What Happened to Small Ball?

[Husker Mort]

I have been surprised to see a pretty different offensive strategy this year than I remember from previous squads.

Where has the small ball gone?

The Husker offense hasn't been incredible or displayed much power (5 HRs), but it has racked up some hits. The team average (.278) also isn't that bad, but the base runners don't seem to be turning into runs. Several times on Saturday in the early innings the Huskers were able to get their lead-off hitter on base only to have them thrown out at 2nd with a FC. Saturday doesn't seem to be an isolated trend. It also happened against Michigan and Cal Fullerton, and in the mid/late innings Sunday (but that wasn't an indication, since the Huskers were up by six).

Where is the small ball that this program was built on?
Is Erstad recruiting and coaching a team in his image (excellent "slap" hitters that can spray it all over the place and run bases)?
Has there been a larger shift away from this approach that I'm just not aware of?
Is this an indication of Coach Kirby's attitude to scoring?

It seems like the offense needs to be more efficient with their opportunities and small ball is designed for just that. Thanks for any discussion.

 

[Sandhills Husker]

I haven't checked the stats, but from watching it seems like we still sacrifice bunt a lot. And well; I have seen us advance the runner a lot this year, with few failures. So I don't see a reduction in that part of small ball. It doesn't look like we steal as much, which may be because we don't have a lot of speed. But I'm not aware of, and haven't seen, a "larger shift" in our approach. In the later innings Saturday we were moving runners all over the place. Even took the bat out of Bolt's hands to move the runner to third. Since we don't have power, I expect us to still play a lot of small ball.

 

[CrnhskrBob]

Listen up, Husker baseball fanatics:

Today, B10 was supposed to rebroadcast the 15-inning game. Somehow, they preempted it with a basketball game from
last year and goodness knows what else!

I am missing the complete bottom of the 13th and on. If someone could send me a copy of the whole game, I
sure would appreciate it. If someone has a Panasonic, I could use a dvd copy that is not finalized. If so, I would only
need what I missed, the bottom of the 13th and on.

I will make it worth your while. Sure hope someone has the whole game.

Thanks! :salute:

 

[Husker Mort]

I haven't checked the stats, but from watching it seems like we still sacrifice bunt a lot. And well; I have seen us advance the runner a lot this year, with few failures. So I don't see a reduction in that part of small ball. It doesn't look like we steal as much, which may be because we don't have a lot of speed. But I'm not aware of, and haven't seen, a "larger shift" in our approach. In the later innings Saturday we were moving runners all over the place. Even took the bat out of Bolt's hands to move the runner to third. Since we don't have power, I expect us to still play a lot of small ball.

Thanks for your take. Like I said, I could be wrong.

In the early innings on Saturday, we missed several good opportunities to move runners into scoring position. And given how Friday went and the small-ball mentality of the coach in the other dugout, you wouldn't think that is a winning strategy.

Just my $.02.

 

[Husker Mort]

Small ball dissappeared again yesterday. After putting five runs across in the first two innings, the Husker offense apparently saw no need to sacrifice runners into scoring position anymore until the game was tied up. This offense simply isn't good enough and does not have enough power to not worry about manufacturing runs...ever.

I just SMH while listening to the broadcast from my Easter gathering.

 

[BraskyMan]

Small ball dissappeared again yesterday. After putting five runs across in the first two innings, the Husker offense apparently saw no need to sacrifice runners into scoring position anymore until the game was tied up. This offense simply isn't good enough and does not have enough power to not worry about manufacturing runs...ever.

I just SMH while listening to the broadcast from my Easter gathering.

Mort, I could be wrong, but I don't recall NU really having baserunners to sacrifice over. After NU put up the 5 runs, there was not more than a couple of hits. I think any baserunners after that point may have been on with at least 1 out already. The only sacrifice situation I recall where they chose not to sacrifice was the 9th inning. NU ended up hitting into a DP, but in this case, I actually agreed with the decision.

Also, I think this team does play a ton of small ball and sacrifice runners; IMHO too much so. NU is even currently 11th nationally for sacrifice bunts. I think the real issue is that NU is just not very good at manufacturing runs; they sacrifice guys over but can't hit them in. It's a problem because the offense lacks power, doesn't hit for great average, and is not very good at manufacturing runs with small ball either. NU sacrifices a lot to get runners to second, they even often sacrifice a runner from 2nd to 3rd with no outs (which I hate); the problem is they seem to very rarely capitalize on it once they have the runners there. Unfortunately, I don't really know what the offensive identity is because NU doesn't really do much well, and it seems the players don't either.

IMO, I would like to see NU sacrifice far less. If you struggle to get hits to begin with, I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense to constantly give up outs when you get a runner on. Right now, NU needs all the outs/at bats it can get.

 

[Husker Mort]

I just checked the box and you are exactly right, BM. Nebraska failed to get their lead-off man on base in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th innings. Not gonna win many games that way, for sure.

I think you gotta have Lubach bunt him over in the Ninth as well, but that is an argument for another thread.

Everything else you said about the offense is spot on -- time for Kirby to show his worth.

 

[CrnhskrBob]

Mort, I could be wrong, but I don't recall NU really having baserunners to sacrifice over. After NU put up the 5 runs, there was not more than a couple of hits. I think any baserunners after that point may have been on with at least 1 out already. The only sacrifice situation I recall where they chose not to sacrifice was the 9th inning. NU ended up hitting into a DP, but in this case, I actually agreed with the decision.

Also, I think this team does play a ton of small ball and sacrifice runners; IMHO too much so. NU is even currently 11th nationally for sacrifice bunts. I think the real issue is that NU is just not very good at manufacturing runs; they sacrifice guys over but can't hit them in. It's a problem because the offense lacks power, doesn't hit for great average, and is not very good at manufacturing runs with small ball either. NU sacrifices a lot to get runners to second, they even often sacrifice a runner from 2nd to 3rd with no outs (which I hate); the problem is they seem to very rarely capitalize on it once they have the runners there. Unfortunately, I don't really know what the offensive identity is because NU doesn't really do much well, and it seems the players don't either.

IMO, I would like to see NU sacrifice far less. If you struggle to get hits to begin with, I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense to constantly give up outs when you get a runner on. Right now, NU needs all the outs/at bats it can get.

The only saving grace this last weekend was we did not get picked off; that has hurt us plenty this season.