Since the beginning of the month, the bats have gotten in gear. Birk, Moroney, Allemand, Bratsen, Banks, Lankford, and Statum have brought the team to a respectable standing in the conference. Stein has maintained his average between the .270 to .280 mark. 5 guys are hitting over .300 in conference, with 4 more hitting .270 or above.

Here's where the team stands in offensive categories compared to the rest of the SEC in conference with (total season) included.

Batting average: 3rd (4th)
Slugging: 5th (6th)
OBP: 7th (3rd)
Runs: 2nd (2nd)
Hits: 3rd (3rd)
RBI: 2nd (2nd)
Doubles: 4th (9th)
Triples: 3rd (2nd)
HR: 6th
Total Bases: 4th (5th)
Walks: 6th (9th)
Ks: 2nd to last (2nd to last)
Caught Stealing: 3rd to last

Slugging is still low, but I remember the "mediocre" thread earlier. There are a lot of important categories that the Aggies have climbed up in.


But now let's look at the pitching.

ERA: 12th (14th)
BAA: 11th (14th @.305)
Ks: 3rd (1st)
Ks Looking: 2nd (1st)
Saves: 13th (Tied for last)
Pick offs:2nd (2nd)
Hits allowed: 10th (14th)
Runs: 11th (10th)
Walks: 8th (2nd)
Doubles allowed: (14th)
HR allowed: 3rd (3rd)

Fielding percentage has A&M at 4th best, and they're a couple of percentage points different than those before and after them. The only team differentiating themselves is Miss. St, fielding at .982.

Though arbitrary, I consider a 4-3 win a game where people did their job. Pitching holds the opposition to 3 or less. Offense scores 4.

By that standard, of the 12 games in April, the offense held up their end of the bargain 10 times. The pitching staff did 4 times, 2 against SEC teams. We won 6 games, 4 of which match both sides to my random standard (and one where the staff gave up 4 instead of 3).

ERAs of guys who have started games:

Long: 2.47 (9)
Stubblefield: 3.45 (he was below 1 for his Tuesday starts) (8)
Mengden: 4.09 (10)
P. Ray: 4.89 (5)
Kent: 4.07 (6)
Jester: 5.59 (1)
Hendrix: 7.27 (1)

Nice analysis, but I think the hitting numbers might be a little misleading, as the Ags always seem to have one game where they just rip the cover off the ball.

Use the UK series as an example. Lose 6-3 on Friday and struggle to consistently hit and move guys around the basepaths. Then get hammered on Saturday in a game where it was 1-1 most of the game. They turn the bats on in garbage time, against UK's crappy bullpen.
And then, for some unknown reason, they just explode on Sunday.

They did the same thing against Alabama. So the numbers are nice, but they don't tell the whole story.

But the pitching numbers are truly eyebrow raising. Parker, Mengden, and Jester have all regressed from last year. Grayson has been good as of late. But that's it. I don't know why the pitching is so off lately, it's almost like the other teams are reading our signs or something. I think a big part of it is not getting ahead in the count. Parker, Mengden, Jester always seem to be starting off guys 1-0 or 2-0. Wonder what the deal is. If Mengden is hurt, then he doesn't need to be on the field. Period.

No, they don't tell the whole story for individual games, but it isn't debatable that the team is ranked highly in SEC production and has been much better at the plate since April.

The offense left a lot of games on the table earlier in the year, but our inability to match the quality of starters around 2 times a weekend in conference has been apparent and damaging. We still don't have a set rotation and it's nearing the end of the season. It's bad news when I think I have a better idea of who will start in the field than on the mound this Friday.

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Fielding percentage has A&M at 4th best, and they're a couple of percentage points different than those before and after them.

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Surprising. I haven't thought our infielding has been as good, overall, as their SEC counterparts that I have seen, but I don't get to see that many games.

Good info

If only Mengden and Parker Ray were pitching like they were at the end of last season.

Correct me if I'm wrong (I'm sure someone here will!), but it seems like we've lost at least one of our starting weekend pitchers by this time in the season virtually every year for the last five or six.

If true, that seems odd to me. These young men pitch only once a week and none of them are getting to what most of us feel is a really high pitch count.

My good friend who watches all the Aggie games believe Mengden is either hurt or his arm has gone dead. Reportedly, he hasn't thrown a 90+ fastball in at least two weeks. Sounds like a wounded warrior.

Lance-Great post. For those of us who watch every game, this has been obvious. Nice to have the numbers to back it up.

I hope Mengden is not hurt, but that would make sense because he's a gamer.

Jester's issues are mental. I shouldn't even share this, but I will. My son got to go out to the pitcher's mound for the national anthem on Friday. When he got back to our seats before the first pitch he told me Jester was so nervous, he was shaking. That can't be normal for a talent of his caliber.

Meh

We just got beat at home

We're in second to last place in the west








[This message has been edited by Captain Pablo (edited 4/21/2014 12:22p).]

Excellent addition to the discussion, Pablo. Why put together anything that looks at stats or encourages discussion when you go thread to thread posting "we suck!".

I didn't post we suck

I'm simply saying that for the tables turning, we aren't making much progress in the standings

Dang, Lance. Testy testy

You know how most of this board feels about the situation, and it's a different opinion than that of you and about 3 or 4 other die hard Childress fans

But OK, yeah, we're hitting better lately, even if it isn't resulting in wins...

Hopefully the improved hitting will continue, and hopefully we can start winning more games...










[This message has been edited by Captain Pablo (edited 4/21/2014 1:05p).]

Pablo your stat (2nd to last place) is the one and only one that matters.

Well that's kind if how I see it, but obviously some people disagree

But here we are, just another year. The fans are restless and the goaltenders are lashing out

Welcome to the baseball board







[This message has been edited by Captain Pablo (edited 4/21/2014 1:12p).]

Before the season, I expected hitting to be considerably better than last year and the pitching to be outstanding. The outstanding pitching has not happened and we are no better than average on the mound.

I have a feeling you missed the point. The hitting has improved, the starting pitching has gotten worse, we're still losing games. I have a feeling you made your appearance because you were afraid I was making a point that the team was making progress, and you can't let anything potentially positive go unpunished.

The point was that earlier in the year, the offense left games on the table, and now our previously reliable pitchers haven't been able to back up some better games by the bats. That dark cloud, I'm sure, is more up your alley.

And there it is, again, that you're terrified someone isn't joining the mob.

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die hard Childress fans

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I think Childress is a pretty good coach. I'm not under the impression that there aren't better in the country, and that Texas A&M should settle if they're ever in the position to do better. But if anyone dares to go beyond the analysis of buzzwords like "mediocre, 0 CWS wins, demand better" they're labelled as sunshine pumpers. Some of us dare to continue to enjoy the game and looking up the stats to find something to talk about even if the results on the field aren't the best.

But keep patting yourself on the back for posting the same thing repeatedly. The thread, if you'd bothered to look at it, wasn't a goaltending/sunshine pumping/pro-Childress piece. I'm not sure how you got that.

[This message has been edited by Lance Uppercut (edited 4/21/2014 1:17p).]

Good data.

The Ags have struggled to pitch great and hit great on the same weekends. Would sure like to have a do-over at Fresno.

It's also interesting to look at the season stats with regard to games started. Shows how much the lineup has fluctuated.

A&M has played 41 games. Starts by player:

40 - Lankford
36 - Taylor
34 - Banks
32 - Allemand
31 - Stein
28 - Statum
28 - Melton
26 - McLendon
25 - Nottebrok
20 - Bratsen
19 - Nau
17 - Moss
12 - Moroney
12 - Gideon

it's been plug & play all season except for Lankford, Taylor, and now Banks. Everyone else has sat on the bench for a significant period of time. Or for a significant number of games

and I expect Birk to be in the starting lineup going forward. At least 2 starts per week

I agree Lance, if we had the Mengden, Parker Ray, and Jester of last year we would be in a far greater position. With out that dominant pitching we have been getting behind early in games and we have been playing catch up for most of the games.
It was interesting to hear about Jester and nerves, watching the game Friday night I was thinking that at home, he seemed to be overly nervous and sweating profusely. For a senior, that seemed odd to me.

The bottom line is if this continues, we will be sitting at home when the NCAA's call.

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The bottom line is if this continues, we will be sitting at home when the NCAA's call.

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You and Pablo continue to miss the point - this is not a "bottom line" thread. It's a thread dedicated to point out what is different over what most of our fans perceive and that is most fans think we are strong pitching and weak hitting, but we actually are better than they think at scoring and weaker than our fans think at pitching. No bottom line stuff, just simple info that Lance is passing on.

I will say that Banks and Birk have been ripping the ball. Both have earned starter status IMO.

A few of our hitters have caught fire lately; unfortunately our pitching is really (as already stated), our defense is very bad, our scoring with RISP is horrible an four base running is very bad...

At least one thing is positive though!

Ags are hitting .352 w/RISP in SEC play, #1.
Ags are hitting .327 w/RISP for the season, which puts them 3rd in the SEC.

Birk has had 2 good games and one was vs. ACU. Need a little more "body of work" to be convinced there. If he keeps it up great...but still need to get McLendon and Allemand in the lineup at the same time. I'd like to see an infield with Allemand at SS, McLendon at 2nd and Birk at 3rd.

Good thread and OP. One thing that does inflate the fielding numbers, though, is the fact that our infield often does not even get to make a real play on balls hit in the gap.

They seem to be a tad slow to react, out of position, or simply unable to make the play (good hits that just find the gap). Whatever the reason, there just seem to be a lot of hits that find their way through with no real play made on the ball. That makes the stats look a little better than what you see from the stands.

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Birk has had 2 good games and one was vs. ACU. Need a little more "body of work" to be convinced there. If he keeps it up great...but still need to get McLendon and Allemand in the lineup at the same time. I'd like to see an infield with Allemand at SS, McLendon at 2nd and Birk at 3rd.

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Birk is all hustle, and we need some of those guys in the lineup and field. Already one of my favorite players to watch.

one reason why the Ags are scoring more runs...from tonight's press release:

Blake Allemand has reached base in each of the last 17 games. During the span he boasts a .369 batting average (24-for-65) with 13 walks. He has 14 runs, two doubles, one triple, 10 RBI, four sacrifice bunts, and two stolen bases.

that's what you need from the leadoff spot

another thing impacting the Ags offense is the runs scored standard deviation bugaboo.

A&M outscored Kentucky in total runs in the series: 21 to 19. But did not win the series.

The Ags also outscored Auburn in total runs, but did not win the series.

I bet the Ags RISP numbers are heavily skewed by Sunday games in conference play

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Ags are hitting .352 w/RISP in SEC play, #1.
Ags are hitting .327 w/RISP for the season, which puts them 3rd in the SEC.

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A&M outscored Kentucky in total runs in the series: 21 to 19. But did not win the series.

The Ags also outscored Auburn in total runs, but did not win the series.

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Basically why some stats viewed by themselves are completely pointless.

Only thing that matters is WINS and LOSSES

At this point in the season you would think that we would have a somewhat consistent starting lineup. It appears to me that the staff is at a loss to figure out what works. IMO, they haven't given many players a chance, or those that have played, a fair chance to work into a routine and have the confidence to perform. RC's constant degrading of some players, and his philosophy of no one getting comfortable with their role on a team, is showing just how inept he is at "managing' a complete team. If his job as coach was subject to the same standards, I think he would doing worse than it currently appears.Gig 'Em Ags BTHO rice

Tough to watch at times but we aren't losing games 3-1 with 12 runners stranded anymore amd to me that is a good thing. Our Friday night pitching has been infuriating to me. The weekend has a automatic cloud over it when you start out in a hole against an sec opponent.

the left-handed sticks have come to the forefront. For the first time in a while that Ags have several good left-handers in the everyday lineup instead of just 1 or 2 that can be pitched around. The Ags are a tough matchup now for right-handed starting pitchers.

In SEC play:

Allemand .373
Banks .363
Lankford .315
Birk .318

and another thing that has happened with Banks' and Birk's emergence...most of the slow right-handed hitters are on the bench. Don't have as many GiDP guys in the order or boat anchors on the basepaths

rallydawg
I really think you are starting to let your personal bias get in the way. I love seeing different perspectives, but you are losing creditability with some of your posts lately.

MSU was leading the conference in fielding, and might still be. But this weekend they committed 5 errors while the Aggies had 0 for the entire series. It will be interesting to see the conference statistics updated after today.

Lance- Great post. Thanks for the info.