Grading Milwaukee Series

[Comebakatz3]

I am going to try to get this done, but it might be more of a 2 day affair. So, you might see the bulk of it tomorrow. Just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about it. Also, want to disclaim that I didn't get to focus a lot on Game 3, so forgive me for not being able to grade it as properly as I should. I will also try to probably grade the 2 midweek games from this week together rather than separately.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Starters: A

Still have to give the starts and A+ on the weekend. Stupp started us off and pitched a shutout. Lee went 5.2 and gave up just 2 earned runs. Hazelwood, similarly, went 4 and gave up 2 earned.

Cole Stupp - Have to give the kid some major props. Came in with little experience and just kept guys off balance. Gave up just 4 hits in 4 innings of work. He struck out 4 and walked just 1. Stupp served up a metric ton of ground balls for the UK defense and I think he could have pitched longer had the UK defense been able to turn at least a couple of those into double plays. The Panthers hit just .250 against Stupp, and, again, I think that could be a bit lower if UK defense make a few more plays behind him. Moving forward, I’m not sure if Stupp is going to really be an outstanding Friday arm, but in this one he more than got the job done. A+

Zack Lee – I actually thought Lee looked more like an Ace than Stupp. However, I have to deduct a few points for the earned runs. Lee at times looked dominant. He had the 7 strikeouts and he controlled the ball really well giving up just the 1 walk. He basically had 1 very bad inning where he gave up two doubles and a single, but even in that inning he almost pitched his way out of it with back to back strikeouts with runners on 2nd and 3rd. He was 1 pitch away from getting out of the jam before giving up that second double. Also a deduction is the timing of this bad inning. I always like to see UK pitchers get a shutdown inning after UK scores. Instead, UK put up 3 in the bottom of the 2nd and then gave up 2 in the top of the 3rd. So, that kind of hurt, but overall the outing was very good. I think Lee projects very well moving forward. A

Mason Hazelwood – I didn’t get to see much of this outing. So, I’m kind of going more on stats than by the eye test. The excellent part is that Hazelwood had 6 strikeouts and 0 walks in 4 innings. That is the control you want from your experienced weekend starter. The bad parts are that he gave up the only home run of the weekend, he gave up 2 doubles, and that he too gave up runs in a frame after UK scored first. Milwaukee when they weren’t striking out, seemed to have a good look at him as they hit .292 against him. Going forward that is not going to cut it. I still give him an A- on the day, but I think he needs to be a bit sharper. Of course, I don’t know what the hell the coaches had planned for him this week. Part of me wonders if he was going to be the Sunday guy and they worried that he might not get to pitch this weekend due to rain and that is why they threw him on Tuesday as well. So, maybe this kind of threw some things off. I don’t know.

Bullpen: A
The bullpen wasn't bad, but they left a lot to be desired. I might be grading a bit harshly, but it's my mood. Haha

Seth Logue – Made his debut on Friday and looked very strong. 3 strikeouts in 3 innings of work. He basically had one ‘bad,’ inning where he gave up two hits, but one of those was an infield single. I cannot remember what happened on that play, but it may have been the one that Lewis picked up while sliding and got it to first, but just not quite in time to beat the runner. Regardless, it wasn’t a hard hit ball. Again, 0 walks. That is huge. He gave up a 2 out triple in the 7th. Don’t want to see that, but love to see that he came right back and got a strikeout to kill that little rally. Overall, cannot dislike anything that Logue did. He ate innings and was really never in much trouble. A+

Austin Strickland – Another kid who we have been itching to see debut. The freshman got the last 2 innings on Friday and he also didn’t disappoint. Strick faced the minimum 6 hitters and struck out 3 of them. The others were 1 grounder and a couple of fly outs to center. I am not sure Cam was too pressed on bringing in either of them, at least as I remember. Interestingly, all three of his strikeouts came on full counts. That is some ice water right there… to not lose any of them. My only nitpick is that he fell behind the hitters in 4 of the 6 at bats. Would like to see him work ahead and not have to battle back. That will also lower that pitch count. Still… that is nitpicking. A+ I wouldn’t be surprised to see this kid starting for UK on Wednesday.

Daniel Harper – Welcome back, buddy. Harper hasn’t pitched live in who knows how long. He battled an injury and is basically just now back. Didn’t pitch at all in the fall. So, he is shaking off some rust. Still, he was the lone ‘weak,’ spot in the bullpen, if you could even call it that. Harper worked 1.1. What I loved to see is that he came in with 2 outs and runners at 2nd and 3rd and he threw 1 pitch and got 1 out, a grounder to second. Love that ability to shut a team down. However, in the last inning he got a bit shakier. He gave up back to back singles before a FC scored a run. He then threw a wild pitch later in the inning that had the runners at 2nd and 3rd, but he got a line out to Ritter to end it. Harper had no walks, but also had no strikeouts. They hit .286 against him. So, just not as sharp as he could be, but again, there are circumstances with this. I’m not mad at it. A-

Holt Jones – Made his second appearance in this young season in the third game of the series. I didn’t see this outing from him, so I don’t know what it was like, but it doesn’t appear to be extremely sharp. He got two outs with just 3 pitches, so you love that, but then he gave up a double and a wild pitch moved that runner to third. He got the ground out he needed, but it seems like it continues to be effectively wild. I think the kid has some really good stuff, but just needs to rein it in. A

Sean Harney – Have a game young man! Harney came in for the final 2 innings and struck out an eye opening 5 hitters, including striking out the side in the 7th. His lone mistake was giving up a single on an 0-2 count. However, it was a single to third, so I imagine that it was not exactly a well struck ball. This was also the lone save for the weekend (and season). So, it is really good to see that Harney came in and didn’t give up a run or the lead in a close game. I am not sure if it means anything, but in the media guide there are just 3 mentions of closer and they are with Harney, Rigsby and Ramsey. I am not sure if Ramsey and Rigsby were available, but the fact that Harney had that kind of a showing might cement him as the frontrunner for the closer position. A+

 

[Comebakatz3]

Defense: A-

There were no errors on the weekend and you have to love that. However, I just feel like UK's defense missed some opportunities. Our defense improved from .943 to .984. So, we all love to see that number get better. Still, like I said, I think there were some chances to turn 2 that UK missed that could have really helped our pitchers. The stats say we have 2 double plays on the year, but I don’t know when those were. I know the Ritter one in the Miami game, where he had the line drive and then threw out the guy at first. However, I don’t know if there was another. Certainly we haven’t had a traditional one, and that is a bit sad given the amount of grounders Stupp served up. Again, no horrible plays by the defense that I remember and there were a few very good plays, but nothing stands out in my head as being a highlight play really. Solid defense, but not great, so I give it just a bit of a lower score because I'd like to see us go beyond the routine play a bit more.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Hitting: A

Reuben Church – Gotta start with the freshman from my hometown. Kid hit .600 this weekend. If he isn’t SEC freshman of the week then we should riot. This stat like is pretty nuts. 6 hits with 4 of them doubles and 1 of them a home run. Let me say that again… he hit the ball 6 times in 10 at bats and 5 of those times it went for a double or better. 5 RBIs. Just 1 strikeout. On top of that, he looked very smooth at 3B defensively. Nothing looked too hard for him and the moment never looked too big. Excellent debut for Mr. Church. A+

Austin Schultz - After we leave the special performance we turn to the top of the lineup, going down. Schultz had a fairly strong weekend as he went 3-9 with 3 walks, just 1 strikeout and 1 RBI. Above everything else, I love that he found ways to get on base and limited strikeouts. He also added a couple of stolen bases and one of the hits he had was a double. So, a pretty solid outing from him. A

John Rhodes - Rhodes is back. The sophomore struggled against Miami, but found a stride against Mikwaukee, especially in the middle game. On the weekend he went 4-8 (.500) and had 2 doubles and a home run while also getting 3 walks. He had 4RBIs, three of which came on a 3 run shot that put UK on the board first on Saturday. Great to see him back and swinging better. Felt like he was pressing some on Tuesday. That averaged jumped to .333 overall. Rhodes also added a stolen base and only struck out once. A+

TJ Collett – I feel like I have to give TJ a higher score entirely based upon the fact that he hit a triple. Love to see the big man leg out a three bagger, but it wasn’t the strongest of weekends overall for TJ. It was still good, but pales in comparison to what we see in some others. He went 2-7 (.285) with 2 walks, 2 HBPS, and just 1 strikeout to go with 2 RBIs. Again, what I love is the limitation of strikeouts. He went 0-2 in game 3 and yet still put the ball in play. So, that is big to me. So, while TJ didn’t have a monster weekend, he did a lot of things well and didn’t hurt UK with strikeouts or leaving men on base. A

Oraj Anu – Another good showing from Oraj. 4-12 (.333) for the DH. He had a couple of RBIs to go with a stolen base. My beef with this line was just that he had 2 strikeouts and 0 walks. He also left 5 guys stranded over the weekend. So, his timely hitting could have been better. Still, it isn’t something that I’m too worried about. He is there to hit and that is what he did at a good clip. A

Alonzo Rubalcaba – Played in the first two games and sat in the third one. Results were much better than the opening game as he went 2-7 (.285) with a walk an RBI and just 1 strikeout. Not much to report on him really. He had a sac fly at one point, so that was a good thing. Again, can’t really be mad at what he did. Would maybe like a touch more from the middle of the lineup, but it was a pretty solid weekend for the catcher. A

Cam Hill – Cam came into the weekend leading the team in batting average after one game. While that dropped some, it was not from Hill playing poorly. He hit .300 on the weekend, but what was impressive to me was that many of his at bats were productive. So, most of the time he was moving runners over and putting the ball in play. He had just 1 strikeout to go along with 1 walk and 1 HBP. He stole 2 bags. So, a very productive weekend for Hill. A

Ryan Ritter – Just doesn’t look all that comfortable at the plate yet. He went just 1-11 (.091) with 3 strikeouts and an RBI. He hit into the team’s first double play as well. Just really nothing to be happy about here. He struggled probably more than anyone else. D

Zeke Lewis – Made a bit of a surprise appearance this weekend as he got the nod at second. I thought he might be out this weekend, so I was glad to see him. He was a mixed bag. Overall he went 3-9 (.333), so that number looks pretty solid, but his first game was just bad. 0-4 with 1 walk and 3 strikeouts. Glad he bounced back some in the next two games, especially game 2. I believe one hit he had was a monster that went to the wall but just couldn’t get over in the wind. Like to see Zeke hitting well and boosting the bottom of the lineup. Still, have to cut down on the strikeouts in the bad game. B+

Jaren Shelby – In the first two games Shelby came in for Collett and played RF, which moved John Rhodes to 1B. Oddly enough, Shelby came in as a pinch runner in both instances. However, he only got one plate appearance, where he flied out to center. Shelby didn’t do anything wrong and played a solid RF. Hard to grade him in such a limited role. B+

Trae Harmon – Harmon got a pinch hit appearance for Ritter in the first game. He walked on four straight balls and Grace came in to pinch run for him. So, good at bat for him and he’s yet to record an official plate appearance. A

Kirk Liebert – Another surprise appearance as he gets in before Kessler. He had a pretty decent day on Saturday in game 3 going 1-3 (.333). He didn’t strikeout or walk. His hit led to the first runs being scored as his single advanced Hill to third and helped keep the inning alive. Can't ask for anything more out of a backup catcher. A

 

[Comebakatz3]

Coaching: B

No real major complaints with anything the coaching staff did or didn’t do. I don’t think they had anything really hard to figure out or anything like that. I did think that the substitutions were a bit strange (i.e. pinch running Collett after he hits a triple). I would have liked to have seen a few more guys rotate into the lineup and get some experience, but I think that is probably difficult with the double header and those being just 7 innings rather than the full 9. So, I can’t hold that against them. Overall, nothing really to complain about and nothing overly impressive from the staff this weekend. We won the games we should have won. B

Comments:

I do want to take some time to talk about some surprises this weekend. First one… no Jimmy Ramsey. I don’t know the story behind Ramsey, but I haven’t heard (or I missed it) that he is injured/sick/contact tracing. So, I am not sure why he sat out this weekend. Maybe they intend to pitch him as a midweek starter this week, so they saved him? I don’t know. I am not jumping to any real conclusions on it, just pointing out that it was interesting.

Again, interesting… no Cole Daniels either. Can’t speak to the reason, but we did see him on Tuesday. I haven’t seen enough of Roszel to know how he operates, but in the past a lot of coaches have leaned heavily on one or two guys out of the pen. Daniels would traditionally be that guy… that basically comes in constantly. So, it was interesting that we didn’t see him this weekend.

Kammin is another one we didn’t see this weekend. The transfer from Coe College is one we are excited to see and I don’t know why we didn’t. Again, not speculating… just pointing it out. So far we have seen the two other pitchers that transferred and both have done well. Hopefully Kammin continues that trend when he gets his shot.

Dillon Marsh is another that I haven’t heard about and he didn’t appear.

We didn’t see Cottongame, Degen, or Rigbsy, but I think I did hear that they wouldn’t be available.

Kessler didn’t play either. Haven’t seen him in 3 games. 2 years ago he led the team in batting average and now he isn’t even backup catcher? I don’t know. Maybe he too was out. It is very possible. I don’t know. Would love to see the guy find his stride again.

John Rhodes at first? I found this interesting and strange. UK subbed out old man Collett and moved Rhodes to first and Jaren Shelby to right. I am wondering if this is going to be a regular thing or they were just trying to keep Rhodes in and get him more Abs while also getting Shelby some run. We will have to see, but it is a pretty odd switch. Especially when by all accounts Harmon would be backup 1B… you’d think we’d like to see him over there defensively in the near future.

All in all, a lot of kind of strange questions we’d all like to know the answers to and I’m sure we’ll find out soon.

 

[dtjr]

Fair grades I think. I too would have thought we would have seen a few more subs but with 7 inning games its tough being first weekend and all.

 

[TuckyFB]

Great write-up.

 

[Mulder14]

Excellent

 

[Old_Red]

Reuben Church had that pop up in foul territory that he has to come up with but didn't. Other than that I can't think of anything else at 3rd to complain about.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Reuben Church had that pop up in foul territory that he has to come up with but didn't. Other than that I can't think of anything else at 3rd to complain about.

That is true. It didn't hurt us, but it is a play that probably needs to be made. I imagine he gets more comfortable over there and does a better job learning to find the wall and work back in play rather than guessing where it is and that becomes a more routine play for him.

 

[CliffDweller25]

Reuben Church had that pop up in foul territory that he has to come up with but didn't. Other than that I can't think of anything else at 3rd to complain about.

The one hit that Harney gave up was a roller to Church that he took his time on and the runner beat it out. He should have made that play. Just inexperience. I love watching the kid hit!

 

[Old_Red]

The one hit that Harney gave up was a roller to Church that he took his time on and the runner beat it out. He should have made that play. Just inexperience. I love watching the kid hit!

I thought there was another one but I just couldn't recall it. A product of the extra years I guess. One good thing: the reruns are just as entertaining at some point.