auburn changes pitching rotation

[Kevin]

Thompson- Friday
daniels-Saturday
tba-sunday

mize is held out because of fatigue & soreness

http://www.scout.com/college/auburn/forums/2776-baseball-more-sports/15525789-itat-hd-with-mize-doubtful-thompson-talks-change-in-rotation

[southarkhog06]

Thompson- Friday
daniels-Saturday
tba-sunday

mize is held out because of fatigue & soreness

http://www.scout.com/college/auburn/forums/2776-baseball-more-sports/15525789-itat-hd-with-mize-doubtful-thompson-talks-change-in-rotation

oh wow that is big.

[Wisco Pig]

Could be very big, yes.   Here's another link:

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2017/04/casey_mize_doubtful_for_no_10.html

[ricepig]

[TNhawgfan]

Definitely helps our chances to win the series. Doesn't mean we will, but it makes it easier not facing their ace

[SPAL]

Wow.

[SPAL]

When I saw this thread, I assumed they would be throwing the Sunday guy on Friday, mize on Saturday, and Thompson and Sunday.

[soso]

We can all expect a miraculous recovery by Sunday I am sure!

[SPAL]

We can all expect a miraculous recovery by Sunday I am sure!

After elevator gate and the infamous fall in the end zone....Nothing will surprise me from the school where Bruce Pearl and Gus Mal A Zahn reside.

[Hogs49ers]

If the series is tied 1-1 going into Sunday, you can bet your ass that Mize will throw on Sunday.

[HogFansReunited]

Don't worry, Gus Malazan will call Jesus down from heaven to heal Mize just before our game starts.

[BoarnSupremacy]

If the series is tied 1-1 going into Sunday, you can bet your ass that Mize will throw on Sunday.

This

[BigBrandonAllenFan]

My thoughts exactly, RP.  It is definitely one of those instances where the "mind factor" comes into play.

Bottom line, it is still an SEC road series for the Hogs.  That part hasn't changed a bit. 

[fademe]

If the series is tied 1-1 going into Sunday, you can bet your ass that Mize will throw on Sunday.

He didn't do with Keegan Thompson earlier in the year against South Carolina when that series was tied 1-1. I'd be shocked if Mize pitches this weekend knowing that he's being held out of his Friday start. 

[Hogs49ers]

He didn't do with Keegan Thompson earlier in the year against South Carolina when that series was tied 1-1. I'd be shocked if Mize pitches this weekend knowing that he's being held out of his Friday start.

Fademe is in on the "Trap"!   

[fademe]

Fademe is in on the "Trap"!   

I wish. I was really looking forward to Mize vs Knight.

[Kevin]

Thompson vs knight should be a great one

[razCzar]

"Terrific trio: Auburn's starting rotation in pursuit of history"
http://auburn.247sports.com/Article/Terrific-trio-Auburns-starting-rotation-in-pursuit-of-history-52389144

[ThisTeetsTaken]

ctb

[TNhawgfan]

"Terrific trio: Auburn's starting rotation in pursuit of history"
http://auburn.247sports.com/Article/Terrific-trio-Auburns-starting-rotation-in-pursuit-of-history-52389144

What I got from that is none of them are mid velocity lefties. I like our chances more now

[jbell96]

If the series is tied 1-1 going into Sunday, you can bet your ass that Mize will throw on Sunday.

To be honest, I don't think they'll risk further injury, and have him throw. He went long last weekend on short rest, so I'm sure they'll take having him miss a week, as opposed to ruining him for the rest of the season.

[jry04]

If the series is tied 1-1 going into Sunday, you can bet your ass that Mize will throw on Sunday.

I highly doubt it. His arm, and their next 4 series are worth more than a potential rubber match.

[southarkhog06]

To be honest, I don't think they'll risk further injury, and have him throw. He went long last weekend on short rest, so I'm sure they'll take having him miss a week, as opposed to ruining him for the rest of the season.

That's what I am thinking. losing this series would be a bummer for them, losing Mize for an extended period or even the season  would be a disaster.

[Kevin]

Thompson is no slouch. tonight is going to be tough

[Wisco Pig]

That's what I am thinking. losing this series would be a bummer for them, losing Mize for an extended period or even the season  would be a disaster.

Agreed.  Auburn's starting pitching seems extraordinarily important to the team's success.  The coaching staff made a similar move two weeks ago with another one of the starting pitchers, Keegan Thompson.   It doesn't make sense to risk damaging one of your best players over a single game when so much of the season (and the tournament) is left to play.

[southarkhog06]

Thompson is no slouch. tonight is going to be tough

From what I can tell Mize and Thompson are more 1A and 1B than 1 and 2, we will have to bring our big boy sticks.

[Wisco Pig]

Sure, Thompson is a handful too, but he was going to start a game this weekend anyway.  He's just moving up a day.

[rljjr]

We just have to do what we do, regardless of who is on the mound. It's going to be an SEC dogfight and I'm hopeful Blaine brings his best stuff and can give us 6 or 7 full innings.

[jry04]

From what I can tell Mize and Thompson are more 1A and 1B than 1 and 2, we will have to bring our big boy sticks.

Mize misses more bats, where as Thompson is hard to square up, but you can put it in play against him. Mize has over 80 Ks on the year. He is a candidate for 10+ strikeouts every time he takes the mound. Opponents actually have a lower batting average against Thompson, but Thompson only has 37 K this year. I would much rather face Thompson than Mize. Their SS makes A LOT of errors, but outside of him they are pretty good at fielding, so it definitely helps Thompson who throws a lot of strikes and doesn't overpower you. 

The one thing we have in our favor with Mize out, aside from avoiding their ace, is Auburn's bullpen is already very shaky. The big thing that has allowed them to win so many games so far is the fact that Mize and Thompson go 6+ innings almost every outing, saving the amount of arms they have to throw. Cole Lipscomb is pretty good at getting outs, but has a 2.96 ERA and fewer strikeouts than innings pitched, which isn't common for most closing pitchers. After him, their bullpen gets very dicey. The good news is, their best starter after the 3 they usually start threw 6 innings, 88 pitches in a mid-week game, and they have another mid-week game Tuesday so he probably won't throw this weekend. That means they have to bring a guy they usually throw out of the pen to start on Sunday, making their already thin and shaky bullpen even worse. If you take Mize out of the equation, their pitching staff has a 4.39 ERA. By comparison, if you were to take Knight off our staff, we are still at 3.62 ERA. Their staff, after their weekend starters, has over a 5.00+ ERA. You take out Knight, Stephan, and Alberius and we are still at 3.78. That shows you how much Mize means to that staff, and how bad their bullpen truly can be. If we can do what we do to most Friday night guys and jump on them early, then this could be a very long weekend for the Auburn pitching staff.

[southarkhog06]

We just have to do what we do, regardless of who is on the mound. It's going to be an SEC dogfight and I'm hopeful Blaine brings his best stuff and can give us 6 or 7 full innings.

What gives me confidence is that even when we aren't "hot" at the plate our lineup does a good job of working the count. I cant remember too many starters finishing 6 innings against us.

[jry04]

What gives me confidence is that even when we aren't "hot" at the plate our lineup does a good job of working the count. I cant remember too many starters finishing 6 innings against us.

I definitely agree with that, but most weekends we have at least 1 game where our bats are very quiet and a starter goes deep into the game. Memphis' Wednesday night starter, who threw Friday last week, went through 6. LSU threw a complete game. Alabama's Saturday starter went into the 9th. Plinkington at MSU threw a complete game. Arizona and Rhode Island both had pitchers throw 7+. You look at every weekend series we have had, and UGA, Bryant, and Miami are the only 3 that we haven't had a game with 3 or fewer runs.

[southarkhog06]

I definitely agree with that, but most weekends we have at least 1 game where our bats are very quiet and a starter goes deep into the game. Memphis' Wednesday night starter, who threw Friday last week, went through 6. LSU threw a complete game. Alabama's Saturday starter went into the 9th. Plinkington at MSU threw a complete game. Arizona and Rhode Island both had pitchers throw 7+. You look at every weekend series we have had, and UGA, Bryant, and Miami are the only 3 that we haven't had a game with 3 or fewer runs.

This is true, but that happening once in a weekend isn't bad if you tax their bullpen the other 2 games, like we have been doing.

[jry04]

This is true, but that happening once in a weekend isn't bad if you tax their bullpen the other 2 games, like we have been doing.

No doubt. I will take 2-1 every weekend.

[cityhog]

Don't worry, Gus Malazan will call Jesus down from heaven to heal Mize just before our game starts.

Nah dude. Malzahn will heal him himself. He's got the Jesus in him.

[Arkansasno1]

I wish. I was really looking forward to Mize vs Knight.

I could see Arkansas with 1 run on two hits and Auburn, no runs on one hit and all 9 innings being completed in under 45 minutes. ha.

[DiamondHogFan]

We know what we have on Friday night.  The Dark Knight is usually on his game and I don't expect any different.  Thompson is tough, but he hasn't faced our offense. 

Where this change in their rotation helps us is on Saturday.  Stephan will get to go against their usual Sunday starter who (according to stats I've seen, ERA primarily) is not on the same level as Mize and Thompson.  Hopefully we can have the series won before we ever get to Sunday.

Going to be tough, but I think our lineup can hit anyone in the country.

[jry04]

We know what we have on Friday night.  The Dark Knight is usually on his game and I don't expect any different.  Thompson is tough, but he hasn't faced our offense. 

Where this change in their rotation helps us is on Saturday.  Stephan will get to go against their usual Sunday starter who (according to stats I've seen, ERA primarily) is not on the same level as Mize and Thompson.  Hopefully we can have the series won before we ever get to Sunday.

Going to be tough, but I think our lineup can hit anyone in the country.

Then Sunday when we are throwing Alberius + bullpen, they will be throwing whoever is left over from their bullpen that is already not very good against the best offense in the SEC.

[HamIAm]

60% chance of showers Sunday, at least its projected to be mainly before 1 pm

[fademe]

I could see Arkansas with 1 run on two hits and Auburn, no runs on one hit and all 9 innings being completed in under 45 minutes. ha.

With the two pitchers going tonight, that's certainly possible.

What sucks about losing Mize is you feel like you can guarantee yourself at least one win between their two starts, save the bullpen somewhat because of how deep they can go in a game, and have most everything at your disposal to try and piece together an outing to try and win or sweep the series. Without Mize, it feels like Keegan's game is a must win. While Daniel has pitched really well recently, he's still a freshman and still gets hit pretty hard from time to time. And if either starter doesn't get into the 7th, it really puts a strain on the bullpen by Sunday. That's not a good thing against an offense as potent as Arkansas.

Going into the series with the full staff, I felt we had a chance to win the series but wouldn't be surprised if we only won a game. Now without Mize, I just want to avoid the sweep and would love to have a chance to win the series on Sunday.

[jry04]

I could see Arkansas with 1 run on two hits and Auburn, no runs on one hit and all 9 innings being completed in under 45 minutes. ha.

I feel with the way the season has gone, it will be the opposite. I could see us crushing Thompson, because realistically only 1 or 2 Friday night guys have really shut us down. Then, on Sunday when they throw their bullpen we get shut down. It seems like we have 1 game every season that we struggle to score runs, and it usually isn't v their best pitcher. We crush Poche and Lange, but Walker shuts us down. We crush Walters, but Duarte shuts us down. We put up 5 on Friday v Rhode Island, but their Sunday guy with a terrible ERA shuts us out. Houck gets hit all over the yard, and their #2 guy holds us to 2 runs. I know that defies logic, but it seems to be how our season goes


We are averaging 7.2 runs per game on Fridays, 6.3 runs on Sunday, and 7.4 runs on Sundays. We have been shut out twice all season, and both times were on Sunday. So we are barely outscoring the Sunday pitchers, and have actually had our two worst performances of the season v guys who were the #3 option.

[HogFansReunited]

With the two pitchers going tonight, that's certainly possible.

What sucks about losing Mize is you feel like you can guarantee yourself at least one win between their two starts, save the bullpen somewhat because of how deep they can go in a game, and have most everything at your disposal to try and piece together an outing to try and win or sweep the series. Without Mize, it feels like Keegan's game is a must win. While Daniel has pitched really well recently, he's still a freshman and still gets hit pretty hard from time to time. And if either starter doesn't get into the 7th, it really puts a strain on the bullpen by Sunday. That's not a good thing against an offense as potent as Arkansas.

Going into the series with the full staff, I felt we had a chance to win the series but wouldn't be surprised if we only won a game. Now without Mize, I just want to avoid the sweep and would love to have a chance to win the series on Sunday.

You are making it very hard to dislike you....

Honestly it is nice having fans of opponents team posting here when they are respectable. Hope you stick around even after our series for good baseball discussion.

[fademe]

You are making it very hard to dislike you....

Honestly it is nice having fans of opponents team posting here when they are respectable. Hope you stick around even after our series for good baseball discussion.

Plan to. I just enjoy talking SEC sports. Even better when Auburn is competitive and relevant. And I think it's always great to see the opponent's perspective, especially in a series of this magnitude and importance.

[CJ HOG]

Great match-up tonight between Knight & Thompson, which could set the tone for the entire weekend.

Coming in to the series I would have liked to at least split the first 2 and have a chance for the win on Sun.. With the absence of Mize however, I think we've got an opportunity for a big weekend. If we can jump on Thompson and add even more pressure to their bullpen it could pay huge dividends all weekend long and hopefully a Hog's victory. WPS! :razorback:

[hobhog]

Ouch......

[BroyledNutts]

Whattya know ... it was a trap ...

[IMABIELEMA]

If the series is tied 1-1 going into Sunday, you can bet your ass that Mize will throw on Sunday.

Well crap,  I just lost my ass!