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2024 Wake Baseball Thread: What Did We Do To Deserve This?

The real disappointment last year was we had exactly what we wanted in Omaha. Had a chance to put LSU away with our pitching depth and our bats were just anemic. Overall LSU’s pitching was mediocre and we made them look elite. We averaged two runs per game in Omaha.
 
Deacsfan27 said:
I would be interested to read more intelligent minded folks' (surrounding the game of baseball than I am) thoughts on what's going on with Gill defensively.

I believe he was the top WAR defensive catcher in America last year, and this year it seems like he cannot stop anything back there. His arm is pretty good at getting guys out at second, but is it just a higher velocity? Turf vs grass? Combo of the two, or something else completely?

Maybe he is still elite and my anecdotal evidence is just wrong.
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it's not velocity. These guys catch 90+ all the time...from early high school on. no way Gill made it this far with velocity being the issue. Don't discount how drutal it is on a catcher to have catch guys throwing the ball all over the place. it wears on a catcher and impacts their ability to block balls over the course of a game or games.
 
So far this year our pitchers have 52 WPs. We ended the season last year with 37 (that includes postseason). We've also hit 52 batters already (finished the year last year with 63 which surprised me).

Seems to me that while our defensive catching may have taken a dip I agree with Windy that our erratic pitching probably accounts for most of the drop. I mean alot of our misses are really bad misses whether they are WPs or not.
 
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Turd Ferguson said:
The real disappointment last year was we had exactly what we wanted in Omaha. Had a chance to put LSU away with our pitching depth and our bats were just anemic. Overall LSU’s pitching was mediocre and we made them look elite. We averaged two runs per game in Omaha.
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Stupid ass stadium.

Also that Kurtz rib shot was just a killer. Just brutal.

I think this team is set up to be much more successful offensively in Omaha, but much less set up to successfully get there. So may fly balls dying around the warning track last year. All these shots to the corners for doubles would be lethal in that stupid stadium in Omaha.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
So far this year our pitchers have 52 WPs. We ended the season last year with 37 (that includes postseason). We've also already hit 52 batters already (finished the year last year with 63 which surprised me).

Seems to me that while our defensive catching may have taken a dip I agree with Windy that our erratic pitching probably accounts for most of the drop. I mean alot of our misses are really bad misses whether they are WPs or not.
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When a catcher sees a pitcher throwing a lot of balls in the dirt, they get jumpy. It’s mentally taxing. The catcher will start to “see WP ghosts”- anticipating balls to be in the dirt or expect them to bounce and the C comes up too soon instead of staying down.

Watch a HS game…kids throwing balls in the dirt all the time, catcher doing whatever they can. Next thing you know the catcher lets 2 or 3 past them they should stop.
 
Deacfreak07 said:
Stupid ass stadium.

Also that Kurtz rib shot was just a killer. Just brutal.

I think this team is set up to be much more successful offensively in Omaha, but much less set up to successfully get there. So may fly balls dying around the warning track last year. All these shots to the corners for doubles would be lethal in that stupid stadium in Omaha.
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Yeah we hit a lot of regular season home runs in typical college ballparks (not just ours). Our batting strategy was not geared to that monstrosity in Omaha. Two of our hits this weekend would probably have been in the park homers in Omaha.
WindyCityDeac said:
When a catcher sees a pitcher throwing a lot of balls in the dirt, they get jumpy. It’s mentally taxing. The catcher will start to “see WP ghosts”- anticipating balls to be in the dirt or expect them to bounce and the C comes up too soon instead of staying down.

Watch a HS game…kids throwing balls in the dirt all the time, catcher doing whatever they can. Next thing you know the catcher lets 2 or 3 past them they should stop.
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it affects umpires too. Contributes to why we seem to have tighter zones this year.
 
Turd Ferguson said:
I'm assuming there are a ton of WPs tho...
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I know. But having watched almost every game I feel certain there have been more than 8 passed balls that should have been tagged to the catcher and not the pitcher...balls that the catcher had very reasonable chances to keep in front of them and didn't.
 
Seeya said:
I know. But having watched almost every game I feel certain there have been more than 8 passed balls that should have been tagged to the catcher and not the pitcher...balls that the catcher had very reasonable chances to keep in front of them and didn't.
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If it hits the dirt it’s a WP in the score book. I promise you though the coaches are on the Cs ass about blocking ones they think they should block, and it’s more than 8
 
IamThunderbolt said:
Pitch framing is not a component - defensive WAR for catchers is mostly based on stopping runners from advancing - so stopping stolen bases and limiting passed balls. It's not always super helpful, but I think in college a ball is more likely to be labeled a WP (even if it should be blacked/handled) than a PB. Also, isn't WAR a comparative stat, in that someone's WAR rating is dependent not only on your own skill, but the skill (or lack thereof) of the person behind you on the depth chart?
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Gill was rated as the second best defensive catcher in NCAA last year according to some new stats that were made available in the past year and now published by d1baseball which include dWAR, which is based on defensive runs saved and position.

For catchers, this is entirely based on pitch framing and throwing (pickoffs and throwing out would be base stealers).

Limiting passed balls are not part of the equation, nor are preventing wild pitches. I agree that this makes the metric pretty dubious for catchers.

WAR at any level or for any sport is not impacted at all by a teams depth chart, the replacement level is calculated across the league but isn’t really relevant 90% of the time.
 
IAppreciateIt said:
Gill was rated as the second best defensive catcher in NCAA last year according to some new stats that were made available in the past year and now published by d1baseball which include dWAR, which is based on defensive runs saved and position.

For catchers, this is entirely based on pitch framing and throwing (pickoffs and throwing out would be base stealers).

Limiting passed balls are not part of the equation, nor are preventing wild pitches. I agree that this makes the metric pretty dubious for catchers.

WAR at any level or for any sport is not impacted at all by a teams depth chart, the replacement level is calculated across the league but isn’t really relevant 90% of the time.
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I still don’t understand it because I don’t see any of the three even try to frame pitches. Sometimes they pull the ball out of the zone.
 
I can't find anything on it, but has Blake Morningstar played this year and if so has he given us anything?
 
DeacWatcher said:
I can't find anything on it, but has Blake Morningstar played this year and if so has he given us anything?
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Pitching Statistics​

Morningstar, Blake - Pitching Statistics
DateOpponentW/LIPHRERBBSO2B3BHRWPBKHBPIBBNPSCOREWLSVG-ERAS-ERA
2/16/2024FordhamW2.0222240010000379-30009.009.00
2/25/2024DaytonW0.1333110020000149-600081.0019.29
3/3/2024ElonW1.0100110001000239-00000.0013.50
3/8/2024DukeL0.1000110000000145-80000.0012.27
3/10/2024DukeL1.1000120000010278-100000.009.00
3/12/2024at Coastal CarolinaL0.2100011001000139-170000.007.94
3/17/2024at VirginiaL1.22101100000002910-110000.006.14
3/19/2024High PointW1.0222111001000207-300018.007.56
3/23/2024LouisvilleL0.100000000101063-70000.007.27
3/29/2024North CarolinaL0.200000000000035-60000.006.75
3/30/2024North CarolinaL0.2111000000000106-1000013.507.20
4/2/2024UNC GreensboroW2.0000010000000229-20000.006.00
4/6/2024at Virginia TechW1.1000010000000196-31000.005.40
4/7/2024at Virginia TechW0.1100000000000610-40000.005.27
Total13.213988142034020243105-901005.27
 
Deacfreak07 said:
I still don’t understand it because I don’t see any of the three even try to frame pitches. Sometimes they pull the ball out of the zone.
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I’m no stats expert but what I read they use pitch tracking to measure blocked balls based on the pitch difficulty or something. The site I was reading said it is murky but a stronger stat than most the other catchers metrics.

There’s no question good catchers earn more strikes but that is hard to measure as the pitchers consistency has more to do with it than the catcher. And as noted we’ve been rather all over the place as a staff. Good college catchers receive well without jerking pitches and good umpires shut it down quickly. I have no idea how the stat guys calculate all that. Pitchers hitting their spots is way more impactful than what the catcher can do.
 
I was a bit dogmatic in counting the number of good pitchers needed to win. But the point remains that tournament baseball tends to reward pitching depth. Wake had excellent pitching depth last year and was somewhat unlucky not to be rewarded. Pitching depth has not been as good this year.

As to LSU last year, Skenes threw an amazing number of pitches in his starts, reducing wear on the bullpen. Several pitchers for LSU did much better in the CWS than their season results would have predicted. It happens. Baseball is a high variance game, as demonstrated by the 24 runs Florida scored against LSU in game 2. Thatcher Hurd, who shut Wake down for three innings, has not had a good 2024 to date. Griffin Herring, who shut down Florida in game 3 (I believe) has had a very good 2024 as a sophomore.
Freshmen often get better over the course of the year. Wake has some very good freshman pitchers. It could happen for Wake also.

Though Schwab field in Omaha seems large, it is only 5-10 feet bigger down the lines and to dead center than English field in Blacksburg. Power alley distances are the same. Fences might be higher in Omaha, I'm not sure about that. The added distance obviously increases the square footage of the outfield, rewarding the all important bloop single.
2 of Kurtz' 3 home runs on Sunday in Blacksburg might have been caught in Omaha because of the area of the field where they were hit.
 
Deac@Heart said:
I was a bit dogmatic in counting the number of good pitchers needed to win. But the point remains that tournament baseball tends to reward pitching depth. Wake had excellent pitching depth last year and was somewhat unlucky not to be rewarded. Pitching depth has not been as good this year.

As to LSU last year, Skenes threw an amazing number of pitches in his starts, reducing wear on the bullpen. Several pitchers for LSU did much better in the CWS than their season results would have predicted. It happens. Baseball is a high variance game, as demonstrated by the 24 runs Florida scored against LSU in game 2. Thatcher Hurd, who shut Wake down for three innings, has not had a good 2024 to date. Griffin Herring, who shut down Florida in game 3 (I believe) has had a very good 2024 as a sophomore.
Freshmen often get better over the course of the year. Wake has some very good freshman pitchers. It could happen for Wake also.

Though Schwab field in Omaha seems large, it is only 5-10 feet bigger down the lines and to dead center than English field in Blacksburg. Power alley distances are the same. Fences might be higher in Omaha, I'm not sure about that. The added distance obviously increases the square footage of the outfield, rewarding the all important bloop single.
2 of Kurtz' 3 home runs on Sunday in Blacksburg might have been caught in Omaha because of the area of the field where they were hit.
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Omaha plays bigger than its dimensions with the wind and stuff but I appreciate your vibes. The pitching depth seems to be coming around in time for a run.

I also agree that this offense is built for Omaha, just need to get there.
 


Hope Nelson is ok. Wonder if we’ll see him more on the mound today. Excited to see Morales get some run.
 
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