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Post by snapper on May 15, 2022 23:38:51 GMT -5
My last post. Fielding the baseball is all about repetition. The more times you field the ball, the more it becomes routine. It was clear that there was not enough repetition in the off season. Being young is no excuse for poor defense. Hitting, yes a different story. If you don’t face 90-93 all the time, it takes time to get used to in the college game. I understand that baseball is a 126th rate priority at HC. But this is a program that we could find an alum that bleeds purple to take over. And be better off. George Capen, Jimmy Sweeney, Brendan Akasian, all guys who coach at some level that would be a huge upgrade. Jason falcon is another candidate who never got a shot. Former assistants. Don’t know any of them personally, but would imagine if the job was posted maybe one would put in for it. I guess everyone else is missing out on the Salem State head coach who is 36-29 over his first two seasons with the Vikings. Hey Foley, I would take him over our current situation any day.
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Post by longsuffering on May 16, 2022 1:02:38 GMT -5
My last post. Fielding the baseball is all about repetition. The more times you field the ball, the more it becomes routine. It was clear that there was not enough repetition in the off season. Being young is no excuse for poor defense. Hitting, yes a different story. If you don’t face 90-93 all the time, it takes time to get used to in the college game. I understand that baseball is a 126th rate priority at HC. But this is a program that we could find an alum that bleeds purple to take over. And be better off. George Capen, Jimmy Sweeney, Brendan Akasian, all guys who coach at some level that would be a huge upgrade. Jason falcon is another candidate who never got a shot. Former assistants. Don’t know any of them personally, but would imagine if the job was posted maybe one would put in for it. Did HC ever make an offer to Tucker Frawley '06 during his twelve years as Associate Head Coach at Yale? He gained national recognition for the Yale infield defense. He left Yale a couple of years ago to join the Minnesota Twins.
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 16, 2022 8:24:56 GMT -5
Jason Falcon went 188-323-1 (.368 winning percentage) at Clark University and had one winning season in 16 years at Clark University. He’s already proven he can’t build a high-level team in Worcester. His ceiling is an assistant at a D1 college/university. He would be a massive upgrade over our current assistants.
Additionally, Salem State has generally had the same record over the last fifteen years. Jason Falcon didn’t raise Salem State over anything Al Donovan, Mike Ward or Ken Perrone did. Mike Ward was far better than Jason Falcon at Salem State from 2013-2016.
Tucker Frawley would be an awesome pickup for Holy Cross. My guess is that he would probably be more interested in the Yale position that is coming open this year and is a better job. Additionally, he may enjoy the MLB ranks and has a real impact to be a bench coach in the major leagues. Tucker is often linked with Kai Correa who is the bench coach for the SF Giants. My gut is that Tucker is more likely to be the bench coach of the Twins and has progressed out of contention for a low-level job like this. Holy Cross doesn’t need an external lifer as its baseball coach. We have a rich baseball alumni base, and we should tap one of them on the shoulder.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on May 16, 2022 9:58:05 GMT -5
Frawley would have to take a serious pay cut to move from his current post in MLB to HC. He'd be a home run hire, but can't see that happening.
Some of the other alums mentioned (Capen, Akashian) would definitely be upgrades of HCEK.
Does Paul Pearl want to coach baseball, again?
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 17, 2022 8:02:11 GMT -5
Mike Marron is at Old Dominion as their pitching coach. Was captain in 2005 for Holy Cross and has coached D1 baseball since. He would be a great hit as well over what we have.
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Post by snapper on May 18, 2022 19:06:04 GMT -5
Well that didn’t take long. Wang and Bryant are in the portal. Assuming more to come.
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Post by longsuffering on May 18, 2022 19:47:21 GMT -5
Baseball at HC doesn't even have scholarships to use as a retention carrot. Can’t blame a kid if his on Field performance now makes him a candidate for a scholarship elsewhere.
If either of these students don't get an offer from a school they want, there is no penalty or risk for them. They could just write another tuition check, return in the fall and try out for the baseball team. How could a coach ban a legitimately registered Holy Cross student from trying out for a non scholarship team or cut a player just because he tested the waters?
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Post by hchoops on May 18, 2022 19:52:28 GMT -5
The power conferences have max schollies, but there’s are not many full scholarships, especially for non pitchers, in other conferences.
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Post by snapper on May 18, 2022 20:08:03 GMT -5
11.7 scholarships across 35 kids at power 5’s. It was 13, but with title IV the brilliant minds decided to cut 10% of schollies, which is 1.3 for all you math majors. Hence 11.7. Scholarships have nothing to do with why a kid will stay or go. I believe it was Tim Corbin at Vandy, but I could be wrong, said he had to recruit not only great baseball players, but also kids who can handle the academics and PAY to go to school there.
What do you do when a ship is sinking? Oh yeah, you jump.
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 19, 2022 9:45:28 GMT -5
It's not a scholarship problem. We've never had scholarships and the program has operated at a much higher level.
The program is sub-par on many levels and that is why we can't retain anyone.
Also, it isn't surprising in current recruiting/transfer landscape that 3 of the 4 guys headed to portal are from Tampa, Tennessee and California.
There is zero connection to the school and the progression/history of the baseball team from the current players and coaches.
The staff is so overmatched and the most concerning part about it may be the assistants who have really no coaching experience and didn't play baseball at any high level.
At the end of the day, we have a D3 coaching staff with D3 level players playing at a D1 level.
We shouldn't be surprised when a player leaves for greener pastures because the program is a D3 program in a D1 league.
We shouldn't be surprised at where the program is because this is the direction the school and athletic department has chosen.
If Kit Hughes wants the program to change for the positive, it starts with getting someone in there that can have success within the current structure while pushing the boundaries for more. This is on Kit now to take action.
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Post by hcpride on May 19, 2022 10:02:30 GMT -5
/\ /\Folks at the admin level may be quite satisfied with participating OOC and then making the playoffs following PL competition. As we did this year.
It isn’t like we’ve ever had a string of PL championships - so I’m not sure there will be any sort of urgency regarding baseball.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on May 19, 2022 10:32:00 GMT -5
Baseball finishing fourth in a six team league is like basketball finishing seventh.
It was a bad season no matter how you slice it, and a small consolation prize was getting shelled by Army in the PLT.
I agree with your take, pride, in that the administration seeing we are "competitive" in the PL is right in line with their expectations and nothing needs to change.
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Post by longsuffering on May 19, 2022 11:17:54 GMT -5
The coaches are gaining experience coaching and in and recruiting for the PL. That is an asset of some measure.
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Post by purplehaze on May 19, 2022 11:26:56 GMT -5
Let’s be honest and recognize that Wang had a very rough year in the field at 3B - imo, he projects as a 1st baseman or DH if he goes to a higher level We had two very good frosh in the recent past transfer and both only found obscure JC’s after HC: Malgeri and Lapham With the D.1 schollie limit it might be tough for Wang to get significant athletic aid at his next stop
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Post by longsuffering on May 19, 2022 12:48:28 GMT -5
Underclassmen returning from a team that reached at least one goal (the PL playoffs) with a late season surge, and who want to be here are also an appreciating asset.
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 19, 2022 12:49:33 GMT -5
Let’s be honest and recognize that Wang had a very rough year in the field at 3B - imo, he projects as a 1st baseman or DH if he goes to a higher level We had two very good frosh in the recent past transfer and both only found obscure JC’s after HC: Malgeri and Lapham With the D.1 schollie limit it might be tough for Wang to get significant athletic aid at his next stop I think he's a good enough hitter to receive aid at next stop. He can't play left side of infield at any D1 program. First base, right field or DH. He'd have to work at both 1B and RF. He's a good enough hitter where a school will deal with his defense at one of those positions. You can't deal with it at 3B and we shouldn't have had him there during year.
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Post by Sons of Vaval on May 19, 2022 12:55:04 GMT -5
Wang seems like he'd slide in rather easily to BC's program as a DH / platoon player.
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Post by bfoley82 on May 19, 2022 15:40:08 GMT -5
11.7 scholarships across 35 kids at power 5’s. It was 13, but with title IV the brilliant minds decided to cut 10% of schollies, which is 1.3 for all you math majors. Hence 11.7. Scholarships have nothing to do with why a kid will stay or go. I believe it was Tim Corbin at Vandy, but I could be wrong, said he had to recruit not only great baseball players, but also kids who can handle the academics and PAY to go to school there. What do you do when a ship is sinking? Oh yeah, you jump. Sure...Corbin's program is CLEAN. There been rumors for years that some of their top players were on academic full ride scholarships which they aren't eligible for.
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Post by rgs318 on May 19, 2022 16:46:25 GMT -5
Please correct me if any of what I post here is incorrect...HC is a D1 team in a D1 league, therefore our players are D1 players and their coaches are D1 coaches. Why on earth would someone try to say anything different? If someone believes they are not competing at the level they are expected to compete, address that. Just don't waste time trying to say that this is D3 team. It is not. If it were, their results would look pretty good. Is that what some are trying to prove?
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Post by longsuffering on May 19, 2022 16:50:48 GMT -5
We would surely have had the most D-1 victories of any D-3 team in the country this past season. Probably get a team photo on a Wheaties box.
Whether we could have won a Worcester City tournament is another question. Need impartial observer Mr. Foley to answer that question.
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Post by efg72 on May 19, 2022 21:15:12 GMT -5
It's not a scholarship problem. We've never had scholarships and the program has operated at a much higher level. The program is sub-par on many levels and that is why we can't retain anyone. Also, it isn't surprising in current recruiting/transfer landscape that 3 of the 4 guys headed to portal are from Tampa, Tennessee and California. There is zero connection to the school and the progression/history of the baseball team from the current players and coaches. The staff is so overmatched and the most concerning part about it may be the assistants who have really no coaching experience and didn't play baseball at any high level. At the end of the day, we have a D3 coaching staff with D3 level players playing at a D1 level. We shouldn't be surprised when a player leaves for greener pastures because the program is a D3 program in a D1 league. We shouldn't be surprised at where the program is because this is the direction the school and athletic department has chosen. If Kit Hughes wants the program to change for the positive, it starts with getting someone in there that can have success within the current structure while pushing the boundaries for more. This is on Kit now to take action. on scholarshipsI am not sure you are correct about scholarships if I recall correctly we had 2 in my class- Mike Pazik and one other
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 19, 2022 22:18:24 GMT -5
Please correct me if any of what I post here is incorrect...HC is a D1 team in a D1 league, therefore our players are D1 players and their coaches are D1 coaches. Why on earth would someone try to say anything different? If someone believes they are not competing at the level they are expected to compete, address that. Just don't waste time trying to say that this is D3 team. It is not. If it were, their results would look pretty good. Is that what some are trying to prove? My point is we don't have Division 1-caliber talent for players or coaches, period. Hope that clarifies.
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 19, 2022 22:20:56 GMT -5
It's not a scholarship problem. We've never had scholarships and the program has operated at a much higher level. The program is sub-par on many levels and that is why we can't retain anyone. Also, it isn't surprising in current recruiting/transfer landscape that 3 of the 4 guys headed to portal are from Tampa, Tennessee and California. There is zero connection to the school and the progression/history of the baseball team from the current players and coaches. The staff is so overmatched and the most concerning part about it may be the assistants who have really no coaching experience and didn't play baseball at any high level. At the end of the day, we have a D3 coaching staff with D3 level players playing at a D1 level. We shouldn't be surprised when a player leaves for greener pastures because the program is a D3 program in a D1 league. We shouldn't be surprised at where the program is because this is the direction the school and athletic department has chosen. If Kit Hughes wants the program to change for the positive, it starts with getting someone in there that can have success within the current structure while pushing the boundaries for more. This is on Kit now to take action. on scholarshipsI am not sure you are correct about scholarships if I recall correctly we had 2 in my class- Mike Pazik and one other Thanks. We haven't had scholarships in over 30 years.*
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 19, 2022 22:21:55 GMT -5
Wang seems like he'd slide in rather easily to BC's program as a DH / platoon player. Is that where he is going? That'd be a good pickup for BC.
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Post by hcbaseballalum on May 19, 2022 22:22:38 GMT -5
Underclassmen returning from a team that reached at least one goal (the PL playoffs) with a late season surge, and who want to be here are also an appreciating asset. The underclassmen should not have been playing on this team. They played out of necessity. It does not make them better than what they are.
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