Firing the pitching coach was a warning sent out to the staff and players. The sacrificial lamb so to speak.
I think Lemonis gets let go and Southern Miss staff gets the nod, or they may just hire their PC.
As I have said before there are a lot of really good coaches out there but lack the tools that the larger programs have at their disposal to make them more competitive.
JMO
@PitchingFan I think a successful parent is one who provides the love, guidance and support for each child to become the best version of themselves. Are they happy, are they contributing member of society, do they walk humbly, are they compassionate? Anything else is gravy.
I think good coaches help players reach their full potential. But just like with parenting, there are outside factors. Does the coach's style resonate with the player? Is the player willing to put in the hard work? Injuries. Starting talent level of the pitcher vs. Ceiling (i.e. did the kid show up over pitched or already peaked). Coaching is a brutal business at almost every level for one reason or another.
@PTWood posted:@PitchingFan I think a successful parent is one who provides the love, guidance and support for each child to become the best version of themselves. Are they happy, are they contributing member of society, do they walk humbly, are they compassionate? Anything else is gravy.
I think good coaches help players reach their full potential. But just like with parenting, there are outside factors. Does the coach's style resonate with the player? Is the player willing to put in the hard work? Injuries. Starting talent level of the pitcher vs. Ceiling (i.e. did the kid show up over pitched or already peaked). Coaching is a brutal business at almost every level for one reason or another.
A+++
Part of the question is that success in the moment is not the same as success in hindsight or over the long term. Isn't it often said that no-one likes his coach while playing, but afterward you realize what was taught? A college coach whose players graduate but don't win many games - is he a success or not? At what point can you determine it? 5 years later? 10?
BTW as a pitching or hitting coach you are always a bit on the mercy of luck too.
There are definitely good and bad coaches but there are cases where a PC is going to be scapegoated even if he did a good job.
1 or 2 injuries and a couple guys slumping and even a well respected coach can fall out of favor quickly.
It is a tough job and so much can go wrong in pitching, one guy from baseball prospectus famously said there is no such thing as a pitching prospect, meaning everyone can get hurt or be bad suddenly.
@Dominik85 posted:BTW as a pitching or hitting coach you are always a bit on the mercy of luck too.
There are definitely good and bad coaches but there are cases where a PC is going to be scapegoated even if he did a good job.
1 or 2 injuries and a couple guys slumping and even a well respected coach can fall out of favor quickly.
It is a tough job and so much can go wrong in pitching, one guy from baseball prospectus famously said there is no such thing as a pitching prospect, meaning everyone can get hurt or be bad suddenly.
This is so true. Look at what happened at MSU.
As an assistant coach you are at the mercy of others who make decisions as to who will be on the roster. Then it's your job to turn them into pitchers who will help that team.
The only thing I question is why are there so many injuries with pitchers this year? It's the pitching coaches and trainers job to keep them healthy.
When considering a program, players should certainly consider that information.
I've wondered the same over the past 3 years. I think it is the push to increase velocity. My son is a unicorn to be pitching in SEC at the speeds he throws. But all the scouts are pushing him to show the 94 he threw in the fall. "We have to see it to draft you." I think that mentality is causing guys to do whatever it takes to get the velo up. I heard one say the other day that if one of our guys in particular can show the 100 consistently he will make a huge jump. Like 99 is not good enough. And if they tell the kid that you know he will do whatever to get there. I do not think it is overuse like it used to be. Most do not throw over 100 pitches in a game.
There has never been a time when so many guys were throwing so hard. That said, it makes the management and training/recovery for them even more important and I’m not sure everyone understands what that means or take it as seriously as they need to.
There have been lots of discussions on why injuries happen so often.
Pitching development has been great at stuff like increasing velo and pitch design but injury reduction so far wasn't successful, it even seems to get worse.
A lot of stuff gets blamed for this: youth pitcher overuse, weighted balls, throwing hard and now even pitch design gets targeted because some guys think certain pitches like the sweeper are more likely to hurt the arm.
So far there isn't any real evidence for any of those theories, a lot has been tried and so far nothing really helped.
Even the smartest teams in mlb with the best player development have a ton of injuries, so I guess there isn't a solution yet.
I think it is just the human body and nobody can completely figure it out. We can have theories but only one knows. I have kept my eye on Skenes at LSU and how his body responds this year. He increased his number of pitches greatly on the season. He added at least 7 mph consistently and he throws more pitches per game. I hope it works for him because he seems to be a good guy. Son likes him and they talk. But I've just been intriqued to see how his body deals with the changes which are all to big extremes in the baseball world.
