[BJWilliams]

I know that the game is still fresh in a lot of minds, but with the season over, we do have a few questions to answer, chief among them being whether or not Toman will be leading the way. I am pretty sure this year was the last year of his current contract, and as good as the run was this year, it has been said quite a few times that it is about more than wins and losses, so this will be a very important decision that will need to be made fairly soon, especially with nine seniors playing their last game today.

[SuperJon]

He got an extension last year. If he isn't here, it'll be because he left.

Gonna miss Wimmer. That dude is a leader. Great guy to have on the team.

[LUnpretty11]

He got an extension last year. If he isn't here, it'll be because he left.

Gonna miss Wimmer. That dude is a leader. Great guy to have on the team.

+1000

Wimmer was probably the best leader Liberty has had on the diamond in a while. Really hope nothing but the best for him wherever he goes!!

[BJWilliams]

Agreed on Wimmer. He came a long way after backing up Nate Thompson when he got here, then backing up Casey Rasmus, and then he split time with Grauer before Grauer got hurt and then finally got to be "the man" behind the plate this year Imagine how good he could have been as a four year everyday catcher...

[jinxy]

The draft status of graeur richardson lambert and cordell will play a big part in how good we are. Parks mckelvey and grant are three names to watch that are capable of much more. It will be interesting to see how the new stadium and our tournament run impact recruiting

[SuperJon]

Beej, you also forget that Wimmer played first base for us for a while. He wasn't just a backup. He was a guy that moved where he was needed.

[BJWilliams]

I remembered that when I went through the historic rosters Jon. Definitely wish we had more guys with that team first kind of mindset. (I think Grauer is that way...he has been a catcher, a DH, a relief pitcher, made a couple starts and I think played first base too...)

[BJWilliams]

After a cursory look at the roster, we have 19 guys that are draft eligible on the roster (18 if you dont count Matt Marsh who is recovering from TJ surgery)

[Chippy]

We had a good year. Our SOS was 45 of @ 300 teams. Campbell @ 270 SOS. We will turnover a few players but should have a decent nucleus to build on. Hopefully we can get more productivity from Paxton, Close, Britt and the young arms.

[Flamepop]

One guy we are going to miss more than anyone realizes is Dalton Sype. Did anyone else notice who it was that stood up and talked to the team after the big South Tournament loss to Radford? It was Dalton. He provided leadership all year and definitely earned that letter on his chest. It's too bad his senior year ended up the way it did.

That said next year should look like this before we factor in incoming freshman and transfers:

Outfield, left to right: Lacik-Perritt-Paxton
Infield-3rd Kimble/taormina-SS-Britt-2nd-Seiz-1st Close
Catcher-Grauer
DH: Bream?
Pitchers:Herndon-Lambert-Lyons-Fulghum weekend starters
Pen-Parks-McKelvey-Marsh-Martin-Brown-Clowers-Gray-Grant-Mauldin

We should be fine. The above assumes that Cordell and Richardson are gone in the draft and that others may get selected but will return.

[olldflame]

A return to form by Alex could put next years team on another level.

Here is a link to our HUGE early signing class. (Huge in numbers with 20 players and in size with 3 of them 6´6 or taller.) Best of the lot appears to be OF Trey Roberts. If Cordell comes back, with Perritt and Roberts our outfield speed will be elite.

http://www.liberty.edu/flames/?PID=1086 ... 75&TeamID=

[Chippy]

A return to form by Alex could put next years team on another level.

Here is a link to our HUGE early signing class. (Huge in numbers with 20 players and in size with 3 of them 6´6 or taller.) Best of the lot appears to be OF Trey Roberts. If Cordell comes back, with Perritt and Roberts our outfield speed will be elite.

http://www.liberty.edu/flames/?PID=1086 ... 75&TeamID=

If Alex had last year's form this year think of what could have been

[Sly Fox]

Sophomore slumps are pretty much a fact of life for most Freshman AAs. I expect big things from Alex in 2014.

I agree with the above that until the draft I hesitate to think much about next year's roster. Not only are the above mentioned current players possibly gone through the draft, we have a number of incoming kids who may go reasonably high.

[SuperJon]

One thing we really, really need next year is a hitting coach. We missed Hagen a lot this year.

[jinxy]

Jon. I agree after talking to more people i think you are right. I do think some of it is we have too many free swingers, but some of that can be helped. If roberts makes it to campus he will def start. Lacik should be a bench player. Ive heard from multiple parents that seiz (louisville transfer) would have been huge and absolutely crushed the ball in the fall. Morhardt could factor in at catcher as well. Just wait and see on the draft. One thing is certain. There will be new faces

[Purple Haize]

The announcers lauded our free swinging batters during the 1st SC game

[bigsmooth]

toman has always been about free swinging, but as jon said we do miss hagen. we really need a hitting coach, and i would love to see the team have a Ed Gomes type as a director of spiritual development. i will take a stab at the existing roster to project for next year

1b- alex close
2b- ryan seiz
SS- dalton britt
3b- jake kimble or sammy taormina
of- ryan cordell
of- ashton perritt
of- trey roberts, nick lacik, nick paxton
c- danny grauer or justin morhardt
weekend p- josh richardson
weekend p- trey lambert
weekend p- carson herndon
mid week p- Blake Fulghum
midweek p- jared lyons

highest possible draftees
richardson and cordell

if we lose richardson, move fulghum to a weekend starter
if we lose cordell, paxton or lacik in the of.

we have a strong nucleus for next year. would love to see some high velocity pitchers next year, we seem to have a lot of mid 80's pitchers.

will be fun next year!

[Purple Haize]

I loved the mid 80's.....

[BJWilliams]

Sophomore slumps are pretty much a fact of life for most Freshman AAs. I expect big things from Alex in 2014.

I agree with the above that until the draft I hesitate to think much about next year's roster. Not only are the above mentioned current players possibly gone through the draft, we have a number of incoming kids who may go reasonably high.

In addition to the 18-19 players on the roster all draft eligible (10 of them juniors), we have 17 HS players that are up for it as well

[sporter]

Really believe Cordell and Richardson will be gone - Paxton has a shot because of his tools but the other juniors should be back. If Siez hit as good as a few folks on here said, he could be gone as well. Saw a mock draft that had Roberts in the 18th-20th round so his status will be interesting. Couple of thoughts on the lineup for next year:

The juco SS looks pretty good so have to expect him in the mix somewhere - could be a nice battle with him and Britt with the potential for one of them to switch spots. Everyone has Grauer catching but Toman has had Alex backing up Wimmer all year with Grauer getting a little time at first. Grauer had a few very solid outings late in the year on the mound so could easily see him playing more first to save his arm with Alex catching.

Key to next year will be Marsh and Herndon's health and Parks and McKelvey's progression. Those four coupled with Lyons, Perritt, Lambert, Fulghum, a couple of new guys, and a surprise or two could give us a very strong staff.

As regards hiring a hitting coach, think about this fact if you have any doubts. As awesome of a run we had this weekend, we struck out 41 times to our opponents 12. The pitching was very good and in no way am I being negative as it was such a great run, but when almost 40% of your outs are strikeouts, it limits your ability to consistently beat the great teams. We have to take better approaches next year - only Anderuud consistently stayed over .300 this year and he ended up 30-40 pts below last year.

Go Flames!

[ballah09]

edit:

Roberts is supposed to go high and from what i heard can be an easy sign.

good news is one of Liberty's stud pitchers coming in that is expected to get picked early 10-15 maybe earlier said he's coming
http://www.gametimepa.com/yorkadams/ci_ ... bean-turns

lastly there could be a couple late jucos that could make a immediate impact same with mohardt, if he's good as hype

[jinxy]

man that stinks about Roberts. It would really be nice to get him or a Henderson type player on campus. Roberts could be a stud leadoff hitter. Ballah, have you heard anything about Graeur's draft prospects. I know before the system Kendall Rogers tweeted about him along with Jrich that both had hit 93 at pro day.

I've also heard we picked up a commitment from the ace of GW Danville, tops out at 92 from what i heard. Also heard he threw 140 pitches in a WVD tournament game----another TJ surgery waiting to happen haha. I think he's only junior though but he could be big time rifle arm by the time he arrives.
http://dynamicbaseball.org/featured/pro ... nville-va/



They need to develop Grant as well. I said it before but Grant, Mckelvey and Parks are capable of carrying much bigger loads. Lyons has been rock solid for 2 years so maybe he challenges for a weekend slot.

[ballah09]

no haven't read/heard anything regarding him, wouldn't surprise me if he gets drafted late though, he's a pretty good athlete himself.

and agreed jinxy they just need to fix their control issues.

but as i said before nothing would surprise me if these guys sign even if they get picked in the last round. guys just don't stick around if they have a chance.

[Sly Fox]

Cordell seems to be getting the most buzz on our roster by the draft analysts. But he & Roberts both seem to be capable of going high enough to earn some coin.

[SumItUp]

and i would love to see the team have a Ed Gomes type as a director of spiritual development.

There is only one Ed Gomes, but I think this type of addition to the baseball program should be a priority. I hope this type of position is already in the works.