I Understand DVH's Philosophy Now

[WilsonHog]

What I've watched this week has made it crystal clear to me. Put as many resources as possible into pitching, play the smallest of ball, and hope you can manufacture two or three runs over nine innings.

TCU and Virginia have some kids who can hit the baseball - but you couldn't tell it. There were some balls absolutely hammered last night that were caught thirty feet from the warning track. Especially at the highest levels, the college game has become single/walk, sac bunt, move the runner over, sac fly proposition.

[Boarslab]

It's not that fun to watch and probably not as much fun to play when you hammer one and it doesn't even make the warning track.  It needs to change sooner than later---it's boring.  Players don't like it, coaches don't like it, fans don't like it...who likes it and why haven't they moved faster to correct it?  The new ball might??? help, but if it doesn't the first year they need to move faster to return the long ball to the game----whoever "they" are....

[Baseball Hog]

It's not that fun to watch and probably not as much fun to play when you hammer one and it doesn't even make the warning track.  It needs to change sooner than later---it's boring.  Players don't like it, coaches don't like it, fans don't like it...who likes it and why haven't they moved faster to correct it?  The new ball might??? help, but if it doesn't the first year they need to move faster to return the long ball to the game----whoever "they" are....

I'd rather watch this than a 145 lb second baseman get out on his front foot and flick his wrists for a bomb.

[dotnet]

I'd rather watch this than a 145 lb second baseman get out on his front foot and flick his wrists for a bomb.

I agree. Ultimately, you would want a hitter to be appropraitely rewarded for a good swing... and a pitcher to be appropriately rewarded for a good pitch. 

And not for good pitches/bad swings or bad pitches/good swings to result in something that doesn't correspond with the action. 

[ricepig]

As they said last night, you are never going to change the 20-25mph wind blowing in, the change in the ball and moving the fences in 10-15ft will help.

[WilsonHog]

I'd rather watch this than a 145 lb second baseman get out on his front foot and flick his wrists for a bomb.

But it doesn't have to be "either/or."

[ErieHog]

I'm glad Gorilla Ball is dead.     It is good to see baseball that doesn't come from an arcade setting.

[Kevin]

The wind in Omaha is ridiculous this year

[jbell96]

Agreed, the change in the ball & moving the fences in 10 feet would help tremendously. That ball Papi hit against Ole Miss was one of the hardest hit balls I've seen this year and it barely made the warning track.

(My comment was in response to ricepig's.)

[ricepig]

There is nothing wrong with HR's, they need to be on par with the rest of baseball, high school, minors, mlb.

[WizardofhOgZ]

What I've watched this week has made it crystal clear to me. Put as many resources as possible into pitching, play the smallest of ball, and hope you can manufacture two or three runs over nine innings.

TCU and Virginia have some kids who can hit the baseball - but you couldn't tell it. There were some balls absolutely hammered last night that were caught thirty feet from the warning track. Especially at the highest levels, the college game has become single/walk, sac bunt, move the runner over, sac fly proposition.

Our fans (most of them) don't want to hear it, but DVH was way ahead of the curve on the bat change and how to construct a team to optimize your chances for success in the current era.  I heard him talk about this very subject right after the CWS we had in 2009 with Cox, Eibner, etc.  He flatly said he was going after pitching and would be playing small ball.  Now, we see that as the template for Omaha.

For the record, I will be thrilled to see the new ball in play next season.  We need at least the thread of a big fly from time to time to keep the game in balance.

[Dr. Starcs]

I've understood his philosophy for several years now. Still doesnt necessarily change the fact that there is still a premium on quality hitters. Not just the guys that can bomb it, but the legit hitters that can go .300+ average.

With the way college baseball is right now, average pitchers can be very good. It's harder to find quality hitters than pitchers because of how the game is set up.

[dotnet]

We couldn't hit before and still can't hit. Don't understand the small ball philosophy with an astronomical K rate.

Eibner, Wilkins, and Cox were chumps. 

[ucahogfan]

Eibner, Wilkins, and Cox were chumps.

So were McCann, Reynolds, and Anderson.

[ricepig]

So were McCann, Reynolds, and Anderson.

He's just upset no one is biting on his trolling in the Recruiting Forum.

[ucahogfan]

He's just upset no one is biting on his trolling in the Recruiting Forum.

So he comes and posts in a Wilson thread in EI?  Bold move.

[Baseball Hog]

I agree. Ultimately, you would want a hitter to be appropraitely rewarded for a good swing... and a pitcher to be appropriately rewarded for a good pitch. 

And not for good pitches/bad swings or bad pitches/good swings to result in something that doesn't correspond with the action. 

Agree 100%.  I think the new ball is going to bring this towards a very good balance.

[ricepig]

So he comes and posts in a Wilson thread in EI?  Bold move.

09 is his IQ.

[Kevin]

excited for next year, looks on paper like a balanced team.

[Hawk]

As I understand it, the new baseball next year can increase the distance a ball travels as much as 15%. That should help somewhat.

[yraciv]

I'm glad they are changing the rules up some next year, but I always will miss the slug fests.

[Dr. Starcs]

I don't miss the slugfests. But I do miss the days where an early one run deficit didnt 99% mean a loss

[dotnet]

The best part of that video... is when they're in the steam room or whatever drinking a "special" cocktail... and glavine asks maddux if he feels bigger yet

[ucahogfan]

This graph shows why there hasn't been a HR hit yet in Omaha.  4 years in so there really aren't many players who remember "gorilla ball," but the HRs have dropped by about .15/game since the new bats were introduced.  If anything, I expected HRs to trend up about .10/game as Easton and the other bat makers were able to make slight adjustments to make the bats better.  I think it has to do with the pitchers getting better and hitters taking less money in the draft so their stats aren't killed by college ball which would mean their stock would fall as well.

[Boarslab]

They are having an in-depth discussion about this very thing on the CWS right now on the TX vs. UC-Irvine game....My son and wife were at TD Ameritrade last Sat. night and watched the Vandy game and she said the wind was blowing in so bad that the flags were steadily stretched out...I think that's pretty normal there too...

[ucahogfan]

They are having an in-depth discussion about this very thing on the CWS right now on the TX vs. UC-Irvine game....My son and wife were at TD Ameritrade last Sat. night and watched the Vandy game and she said the wind was blowing in so bad that the flags were steadily stretched out...I think that's pretty normal there too...

Yeah, the HRs were going to drop when they moved from the Blatt to TD Ameritrade regardless of new or old bats.  The dimensions of each park are the exact same, but CF at TD Ameritrade feels like it is 1,000 feet from home plate.  DVH said it is built very similar direction as Baum in terms of the wind where the normal wind is blowing in.  I remember specifically a double by Ficociello during his freshman year in 2011.  It was probably the hardest hit ball I've seen out of a Hog in a long time, but with high winds blowing in from RF and the new bats, it hit off the wall in RF.  If it had been the old bats with no wind, I feel like it would be remembered like Cox's HR in Hoover, Wilkins hitting it over the scoreboard at Baum, and Eibner in Baton Rouge.

[yraciv]

NM

[Knot2brite]

The new ball will make less difference than most believe until they change the core Of the college ball to the same as the minor league ball. Just as with the bbcor bat, you will have to square it up really well. Not every hit ball is going 15% further. The change is welcome but in three years they will add a little of the flex back in the college bats. The game is beyond boring. I saw someone say they didn't want to see a 145 pound guy hitting bombs. Well the vast majority of fans ( and leave that "true fans of the game" garbage out it....they don't pay the vast majority of the bills) do want to see more homers in a game. Not the church league softball offense but more than what we have seen since the ncaa lost their damn minds and started making kids swing lead pipes.

[Baseball Hog]

The new ball will make less difference than most believe until they change the core Of the college ball to the same as the minor league ball. Just as with the bbcor bat, you will have to square it up really well. Not every hit ball is going 15% further.

No but more hits will be squared up because of the decreased movement a pitcher can get with the lower seams.  It won't be dramatic but it will definitely be noticeable.

Well the vast majority of fans ( and leave that "true fans of the game" garbage out it....they don't pay the vast majority of the bills) do want to see more homers in a game.

I don't think that's an argument.  I think everyone is in agreement that we could use a little more pop.  But I bring this to the table:

http://247sports.com/Bolt/College-Baseball-SEC-sets-attendance-record-28700887

After 3 years of the new bats you can't argue that it's residual.  People love seeing the game.  THIS game.  The low scoring, bunt them over, sac fly them in baseball game.

[Knot2brite]

That is great for the sec but there are more conferences than the sec. The sec has always supported baseball better than anyone. The overall attendance of the college game has gone down. Smaller conferences are struggling to gain attendance and that isn't good for the game. Again...no one wants to go back to 21-15 CWS championship games.

[HognotinMemphis]

It's not that fun to watch and probably not as much fun to play when you hammer one and it doesn't even make the warning track.  It needs to change sooner than later---it's boring.  Players don't like it, coaches don't like it, fans don't like it...who likes it and why haven't they moved faster to correct it?  The new ball might??? help, but if it doesn't the first year they need to move faster to return the long ball to the game----whoever "they" are....

Go to wood bats like the pros. Problem solved.

[Baseball Hog]

Go to wood bats like the pros. Problem solved.

This would be ideal but it would be too expensive.

[HognotinMemphis]

This would be ideal but it would be too expensive.

No more so than any other item involved in major college baseball...uni's, travel, maintaining a 10,000 seat stadium, scholies, et al.

[Big Nasty 34]

Only a handful of programs could afford it, or their athletic department would allow for the expense. Lower level schools would not be in favor.

[3kgthog]

DVH's 2 run philosophy won't win a championship. His pitching is never THAT good. His lack of focus on offense puts too much pressure on our staff and leads to running our pitchers into the ground over the course of a season. Look at poor TK's lack of run support on Fridays and our ridiculous total of 1 run losses overall.

[LA Football fan]

Building a team for Omaha is nice but you still have to get there to take advantage of it.  The problem is we will be playing in parks that are not built for small ball and when the teams we play have hitters that can hit it out and we don't then we are at a distinct disadvantage.  There has to be a balance and you saw that with Virginia and Vanderbilt.  Both teams had excellent pitching but they also had hitters up and down the line up, especially Virginia.  Vanderbilt got lucky that Virginia's pitchers blew a gasket the first game or the series would have been over in the first two games.  But that is baseball, sometimes things just go your way and no matter if you aren't the best team, you are the best team that day.

We just had too many holes in our hitting lineup this year to realistically have expected any better results than we had.  We could get runners on but didn't have enough hitters that we could count on to drive them in.  Our best offense was the opposing pitcher blowing up and walking hitters.  I truly think DVH knows this also and you saw that in the recruiting this year for more hitters.  Looking forward to next year.  Go Hogs!!!

[ucahogfan]

DVH's 2 run philosophy won't win a championship. His pitching is never THAT good. His lack of focus on offense puts too much pressure on our staff and leads to running our pitchers into the ground over the course of a season. Look at poor TK's lack of run support on Fridays and our ridiculous total of 1 run losses overall.

So the best pitching staff of the last 40 years or so in all of college baseball wasn't good enough?  Going just from memory, our 2013 staff had the lowest ERA of the metal bat era, but you're completely right, it is never good enough.

And how dare our offense not score at least 7 runs against an SEC ace.  It is completely unacceptable!  8 of the 10 Friday night starters we faced this year were or will be a top 4 round pick in their draft.

[dotnet]

DVH's 2 run philosophy won't win a championship.

This was always a silly statement.  When UCLA won the championship last year with less pitching AND less offense... it basically is a non starter at this point. 

Even if you really think their better defense made up those differences, the philosophy still worked. 

[LA Football fan]

The problem UCA is that we are almost always going against the other teams ace whether in the SEC, regionals, supers, or Omaha.  Then the question becomes do we have enough offense to outscore the other teams offense.  2 runs is not the problem because our staff does an excellent job of ERA.  The problem is the number of UNEARNED runs.  How many times did our defense commit a crucial error that let the winning run in just this past year?  ERA is nice but doesn't tell the whole story.  Our offense just isn't built to overcome lapses in the field that most every team has now and then. 

I believe that is what frustrates most hog fans.  We know we have the pitching to win it all.  The problem is that we don't put a consistent defense or offense on the field to go with it.  It is possible to win it all with great pitching, but normally you need to be above average in defense and offense to go with it.  DVH just hasn't been able to put all three together yet, whether due to the draft, injuries, players leaving, or just not playing up to potential. 

Our offense has been average to below average the last few years.  That is hard to overcome when playing in the SEC no matter how good our pitching has been.  DVH is a good coach but that doesn't mean that he couldn't improve the overall product he is putting on the field.   I think this years recruiting class is a step in the right direction.  We need more balance overall IMO if we ever expect to really have a chance to win it all. 

This isn't little league anymore where you can throw out your best pitcher and expect to dominate.  EVERYONE has pitchers that throw in the low to mid 90's now.  That didn't use to be the case.  Hitting is at a premium now due to the quality of pitching at the college level.   I think teaching someone to pitch is easier than teaching someone how to hit.  We have to do a better job of identifying players that can put a good swing on the ball.  You cannot have 3-4 guys in your lineup that are almost automatic outs or let the opposing pitchers pitch around your best hitters.

[Dr. Starcs]

^^^^^

Agreed.

[SPAL]

Go to wood bats like the pros. Problem solved.

Wait, are you saying going to wooden bats would INCREASE run production? They have attempted to make the non wooden bats as much like wooden bats that they can and run production is as low as it's been in 30 years.

[ucahogfan]

LA Football Fan,

I fully agree with you.  I was responding to that poster's post indicating that our pitching staff wasn't good enough to win a title which is a complete fallacy.  We have had one of the top 5-10 pitching staffs in the entire country since they moved to the new bats.

I want to see our offense do better.  I have said as much.  I'm just not going to moan and complain about it all the time.  I fully agree with you that this 2014 class that we are actually getting to campus is a step in the right direction.  It seemed that typically DVH recruited a lot of plus athletes who had potential to be great hitters, but this class is a lot of players who are regarded as excellent hitters, but just ok defenders and athletes.  The two guys we have committed so far in 2016 are great hitters as well.

Hopefully the new indoor facility will help our defense.  Instead of losing days to weather, it will allow our infielders practice on a full infield.  And seeing that type of surface should help us when we go to Vanderbilt.

DVH is a great coach and knows what it will take to win.  I think he realized he went way too far towards pitching with the change to the new bat and is moving to more of an offensive approach with the new ball.  Hopefully having a better offense will let DVH be more aggressive on the base path.  It was just tough for him to run last year with how good the SEC catchers are at throwing out runners and how anemic our offense could be.

[Kevin]

When your limited in hitting,  the margin for error is smaller. 
Hard to play every game perfect all season long.

Ucla was a fluke. You have to have a couple of difference makers in the batters box, to go along with elite pitching.