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Expectations and next season

HuskerDB

HuskerDB

Junior Varsity
10 Year Member
It might be a little too early to post this, but after next weekend, nobody will be visiting this forum again for a while.

I have two questions.
What do you think is reasonable for NU baseball to achieve on a yearly basis?
What do you realistically expect us to do next year?


To get the ball rolling, I’ll give my answers.

I think it is reasonable for NU baseball to be in the top 4 of the Big Ten almost every year. On the down years, I’d still expect us to be top 8. I think it is reasonable for us to expect to make the NCAA tournament most years (75% of the time) and to advance to super regionals once or twice a decade.

We seem to have some advantages that I believe make this expectation reasonable. For Big Ten teams, we are likely the warmest weather climate. We have the best facilities. While I’m no recruiting guru, we appear to have access to better than average Big Ten talent.

As far as next year goes, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we are significantly better than this year. I’ll predict a 6-8th place finish in the Big Ten regular season.

Here’s my lineup for next year (excuse the spelling I’m going off the top of my head):

Pitchers
starters: luensman, ma waldron
middle relief/midweek starters: eddins, mi waldron, tillotson, abromowitz
closer: palkert
unknowns: curry, mcsteen

Infield: Roskum (1B), Altavilla? (SS)
Catcher: Wilkening, Hellstrom
Outfield: Mojo, Hallmark?
DH: Wilkening, Hellstrom

Depending on how some of the pitching injuries turn out, that leaves us needing: 1 weekend starter, 1 midweek starter/middle reliever, 2-3 infielders, and 1-2 outfielders.

The good news is that it is ‘easy’ for freshman to come in and play immediately in college baseball. The bad news is that we will need 5-7 freshman (or at least newcomers) to come in and play immediately. That is a big ask.

On the positive side, I think our pitching COULD be really good next year, and if we can get back to playing Nebraska defense we could be a tough out.

On the negative side, we frequently started 3 players with below .200 batting averages and we didn’t have a single middle infielder that was reliable.

Sorry for the long post. What say you?
 

Nearly half (15) of the team will be seniors next season. 6 Fr and 3 redshirt Fr saw significant playing time this season. They better correct the serious issue of pitchers blowing out their arms.
 
HuskerDB said:
It might be a little too early to post this, but after next weekend, nobody will be visiting this forum again for a while.

I have two questions.
What do you think is reasonable for NU baseball to achieve on a yearly basis?
What do you realistically expect us to do next year?


To get the ball rolling, I’ll give my answers.

I think it is reasonable for NU baseball to be in the top 4 of the Big Ten almost every year. On the down years, I’d still expect us to be top 8. I think it is reasonable for us to expect to make the NCAA tournament most years (75% of the time) and to advance to super regionals once or twice a decade.

We seem to have some advantages that I believe make this expectation reasonable. For Big Ten teams, we are likely the warmest weather climate. We have the best facilities. While I’m no recruiting guru, we appear to have access to better than average Big Ten talent.

As far as next year goes, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we are significantly better than this year. I’ll predict a 6-8th place finish in the Big Ten regular season.

Here’s my lineup for next year (excuse the spelling I’m going off the top of my head):

Pitchers
starters: luensman, ma waldron
middle relief/midweek starters: eddins, mi waldron, tillotson, abromowitz
closer: palkert
unknowns: curry, mcsteen

Infield: Roskum (1B), Altavilla? (SS)
Catcher: Wilkening, Hellstrom
Outfield: Mojo, Hallmark?
DH: Wilkening, Hellstrom

Depending on how some of the pitching injuries turn out, that leaves us needing: 1 weekend starter, 1 midweek starter/middle reliever, 2-3 infielders, and 1-2 outfielders.

The good news is that it is ‘easy’ for freshman to come in and play immediately in college baseball. The bad news is that we will need 5-7 freshman (or at least newcomers) to come in and play immediately. That is a big ask.

On the positive side, I think our pitching COULD be really good next year, and if we can get back to playing Nebraska defense we could be a tough out.

On the negative side, we frequently started 3 players with below .200 batting averages and we didn’t have a single middle infielder that was reliable.

Sorry for the long post. What say you?
Click to expand...

First of all, it is not a long post. You should see some others that pop up over the years! ;)
Our hitting should be better, and I hope our fielding gets better, also! As far as pitching, we will have to wait and see if we develop more injuries, or not.

As you all know, I don't like how Silva manages the mound. To me, he's another Dusty Baker!! I just want a staff that is not riddled with injuries. Again, it is all "wait and see", as far as I am concerned. Right now, as I already said, wait and see.
 
Last edited:
Ackos said:
Nearly half (15) of the team will be seniors next season. 6 Fr and 3 redshirt Fr saw significant playing time this season. They better correct the serious issue of pitchers blowing out their arms.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Ackos! We are on the same page; why so many injuries? Again, Silva does nothing for me! :(
 



With the new class coming in huskers in the top four of the big. And Damn can we beat creighton!
 
HuskerDB said:
It might be a little too early to post this, but after next weekend, nobody will be visiting this forum again for a while.

I have two questions.
What do you think is reasonable for NU baseball to achieve on a yearly basis?
What do you realistically expect us to do next year?


To get the ball rolling, I’ll give my answers.

I think it is reasonable for NU baseball to be in the top 4 of the Big Ten almost every year. On the down years, I’d still expect us to be top 8. I think it is reasonable for us to expect to make the NCAA tournament most years (75% of the time) and to advance to super regionals once or twice a decade.

We seem to have some advantages that I believe make this expectation reasonable. For Big Ten teams, we are likely the warmest weather climate. We have the best facilities. While I’m no recruiting guru, we appear to have access to better than average Big Ten talent.

As far as next year goes, I’ll be pleasantly surprised if we are significantly better than this year. I’ll predict a 6-8th place finish in the Big Ten regular season.

Here’s my lineup for next year (excuse the spelling I’m going off the top of my head):

Pitchers
starters: luensman, ma waldron
middle relief/midweek starters: eddins, mi waldron, tillotson, abromowitz
closer: palkert
unknowns: curry, mcsteen

Infield: Roskum (1B), Altavilla? (SS)
Catcher: Wilkening, Hellstrom
Outfield: Mojo, Hallmark?
DH: Wilkening, Hellstrom

Depending on how some of the pitching injuries turn out, that leaves us needing: 1 weekend starter, 1 midweek starter/middle reliever, 2-3 infielders, and 1-2 outfielders.

The good news is that it is ‘easy’ for freshman to come in and play immediately in college baseball. The bad news is that we will need 5-7 freshman (or at least newcomers) to come in and play immediately. That is a big ask.

On the positive side, I think our pitching COULD be really good next year, and if we can get back to playing Nebraska defense we could be a tough out.

On the negative side, we frequently started 3 players with below .200 batting averages and we didn’t have a single middle infielder that was reliable.

Sorry for the long post. What say you?
Click to expand...

I would be very pleasantly surprised if Wilkening is back.
 
HuskerDB said:
sadly I have to agree. Which means we will have zero returning bats. Another reason I don't see us improving much next year.
Click to expand...

And by that I meant from a selfish fan perspective. It may very well be the best thing by far for Jesse. He's given 3 years of great effort and I wish him the best in whatever he chooses.
 




Sandhills Husker said:
And by that I meant from a selfish fan perspective. It may very well be the best thing by far for Jesse. He's given 3 years of great effort and I wish him the best in whatever he chooses.
Click to expand...

Amen! He has been great this season. Good luck, Jesse! This team shows little promise, at this time. I worry, once again, about our pitching; Silva needs to get his crap together!! :Dighole:
 
Schreiber and Wilkening have had some of the best bats we have seen in several years. They both also appear to be class acts. They will be sorely missed.

Too bad the team couldn't take advantage of their great year.
 
While it pains me to talk next year, it appears that's where we are going to need to be unless we sweep and get all the right help, and I just don't see that. I'll start with expectations for next year.

At Nebraska quite honestly, with the local talent we produce, we should be playing for a conference title and in the top 3 most every year. On years where you have 5 pitchers out with injury and then move your setup guy to Friday starter who goes 3-6 with a 4.5 ERA, get your Saturday starter from Crayton eligible and he goes 4-4 with a 5.81 ERA, and then your best weekend starter emerged late to be good. On years like that, or where you get destroyed by the draft, 8th may happen. We had that happen a few years ago then went on a nice little run. Our pitching situation also got us to where we went 3-7 during the week, and we were running out freshmen right handed pitchers throwin 84 mph that had no business being on the bump at the D1 level yet.

But let me back up for a second. I always get a chuckle at the expectations for Nebraska baseball. I think the recent success of VanHorn and to an extent Anderson make people think we are better than we actually are/were. NEBRASKA BASEBALL HAS FEWER CONFERENCE TITLES THAN KANSAS FOOTBALL. Let that sink in. One of the worst football programs in the history of college football actually has more titles than our baseball team that we refused to celebrate in 2017. To go one step further:

CONFERENCE TITLES:

Michigan - 35
Illinois - 30
Minnesota - 23
Ohio State - 15
Rutgers - 14
Michigan State - 9
Iowa - 8
NEBRASKA - 7
Indiana - 6
Maryland - 4
Northwestern - 2
Purdue - 2
Penn State - 1

So since we are Nebraska we should just automatically dominate this conference? I don't think people get we basically have no history, but get skewed by what a really good coach was able to do.

That being said, look who has one less conference title than us, Indiana. And VanHorn/Anderson showed us the blueprint. Further, there's a reason that Childress is buying farm land up here and that Arkansas/Arizona State/Kentucky/Texas A&M recruit up here. Between basketball, football, and baseball, Nebraska's best high school sport is baseball. And we need to capitalize on that. Waldron from Omaha Westside was our best pitcher this year, and Mojo Hagge was probably the 15th best player in Nebraska his senior year and is batting leadoff for us. I'll get to where we are going in a bit... but let's get back to expectations next year.

Erstad needs to have us top 3 and jockeying for a conference title. We need to make a run in the big ten tournament. With the pitching we have next year, I think we should have plenty of options, if Waldron comes back. If we are replacing all 3 weekend starters, we may be in trouble. Especially if Wilkening leaves, here's some dudes we have signed for next year:





Two of those guys are from Nebraska, but that's 4 RHPs we are bringing in that are throwing over 90mph right now in high school. Couple that with us signing the two best left handed pitchers in the state of Nebraska, and we are going to have arms everywhere (if we don't get hit by the draft). We need Wilkening to be back to help these kids feel confident to throw their slide pieces (that are going as fast as some of our RHPs fastballs right now). Erstad and Silva did an unbelievable job with the pitching for this 2018 class. Further, we have a kid that will be starting at some point next year from Missouri, Brett Hammit:


The issue is going to be the bats if Wilkening takes off. .300+ average Altavilla show up, will Hallmark and Hellstrom improve, will Hagge start touching .300. We need a JUCO guy in my opinion to get in here.

LF - Hagge (.274, .277)
SS - Altavilla (.207, .316)
DH - Wilkening (.247, .364)
C - Hellstrom (.310)
1B - Roskam (.266, .260)
CF - Hallmark (.254)
2B - Hammit
3B - Luckey (.271)
RF - Cross (.238)

That's not the worst lineup i've ever seen if Wilkening comes back. Will depend on which Altavilla shows up, if Roskam last half of the season shows up or first half, do Hallmark and Hellstrom get better. I just don't know enough about our recruits besides Hammit to know if we have other bats coming in. Divis would have been a great addition who hit 16 HRs at Hutch even though he was injured for a few weeks. He went to Lincoln Northeast but is heading to UTArlington.

Expectations? Fight for top 3 and a conference title, make a run in the post-season, don't have 5 pitching injuries. Erstad needs to shake something up, i'm fine with Silva, his results have been great up to this year, but i've also heard his recruiting is a little down. Kirby doesn't even recruit, just watches film, probably shake it up and bring Jeff Christy back who went to Lincoln Southeast and then down to a JUCO in Kansas. Can get instant JUCO credibility and local ties. He does the scouting reports for A&M now.
 



ShortSideOption said:
While it pains me to talk next year, it appears that's where we are going to need to be unless we sweep and get all the right help, and I just don't see that. I'll start with expectations for next year.

At Nebraska quite honestly, with the local talent we produce, we should be playing for a conference title and in the top 3 most every year. On years where you have 5 pitchers out with injury and then move your setup guy to Friday starter who goes 3-6 with a 4.5 ERA, get your Saturday starter from Crayton eligible and he goes 4-4 with a 5.81 ERA, and then your best weekend starter emerged late to be good. On years like that, or where you get destroyed by the draft, 8th may happen. We had that happen a few years ago then went on a nice little run. Our pitching situation also got us to where we went 3-7 during the week, and we were running out freshmen right handed pitchers throwin 84 mph that had no business being on the bump at the D1 level yet.

But let me back up for a second. I always get a chuckle at the expectations for Nebraska baseball. I think the recent success of VanHorn and to an extent Anderson make people think we are better than we actually are/were. NEBRASKA BASEBALL HAS FEWER CONFERENCE TITLES THAN KANSAS FOOTBALL. Let that sink in. One of the worst football programs in the history of college football actually has more titles than our baseball team that we refused to celebrate in 2017. To go one step further:

CONFERENCE TITLES:

Michigan - 35
Illinois - 30
Minnesota - 23
Ohio State - 15
Rutgers - 14
Michigan State - 9
Iowa - 8
NEBRASKA - 7
Indiana - 6
Maryland - 4
Northwestern - 2
Purdue - 2
Penn State - 1

So since we are Nebraska we should just automatically dominate this conference? I don't think people get we basically have no history, but get skewed by what a really good coach was able to do.

That being said, look who has one less conference title than us, Indiana. And VanHorn/Anderson showed us the blueprint. Further, there's a reason that Childress is buying farm land up here and that Arkansas/Arizona State/Kentucky/Texas A&M recruit up here. Between basketball, football, and baseball, Nebraska's best high school sport is baseball. And we need to capitalize on that. Waldron from Omaha Westside was our best pitcher this year, and Mojo Hagge was probably the 15th best player in Nebraska his senior year and is batting leadoff for us. I'll get to where we are going in a bit... but let's get back to expectations next year.

Erstad needs to have us top 3 and jockeying for a conference title. We need to make a run in the big ten tournament. With the pitching we have next year, I think we should have plenty of options, if Waldron comes back. If we are replacing all 3 weekend starters, we may be in trouble. Especially if Wilkening leaves, here's some dudes we have signed for next year:





Two of those guys are from Nebraska, but that's 4 RHPs we are bringing in that are throwing over 90mph right now in high school. Couple that with us signing the two best left handed pitchers in the state of Nebraska, and we are going to have arms everywhere (if we don't get hit by the draft). We need Wilkening to be back to help these kids feel confident to throw their slide pieces (that are going as fast as some of our RHPs fastballs right now). Erstad and Silva did an unbelievable job with the pitching for this 2018 class. Further, we have a kid that will be starting at some point next year from Missouri, Brett Hammit:


The issue is going to be the bats if Wilkening takes off. .300+ average Altavilla show up, will Hallmark and Hellstrom improve, will Hagge start touching .300. We need a JUCO guy in my opinion to get in here.

LF - Hagge (.274, .277)
SS - Altavilla (.207, .316)
DH - Wilkening (.247, .364)
C - Hellstrom (.310)
1B - Roskam (.266, .260)
CF - Hallmark (.254)
2B - Hammit
3B - Luckey (.271)
RF - Cross (.238)

That's not the worst lineup i've ever seen if Wilkening comes back. Will depend on which Altavilla shows up, if Roskam last half of the season shows up or first half, do Hallmark and Hellstrom get better. I just don't know enough about our recruits besides Hammit to know if we have other bats coming in. Divis would have been a great addition who hit 16 HRs at Hutch even though he was injured for a few weeks. He went to Lincoln Northeast but is heading to UTArlington.

Expectations? Fight for top 3 and a conference title, make a run in the post-season, don't have 5 pitching injuries. Erstad needs to shake something up, i'm fine with Silva, his results have been great up to this year, but i've also heard his recruiting is a little down. Kirby doesn't even recruit, just watches film, probably shake it up and bring Jeff Christy back who went to Lincoln Southeast and then down to a JUCO in Kansas. Can get instant JUCO credibility and local ties. He does the scouting reports for A&M now.
Click to expand...



I love the idea of hiring Christy. Local ties? Check. JUCO ties? Check. High baseball IQ? Check. Pro baseball? Check. Can work with catchers? Check. Can run the infield? Check.
 

ShortSideOption said:
While it pains me to talk next year, it appears that's where we are going to need to be unless we sweep and get all the right help, and I just don't see that. I'll start with expectations for next year.

At Nebraska quite honestly, with the local talent we produce, we should be playing for a conference title and in the top 3 most every year. On years where you have 5 pitchers out with injury and then move your setup guy to Friday starter who goes 3-6 with a 4.5 ERA, get your Saturday starter from Crayton eligible and he goes 4-4 with a 5.81 ERA, and then your best weekend starter emerged late to be good. On years like that, or where you get destroyed by the draft, 8th may happen. We had that happen a few years ago then went on a nice little run. Our pitching situation also got us to where we went 3-7 during the week, and we were running out freshmen right handed pitchers throwin 84 mph that had no business being on the bump at the D1 level yet.

But let me back up for a second. I always get a chuckle at the expectations for Nebraska baseball. I think the recent success of VanHorn and to an extent Anderson make people think we are better than we actually are/were. NEBRASKA BASEBALL HAS FEWER CONFERENCE TITLES THAN KANSAS FOOTBALL. Let that sink in. One of the worst football programs in the history of college football actually has more titles than our baseball team that we refused to celebrate in 2017. To go one step further:

CONFERENCE TITLES:

Michigan - 35
Illinois - 30
Minnesota - 23
Ohio State - 15
Rutgers - 14
Michigan State - 9
Iowa - 8
NEBRASKA - 7
Indiana - 6
Maryland - 4
Northwestern - 2
Purdue - 2
Penn State - 1

So since we are Nebraska we should just automatically dominate this conference? I don't think people get we basically have no history, but get skewed by what a really good coach was able to do.

That being said, look who has one less conference title than us, Indiana. And VanHorn/Anderson showed us the blueprint. Further, there's a reason that Childress is buying farm land up here and that Arkansas/Arizona State/Kentucky/Texas A&M recruit up here. Between basketball, football, and baseball, Nebraska's best high school sport is baseball. And we need to capitalize on that. Waldron from Omaha Westside was our best pitcher this year, and Mojo Hagge was probably the 15th best player in Nebraska his senior year and is batting leadoff for us. I'll get to where we are going in a bit... but let's get back to expectations next year.

Erstad needs to have us top 3 and jockeying for a conference title. We need to make a run in the big ten tournament. With the pitching we have next year, I think we should have plenty of options, if Waldron comes back. If we are replacing all 3 weekend starters, we may be in trouble. Especially if Wilkening leaves, here's some dudes we have signed for next year:





Two of those guys are from Nebraska, but that's 4 RHPs we are bringing in that are throwing over 90mph right now in high school. Couple that with us signing the two best left handed pitchers in the state of Nebraska, and we are going to have arms everywhere (if we don't get hit by the draft). We need Wilkening to be back to help these kids feel confident to throw their slide pieces (that are going as fast as some of our RHPs fastballs right now). Erstad and Silva did an unbelievable job with the pitching for this 2018 class. Further, we have a kid that will be starting at some point next year from Missouri, Brett Hammit:


The issue is going to be the bats if Wilkening takes off. .300+ average Altavilla show up, will Hallmark and Hellstrom improve, will Hagge start touching .300. We need a JUCO guy in my opinion to get in here.

LF - Hagge (.274, .277)
SS - Altavilla (.207, .316)
DH - Wilkening (.247, .364)
C - Hellstrom (.310)
1B - Roskam (.266, .260)
CF - Hallmark (.254)
2B - Hammit
3B - Luckey (.271)
RF - Cross (.238)

That's not the worst lineup i've ever seen if Wilkening comes back. Will depend on which Altavilla shows up, if Roskam last half of the season shows up or first half, do Hallmark and Hellstrom get better. I just don't know enough about our recruits besides Hammit to know if we have other bats coming in. Divis would have been a great addition who hit 16 HRs at Hutch even though he was injured for a few weeks. He went to Lincoln Northeast but is heading to UTArlington.

Expectations? Fight for top 3 and a conference title, make a run in the post-season, don't have 5 pitching injuries. Erstad needs to shake something up, i'm fine with Silva, his results have been great up to this year, but i've also heard his recruiting is a little down. Kirby doesn't even recruit, just watches film, probably shake it up and bring Jeff Christy back who went to Lincoln Southeast and then down to a JUCO in Kansas. Can get instant JUCO credibility and local ties. He does the scouting reports for A&M now.
Click to expand...


Hammit certainly doesn't get cheated, lol. If he pulls that in college, he's going to be wearing one in the ribs for the rest of the series.
 
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