the great discussion as usual, see you next week!
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