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2023 Texas Baseball


Fletch

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52 minutes ago, MuellerHorn said:

I don't think @Levi or I were mentioning pitching or base running decision making as standalone reasons to fire Pierce. I personally don't believe he'll be fired this season even without a NCAA Tournament berth. You said "I think Pierce is great at in-game decision making," which neither of us agree with.

In game decision making is absolutely not his strength. It’s probably his biggest weakness. He’s not a good game manager.

He is a good program manager (minus the talent issues this year) from what I see. He develops good culture and chemistry with his teams and that leads to success. 

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9 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

In game decision making is absolutely not his strength. It’s probably his biggest weakness. He’s not a good game manager.

He is a good program manager (minus the talent issues this year) from what I see. He develops good culture and chemistry with his teams and that leads to success. 

He has historically been good at pushing the right buttons during important games of the season (Bocchi in game 3 in the 2018 supers, Stevens in game 3 last year, bringing little used Peyton Powell off the bench for a pinch hit rbi in the 2021 supers)

Won’t disagree that his in game management can leave a lot to be desired but I think you could say that about a lot of college coaches.

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1 hour ago, Hookem2147 said:

He has historically been good at pushing the right buttons during important games of the season (Bocchi in game 3 in the 2018 supers, Stevens in game 3 last year, bringing little used Peyton Powell off the bench for a pinch hit rbi in the 2021 supers)

Won’t disagree that his in game management can leave a lot to be desired but I think you could say that about a lot of college coaches.

Doesn't someone say this every season he has been here,  and it somehow works out in the postseason?  Why don't we just wait and see what happens?

He's only leaving the program this year if he goes all chris beard on someone.

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16 minutes ago, petscii said:

Doesn't someone say this every season he has been here,  and it somehow works out in the postseason?  Why don't we just wait and see what happens?

He's only leaving the program this year if he goes all chris beard on someone.

Oh I agree. I’m not out on the guy and think he is a good coach. He has a history of his teams seeming to always peak at the right times. Some what happened this offseason he controlled (coaching turnover) and some of it was out of his control (NIL for baseball not being where it needed to be, covid year backing up the roster causing us to lose 11-12 contributors all at once) 
 

In general, college baseball is sloppy. It’s like college basketball in the sense that the product can be brutal at times, and that makes the job of these coaches that much harder even in the best conferences. The best 18 and 19 year old baseball players aren’t on college campuses. Which is why there is so much variance in the sport.

 

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4 hours ago, closetojumping said:

Thanks for the responses. I asked because someone with usually very good insights about the machinations inside the AD declared in passing that he was gone after this season. I don't have a strong opinion in favor of or against him, personally. Getting to the CWS isn't something I take for granted as a fan, but it's also not a unique accomplishment for a Texas coach, given Texas has been to it versus missed it in more seasons since the CWS' inception. So, not sure how important that Powers That Be view that part of his resume so far.

In any event, I'll keep watching when I can and rooting for a better season than what it's been looking like so far. 

I'm absolutely fine with him being gone. IT wasn't a great hire in the first place.  He was choice 12 or something like that.  He's been.... fine.  The 3 CWS in 6 years works out to be what- Texas average?  A little below average?  it's 38 out of 75 I think CWS appearances.  Our all time record there is 88-63 while his is what- 3 & 6?  And managed to lose to fucking aggy last year?  

Yeah- I mean- I'm not giving him any credit for anything special as the Texas across the uniform in baseball carries so much weight.  If he's back, fine, it ought to be on a short leash but I'm not complaining. If he's gone that's fine too, provided we don't look like a monkey trying to fuck a football hiring his replacement the way we did last time.  I will give CDC credit here- this kind of hire seems like his wheelhouse. 

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43 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I'm absolutely fine with him being gone. IT wasn't a great hire in the first place.  He was choice 12 or something like that.  He's been.... fine.  The 3 CWS in 6 years works out to be what- Texas average?  A little below average?  it's 38 out of 75 I think CWS appearances. 

Holy shit.  He's essentially dead on the Omaha rate of these 3 coaches and you want toi fucking FIRE HIM?  Our fans really suck at times.

 

Bibb Falk

Cliff Gustafson

Augie Garrido

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6 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Holy shit.  He's essentially dead on the Omaha rate of these 3 coaches and you want toi fucking FIRE HIM?  Our fans really suck at times.

 

Bibb Falk

Cliff Gustafson

Augie Garrido

Literally it's exactly what I said- his Omaha rate matches the school average.  HIs record there is way below average for what our history suggests.  He's had one horrid year and is on his way to another one this year.  His tenure has been... fine.  If he goes fine. If he doesn't that's fine too.  But he better be ready to be a lot better next year.  

What part of "Texas is the best baseball program in the NCAA" is hard to understand that he's got pretty much all the tailwind at his back and maybe it's not that he's so awesome.  I didn't call for him to be fired- I said if it happened I was ok with it.   

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Do you understand our school average for reaching Omaha is the gold standard?  So you're downplaying his meeting that gold standard?

I literally think that is the dumbest thing you've ever posted.  Sorry, but I'm in no mood for abiding this shit.  What a monumentally stupid fucking take.  Have a good night, I'm headed to dad band practice.  Maybe we'll only be as good as Janis and Spoon.

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4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Do you understand our school average for reaching Omaha is the gold standard?  So you're downplaying his meeting that gold standard?

I literally think that is the dumbest thing you've ever posted.  Sorry, but I'm in no mood for abiding this shit.  What a monumentally stupid fucking take.  Have a good night, I'm headed to dad band practice.  Maybe we'll only be as good as Janis and Spoon.

I understand exactly what Texas baseball is. It's you who doesn't seem to understand what a massive lift that gives a head coach when he gets the head job here.  Again- I DID NOT call for his firing.  CTJ said it's being discussed as a very real thing. I said- cool- I won't shed a tear.  Are you really going to tell me if we got Van Horn or Jim S that you'd be pining away for the golden era of David Pierce where we won, checks notes, 3 entire games in Omaha?  Ok.  Cool. Hook 'em

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9 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Arky or aggy. They fit CDC's really successful coach at 2 different programs.  

I certainly wouldn't part ways with him after this year unless I knew I had better lined up.  

Lol Dave Van Horn would laugh and give us the finger. He played at Arkansas, is loved there and has been there forever. He jerks off to beating Texas.

A&M’s was a dream job for Schlossnagle for a long time. Maybe he’s already tired of their BS but I would be surprised. They would obviously give him whatever he wanted to not lose him to Texas. Aside from the CDC connection that seems like a pipedream.

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12 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Arky or aggy. They fit CDC's really successful coach at 2 different programs.  

I certainly wouldn't part ways with him after this year unless I knew I had better lined up.  

Lulz. Get the fuck outta here with this shit

9 minutes ago, ClubWhatever said:

Texas baseball should have a top 5 coach, which he is not.  

Name them

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33 minutes ago, Hookem2147 said:

Lol Dave Van Horn would laugh and give us the finger. He played at Arkansas, is loved there and has been there forever. He jerks off to beating Texas.

A&M’s was a dream job for Schlossnagle for a long time. Maybe he’s already tired of their BS but I would be surprised. They would obviously give him whatever he wanted to not lose him to Texas. Aside from the CDC connection that seems like a pipedream.

Did you hear his interview post game last week?  He really already seemed tired of it. Who that’s sane wouldn’t be. 
I wasn’t saying either would come either I thought we were playing who would you rather. 

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29 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Lulz. Get the fuck outta here with this shit

Name them

He was literally our 7th choice the first time around so… our admin at the time didn’t have him as a top 5 coach and there’s certainly been nothing he’s done here to, to date, that would change that opinion. 

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2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

He was literally our 7th choice the first time around so… our admin at the time didn’t have him as a top 5 coach and there’s certainly been nothing he’s done here to, to date, that would change that opinion. 

So name them then

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1 minute ago, hobbes2702 said:

So name them then

I named 2 off the top of my head. I will certainly add Vandy, Ole Miss and cowbell aggy and say that’s 5 in the SEC alone that are better than him. 
This is my opinion. It’s obviously shared by some people in the AD. It’s also shared by some other stakeholders in the program.  Believe it or don’t I don’t care. It will play out depending upon how the year goes. I’m not going to belabor this because I don’t feel super passionate about it. jimmy’s shitty reading comprehension aside I didn’t call for his firing after this year- I basically  said if he gets got I’m perfectly ok with it. If he doesn’t I’m fine with that too. 

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5 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

I named 2 off the top of my head. I will certainly add Vandy, Ole Miss and cowbell aggy and say that’s 5 in the SEC alone that are better than him. 
This is my opinion. It’s obviously shared by some people in the AD. It’s also shared by some other stakeholders in the program.  Believe it or don’t I don’t care. It will play out depending upon how the year goes. I’m not going to belabor this because I don’t feel super passionate about it. jimmy’s shitty reading comprehension aside I didn’t call for his firing after this year- I basically  said if he gets got I’m perfectly ok with it. If he doesn’t I’m fine with that too. 

Corbin - great coach. We couldn’t hire him anyway. What’s it matter.

Bianco - the guy who’s been to the CWS twice this century? No thanks.

I don’t know what cowbell aggy is. 
 

Texas should have a top 5 coach is a great sound bite. It isn’t realistic given the landscape of college baseball. It doesn’t matter if he’s a top 5 coach or not. Any list of top 5 coaches is a list of coaches we can’t hire. 
But someone show me all the guys that made 3 of the last 6 CWS

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Just now, hobbes2702 said:

Corbin - great coach. We couldn’t hire him anyway. What’s it matter.

Bianco - the guy who’s been to the CWS twice this century? No thanks.

I don’t know what cowbell aggy is

Mississippi State. 
again I’m not saying who I think we’d have a chance to hire- I’m playing would you rather. 
Bianco might have a couple trips but he’s had some pretty good teams at a historic backwater and won the only national championship his school has ever won. He’s got 1 less CWS appearance in his career but more success there including winning it all. That gives him the edge to me over our current guy. 
Savage was another good name. 

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4 minutes ago, petscii said:

I would hire Savage out of UCLA if the job came open.  He's won a national championship.

I have zero problems with DP staying 20 more years though.  He's getting it done in my book.

Had a friend that coached under Savage at UCLA. He loves the guy. Maybe not as much after  he got told it wouldn’t be a bad idea to move on.

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Just now, Wulaw Horn said:

Mississippi State. 
again I’m not saying who I think we’d have a chance to hire- I’m playing would you rather. 
Bianco might have a couple trips but he’s had some pretty good teams at a historic backwater and won the only national championship his school has ever won. He’s got 1 less CWS appearance in his career but more success there including winning it all. That gives him the edge to me over our current guy. 
Savage was another good name. 

Lemonis makes 1.25 million dollars. He’s won a title and had another trip to Omaha. He also had a losing record last year after losing a lot of his team (you know, exactly like our guy)He’s not leaving anyway, so again who would you hire if DP was gone?

So the guy that has proven to have intermittent success over 20 plus years is better than a guy who’s going to Omaha half the time? Ok guy.

Savage has made as many appearances in the CWS as DP and it’s only taken him 15 more years.

Even if you think DP isn’t a top 5 coach his resume is at least that if a top 10 coach and the other guys won’t be here anyway. Moving on from DP would be moronic at this point in time. There’s no Augie out there.

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6 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

Lemonis makes 1.25 million dollars. He’s won a title and had another trip to Omaha. He also had a losing record last year after losing a lot of his team (you know, exactly like our guy)He’s not leaving anyway, so again who would you hire if DP was gone?

So the guy that has proven to have intermittent success over 20 plus years is better than a guy who’s going to Omaha half the time? Ok guy.

Savage has made as many appearances in the CWS as DP and it’s only taken him 15 more years.

Even if you think DP isn’t a top 5 coach his resume is at least that if a top 10 coach and the other guys won’t be here anyway. Moving on from DP would be moronic at this point in time. There’s no Augie out there.

Again, I can’t stress enough that I’m not calling for him to be fired!  And I’m not saying we just move on willy nilly. I was responding to inside information being posted saying he’s in trouble and saying if he’s gone and that’s because we have a good plan worked out then I’d be fine with it. 
But- you might want to reconsider your feelings on it as there’s smoke to what CTJ said going on inside the AD right now. 
 

and let’s be really clear on something- he’s gone to the CWS 3 out of 20 years or something like that not 3 out of 6. Some of the guys you are shitting on are not coaching at the best college program in the country. 

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11 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Again, I can’t stress enough that I’m not calling for him to be fired!  And I’m not saying we just move on willy nilly. I was responding to inside information being posted saying he’s in trouble and saying if he’s gone and that’s because we have a good plan worked out then I’d be fine with it. 
But- you might want to reconsider your feelings on it as there’s smoke to what CTJ said going on inside the AD right now. 
 

and let’s be really clear on something- he’s gone to the CWS 3 out of 20 years or something like that not 3 out of 6. Some of the guys you are shitting on are not coaching at the best college program in the country. 

David Pierce has only been a head coach since 2012 so try again. I bet all those other guys took schools like SHSU to the CWS. And it’s really 3 out of 5 because of covid.

I don’t even think DP is great but at some point the results matter. Acting like making Omaha 3/5 is ho hum so stupid. This isn’t the Gus years. We don’t have all the built in advantages you seem to think we do. You clearly don’t understand the modern college baseball landscape and what is driving talent to certain places.

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1 minute ago, hobbes2702 said:

David Pierce has only been a head coach since 2012 so try again. I bet all those other guys took schools like SHSU to the CWS. And it’s really 3 out of 5 because of covid.

I don’t even think DP is great but at some point the results matter. Acting like making Omaha 3/5 is ho hum so stupid. This isn’t the Gus years. We don’t have all the built in advantages you seem to think we do. You clearly don’t understand the modern college baseball landscape and what is driving talent to certain places.

We will see who understands what when the season plays out. CTJ doesn’t make stuff up and he’s not wrong here. 

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2 minutes ago, Wulaw Horn said:

Are you under the impression I’m a babe in the woods as it regards NIL?  Because I’m not. 

Then you should understand that we don’t have any built in advantages over the SEC teams you’ve mentioned and making Omaha half the time is a big deal.

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2 hours ago, Wulaw Horn said:

We will see who understands what when the season plays out. CTJ doesn’t make stuff up and he’s not wrong here. 

 

2 hours ago, hobbes2702 said:

Yea that has zero to do with anything I’ve said.

Why do you think we struck out in the portal this year?

Just to remind everyone, I was honestly trying to understand perspective here. The person that mentioned it gave no depth and I don’t know where it came from, so I’m not taking any sort of declarative position on this one or presenting my desires. In short, I wouldn’t do a gosh damned thing with what I passed on other than hip pocket it. 

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6 minutes ago, petscii said:

Including a national championship and a runner up.

Yup that’s true. And it’s been 10 years since they’ve been back.

They’ve been to a super once since their title. 

I dunno about y’all but I would prefer we don’t put a decade between trips to Omaha 

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Back to .500!

 On Pierce, ctj's hypothetical had us missing the tournament this year.  Omaha 3 out of 6 years is good but missing the tournament 2 out of 6 years at Texas shouldn't happen.  Frankly, we should be hosting probably around 5 out of every 6 years.

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2 hours ago, WBT said:

Back to .500!

 On Pierce, ctj's hypothetical had us missing the tournament this year.  Omaha 3 out of 6 years is good but missing the tournament 2 out of 6 years at Texas shouldn't happen.  Frankly, we should be hosting probably around 5 out of every 6 years.

"missing the tournament 2 out of 6 years should not happen"

Truth right here.  Texas should ALWAYS have a shot at making a run to get to Omaha by at least getting in the tournament.  The debate, at a min, should be are we hosting or not.

Baseball is a long season and a few bounces here and there can determine the regular season champion in conference.  To be in a spot for a second time in 6 years on getting into the conference tournament is in doubt.... not good.

"This is not a good roster and was not put together well" should never be said at Texas, and that has been even more true in the portal/NIL era.

 

 

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10 hours ago, closetojumping said:

 

Just to remind everyone, I was honestly trying to understand perspective here. The person that mentioned it gave no depth and I don’t know where it came from, so I’m not taking any sort of declarative position on this one or presenting my desires. In short, I wouldn’t do a gosh damned thing with what I passed on other than hip pocket it. 

Understood. That was my point I made 3 different times that got completely ignored when I kept saying I was fine either way. 

there is smoke and machinations. There has been for a while, apparently,  but the team outperformed and that went away for the time being. Apparently it’s back. He’s not gone and his fate isn’t determined, but his position isn’t unassailable either and people talking declaratively about him being back no matter what and feeling like he couldn’t possibly be upgraded are wrong imo. 

my guess, if things don’t get better and we have a stinker of a season is that CDC does an informal review of landscape- gauges  interest from 1 or 3 guys and then moves on or doesn’t based upon if he feels he can hire someone better. If he doesn’t move on it’s made pretty clear that next year is really important. 

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Bibb Falk missed the tournament in 48, 51, 55 and 56, 59, and 64.

Gus, who’s the most consistently successful coach in the history of baseball, missed the tournament in 77 and 78.

Augie missed in 97 and 98, 12 and 13.

Thus far DP has missed it once. It’s going to happen sometimes. This is baseball. 2 in 6 years sure ain’t great but why don’t we wait until that actually happens. 

Not sure why some of y’all think NIL and portal is beneficial to us. It isn’t. We haven’t come to play with NIL so we aren’t able to get the big names and talent that we’d like. We were in the running for several big names that would have completely changed this roster. We didn’t get them because we can’t compete financially right now. 
 

@WBT

Well we’ve only hosted 25 of the last 40 so not sure how you came up with “we should be hosting 5 out of 6”.

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"missing the tournament 2 out of 6 years should not happen"
Truth right here.  Texas should ALWAYS have a shot at making a run to get to Omaha by at least getting in the tournament.  The debate, at a min, should be are we hosting or not.
Baseball is a long season and a few bounces here and there can determine the regular season champion in conference.  To be in a spot for a second time in 6 years on getting into the conference tournament is in doubt.... not good.
"This is not a good roster and was not put together well" should never be said at Texas, and that has been even more true in the portal/NIL era.
 
 

You dudes. Agreed we should not miss the tourney 2 out of 6 years. For this year, there is a long way to go no matter what our record is now, it is the remainder of the season that determines whether we make it to the post season. I’m talking NCAA tourney. You’re talking conference tourney before conference has even started.

As to the roster, hookem has raised questions about NIL for this years team. If we were not top dog in that department for construction of this roster, then it’s difficult to criticize Pierce for that in my opinion. NIL is likely the deal closer for a superstar.

Top to bottom, this roster is good to damn good. Now, I only follow recruiting and the draft casually so my bigger limitation is what other teams actually got to campus.

We don’t have an offensive star, which can be a problem. I’m not sure we a future first round arm, potentially a bigger problem. I’m not including Witt here.

In 2021, we had limited pitching depth. We had 6 dudes and that was about it. Last year, we had two reliable starters and one was a little sketchy with regards to consistency. We didn’t know who the closer was. And lots of uncertainty out of the pen. We had few lefty options.

For college roster construction, it is easy not easy to have depth offensively and in the pitching staff. I think we have that, but we need the veteran hitters to play and meet their past production and in some cases improve upon their previous bests. Then we need at least some of the frosh to flash the potential.

We don’t have that historically great defensive SS. I’m not sure we’ll find that closer. We don’t have last years power, but we typically don’t have a ton of it anyway.

I’m a little curious with why LBJ is not the closer. It seems we have enough #3 starter options. I’d say a closer is more important than a #4 starter and probably a #3 starter assuming you have other reasonable options.

It’ll be an interesting close to the season. I think we close with a winning record and an NCAA birth. Then if our pitching holds, we’ve got a shot to make it interesting.
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5 minutes ago, Had Enough said:

As to the roster, hookem has raised questions about NIL for this years team. If we were not top dog in that department for construction of this roster, then it’s difficult to criticize Pierce for that in my opinion. NIL is likely the deal closer for a superstar.

Juaron Watts-Brown (Friday night starter for Oklahoma State) visited here in the offseason and we were all in and let Oklahoma freaking State outbid us. If that isn’t a wake up call then I don’t know what is.

We are in a better place now. Occupy LF foundation joining under the Texas One Fund has and will help, but that didn’t take place until after the portal activity had taken place. Baseball probably more than any other sport is going to be influenced by NIL because almost none of these guys are on full scholarship.

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11 minutes ago, hobbes2702 said:

I’ve wanted LBJ as the 3rd starter this year but in previous years I saw no reason for him not to close. His stuff is too good to be a Tuesday guy. 

Once we get past this stretch of double midweeks and into conference play then it probably makes sense to move him into the weekend rotation or make him the closer (maybe let the A&M game on the 28th be his last midweek start?). Having Hurley as a guy who can go 3-4 innings at pretty much anytime sets up the pen well for the rest of the weekend. Maybe they keep doing what they did last week and let LBJ throw out of the pen on Saturday or Sunday during his normal bullpen day.

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I think Pierce can coach, this isn’t a hard sport to do so. I don’t think he’s much of a recruiter and that’s the concerning part.

That’s interesting. I’d say teaching hitting and pitching is pretty difficult. At least to the level of maximizing someone’s potential. Maybe it’s somewhat to achieve a base level.

It’s going back to Burt Hootens tenure here. We were not good. He leaves and we go to the CWS. Beau Hale is a top 10 pick. Coincidence? Maturity? Or more developmental instruction? I lean towards development.

I think Tulo advanced our power profile. We didn’t just hit lots of homers. We’d hit deeper flies too.
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