2025 Baseball Mega Thread

[Bigdaddyg1]

Wonder how many of those 4,938 have ended their careers because they were provided a path to do so.

Exactly. Isn’t the general statistic that about 60% of the annual Portal entrants don’t end up with another school and wash out? If that’s true most fans simply focus on the upper echelon of athletes who move around and don’t see the thousands each year who either make terrible decisions or weren’t good enough in the first place and were shown the door. It does seem to hurt our level more as we seem to be a feeder program at times for power programs. It’s a shame that we might be seeing fewer of those overlooked guys who come to App, excel and actually stay 4-5 years. I’ve asked a question before- will we see that guy in 20 years get into our HOF like we have before? Will that level of athlete actually be in Boone long enough to warrant the honor?

[BUTCH1991]

[AppSt94]

Wonder how many of those 4,938 have ended their careers because they were provided a path to do so.

Exactly. Isn’t the general statistic that about 60% of the annual Portal entrants don’t end up with another school and wash out? If that’s true most fans simply focus on the upper echelon of athletes who move around and don’t see the thousands each year who either make terrible decisions or weren’t good enough in the first place and were shown the door. It does seem to hurt our level more as we seem to be a feeder program at times for power programs. It’s a shame that we might be seeing fewer of those overlooked guys who come to App, excel and actually stay 4-5 years. I’ve asked a question before- will we see that guy in 20 years get into our HOF like we have before? Will that level of athlete actually be in Boone long enough to warrant the honor?

I think that records stand a good chance of never being broken. As for the HOF, I would imagine that some criteria for induction might change.

[Stonewall]

The hits keep on coming. And not the good kind.

[ASUFan4863]

The hits keep on coming. And not the good kind.

When do you expect the coaching staff shakeup to occur?

[Stonewall]

Waiting on announcement.

[311neers]

5250 in the portal. NCAA screwed up bigtime.

That’s 160 teams worth at 33 players a team. Absurd.

[appvette]

5250 in the portal. NCAA screwed up bigtime.

That’s 160 teams worth at 33 players a team. Absurd.

I wonder how that number compares to the number of players that are on a team and not transferring.

[311neers]

5250 in the portal. NCAA screwed up bigtime.

That’s 160 teams worth at 33 players a team. Absurd.

I wonder how that number compares to the number of players that are on a team and not transferring.

I think these numbers include all levels of baseball. D1-D3 JUCO, NAIA. A lot of teams out there but the fact that you could make 160 teams of just portal guys is wildly concerning.

[BUTCH1991]

[311neers]

Was a Georgia Tech commit. Interesting.

[AppinVA]

Was a Georgia Tech commit. Interesting.

What a name.

[Stonewall]

Need a rebuild in a hurry.

[BUTCH1991]

[311neers]

Swing looks good. Disciplined at the plate, more walks than K’s. Looks quick out of the box. Would like to see a little more speed on the bases.

[311neers]

That’s 3 guys total from the JUCO semifinals now. 2 from Walters State (signed last year) and 1 from Lake Land (commit above)

Must have been a good recruiting trip.

[BambooRdApp]

Beach Chickens win in 10 last night

[Stonewall]

One of our former players has a lucrative job offer from Clemson.

[BUTCH1991]

One of our former players has a lucrative job offer from Clemson.

And he took the job

[JTApps1]

Recruiting and developing talent is the responsibility of the staff , ultimately the HC. I have no idea what the ceiling is given all of the circumstances but I saw a step backwards in ‘25.

‘24 was going to be tough to replicate. Banks and Steensma alone were good for a handful of wins. But, this year we were sitting at 21-16 with a month left. Anything sub .500 would be dissapointing from that point, and then we lost like 12 in a row. Would be a different tune if we finished those last 15 games at .500 and finished +-30-24 We just folded down the stretch, no fight at all.

I’d like to see Kermit back, but without the aggressive analytics which probably means new assistants on both sides of the ball. Play a little more small ball, steal a few more bags, continue to hit gap to gap, play defense (no shift) and command the zone on the mound. 30+ wins should be the goal every year and top 6 in conf. Oh, and schedule a fun away P5 for the boys!

…and maybe get some better gloves. Committing fewer fielding errors typically leads to good things.

This wasn't a good fielding team, but we were #1 in the SBC last year. I think this team had potential but didn't gel for some reason.

App fielding rankings in SBC the last 5 years.

2025- 7th
2024- 1st
2023- 5th
2022- 10th (Ouch)
2021- 2nd

Fielding has been solid to very good most years (clearly not in 2022), and hitting has been good since changing our approach in 2023 (6th, 4th, 3rd in that order). Our biggest issue has been and continues to be the decline in pitching the past few years.