I think offensively they could be pretty good as some of the transfers have been very successful elsewhere but again SEC pitching is a different animal. I think there is also a chance they could add Griffin Merritt 1B/OF from Cincinnati. He was the AAC player of the year this year and I think there is significant interest at least on the UK side.
Pitching wise I completely agree they need some guys to step up. Harney, Guilfol and Harper will be really hard to replace. I think it’s NCAA or bust this year and to reach that goal they will need guys like Cotto, Hagenow, Smith, Strickland, to pitch up to their recruiting and draft rankings.
It could happen. The concerning thing is that hitting wise we have basically no core to build around. We're asking 9 guys to come in and face SEC pitching and to do extremely well at it. Even your 10th guy started just 12 games and had just 37 at bats. So, we've got to basically ask all of them to do what they've not done before. It's not impossible that they all, or enough of them, compete at a very high level, but we're asking a whole lot of them to do that.
Compare it a bit to UK basketball. Many years we rely on a ton of new faces to help us compete. Some years a lot of them, or maybe even all, do a great job at this and we have a really strong year. Other years, fewer, or even almost none, seem to be able to rise to the challenge and we struggle immensely. In baseball this year we're asking a ton of guys to do it. It's possible. They can, but the more guys you're asking to do so, the harder it is.
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