A Sea Of Red

Did the new baseballs help or hinder LU this past season, or did they not have any effect ? I'd like to hear what the baseball gurus have to say on this.

With all the wind at LU stadium, I thought there would have been more home runs hit.

Hard to say on the hitters, but I have to believe it had something to do with Parker Bean´s regression from BSC Freshman of the year and projected Friday starter to week day liability and source of much head scratching. The seams on the ball are different, and it looks like he wasn´t able to make the necessary adjustments. Hopefully he will figure it out this summer.

The baseballs had nothing to do with Bean. His issues are totally mechanics and confidence. He can't repeat his mechanics from pitch to pitch right now so he can't replicate things.

SuperJon wrote:The baseballs had nothing to do with Bean. His issues are totally mechanics and confidence. He can't repeat his mechanics from pitch to pitch right now so he can't replicate things.

OK, SJ has spoken. Despite the fact that Bean mentioned in a pre season interview that he was still working on adjusting to the new ball, we can now rest assured not only that it has nothing to do with the ball, but of course the real problem is with the pitching coach

key word being "Pre-season" interview

think it may be possible that his issues changed over the last 9 months?

and yeah- I think both those are something that would be in the arena of a pitching coach.

you know- to coach pitching

Adjusting to the new ball would also be something that falls under the responsibilities of the pitching coach. I´m just saying that while we are rushing to place blame, it shouldn´t be dismissed, since it clearly was an issue going into the season.

I wasn't blaming Quinn. I was just pointing out what Bean's issue is.

SuperJon wrote:The baseballs had nothing to do with Bean. His issues are totally mechanics and confidence. He can't repeat his mechanics from pitch to pitch right now so he can't replicate things.

Exactly. The new ball didn't seem to affect Lyons et al. Bean has always been prone to wildness. This is mechanics and confidence and has nothing to do with the ball. His arm slot and positioning his shoulder lacks consistency. If you have good mechanics you can throw a tennis ball or wiffle ball and still get it over the plate. If he had replicated the previous year's stats, we'd would have probably had 4-5 more wins and made the regionals.

Unrelated but it still blows my mind that baseballs have to be hand sewn. Think of all of the technology that exists today and we're unable to create a machine that can sew a baseball without creating blisters.

What all of the armchair pitching coaches are overlooking is that one of the most important aspects of a pitchers mechanics is something you won´t see by simply watching him pitch like arm slot or stride length........... his grip. It is highly individual, and the seams of the ball play a huge factor. Any pitcher will tell you that if they aren´t comfortable with their grip, it will show in their velocity, spin and control.... especially control. For some pitchers there is a much bigger adjustment to the new ball than others, and some even prefer it, so the fact that Lyons had a great year is irrelevant to the discussion.

The stitches are different from ball to ball, no matter the manufacturer. It is not really something that is difficult to adjust to immediately. Bean's problem is different for sure and is most likely mechanics or mental as suggested. However, according to some, we don't really coach our pitchers, we just yell at them. Maybe he just needs a little bit more or less yelling.

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Couple things. I saw bean pitch probably more than anybody other than maybe chippy. His issue is the same thing it was in the regionals and conference tournament last year. Its the same issue most of us amateur golfers have. He simply cant repeat his delivery and arm slot. He made a ton of appearances this year and he was flat out bad in all of them but 1 or 2. The seams werent his problem, he had 8 months to make an adjustment. That being said, hes the key to next year. If he finds his form along with the return of cole and stafford and the additions of guys like mitchell and degroat we will have the top 5 down. Lets just hope mckenna and artis dont sign because thats 2 starters in the outfield if they make it to campus. Probably the leadoff hitter and a middle of the order hitter as well. Def the strongest class toman has brought in in several years even with the loss of trevillian.