thanks to the team and the coaches

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dore74
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thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by dore74 »

Disappointing ending to he year for sure. Injuries and lack of power got us in the end. Still in all we won the SEC tourney, and that ain't nothing.

Always a pleasure to watch the guys play--and they always give it their best, win or lose. Thanks for all you do, see you in the fall.


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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by charlestonalum »

They won the SEC tournament, swept super regional host UK, beat SC, beat UF in the tournament when it counted most, and as always made us proud of their classroom and community presence. Sorry we could not quite make it with the two 1 run losses, but some of that is probably because they went all out to win SEC tournament. A good coach, and we have a great one, will assess our deficiencies and address them. I expect continued excellence.

Question for those who know: how many times has the SEC tournament champion failed to get to Omaha? I think it takes something out of you.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by roanoke »

That is what made the run in 2019 so remarkable: regular season champs, SECT champs, National Champs. Just 4 years ago.

Winning the SECT is a major accomplishment. Vandy has only done it 4 times. That will be this team’s lasting legacy.

Honestly, I thought we would make a run for the NC before we lost three of our best pitchers. Let’s Hope Holton and Owen and Dut return to top form. When Owen, Holton, Dut, and Ginther were banged up down the stretch, several guys: Boki, Schultz, Horn really stepped up. Reilly had already stepped up. I’m proud of this team - while also disappointed in how things ended. I think we need to focus a LOT more on situational hitting and not uppercutting for stats. Taking walks and getting on base - rather than lunging at something to smack. That just needs to be a point of emphasis because it was a flaw this year: more team at bats and fewer “glory” ones. Vastine and Diaz both made huge strides on this - and the staff needs to convert everyone. If we go to the portal - we need to look for guys who know how to go with a pitch and stroke line drives and make contact with two strikes.

I suppose I am a broken record on this - but it was a weakness. Several of our guys really had trouble with sliders and curves - identifying and hitting them. If our batting coach is a master recruiter, maybe we need an assistant batting coach who drills some of this stuff. It’s been a problem the last two years. The announcers yesterday literally said this was “the book” on Vandy.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by admin »

It is hard to win the SECT and then show up bouncing off the walls for Xavier and Eastern Illinois a few days later. There will always be the "What ifs" about this season, but in the end, we had a pretty darn good season. I am thankful to the coaching staff and players for their hard work.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by HopsLikeHolwerda »

Agreed. We definitely out-performed the talent level on this roster. That's a testament to the coaches. We've just had way too many misses in recruiting. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the new rules preventing contact with recruits prior to their junior year will save Corbs from himself. Vandy has been a major culprit about offering and getting commits from kids who are either freshmen or sometimes haven't even played a high school game. The problem is that those kids either explode further and get drafted high, or they don't progress much and you're stuck with them. We've missed out on so many kids, locally, who develop as juniors and seniors in high school. Oftentimes they go to other SEC schools, and we pay the price later. But most importantly, nobody should be pressuring a 14-15 year old to make a decision about college. Like it or not, Vandy has been THAT school.

As for the style of play, we just need to get away from cookie-cutter players. Be honest, Vastine-Diaz-Polk-Austin-Maldonado...all pretty dang similar.
The days of the SS being the best player on the high school team are over. Rather than only recruiting the best athletes, let's maybe go out and find the best hitters. Parker Noland is a far better athlete than some 250-pound guy that hits 25 HRs a year and can barely run. No offense to Parker, but I'll take that other guy and put him at 1B. Love Chris Maldonado, but if he is our best option at DH, we have a problem. The DH should be some guy that wakes up in the morning, eats 5 eggs, sweats beer, and mashes pitches. I don't care if he can even field or throw a baseball. Quite frankly, with EBJ in CF, we should have had some masher in LF as well. Schreck was solid in RF, but you don't need an elite athlete in LF. EBJ will cover most of it anyway. Corbs is a bit obsessed with getting the best athletes on the field. It works for producing very good defenses, but our offense often suffers because of it.

We also have pitcher training issues and that needs to be immediately addressed.

All that being said, we have a great program and a great coach who will obviously make the needed adjustments. What they accomplished this year with this roster was pretty amazing. Schreck, Austin and Maldonado gave us much more than most thought they could at the beginning of the year.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by Ndorefin »

I’ve seen it mentioned several times that we have offered several high school underclassmen. Can anyone offer a few examples or is this just hearsay? That’s quite a claim to make if you cant back it up….it wouldn’t make sense to tie up some of your 11.7 scholarship money in this manner.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by commadore »

Unfortunately, Maldonado, Hliboki, Schultz, and Anderson are seniors or already graduated. Also, Grayson Moore, Patrick Reilly, and Owen are juniors and could go pro. We will be hurting for both pitching and hitters next year.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by roanoke »

HopsLikeHolwerda wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 1:04 pm Agreed. We definitely out-performed the talent level on this roster. That's a testament to the coaches. We've just had way too many misses in recruiting. I've said it before and I'll say it again: the new rules preventing contact with recruits prior to their junior year will save Corbs from himself. Vandy has been a major culprit about offering and getting commits from kids who are either freshmen or sometimes haven't even played a high school game. The problem is that those kids either explode further and get drafted high, or they don't progress much and you're stuck with them. We've missed out on so many kids, locally, who develop as juniors and seniors in high school. Oftentimes they go to other SEC schools, and we pay the price later. But most importantly, nobody should be pressuring a 14-15 year old to make a decision about college. Like it or not, Vandy has been THAT school.

As for the style of play, we just need to get away from cookie-cutter players. Be honest, Vastine-Diaz-Polk-Austin-Maldonado...all pretty dang similar.
The days of the SS being the best player on the high school team are over. Rather than only recruiting the best athletes, let's maybe go out and find the best hitters. Parker Noland is a far better athlete than some 250-pound guy that hits 25 HRs a year and can barely run. No offense to Parker, but I'll take that other guy and put him at 1B. Love Chris Maldonado, but if he is our best option at DH, we have a problem. The DH should be some guy that wakes up in the morning, eats 5 eggs, sweats beer, and mashes pitches. I don't care if he can even field or throw a baseball. Quite frankly, with EBJ in CF, we should have had some masher in LF as well. Schreck was solid in RF, but you don't need an elite athlete in LF. EBJ will cover most of it anyway. Corbs is a bit obsessed with getting the best athletes on the field. It works for producing very good defenses, but our offense often suffers because of it.

We also have pitcher training issues and that needs to be immediately addressed.

All that being said, we have a great program and a great coach who will obviously make the needed adjustments. What they accomplished this year with this roster was pretty amazing. Schreck, Austin and Maldonado gave us much more than most thought they could at the beginning of the year.
Vastine, Diaz, Austin, Polk, Maldonado all being the same player, in my opinion, is not a problem. They are five great players with super high ceilings.

However, I agree with your basic point - and I’ll rephrase my point. For “average hitters” (guys who should hit.300) they should focus on doing what they’re supposed to do. Contact, getting on base - discipline. But you are certainly right, too - we do need some sluggers to hammer homers. And I’m assuming the portal is where sluggers will be waiting for us. I hope - since it is a need - we will be willing to take a couple of chances there. The league, with the strike zone, is actually favoring sluggers - so we would be making a mistake to shy away from portal sluggers.

Recruiting in baseball is really hard. We are too good. We line up the Volpe, Crow-Armstrong, Jones, Max Clark crowd - and lose them to the pros. At some point perhaps NIL will step in? Pay a Clark six figures to go to college rather than ride a minor league bus and maybe you land him?
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by Vandy187187 »

Corbs was pissed yesterday. Banging the desk and all in the season ending press conference. You can tell what makes our program successful. He hates to lose and very smart.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by Doresince89 »

Admittedly I have not watched one inning of Wake Forest ball but here is my question: For years now, teams have come to Nashville to learn from the best coach in the land on how to build a winning program. Can Corbs learn anything from what Wake is doing this year or is it just a fluke for them? I thought I read they are using stats a lot more then other programs (think Moneyball). For a team that does not seem to be able to compete NILwise for the best power hitters, is it time to focus on other things that will make a winning team? We have the pitching and I think we have the hitters as the LOB stats show us. We just need the boys to hit for average and move the guys on base around instead of trying to send one over the green wall.
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Re: thanks to the team and the coaches

Post by HopsLikeHolwerda »

Ndorefin wrote: Mon Jun 05, 2023 2:57 pm I’ve seen it mentioned several times that we have offered several high school underclassmen. Can anyone offer a few examples or is this just hearsay? That’s quite a claim to make if you cant back it up….it wouldn’t make sense to tie up some of your 11.7 scholarship money in this manner.
This is a link to the PG commit page for 2025. (just finished Sophomore year) 13 kids already committed. New rules say Corbs won't even be able to talk to kids this age until about two weeks ago.

https://www.perfectgame.org/college/Col ... llege=1841

I could go through each on Twitter but that would take a while, so I did spot check a few.

Billy Carlson committed last August. (After freshman year of high school) 6-1, 160 pound. SS. Sound familiar?
Seth Hernandez committed last September.
Minjae Seo committed in November of 2021...before ever playing a high school game.
Talon Haley committed last fall. Prior to Sophomore season.

We also have a 2026 commit already. Just finished Freshman year.

Feel free to look through the others, but the Vandy recruiting "MO" has been to find a specific type of kid at 14-15, and push for an early commitment because most college coaches actually respect commitments and don't try to flip recruits. Very different from other sports. To Corbs' credit, he stands by his early offers, unlike many coaches, but that is why we have lots of attrition after year 1 or 2. Many kids who come in as Freshmen really don't belong here.
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