Hitting struggles

[Nashmann]

Infante is awful today....over swings for the fences...not even close. Batting coach needs to take him aside and say shorten your swing and level it out...geeze!

[fldore]

The shift has changed line drive hitters into homerun hitters.

I've missed a few innings this series but it seems like the shift has worked against us every time. There have been a couple of hard hit balls down the line but every time it seems like the 3rd basemen is basically straddling the foul line. There was a roller up the middle but it looked like the 2nd basemen was standing behind 2nd base and had an easy play. The shift seems to have been scouted really well.

However I dont remember us getting too many lucky breaks with a weakly hit ball right at a gaping hole. Hopefully we'll get a couple tonight.

I think that changed in our favor last night. Both base hits Scott and Bleday had that went right up the middle scoring runs could have been outs had the defense not been shifted. Scott being the big one scoring two putting us up 4-1 and finally giving us a cushion. Off the bat I thought they might both be outs but both times the defense was shifted to the right. If they had been playing straight up (or in Bleday's case playing for the double play), while possible both of those would have still been hits, I think the 2B would have had a chance at them. Especially on Bleday's hit if playing double play. Easily would have been an out and possibly two.

Although once again there were a couple hard hit balls down the line that the 3rd basemen was all over. Having him lined up there might taken 3 or 4 doubles away from us this series.

[3rdFloorDyer]

I sorta feel like tonight's the night they let loose and smash the ball. The Duke series followed the same script:

Game 1 - expected to win but suddenly OMG what's happening?
Game 2 - we really need to win; let's not screw this up
Game 3 - we've survived; let's just play our game and put this away

I was annoyed last night that everyone was going for the long ball. I feel like if we play to get on base, we will do so and score a lot of runs.

You called it!

[EllistonVU]

Infante is awful today....over swings for the fences...not even close. Batting coach needs to take him aside and say shorten your swing and level it out...geeze!

His next batting coach will be in single-A rookie league unless he decides to "go pro in something other than baseball" in which case a VU degree should come in more than handy.

His defense is one of the reasons we are celebrating this morning. He was one great defensive player.

[HopsLikeHolwerda]

Or... maybe... we’re in the CWS with the 7 other best pitching staffs in the country and it’s just harder to hit.

But are these pitching staffs any better than what our SEC competition has? Vandy is facing really good starters in this CWS, but they have been facing this level of pitcher all year long.

The answer is advancements in hitting technology. Vandy has been using pitcher's film and overlaying it into Virtual Reality all season. Many MLB teams are testing it, but as always, Vanderbilt is way ahead of even many professional teams as far as development. The way it works is Vandy gets film of another pitcher, the system deconstructs the spin-rate, velocity, and movement of an opponent's repertoire. In short, prior to going out and hitting against Isaiah Campbell of Arkansas, our guys had put on the goggles and seen exactly how all of his pitches move from their view in the batters box. You can even utilize your bat with a HitTrax device that will overlay your swing to see if you'd hit the pitch you see in VR, and how hard, what launch angle and exit velocity, all of it. The software is pretty amazing.

Why do I say all of this? Well, all season, you know most of the pitchers you will face so getting film is not too hard. If we had to travel for the regional or super regional, it would be possible to guess some of the pitchers you might face, but sometimes other coaches make odd moves. (ie. Isaiah Page starting Game 2 of the CWS Final) Since we were at home for regionals and supers, we simply load up the software and let the guys get a look, even at the last minute. In Omaha, we don't have the devices with us. So when pitchers we are unfamiliar with come in and start throwing a lot of off-speed stuff that moves, it gave us trouble. In short, if we play a home series with Michigan, we probably wouldn't have as much trouble because our guys would have seen what their opponents pitches look like. If we're being honest, Corbin probably did not put most of the Michigan pitchers in the queue for the guys to look at before they left because they were the least likely team for us to face in the Finals.

If you notice, all year, our second time through the lineup we did a lot of damage. The one thing these VR devices cannot do is predict opponent's game-plan and how pitchers mix their pitches. So, after turning the lineup over once, the guys had a good idea of what the pitcher was trying to do, what pitches were working for the guy that day, and then they could sit looking for the pitch they want and mash it. Everyone will be using this stuff soon, but for now it's a huge advantage for us. Just like the pitching lab software used to be. But one of the main reasons, in my opinion, that we did not hit as well in Omaha, was because we didn't have immediate access to the equipment.

[Good2BGold]

There's no need to reply to a level-headed, reasonable post with snark.

What there is really no need for is anyone doubting this team. So I can't agree that the OP was either level-headed or reasonable.

That’s all he knows is snark! My post had nothing to do with not having faith or being fearful..it was just my observation of why we were struggling. We are vastly superior in talent , so give us your take....it’s not about being SOV. You don’t have to remind anyone of our records, but that doesn’t mean we’re playing well. What is unreasonable about my post???

You really need to get over yourself!! You normally have some good posts, but attacking other’s thoughts must make you feel good about yourself in hoping that you get attention. You’re much better than that and I’m quite surprised you couldn’t come up with a different angle if you disagree with me, but obviously you don’t have anything.

Let me first address your assertion that all I know is snark. The public record in this forum doesn't at all support your assertion. Here, see for yourself:

https://www.14powers.com/forums/search. ... 2&sr=posts

Secondly, it is about being SOV. Despite having just witnessed us win with the first three hitters going 0 for 13, you couldn't "see how we can win if we don’t get some production out of these guys." You couldn't see it even though you had just seen it. That's SOV. That's expecting to lose and that is not having faith in the team to win. Try to spin it however you want, but the bottom line is that kind of thinking is SOV. So call it snark if you like, but every time I see that kind of SOV BS on this forum, I'm going to challenge it.

[Ndorefin]

Good2BGold writes:

Let me first address your assertion that all I know is snark. The public record in this forum doesn't at all support your assertion. Here, see for yourself:

https://www.14powers.com/forums/search. ... 2&sr=posts

Secondly, it is about being SOV. Despite having just witnessed us win with the first three hitters going 0 for 13, you couldn't "see how we can win if we don’t get some production out of these guys." You couldn't see it even though you had just seen it. That's SOV. That's expecting to lose and that is not having faith in the team to win. Try to spin it however you want, but the bottom line is that kind of thinking is SOV. So call it snark if you like, but every time I see that kind of SOV BS on this forum, I'm going to challenge it.
[/quote]


Ok, Good2BSnark....you’re so full of yourself it’s comical. If you read any of the other posts from yesterday, you will see that I wasn’t the only one concerned about the lack of production (I don’t need to go back through months of posts), many others cited it as well, while another referred to your comment as being snark and unnecessary. You were the only person thinking SOV and everyone was thrilled you challenged it. As far as “seeing” us win without production from our first 3 hitters, I did see that and it was against pitchers Michigan looked like they pulled in from walking down the street (not their best, in words you can understand) and not the caliber of pitchers UM was going to use last night. I was not expecting us to lose and never said so,.....those were the thoughts in your SOV head. It was my analysis of our struggles and had nothing to do with any other VU team in any other sport. Where you came up with you ideas is so far from left field that you’ve lost perspective.

By the way, what is your expertise in reading others’ thoughts? Were you a psych major at VU or were you just a wannabe and jock-sniffer?