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Slow start with the bats.

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Slow start with the bats.

Does anyone have a theory as to why some hitters are off to such slow starts? Have there been some injuries?
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Slow start with the bats.

It's mostly because they lost so many of last year's bats to graduation or the draft. Jeff Fiorentino, Rusty Brown and several others are all gone.

Add to that the fact that the two guys who were supposed to be the team leaders at the plate (Derek Hutton and Tim Mascia) are both hitting below the Mendoza line. With Hutton, it's not a terrible surprise, because he had been pretty sporadic freshman and sophomore year, but Mascia had shown nothing but promise in previous seasons.
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Slow start with the bats.

Well, I've watched 2 games this year, and with that limited exposure, I'll give you my opinion. They aren't very aggressive. I stood right by the on-deck circle yesterday, and kept telling my son that this dude keeps throwing a first pitch fastball right down the middle. I was saying it loud enough so that the 2 or 3 standing there waiting to bat could hear me. Each and every one of them got a first pitch fastball, each and every one of them took it, and each and everyone of them was behind in the count 0-1. Then they were swinging at pitches out of the zone. Hitting is all about pitch selection and these guys are letting the good ones go, and swinging at the nasty ones. They need to go up there hacking. This is college ball. There aren't a whole lot of first pitch breaking balls.
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Slow start with the bats.

With hitting down, it become even more important that we cut down on those errors.
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Slow start with the bats.

I know these guys have to be frustrated to the max for the all around poor performances at the plate, especially Hutt and Mas after the numbers they put up last year. However, the answer to me is working longer and harder. More time on the batting tee, more time in the batting cage and more BP. Same goes for defense…. fielding more grounders, turning more DP's and making more throws to first. Hard work has a way of bringing about success! That's not to say these guys aren't working hard now, but when you're in a funk you have to work your way out of it. Maybe it's a mental thing and they just need to re-focus on the basics. I agree with "Hoot" on the lack of aggressiveness in not going after the first pitch which invariably is a fast ball strike down the middle of the plate. Fiorentino used to drive me crazy doing that, but he was such a good hitter he was able to look at a couple strikes and make the pitcher work before he would plant one somewhere for a hit. Our current lineup needs to come up there swinging instead of getting called out looking. In other words, you get three cuts…use 'em. A .267 team BA isn't going to cut it, which, incidentally, is the lowest in the A-Sun. I keep waiting for the turn around…………. hopefully soon (like this weekend would be nice). ;D
Go Owls!
Let me add that Stetson has the best team BA at .338 followed by Campbell at .325. We can't continue to put all the pressure on our starting pitchers without giving them some run production in support. If we have to resort to small ball to get things turned around, so be it. Personally, I haven't seen as much of that as I expected based on KC's earlier comments. Whatever it takes to sweep this weekend series is what we need to see.
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Slow start with the bats.

They tried to play small ball Saturday. They were awful at it. Caught stealing, standing up for Christ's sake, stopping and letting themselves be tagged out with a guy on third. If you're out, you're out. If you know you're out, might as well head back to first. You never know what might happen in a pickle, especially with a guy on third. A couple bunts were tried and they couldn't get the ball down. In fact they even pinch hit with first and second and nobody out, just to sacrifice. After bunting a pitch into the screen that was over his head, then bunting another one foul, he struck out swinging. Who was that? Tall, lanky lefthander. I forget. I'm a big baseball fan, and I'm a big FAU baseball fan, so I'll easily forget the couple of performances that I have seen this year. Both wins by the way. That doesn't change what I saw, though.
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