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Aaron

IU Baseball: NCAA Tournament With Short Ride to Louisville

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17 hours ago, Aaron said:

As I will keep saying anyone who wants Vandy has zero concept of how college baseball works and how much a title for Michigan would lift the entire Big Ten.

I get we wanted IU first and we have certainly been best Big Ten team last 10 years but Michigan (along with OSU and Minny) was the best for the 50 years before that and the next best after us the last 10. We sucked prior to the previous 10 years.

A rising tide will float all boats and a title for the Big Ten gives IU a real shot at winning won next with the right coach now in place again. Trust me on this. 

 

 

Completely agree here. I live in Nashville, have several close friends that are Vandy grads and fans and I was 100% pulling for Michigan. The Big Ten has gotten much better in baseball but a national title for the conference would have been huge. Full disclosure, I've lived down here long enough to take in a little too much Joe SEC fan. I'll never cheer for any SEC team to win at anything, especially against a Big Ten team. 

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Huge news that Justin Walker is transferring to PU. I had heard someone who was reasonably big might be transferring I was never able to confirm who it was. While on the surface this looks bad it is actually not and here me out why. '

Walker is a decent player but is exactly the type of guy where we need a talent upgrade if we want to take the next step. Really him and Jeremy Houston are the same player (mediocre hitters and fielders who occasionally make a great play) and at this point if we are serious about upgrading talent and getting to the next level Walker and SS have been the one position where I feel like we are behind. I do not know if Houston gets to start, but either way whether you started him or Walker, you need an upgrade and maybe a recruit will be it.

While losing someone to PU never looks good, the fact that PU wants him shows how far behind us they are talent wise in baseball. There he will be one of the best players because they are so mediocre and he can shine there and hopefully we find someone better.

It kind of reminds me when IU football got Matt Lovecchio from Notre Dame. He was basically very mediocre talent who never thrived here but was the starter because we had no one better. Walker will probably be PU's SS and if that is the type of guy they are starting it is nothing to worry about.

Mercer knows how to develop talent and this year showed who was actually talented that Lemonis could not develop and who was just not that great. Walker falls in the latter. I know everyone keeps talking about how averages fell but that was a very deliberate and smart approach by this staff knowing they had a bunch of power hitters.

Look at the draft and how much higher players went this year then under Lemonis and you have your answer. I have been around college baseball for a long time and talked with many coaches (including working on a staff as an intern where I had to learn this) and can promise you the development Mercer showed this year with players was 100 times better than under Lemonis and the draft backed that up.

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11 minutes ago, Aaron said:

Huge news that Justin Walker is transferring to PU. I had heard someone who was reasonably big might be transferring I was never able to confirm who it was. While on the surface this looks bad it is actually not and here me out why. '

Walker is a decent player but is exactly the type of guy where we need a talent upgrade if we want to take the next step. Really him and Jeremy Houston are the same player (mediocre hitters and fielders who occasionally make a great play) and at this point if we are serious about upgrading talent and getting to the next level Walker and SS have been the one position where I feel like we are behind. I do not know if Houston gets to start, but either way whether you started him or Walker, you need an upgrade and maybe a recruit will be it.

While losing someone to PU never looks good, the fact that PU wants him shows how far behind us they are talent wise in baseball. There he will be one of the best players because they are so mediocre and he can shine there and hopefully we find someone better.

It kind of reminds me when IU football got Matt Lovecchio from Notre Dame. He was basically very mediocre talent who never thrived here but was the starter because we had no one better. Walker will probably be PU's SS and if that is the type of guy they are starting it is nothing to worry about.

Mercer knows how to develop talent and this year showed who was actually talented that Lemonis could not develop and who was just not that great. Walker falls in the latter. I know everyone keeps talking about how averages fell but that was a very deliberate and smart approach by this staff knowing they had a bunch of power hitters.

Look at the draft and how much higher players went this year then under Lemonis and you have your answer. I have been around college baseball for a long time and talked with many coaches (including working on a staff as an intern where I had to learn this) and can promise you the development Mercer showed this year with players was 100 times better than under Lemonis and the draft backed that up.

Walker hit .210 and although showed promise at times, we shouldn't have an issue replacing him especially with the two JUCO infielders we brought in. Actually there is probably a good chance one of those guys would have beat him out anyways so maybe he saw the writing on the wall. 

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2 hours ago, Class of '66 Old Fart said:

BREAKING: #iubase outfielder Sam Crail will transfer.  He posted a .224/.299/.313 line with a homer and 10 RBIs as a sophomore.

For what its worth...  Dunkelberger and Bridge are the other two. 

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1 hour ago, btownqb said:

For what its worth...  Dunkelberger and Bridge are the other two. 

So basically its 3 guys who never play and one guy in Walker who plays but is barely average. Nothing to worry about.  

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1 hour ago, Aaron said:

So basically its 3 guys who never play and one guy in Walker who plays but is barely average. Nothing to worry about.  

Correct. And in all 4 cases you can understand why they'd transfer. No harm here at all. 

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1 hour ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

2019 decommit from CWS team Texas Tech. Big time recruit that Mercer and staff are in on. Have to love what this staff is doing. Our lineup next year could be downright scary as he would likely slot in right away like Vecrumba. 

 

Theres something to this.  

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6 hours ago, TXHoosierDaddy said:

2019 decommit from CWS team Texas Tech. Big time recruit that Mercer and staff are in on. Have to love what this staff is doing. Our lineup next year could be downright scary as he would likely slot in right away like Vecrumba. 

 

He's 230 overall btw

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