Midweek Report Card (3.4.21)

[Comebakatz3]

In the grand scheme, UK got a pair of wins this week and that is the major positive and take away. Still, for my report card, style points matter, and I don’t think that UK really took care of business in these games quite like they should have. We had some bright spots, but a lot we still need to work on before league play.

Starters: B

Maybe I am being a bit harsh on these guys, but they just weren’t as sharp as I had hoped, especially Strickland. That isn’t to say that they can’t get better, but just that they had a rough go of it this week.

Ryan Hagenow – He was still pretty solid, but after such an incredible debut a week ago, this was a little more of a letdown. He went 4 innings and gave up 5 hits and just 1 run while striking out 3 and walking 1. Ryan just wasn’t as sharp as he was in the first game. He still did a good job battling and he limited any damages and problems, so those are good signs that he pitched through adversity. It isn’t the cleanest performance, but it is still one you actually really like to see as Hagenow grows up. He will learn a lot from it. B

Austin Strickland – He made his debut as a starter and it was more difficult than out of the pen. He gave up a leadoff home run and then a double and a single to start the game. Then he struck out the side. Possibly just some jitters, so I am not holding it against him or making any long term judgment. On the day he gave up 3 earned on just 4 hits, while walking 2, hitting 1 and striking out 6. Just not the most ideal situation, but again, I think he learns a lot and grows up a lot from those 4 innings yesterday. B-

Bullpen: A-

This bullpen is beginning to make a believer out of me. We had a lot of arms throw the past two games and almost all of them were impressive. I don’t know how much that continues with stiffer competition, but this is at least great for building confidence and experience.

Seth Logue – Logue is really the lone blemish for the bullpen. He stepped into a relief role in the EKU and threw 1 innings where he gave up an earned run on 1 hit and 1 walk. He struck out a pair and had a wild pitch. All of the negative stuff just happened at one time for Logue. He gave up a leadoff double and then walked a guy, threw one that went as a passed ball and then had a wild pitch that scored an unearned run before giving up a sac fly to score another. This tied the game at 3-3 in the 5th, so it just wasn’t the outing you want to see. Still, he didn’t fully fall apart and he didn’t really get hit all that hard in the inning. So, there are some positives to take away. He will learn and grow from this. B

Cole Daniels – Major props not only to Daniels, but the coaching staff for this one. Cole has, to my frustration, be largely used as a one inning or even one hitter specialist throughout his UK career. That changed on Tuesday as he threw 3 full. He allowed 0 hits and struck out 7 of the 9 he faced. I love the idea of giving him a long leash when he is dealing and not just trying to spot pitch him. So, it was great to see him go out there and dominate and for the staff to just keep running him out there to eat innings. A+

Sean Harney – Harney is the lone guy to pitch in both games as he closed them both out. He picked up his third save in as many attempts in doing so. Strangely enough, I don’t know if it is just because the season is so young or what, but I trust Harney on the back end. Some pitchers in the past always had me nervous, but Harney so far isn’t one of them. Hope that doesn’t change. In the EKU game he was perfect, striking out the side in the 9th. It was a bit more of a struggle in the Evansville game as he gave up a leadoff walk. Still, he got a fly out to second and then a ground ball double play to end the game. Don’t like the leadoff walk, but do like that he pitched through it and got the outs needed with no damage. A

Holt Jones – It appears that Holt will be someone the staff is going to lean on heavily this season and that is certainly understandable. Jones made his third appearance and pitched 2.1 innings giving up just 1 unearned run. He had a couple of strikeouts and most of his outs came by way of fly outs, none of which were particularly dangerous. So, you really like that he ate up 2.1 innings in the middle of a game and that he really didn’t hurt us any. A

Jimmy Ramsey – Ramsey made his debut this season and I’m not real sure how to feel about it to be honest. In some ways, he caught some bad luck, but in other ways… it was the same Jimmy Ramsey that we continue to be disappointed by. While he still has a 0.00 ERA, he was on the mound when 2 runs scored. One of those was inherited and another happened when Ritter just outright botched a routine play, so both were unearned. Still, after this second error, Ramsey fell apart a bit. He hit a batter and gave up a walk before giving up a sac fly. So, Evansville scored 2 without a hit. This doesn’t fall squarely on Ramsey, but he still holds some responsibility for failing to slam the door and now allow Evansville to score in the inning. C

Daniel Harper – Harp made his second appearance on the season and this was a good one. He did give up a hit, which was just a single to third, but he also had a pair of strikeouts. Couldn’t ask for much more from your setup guy. He just came out

 

[Comebakatz3]

Defense: F

Is there a grade below F? We had 4 errors yesterday. The bad part… they probably could have attributed us to more. I am not sure if they gave Schultz any errors for letting a few drop in left when he couldn’t find them in the sun, but if they didn’t then they could have. That isn’t necessarily attributed to bad play as much as bad luck, but it is something the left fielder has to learn to play through given the poorly designed aspect of our new ballpark. Also bad is that some of these plays were routine. I.E. a relatively easy grounder to Collett and Lewis throwing a short toss to Ritter, who just takes his off of it it. Fielding percentage prior to these two games was up to .984. It has since dropped back down to .970. We played clean in the EKU, but even in that one there were some mistakes and instances that just didn’t feel all that crisp. Again, not many plays stand out as being plays where a UK defender is really going above and beyond in his defense. Just bad.

 

[BlueStoops]

Bullpen has been great. There’s also Degen, Rigsby, Kammin who I thought would have big roles on this team that haven’t made an appearance yet.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Hitting: B

Hitting was pretty solid. Had 10 hits yesterday and 7 the day before. So, the results weren’t terrible, but would have liked to have seen us hit more in the EKU and strikeout less.

Austin Schultz – A good start to the week for Schultz as he went 3 for 8 (.375) with a couple of strikeouts, a walk and a hit by pitch. One of those hits was a triple. I don’t know that I can fully blame Schultz for this, but I’d like to see him with more RBIs. If I want to complain about something then I would just whine that he had a couple of opportunities for RBIs, and he couldn’t get a hit down or put the ball in play. Defensively he struggled with the sun yesterday, so that is going to hurt his score a touch. B+

John Rhodes – John is starting to get back on track. He went 2-7 (.286) in the midweek and had a huge home run against EKU that broke the 3-3 tie and gave UK the lead for good. His other hit was a double. He struck out a couple of times and walked twice as well as got hit by a pitch. He isn’t hitting .400+ like last year, but he remains a solid threat in the 2 hole. I expect him to continue to build this weekend. B+

TJ Collet – TJ has to be better, IMO. He went 1-7 (.143) during the midweek and had a strikeout and a walk. He did have a couple of RBIs against EKU, so he was still productive when he did hit, but you expect more out of your star senior power hitter guy. The good thing is that he doesn’t look bad at the plate like he has at times in the past… none of the swinging at junk that we saw a lot in the past. So, I think he can get it fixed. He also had the error, so that hurts. We also had the instances of missed throws from the pitcher. Don’t know if that is on him or the pitcher, but just pointing them out. C-

Oraj Anu – Oraj has had a great week going 3-5 (.600) with a triple, two walks, and just 1 strikeout. He also added a couple of RBIs. This is the kind of production you love to see from your 4 hole against midweek competition. Just always putting the pressure on them. Great job. A+

Rueben Church – Kid just continues to hit. He too added a triple this past week in his 3-7 (.429) performance. He also added 4 RBIs and struck out just once. Coaches bumped him up to the 5 hole and I was a bit worried that he’d take a step back, but we haven’t seen that too much. Defense has also been solid. Did get picked off, so does need to watch that. A

Cam Hill – Cam struggled this week going 1-5 (.200). Cam is one of the more aggressive hitters in the lineup, if not the most aggressive, so I don’t mind that he struggled, but I would like to see the strikeout numbers (4) drop. He did also have a walk and get hit by a pitch. He was, as usual, pretty solid in the outfield. C

Alonzo Rubalcaba – Kid just continues to struggle at the plate. Got 4 chances this week and couldn’t get a hit (.000). He struck out once and left 5 on base. Again, what you like is that he is putting the ball in play and not striking out, but we just gotta find more gaps. Defense remains solid and I think he probably saved our butts a few times with some wild pitches. D

Coltyn Kessler – Kessler made his debut on the season against Evansville. Not sure what kept him out, but he had a strong showing when he came back. He went 2-3 (.667) with a double and I think the one time he got out he hit the ball hard as well. Made no major mistakes behind the plate that I remember. Great debut, glad to see him back. A+

Ryan Ritter – Things just aren’t clicking for him at the plate. I think the approach is pretty good and I think he can get there, but it is going to take some time. He went 1-5 (.200) but the one was a great one as he hit a triple that helped score a run. He also drew a walk and had 1 strikeout. Just needs to get more consistent hitting the ball. Had the really silly error in the game yesterday. C-

Zeke Lewis – Just flat out, the bottom of the lineup has to be better. I had hoped that Lewis turned a corner last year when he was smacking the ball, but that hope is waning as he is hitting .200 on the season. This week hasn’t helped that batting average as he went 0-6 (.000). He was still somewhat productive as he had an RBI and scored a run and had a stolen base, but he has to get more hits. He also walked once and struck out once. Lewis is valuable on defense and has excellent range, but he becomes hard to play when he hits like this. D

Trae Harmon – Harmon got a couple of pinch hit at bats this week and he made the most of them going 1-1 (1.000) with an RBI. His RBI actually came on a sac fly that scored Anu in the second game of the week. So, he did his job well. A

Jaren Shelby – Did not hit in the game this week, but did get in defensively. Where he played CF after Harmon PH for Hill. No grade due to no at bats, but he did his job.

Kirk Liebert – Same thing as Shelby. Came in late in the game as a defensive replacement after Harmon PH for Rubalcaba. No grade due to no at bats, but he did his job.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Coaching – B

Again, no major things within the coaching standpoint that really stood out to me all that much. One thing I didn’t like was the decision to bunt Zeke Lewis. In this situation, UK had a leadoff double and Ritter bunted the leadoff man (Kessler maybe?) over to third. UK then tried another bunt to score the run rather than just letting Lewis swing away. Lewis popped it up and I believe we ended up stranding the runner at third. On the bunting front, it is a bit strange to me that this early in the season they are having Cam Hill attempt as many bunts as he is. Just seems like he is asked to bunt a lot more than the other guys. Would much rather see him swinging away and not wasting a strike trying to put one down.

One the positive side, I liked seeing Roszel go out early to talk to Strickland after he gave up a home run and a double in the top of the first yesterday. I think that settled him in and got him back to work. So, that ended up being a really good thing for him and UK and a smart feel for the player and the game. Other than that, there weren’t really any major things that stood out to me coaching wise.

 

[Comebakatz3]

Bullpen has been great. There’s also Degen, Rigsby, Kammin who I thought would have big roles on this team that haven’t made an appearance yet.

I believe Rigsby was in Covid protocol, but not sure about the others. I have to believe that we will see them. Cottongame is another right off the top of my head.

 

[Aday117]

It’s hard to take too much away based on the competition faced so far. I do think we have some quality arms and glad to see walks down so far. Defense is a concern for sure and hitting will be up and down I think.

Also, any reason why Shelby, Grace, or Estep have hardly seen the field?

 

[Comebakatz3]

It’s hard to take too much away based on the competition faced so far. I do think we have some quality arms and glad to see walks down so far. Defense is a concern for sure and hitting will be up and down I think.

Also, any reason why Shelby, Grace, or Estep have hardly seen the field?

I believe that Estep and Plastiak were likely neck and neck on who would start coming into the season. Unfortunately for him, Estep (to my understanding) was one of the guys who had to go into the Covid protocol, so that gave Plastiak the nod. Estep being ill also gave Church an opportunity and we see that Church has ran with that and Plastiak has not gotten another chance.

Shelby, to my knowledge, had a very bad fall and just outright lost his role as a starter. I think there might also have been some other behind the scenes frustration in the fall that Shelby has to work through and regain trust. In my opinion, I think Jaren felt like he could kind of take easy street and get into professional baseball and he hasn’t really put in the work he’s needed to in order to be as successful as he could be. That has caught up with him and I hope he refocuses.

I imagine Grace will get more chances if Lewis continues to hit poorly. I think both he and Lewis are relatively poor bats, but Lewis is much better defensively. So, when you compare them, Lewis brings more to the table than Grace. However, that being said you might also see Estep, when healthy, competing for time at 2nd if Lewis and Grace continue to do poorly.

 

[CliffDweller25]

I believe Rigsby was in Covid protocol, but not sure about the others. I have to believe that we will see them. Cottongame is another right off the top of my head.

I haven't seen Cottongame, Rigsby or Degen at the park this season, so I'm guessing that you are right about quarantine. I have seen Dillon Marsh so I'm not sure why he hasn't thrown yet.