Cal State Fullerton at Tulane

[DrHullabaloo]

I feel like if our coach had done and said these same things there'd be a bunch of people running him out of town again today.

Because there aren't already (upthread).

Seriously though, I love this. Guys break team rules, do something to make sure they don't again. If someone wants to complain that the guys should be allowed to have some fun, then complain about the team rule, not about the punishment for breaking the rule that was in place.

In my opinion:
Suspending guys that broke curfew is a no-brainer if you don't want people to break curfew. Embarrassing them in the media doesn't generally go over well these days. Calling out the guys that weren't suspended for not being willing to play a new position should have stayed internal.

Some coaches are classier than others and have more finesse. His way of coaching has produced a CWS team. It's all in how the sausage gets made I guess. If it had been Tulane's coach torturing the players in the media like this and putting them on display like that on the bleachers, not sure what our response would have been. We had CJ's ridiculous handholding thing go viral and nobody complained.

And oh by the way y'all - CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GREENWAVE ON WINNING THEIR FIRST EVER GAME AGAINST FULLERTON IN THIRTEEN YEARS #twerk

[FW]

I feel like if our coach had done and said these same things there'd be a bunch of people running him out of town again today.

Because there aren't already (upthread).

Seriously though, I love this. Guys break team rules, do something to make sure they don't again. If someone wants to complain that the guys should be allowed to have some fun, then complain about the team rule, not about the punishment for breaking the rule that was in place.

In my opinion:
Suspending guys that broke curfew is a no-brainer if you don't want people to break curfew. Embarrassing them in the media doesn't generally go over well these days. Calling out the guys that weren't suspended for not being willing to play a new position should have stayed internal.

Some coaches are classier than others and have more finesse. His way of coaching has produced a CWS team. It's all in how the sausage gets made I guess. If it had been Tulane's coach torturing the players in the media like this and putting them on display like that on the bleachers, not sure what our response would have been. We had CJ's ridiculous handholding thing go viral and nobody complained.

And oh by the way y'all - CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GREENWAVE ON WINNING THEIR FIRST EVER GAME AGAINST FULLERTON #twerk

It's not our first ever win against Fullerton. The '05 team beat Fullerton.

[Donny Z]

The Green Wave beat Fullerton on the Sunday game of the 2005 series. Believe that was the 1st win over Fullerton and was the triple play game. After a furious rally on Saturday in front of a packed house at Zypher game up just short.

[Johnny Mac]

The Green Wave beat Fullerton on the Sunday game of the 2005 series. Believe that was the 1st win over Fullerton and was the triple play game. After a furious rally on Saturday in front of a packed house at Zypher game up just short.

I was out fishing.. or drowning bait more accurately since it was windy and nothing was biting.. during that Saturday game. I was at the Sunday win though.. but that Friday night game of Romero vs. Bogusevic was a fantastic ball game.. until the 7th inning.

[visualmagic]

so far this year the Tulane team is batting .271 vs. .266 a year ago; the stolen base success percentage is much higher; and runs scored per game is slightly higher than a year ago....with 5.45 runs per game this year compared to 5.4 per gm last year. This year's team is hitting into fewer double plays 0.45 per game compared to 0.62 last year. This year's team is striking out 11 percent less than the 2017 club. This year's club is drawing 3 walks and HBP per game vs. 4.4 per gm for all of last year. But this year's team is hitting 20 percent more doubles plus triples per game than the 2017 club. Fielding percentage is also much improved so far and ERA is a full 1 run per game less than last year's miserable tally. This year's team is hitting HRs at a much lower rate than 2017 but run production is just as good. Teams are batting .248 vs. Tulane pitching this year vs. .282 a year ago.Well done, randymc. Although the usual suspects would probably call the facts Fake News.

Im just going to call it a small sample size.

[TUPF]

I feel like if our coach had done and said these same things there'd be a bunch of people running him out of town again today.

Because there aren't already (upthread).

Seriously though, I love this. Guys break team rules, do something to make sure they don't again. If someone wants to complain that the guys should be allowed to have some fun, then complain about the team rule, not about the punishment for breaking the rule that was in place.

In my opinion:
Suspending guys that broke curfew is a no-brainer if you don't want people to break curfew. Embarrassing them in the media doesn't generally go over well these days. Calling out the guys that weren't suspended for not being willing to play a new position should have stayed internal.

I respectfully disagree for a couple of reasons.
Calling out those who wouldn’t even give playing another position a try because as he called it...they were scared is a real character problem. Character revealed itself big time right there and coach wanted to be damn sure they were publicly scorned for it. Which leads me to my second point.

This is an age group where if it isn’t in social or public media, it didn’t happen. Why else are there so many photos floating around of someone’s dinner? It wouldn’t surprise me one bit if one of The Bourbon Street Seven didn’t document their antics much to the chagrin of those of us a little older, wiser, and more secretive. There’s no hiding what they did now so Skippy can’t claim coach is picking on him.

Painful, yes. They’ll survive.

[ml wave]

so far this year the Tulane team is batting .271 vs. .266 a year ago; the stolen base success percentage is much higher; and runs scored per game is slightly higher than a year ago....with 5.45 runs per game this year compared to 5.4 per gm last year. This year's team is hitting into fewer double plays 0.45 per game compared to 0.62 last year. This year's team is striking out 11 percent less than the 2017 club. This year's club is drawing 3 walks and HBP per game vs. 4.4 per gm for all of last year. But this year's team is hitting 20 percent more doubles plus triples per game than the 2017 club. Fielding percentage is also much improved so far and ERA is a full 1 run per game less than last year's miserable tally. This year's team is hitting HRs at a much lower rate than 2017 but run production is just as good. Teams are batting .248 vs. Tulane pitching this year vs. .282 a year ago.Well done, randymc. Although the usual suspects would probably call the facts Fake News.

Im just going to call it a small sample size.

Same

[windywave]

If we come out today and compete all is well in the kingdom.

I stand by this.

I still stand by this. They blew us out one gsme we blew them out one game and we had a one run game.

[tjtlja]

Starting with Vanderhook’s decision to hang his kids out to ridicule is open for debate. I like it from a standpoint of where Fullerton is as a team right now. They probably haven’t been 3-8 for 40 years to start a season. He was clearly sending a message. They let their teammates down and it is all about the team. He certainly could have handled it another way, but it was classic. And I think back to last year and what if seven of our guys went out all night before the Sunday finale at Santa Barbara and Jewett did the same thing as Vanderhook, how would it have been received by the fan base? Personally, I would have been all for it. You show up for work everyday, period.

Regarding comparisons of this team to last years team is early, but I will give you my thoughts. Just from a team standpoint, two entirely different clubs. Offensively, we both averaged five runs per game doing it two completely different ways. We were the Bronx bombers the past couple of years and now we are the Astros when they played in the Astrodome. It is great to see Artigues, Matthews (he may have his Dad’s bat), Galy, Rowland, and several others getting their chance to prove themselves. Those kids are being rewarded for all the hard work they have put in. The pitching is so much better from the pen this year because we are not giving nearly as many freebies. In particular, I love the adjustments Sam has made. He seems to have changed his arm slot and that has paid dividends. Keagan is a hard worker with the perfect mental make up to succeed. I can tell you he forgets the HR’s he gives up quicker than the fans. He is mature beyond his age. The outfield is solid. We will miss Kobi. And the coaching staff is so far ahead of where they were last year. The year of experience has been used wisely. And Jared working with our hitters must be mentioned.

Regarding last years club, they had talent. The core of this team were the same guys that won us our only AAC championship to date. How soon people forget. The infield was terrific. Hope, Wilsey, and Williams were great defensively and all could hit for power. The only thing I will say about catching is we had a lot of injuries. The outfield was really good with Lex and Grant. Not to mention Spoon and Gozzo were key players. Our starting rotation with Corey and JP were excellent. Our bullpen struggled mightly. And we had a head coach in his first season. The experience and leadership on that team pulled that club together after a horrible start to play .500 plus ball the rest of the way. But in the end, we could not overcome the number of free base runners. And when you can’t throw it over the plate, then you have to throw it right down the middle of the plate and that is a recipe for disaster.

I see so many people mention the number of kids not drafted. Yes, there certainly is a correlation between that and winning baseball, but we did have Corey and Ted who were drafted. We also have Wisey who is currently playing independent ball. Also JP and Hunter passed on being drafted to pursue different paths. And Jeremy would have gone fairly high his junior year but scouts passed after back to back surgeries. So to say our team was void of professional talent is not correct.

Just sit back and enjoy the season. These kids are performing well and will only get better. We have a lot of pitchers and we have options to move them around. We did not have this last year. And we can compete in the AAC this year. No one is unbeatable. I think this club is going to surprise.

[RollWaveRoll]

so far this year the Tulane team is batting .271 vs. .266 a year ago; the stolen base success percentage is much higher; and runs scored per game is slightly higher than a year ago....with 5.45 runs per game this year compared to 5.4 per gm last year. This year's team is hitting into fewer double plays 0.45 per game compared to 0.62 last year. This year's team is striking out 11 percent less than the 2017 club. This year's club is drawing 3 walks and HBP per game vs. 4.4 per gm for all of last year. But this year's team is hitting 20 percent more doubles plus triples per game than the 2017 club. Fielding percentage is also much improved so far and ERA is a full 1 run per game less than last year's miserable tally. This year's team is hitting HRs at a much lower rate than 2017 but run production is just as good. Teams are batting .248 vs. Tulane pitching this year vs. .282 a year ago.

great work. the proper way to analyze offense in my opinion is WOBA, which i'm not going to do. lol. 2nd best is OPS which is basically WOBA watered down. OBP% + Slugging% = OPS. These have been statistically proven. Here are some years for comparisons including 2005 CWS, and the avg of all the 8 2017 CWS teams just for fun.

HITTING
2005 OBP% = .413
2016 OBP% = .354
2017 OBP% = .349
2018 OBP% = .327
17' CWS Avg = .373

2005 Slugging% = .503 - Old gorilla ball bats so cant compare to bbcor but still insane!
2016 Slugging% = .423 - 1st in conf
2017 Slugging% = .437 - 2nd in conf
2018 Slugging% = .398
17' CWS Avg = .416

2005 OPS = .916 - #1 rakning in the country all year - CWS
2016 OPS = .777 - AAC Champs
2017 OPS = .787
2018 OPS = .725
17' CWS Avg = .789

PITCHING
2005 ERA = 3.84
2016 ERA = 3.24 - top 25 in nation - led nation in shutouts with 13
2017 ERA = 5.72
2018 ERA = 4.73 - Inflated due to our new worst score keeper in america - embarrassing, doesn't give us errors in field etc.
17' CWS Avg = 3.33

2005 WHIP = 1.29
2016 WHIP = 1.23 - top 25 in nation
2017 WHIP = 1.70
2018 WHIP = 1.40
17' CWS Avg = 1.21

2005 K/9 = 8.65
2016 K/9 = 7.96
2017 K/9 = 5.88
2018 K/9 = 5.93
17' CWS Avg = 8.80

2005 BB/9 = 2.74
2016 BB/9 = 3.08 - k to bb ratio top 25
2017 BB/9 = 5.60 - dead last
2018 BB/9 = 4.67
17' CWS Avg = 3.07

[wavedom]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

[tjtlja]

RollWaveRoll, great comparison. It is a game of numbers. But there is one huge caveat and that is the technology. Almost akin to steroids. I had two kids play through it and it was unreal. My oldest son played the first year with the new composite bats. Outfielders were playing at 250 feet for most of the game. It took a half a year to figure out the sweet spot was on the end of the bat. I remember talking to Coach Fox at North Carolina and him telling me they would hit 40-50 balls out of the park in BP and were hitting about 5-6 in BP with the new bats.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago and the seams on the ball were made thinner. Breaking balls were not what they were and batting averages started to climb. Each year the hitters have adapted a little bit more and now offense is climbing again. There are so many variables in all of this. Bottom line is you win with pitching. You better throw strikes and you better hit spots. I love Kyle Peterson’s take - fully fund college baseball scholarships. It is third and sometimes second in fan attendance at all schools. It should be fully funded. More high school players would sign with colleges if that were the case and the product would improve. Last year 50% of the draft was college players, 27% international, and 23% high school. I think those numbers would approach 80% if full scholarships were awarded.

[tjtlja]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

Jake is the best defensive catcher I have ever seen in college - no one can replace him anywhere. With that being said, I will respectively disagree that our core (everyday players) wasn’t the same. Jeremy and Sal were more than adequate replacements defensively. Offensively, we did lose two good ball players and especially a lead off guy who could set the table. But what we really lost was a freshman all-American pitcher, Gibbs, Massey, Sam at his peak, Corey out the pen, and JP throwing mid-week. Add in Simms, Deuster, Rankin, and Jeremy before the TJ injury and the pitching just wasn’t what it had been. Yes, you better be good up the middle and I think we were certainly good enough, but you win championships with pitching. Look no further than some past champions like Florida and UCLA. Just a difference of opinion. And that is why I think this year has a lot of promise. We have some kids who can throw. Looking forward to their development.

[visualmagic]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

That’s conventional wisdom but it’s not really true.

[tjtlja]

A good comparison would be the Astros last year. You have McCann behind the plate, Altuve, Correa, and Springer up the middle. That is as good as it gets. But most of the experts say they don’t even get thru Boston and the Yankees without the Verlander acquisition.

Our own fans forget how good Gibbs and Massey were, and Corey pre-injury. Those young men could really pitch and more importantly knew how to pitch. All they would do is just get batters out. Jared Berkowitz has the most wins in Tulane history yet he never pitched at the highest level. That is why Coach Jewett signed so many pitchers last year and followed that up with another dozen or so in the current incoming class.

[wavedom]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

Jake is the best defensive catcher I have ever seen in college - no one can replace him anywhere. With that being said, I will respectively disagree that our core (everyday players) wasn’t the same. Jeremy and Sal were more than adequate replacements defensively. Offensively, we did lose two good ball players and especially a lead off guy who could set the table. But what we really lost was a freshman all-American pitcher, Gibbs, Massey, Sam at his peak, Corey out the pen, and JP throwing mid-week. Add in Simms, Deuster, Rankin, and Jeremy before the TJ injury and the pitching just wasn’t what it had been. Yes, you better be good up the middle and I think we were certainly good enough, but you win championships with pitching. Look no further than some past champions like Florida and UCLA. Just a difference of opinion. And that is why I think this year has a lot of promise. We have some kids who can throw. Looking forward to their development.

Jeremy got hurt early. Even healthy he wasn't close to Jake defensively. Gozzo's clearly lacks the range of Alemais. They were huge losses. I noted what we lost pitching wise. However those two players helped the pitchers out tremendously . It wasn't the same team by a long shot.

[wavedom]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

That’s conventional wisdom but it’s not really true.

It's very true. It just doesn't fit your narrative.

[wavedom]

A good comparison would be the Astros last year. You have McCann behind the plate, Altuve, Correa, and Springer up the middle. That is as good as it gets. But most of the experts say they don’t even get thru Boston and the Yankees without the Verlander acquisition.

Our own fans forget how good Gibbs and Massey were, and Corey pre-injury. Those young men could really pitch and more importantly knew how to pitch. All they would do is just get batters out. Jared Berkowitz has the most wins in Tulane history yet he never pitched at the highest level. That is why Coach Jewett signed so many pitchers last year and followed that up with another dozen or so in the current incoming class.

They would have beat all comers. The talking heads were wrong again. Big surprise.

[visualmagic]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

That’s conventional wisdom but it’s not really true.

It's very true. It just doesn't fit your narrative.

It’s really not but there’s no way to prove or disprove it so I won’t waste any time trying.

Nobody is saying the 17 and 16 teams were exactly the same. We’re saying that the 17 team had enough talent to contend for a Regional. We’ve had much less talent on teams before and almost all of them managed to finish above .500

[Tulane49]

funny story...Rick Jones secret weapon was Johnny Kaplan. He would always get him to give the opposing players a tour of bourbon street at night...was a guarantee 5-6am night, friday night into sat morning! Granted it was very well known Johnny played lights out after many drinks so rick knew he could handle it.

This makes a good story but it’s probably more folklore then truth
Rick would never ask one of his players to take opposing team to Bourbon St in order to win a baseball game
Secondly it’s not right to characterize Kaplan this way.
Unless you have firsthand knowledge of this let’s just call it a rumor

[visualmagic]

funny story...Rick Jones secret weapon was Johnny Kaplan. He would always get him to give the opposing players a tour of bourbon street at night...was a guarantee 5-6am night, friday night into sat morning! Granted it was very well known Johnny played lights out after many drinks so rick knew he could handle it.

This makes a good story but it’s probably more folklore then truth
Rick would never ask one of his players to take opposing team to Bourbon St in order to win a baseball game
Secondly it’s not right to characterize Kaplan this way.
Unless you have firsthand knowledge of this let’s just call it a rumor

Definitely sounds fake

[tjtlja]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

Jake is the best defensive catcher I have ever seen in college - no one can replace him anywhere. With that being said, I will respectively disagree that our core (everyday players) wasn’t the same. Jeremy and Sal were more than adequate replacements defensively. Offensively, we did lose two good ball players and especially a lead off guy who could set the table. But what we really lost was a freshman all-American pitcher, Gibbs, Massey, Sam at his peak, Corey out the pen, and JP throwing mid-week. Add in Simms, Deuster, Rankin, and Jeremy before the TJ injury and the pitching just wasn’t what it had been. Yes, you better be good up the middle and I think we were certainly good enough, but you win championships with pitching. Look no further than some past champions like Florida and UCLA. Just a difference of opinion. And that is why I think this year has a lot of promise. We have some kids who can throw. Looking forward to their development.

Jeremy got hurt early. Even healthy he wasn't close to Jake defensively. Gozzo's clearly lacks the range of Alemais. They were huge losses. I noted what we lost pitching wise. However those two players helped the pitchers out tremendously . It wasn't the same team by a long shot.

I said they were more than adequate to win at the D1 level. The scouts said the same. And no one could ever replace Jake. We will never have that again.

[tjtlja]

A good comparison would be the Astros last year. You have McCann behind the plate, Altuve, Correa, and Springer up the middle. That is as good as it gets. But most of the experts say they don’t even get thru Boston and the Yankees without the Verlander acquisition.

Our own fans forget how good Gibbs and Massey were, and Corey pre-injury. Those young men could really pitch and more importantly knew how to pitch. All they would do is just get batters out. Jared Berkowitz has the most wins in Tulane history yet he never pitched at the highest level. That is why Coach Jewett signed so many pitchers last year and followed that up with another dozen or so in the current incoming class.

They would have beat all comers. The talking heads were wrong again. Big surprise.

The talking heads included most of the Astros team led by Dallas Keichul. They were very outspoken at the trade deadline. Verlander sealed the deal. There is no argument here.

[gerryb323]

funny story...Rick Jones secret weapon was Johnny Kaplan. He would always get him to give the opposing players a tour of bourbon street at night...was a guarantee 5-6am night, friday night into sat morning! Granted it was very well known Johnny played lights out after many drinks so rick knew he could handle it.

This makes a good story but it’s probably more folklore then truth
Rick would never ask one of his players to take opposing team to Bourbon St in order to win a baseball game
Secondly it’s not right to characterize Kaplan this way.
Unless you have firsthand knowledge of this let’s just call it a rumor

Definitely sounds fake

I believe it

[wavedom]

The 2016 and 2017 teams were not the same core. We lost one of the very best catchers in the country and one of the very best SS's. We haven't had many drafted in the third round or higher. We lost 2 in one year. More importantly are the positions we lost them at. In baseball you are only as good as you are up the middle. We lost the middle and there was no comparison at who took their places last year. We also lost most of the pen. They were not the same team.

That’s conventional wisdom but it’s not really true.

It's very true. It just doesn't fit your narrative.

It’s really not but there’s no way to prove or disprove it so I won’t waste any time trying.

Nobody is saying the 17 and 16 teams were exactly the same. We’re saying that the 17 team had enough talent to contend for a Regional. We’ve had much less talent on teams before and almost all of them managed to finish above .500

It clearly didn't have that type of talent level. That's fake news.