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Team Pitching

HuskerDB

HuskerDB

Junior Varsity
10 Year Member
@BW22SM or somebody else with knowledge of the team. With Perry and Bunz out where are we with pitching? I’m assuming Shay becomes the Friday starter with Koty and Dawson as the other two weekend starters. Who do we hope to use midweek (or is it simply all arms on deck)? Is there anything close to a setup man at this point? Maybe Olson? Is Colby still the assumed closer?
 

I don't think Bunz is out for the season.

Shay earned the Friday spot after the fall season was complete. Then, Kyle Perry was named the Friday guy to start the season. After a few weekends of inconsistent performances by our starters, Koty Frank earned the Friday spot with his extremely strong bullpen work. That lasted 2 games and we revert back to Perry, for whatever reason(s) I'm not privy too. Frank had 2 good outings and did nothing to lose the Friday spot.

To be an effective Friday guy, you need 3 solid pitches. Not 2 and a maybe, not 3 sometimes, you need 3 every outing. 4 is what I'd prefer and 5 is icing on the cake. And we have 2 guys on our roster with 3 pitches minimum - Koty Frank (3) & Jaxon Jelkin (4, and I believe he's our best arm). Think back a season ago with Povich. He had a FB, CB, SL, CH & CT. When 1 wasn't working, they were able to scratch that pitch and utilize 4 others. I believe there was only 1 game in 2021 where he didn't have a good feel for multiple pitches but I may have a short memory on that (I think it was the 2nd time we played Indiana).

Anyways, back to the question. Here's what I'd do and it's to remain competitive but set ourselves up for the 2023 season which I still believe has potential for hosting Regionals & being a top 12 seed...

Friday - Frank
Saturday - Bradford
Sunday - Jelkin

McCarville becomes an early leverage guy out of the bullpen (2021 Koty Frank) & the back-end is Olson, Schanaman & Gomes. For me, Shay is more deadly out of the bullpen late in the game (higher velo as a reliever & a ++ slider the hitters haven't seen yet). I haven't lost hope on Gomes closing as Colby is a fierce competitor. He didn't have 12 or 13 saves as a true freshmen by mistake or pure luck.

I have a gut feeling what's going on, but gonna keep my mouth shut during the season.
 
Thanks for the update.

Shay was awesome his freshman season out of the pen so I wouldn’t be opposed to that again. The issue is we don’t seem to have many guys this year who can go multiple innings. At this point, working on next year seems reasonable.
 
To add on...

  • Anderson, preseason B1G POY is hitting. 273 with 7 RBI's
  • Chick, in his 4th (3rd) year as a starter, is hitting .174 with 21 K's in 57 plate appearances
  • Banjoff, projected to be an every day guy, is hitting .214 (same number of walks as he does hits) & 20 K's in 68 plate appearances
We can then discuss how horrible our defense has been and the way too many different hitting lineups thru 19 or 20 games. Plus, we've had 3 different 3B's, 3 different SS's, 4 different 2B's & 3 different 1B's. All thru 19 or 20 games, that's crazy. OF has had guys continue to misplay balls with arms that can't make up for the mistakes.

With all of this said, we lost a ton from 2021. Go back and look at the starting experience we lost. It's an incredible number of starts then add in losing Povich (Friday guy, 3rd round), Hroch (4 year weekend guy), Wynne and the B1G POY in Schwelly. This is coach Bolt's 2nd season and the B1G not allowing OOC games in 2021 has stymied the program and it's painful to watch sometimes but we're seeing it first hand right now.
 
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BW22SM said:
To add on...

  • Anderson, preseason B1G POY is hitting. 273 with 7 RBI's
  • Chick, in his 4th (3rd) year as a starter, is hitting .174 with 21 K's in 57 plate appearances
  • Banjoff, projected to be an every day guy, is hitting .214 (same number of walks as he does hits) & 20 K's in 68 plate appearances
We can then discuss how horrible our defense has been and the way too many different hitting lineups thru 19 or 20 games. Plus, we've had 3 different 3B's, 3 different SS's, 4 different 2B's & 3 different 1B's. All thru 19 or 20 games, that's crazy. OF has had guys continue to misplay balls with arms that can't make up for the mistakes.

With all of this said, we lost a ton from 2021. Go back and look at the starting experience we lost. It's an incredible number of starts then add in losing Povich (Friday guy, 3rd round), Hroch (4 year weekend guy), Wynne and the B1G POY in Schwelly. This is coach Bolt's 2nd season and the B1G not allowing OOC games in 2021 has stymied the program and it's painful to watch sometimes but we're seeing it first hand right now.
Click to expand...
Good to hear some optimism. TBH, I’m concerned for next year too as we will lose our friday and saturday starters (from early season) and our closer. Combine that with losing Griff one of what I consider our only two bats (max being the other) and I wouldn’t have much hope for next year. Our outfield hasn’t looked good, but our infield has been way worse than what I could have ever imagined.

Any insight on the team? Over confident? Just a loss of experience/leadership? Something seems off with a good handful of the players…
 
HuskerDB said:
Good to hear some optimism. TBH, I’m concerned for next year too as we will lose our friday and saturday starters (from early season) and our closer. Combine that with losing Griff one of what I consider our only two bats (max being the other) and I wouldn’t have much hope for next year. Our outfield hasn’t looked good, but our infield has been way worse than what I could have ever imagined.

Any insight on the team? Over confident? Just a loss of experience/leadership? Something seems off with a good handful of the players…
Click to expand...

Frank, Perry, Schanaman & Gomes all have another year of eligibility - courtesy of covid in 2020 - so we lose McCarville and that's it out of the ones you mention/reference. I don't see Shay returning though; he got married last fall, his wife has a really good job and I think he now realizes life isn't going to involve baseball anymore after 2022.

Position wise, in 2023, we return...

IF:
Max Anderson, Brice Matthews, Core Jackson (questionable due to grades & lack of interest in school), Colby Gomes, Jack Steil, Efry Cervantes, Josh Caron

OF:
Luke Jessen, Garrett Anglim, Luke Sartori, Leighton Banjoff

Break that down in starts & plate appearances as returning experience and you'll be surprised. Why you may ask? Ok, I'll tell you...

Hallmark:
Freshmen - .261
Sophomore - .234
Junior - .368 (covid)
Senior - .342

Schwellenbach:
Freshmen - .275
Sophomore - .295 (covid)
Junior - .284

Roskam:
Freshmen - .266
Sophomore - .269
Junior - .221
Senior - .264 (covid)
Senior - .307

Acker:
Freshmen - .154 (barely played)
Sophomore - .192 (barely played)
Junior - .260
Senior - .306 (covid)
Senior - .283

Folks need to R-E-L-A-X. We don't recruit at the level of the nation's elite so asking our true freshmen (Jackson, Jessen, Caron, Swanson), redshirt freshmen (Anglim), sophomores (Anderson, Matthews, Steil, Banjoff by eligibility) to carry the loads of the 4 names in bold mentioned above isn't fair to the players or coaches.

Go add up all the career starting experience and career plate appearances that we lost from the 2021 season and what's happening will make more sense. Nobody would've said Schwellenbach was B1G POY & 1st round potential (high 2nd round pick) with Hallmark & Roskam both making 1st team all B1G prior to the 2021 season. And if you claim you did, I'd call you a liar. :)

This season sucks, no doubt about it but there's a bigger picture at play. And the above lays it out pretty well.
 
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BW22SM said:
Folks need to R-E-L-A-X.
Click to expand...
Fandom is misery, for sure! Optimistic with the Bolt leadership, but the losses from last year's team are pretty sizable. And not a ton of veteran leadership, as there was in 2021. GBR!
 
BW22SM said:
To add on...

  • Anderson, preseason B1G POY is hitting. 273 with 7 RBI's
  • Chick, in his 4th (3rd) year as a starter, is hitting .174 with 21 K's in 57 plate appearances
  • Banjoff, projected to be an every day guy, is hitting .214 (same number of walks as he does hits) & 20 K's in 68 plate appearances
We can then discuss how horrible our defense has been and the way too many different hitting lineups thru 19 or 20 games. Plus, we've had 3 different 3B's, 3 different SS's, 4 different 2B's & 3 different 1B's. All thru 19 or 20 games, that's crazy. OF has had guys continue to misplay balls with arms that can't make up for the mistakes.

With all of this said, we lost a ton from 2021. Go back and look at the starting experience we lost. It's an incredible number of starts then add in losing Povich (Friday guy, 3rd round), Hroch (4 year weekend guy), Wynne and the B1G POY in Schwelly. This is coach Bolt's 2nd season and the B1G not allowing OOC games in 2021 has stymied the program and it's painful to watch sometimes but we're seeing it first hand right now.
Click to expand...
Agree with both of your posts as a good assessment of where our team is. I believe in our coaches, and I think they are using our non conference games to find the best , and most consistent cohesive team to field. We've been dealt a tough hand with pitching, hitting is sub par as a team.

While I'm certain we're not going to write this season off so early, I wonder if Bolt isn't also playing a long game, hoping to build this team, both experience and age wise for next season.
 
Good comments. Thanks for the views, as I don't know this team very well yet. Here's hoping we start to be more competitive and consistent once we hit Conference play. Doesn't look like Big10 is all that strong except Maryland. Purdue has a good record, however, they're schedule seems pretty light so far.

In playing the long game (which I'm always a supporter), I wonder how Transfer Portal affects college baseball? (Sorry for getting off thread topic)
 
HuskerBLM said:
In playing the long game (which I'm always a supporter), I wonder how Transfer Portal affects college baseball? (Sorry for getting off thread topic)
Click to expand...

We'll be active for sure to fill some spots, just like we did for 2021 (Wynne & Hroch) & 2022 (Ornelas & McCarville) but I anticipate it'll include position guys as well. I do know we're actively following a couple more JUCO position guys to (possibly) enroll this fall.
 



We haven’t seen Gomes pitch in a month and only twice this season. Are we sure he is healthy?
 
HuskerDB said:
We haven’t seen Gomes pitch in a month and only twice this season. Are we sure he is healthy?
Click to expand...

Jeff Leise mentioned Colby during the broadcast today in the list of names of injured pitchers. I had heard he had some type of small foot injury, but never tried to confirm it as he continued to play 1B/PH.
 
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