Wednesday March 24, 2010

Fatal Flaw?

The Fatal Flaw?
If you have watched Clemson baseball this season you have noticed a few things. First is the offense. The Tigers are hitting .318 so far this season. They have 35 homers in the first 20 games. They are averaging 9.7 runs per game. The Tigers are slugging at a .546 mark and have an on-base percentage of .427.

Another thing you may have noticed is the starting pitching for the weekend rotation. Casey Harman, Will Lamb and Scott Weismann are 9-0 with 2.30 ERA.

On the negative side the things you may have noticed is mid-week pitching and defense. Clemson has lost two mid-week games this season and in both of those losses the Tigers have scored 10 runs. When 10 runs are not enough then something may be wrong.

However, mid-week games are not the most important aspect of a college baseball program because you are not throwing your three best pitchers. Defense, on the other hand, is vital.

Clemson has been errorless in only three games this season and the Tigers are 2-1 in those games. They are 4-0 when they make only one error this season and are 11-2 when they make two or more errors. In other words, two of their three losses have come in games in which they committed two or more errors.

Even more alarming is the last two games. The Tigers have committed ten errors in the last two games including five in each contest.

Brad Miller is off to a great start at the plate but the sophomore has struggled at shortstop this season. He has committed 13 errors in 20 games. He enters tonight’s game with an .875 fielding percentage.

Jason Stolz has five errors on the season. Mike Freeman and John Nester have for each. Scott First has only pitched 8.2 innings but he has three errors already.

As a team Clemson has committed 41 errors in 20 games or 2.05 errors per game. The offense may be good enough to carry the team against the competition so far but I know Jack Leggett does not want to give teams like Virginia, Florida State, North Carolina and Georgia Tech two more outs per game or better yet, five more outs like the last two games.

I was talking to Dan Scott, one of the radio announcers for Clemson baseball, this morning and he had an interesting story. He commented that Miller does well on the ball hit to his left and right but has struggled on the balls hit right at him. Dan threw out the idea from his coaching days in American Legion ball. He said he had a shortstop that had the same issue so he moved him to third base your there is less time to think because the ball gets there quicker.

As radio guys we don’t normally have too much of a clue when it comes to coaching but Dan’s thoughts were used by the Tiger staff with two of the greatest players in the program’s history. Jeff Baker came to Clemson as a shortstop and Khalil Greene played third beside Baker. But one year Baker struggled in the field mightily. So the staff moved Baker to third and Greene to short. At first I thought this was an awful idea but the moved turned out to be brilliant.

Hopefully Miller will get straightened out soon and maybe he could never play third. I am not sure if Henson could play shortstop but Stolz came to Clemson as a shortstop and battled Miller for the position before the staff decided on Miller at short and moved Stolz to third.

I am not sure any of that would work but it was an option in the days of Baker and Greene. Maybe it could be a move that could work in 2010.

The other issue for this team defensively is a result of the injury to Richie Shaffer. The freshman first baseman strained his groin stretching for a ball against Virginia Tech this past weekend and may be out a few weeks.

Will Lamb is a talented first baseman but Lamb is also one of the starting pitchers on weekend so the staff needs to find a suitable first baseman on those days. Kyle Parker played OK at first base last night until he let a ground ball eat him up for his first infield error this season.

Other options at first on the days Lamb is pitching may be John Hinson or John Nester. The key here is depth because if Hinson plays first the Tigers still have Stolz at third and if Nester plays first then they still have Pohl behind the plate. Yet another option may be freshman catcher Spencer Kieboom but I am not sure if he has ever played first before.

First base is not the toughest positions to play and sometimes you can get away with hiding someone over there. But a good defensive first baseman makes the rest of the infield so much better defensively.

Clemson will have its chance at Elon once again tonight at 6:30 and I want a win but almost as important, I want to see a clean game defensively. Ten errors in two games may have a psychological effect and that is the last thing this team needs heading to play Virginia on the road.

One final Clemson baseball thought for the day--Kyle Parker pulls the football-baseball double today. He will leave spring football practice and immediately head to baseball. Parker played his third position of the year in baseball last night and will get another curve ball today when he goes through his unique brand of “two-a-days.”

The Brad Hughes All-State Insurance Agency

Prayer List
We have started a prayer list on the blog. Here are the guidelines:
*If you are offended by prayer or prayer lists then I apologize in advance. The blog is free and the prayer list will be on the bottom of the page so you don’t have to read it.
*If you would like to add someone to the list please e-mail me at mickeyplyler@hotmail.com
*If you want the reason for the prayer to be added to the name please specify in your e-mails.
*Please let me know when it is appropriate to take the person off of the prayer list

Those who need our prayers include:
Finn Brookover, Larry in Naples, FL, RTG-Pawsitive Tiger, Mary-Louise Pawlowski (John's daughter), Jo Ann Bachman, Frank Taylor, Kenneth Bryant, Pruitt Martin, Got igers and his family, David Rowland, Leonard, Gillespie and his family, Jim S, Christine Hepfer, Daniel Rosborough, Amy Murphey, Jack Huffman, Nancy Winkler, Dr. Nancy Strom Morgan, John Reeve, Eileen Woodrum, Ethel Southard, Vinnie Brock, Kaitlyn L, Eric Boessneck, John Bowers, Jimmy Ness, Susan Miller, Joyce Harley, Steve Proveaux, John Petrey, Chalmers Carr, Drayton Melton, Jeffrey Greene, the Hutto family, Sherl Drawdy, Caleb Kennedy, Teresa O'Connor, Matt Jacobs, Mike Kingsmore,Perrin Seigler, Carole White Begley, Candee Massee, Lindsey Jordan, Sam Catoe, Tyler Felch, Steve Cato, the Nicolopulos family, Cason Palmer, Candace Fallaw, Scott Jackson, "the Jacksonville, FL guys", Kim Sims, the Coyle familty, Ryleigh Tedder, Steve Lee.