NU Baseball 2011

[95huskers]

Now that Football season is ending (how does 4 months of greatness flyby, and allow 8 months of gut wrenching anticipation set in?) and the volleyball team choked it up in washington. mens basketball always irrelevant, this poses my question. Is the 2011 going to be even somewhat relevant? Or are they merging every closer to the pre new millennium era? I am a huge baseball fan. i as most will go to the park on several occasions to enjoy a sea of red and watch some baseball in the nice may weather. but is this team going to manage to be competitive this season? maybe make a friggin big 12 tourny for once?

[huskerswrkhavoc]

Now that Football season is ending (how does 4 months of greatness flyby, and allow 8 months of gut wrenching anticipation set in?) and the volleyball team choked it up in washington. mens basketball always irrelevant, this poses my question. Is the 2011 going to be even somewhat relevant? Or are they merging every closer to the pre new millennium era? I am a huge baseball fan. i as most will go to the park on several occasions to enjoy a sea of red and watch some baseball in the nice may weather. but is this team going to manage to be competitive this season? maybe make a friggin big 12 tourny for once?

 

Unless we somehow magically discover a pitching staff, don't get your hopes up.. Everyone we had that would of been returning left in the draft. It may be a struggle. The defense should be solid and offense should be decent. But pitching will be a struggle and probably define what happens in the season... I don't know enough of what the rest of the big 12 has right now to know about making the tournament, but we'll see..

[PaulCrewe]

Now that Football season is ending (how does 4 months of greatness flyby, and allow 8 months of gut wrenching anticipation set in?) and the volleyball team choked it up in washington. mens basketball always irrelevant, this poses my question. Is the 2011 going to be even somewhat relevant? Or are they merging every closer to the pre new millennium era? I am a huge baseball fan. i as most will go to the park on several occasions to enjoy a sea of red and watch some baseball in the nice may weather. but is this team going to manage to be competitive this season? maybe make a friggin big 12 tourny for once?

 

Unless we somehow magically discover a pitching staff, don't get your hopes up.. Everyone we had that would of been returning left in the draft. It may be a struggle. The defense should be solid and offense should be decent. But pitching will be a struggle and probably define what happens in the season... I don't know enough of what the rest of the big 12 has right now to know about making the tournament, but we'll see..

Here's to hoping that Logan Ehlers can come in and help shore this staff up. Has great stuff already and he's a lefty. Think he would be best by mirroring the Johnny Dorn pitching plan, midweek starter and then moved into the weekend. However, I don't think this can happen unless someone else steps up. I think Logan gets thrown into the fire early.

[huskerswrkhavoc]

Now that Football season is ending (how does 4 months of greatness flyby, and allow 8 months of gut wrenching anticipation set in?) and the volleyball team choked it up in washington. mens basketball always irrelevant, this poses my question. Is the 2011 going to be even somewhat relevant? Or are they merging every closer to the pre new millennium era? I am a huge baseball fan. i as most will go to the park on several occasions to enjoy a sea of red and watch some baseball in the nice may weather. but is this team going to manage to be competitive this season? maybe make a friggin big 12 tourny for once?

 

Unless we somehow magically discover a pitching staff, don't get your hopes up.. Everyone we had that would of been returning left in the draft. It may be a struggle. The defense should be solid and offense should be decent. But pitching will be a struggle and probably define what happens in the season... I don't know enough of what the rest of the big 12 has right now to know about making the tournament, but we'll see..

Here's to hoping that Logan Ehlers can come in and help shore this staff up. Has great stuff already and he's a lefty. Think he would be best by mirroring the Johnny Dorn pitching plan, midweek starter and then moved into the weekend. However, I don't think this can happen unless someone else steps up. I think Logan gets thrown into the fire early.

 

 

Agreed.. Which is why I don't see a lot out of this staff this year.. If we still had the staff we did last year, he would be okay easing in.. However, I think he'll get thrown into it quick. Maybe he'll respond really well, for the sake of the team, I hope he is dominant. I just don't see it happening right away.

[Turn2]

First time on this board. Look forward to some good baseball discussion. Last year was disappointing, considering I thought the team had a chance to be more successful. This years team has a chance as well but, IMO, the pitching is better (deeper) and offense won't be as good. Nebraska lost much more offense from last years team than pitching; Offensive losses- Bailey, Belfonte, Thompson; Pitching- Mariot (Nesseth doesn't count due to injury). I was able to attend the Red & White series this fall and counted 25 pitchers combined on the two rosters. 12 or 13 of those names have a chance to be very successful this year:

 

Hauptman- I predict will be a top pitcher. Not a power thrower but he doesn't walk anybody. Doesn't just throw strikes but quality strikes. New bats (wood like performance) should benefit pitchers like hauptman.

 

Lemke- can be very dominating (see OU game last year) or average. Is average when he doesn't command the strike zone. if he can be more consistent getting ahead of hitters early in count, he will be very good.

 

Niederkline- Could be Hauptman with more power. Came in last year and pitched well. Down hill thrower with decent velo (88-91) and throws slider and change for strikes

 

Tate- has potentially best stuff on staff (that's coming back from last year). Needs to throw strikes with all pitches

 

Yost- if Tate doesn't have best stuff then Yost does. When he pitches at 87-88 ball is on knees with movement. When he pitches at 91-93, ball is flat and elevated.

 

Ehlers- looked bad one day great the next. Has three above average pitches.

 

Pierce- will be closer this year. Nebraska fans are going to love this kid.

 

Keller- best stuff of incoming freshman

 

King- LHP out of bullpen. did well in Red & White series...should contribute this year

 

Adams- Bullpen guy with experience

 

Freeman- see Adams but with a better out pitch (change-up)

 

Vogt and Williams two other arms with some innings last year

 

After writing this I feel more confident that we will be a better team. These arms rival anybody in Big 12 except UT and maybe A&M.

[huskerswrkhavoc]

First time on this board. Look forward to some good baseball discussion. Last year was disappointing, considering I thought the team had a chance to be more successful. This years team has a chance as well but, IMO, the pitching is better (deeper) and offense won't be as good. Nebraska lost much more offense from last years team than pitching; Offensive losses- Bailey, Belfonte, Thompson; Pitching- Mariot (Nesseth doesn't count due to injury). I was able to attend the Red & White series this fall and counted 25 pitchers combined on the two rosters. 12 or 13 of those names have a chance to be very successful this year:

 

Hauptman- I predict will be a top pitcher. Not a power thrower but he doesn't walk anybody. Doesn't just throw strikes but quality strikes. New bats (wood like performance) should benefit pitchers like hauptman.

 

Lemke- can be very dominating (see OU game last year) or average. Is average when he doesn't command the strike zone. if he can be more consistent getting ahead of hitters early in count, he will be very good.

 

Niederkline- Could be Hauptman with more power. Came in last year and pitched well. Down hill thrower with decent velo (88-91) and throws slider and change for strikes

 

Tate- has potentially best stuff on staff (that's coming back from last year). Needs to throw strikes with all pitches

 

Yost- if Tate doesn't have best stuff then Yost does. When he pitches at 87-88 ball is on knees with movement. When he pitches at 91-93, ball is flat and elevated.

 

Ehlers- looked bad one day great the next. Has three above average pitches.

 

Pierce- will be closer this year. Nebraska fans are going to love this kid.

 

Keller- best stuff of incoming freshman

 

King- LHP out of bullpen. did well in Red & White series...should contribute this year

 

Adams- Bullpen guy with experience

 

Freeman- see Adams but with a better out pitch (change-up)

 

Vogt and Williams two other arms with some innings last year

 

After writing this I feel more confident that we will be a better team. These arms rival anybody in Big 12 except UT and maybe A&M.

 

 

Welcome to the Board, glad to see someone that wants to talk. The bats will help us overall as a team, just because we aren't a long ball team and live more off pitching in the past. I have to disagree with Hauptman being our top guy, but he could be. I think Lemke will be our top guy after getting last year to learn a bit. I thought Hauptman would be good last year, but obviously in the bullpen was something that most people didn't really see coming, where will he end up being this year? Yost also was a disappointment last year. I think Niederkline will HAVE to step up if this team is going to have a chance.. He came in and pitched pretty well, but he'll have to follow that up. Don't forget we lost Ryan Hughes also from last years staff, though he didnt see much time. Admittedly, looking over the staff again, I like it more than originally, but no more than I did last year, and we know how that went. I'm not going to get overly hyped up this year, but hopefully it'll be good. Offensively, we lose Farst also, but Asche, Burleson, Christensen, Peters, and Scheffert all had good playing time last year and performed decent. Also waiting on Khiry to come through on all that potential he had.

[Turn2]

Admittedly Hauptman is a bit of a stretch. But here is my thinking. He throws strikes- last summer he walked 3 batters in 50 innings. with the new "wood bat like" aluminum bats, not walking, HBP or putting runners on base by error will be huge advantage. Last year vs. teams using the old (more pop) bats, Hauptman had a .282 against batting avg...new bats mean this will go down. As I said in my initial post, he doesn't just throw strikes, he throws quality strikes.

 

if I'm right and your right, then that's two thirds of the rotation we don't have to worry about. The potentially big difference between this years staff and last, is the closer. Now we know Nesseth was never healthy last year, and that is why he wasn't able to close out any weekend games last year. Once he went on IR, we used a host of pitchers, including Hauptman, to close, without much success. We never had a shut down backend of the bullpen last year. As I said first post, Pierce is going to excite Husker fans. 94 to 95, give me the damn ball, I am going to win this game for us right now, type of attitude. We will have two LHP (Ehlers (unless he becomes weekend starter) and King). Add power RHP- Yost, Keller, Tate and I think better. Would love to have Mariot with this staff, but he was our only loss from last years staff. Hughes has potential but no results...couldn't throw strikes.

[95huskers]

I like what im seeing here from people that have paid more attention to the staff than i have. not knowing much or usually paying much attention to the team as a whole untill january of every year. I think that there is one common denominator here that affects this team more than anything. That would be Anderson. I hope he gets his head out of his... you know, and makes better decisions as a whole. I just want a relevant team, but i also would like to see Anderson go. So as much as i would like to see tons of success from this team i dont want to much in hopes he is gone. For the kids sake, i hope they have a fun year and beat down some of the big 12 foes like texas and baylor. good luck to the guys this year!

[husker_hurdler]

Best of luck to the Boys in the 2011 Season.

 

I find few reasons why Nebraska can't be in the top 1/4 to 1/3 in the Big XII. The one big reason weather. My heart has been broken the last couple of years with some good glimmers of hope followed by big let-downs.

 

I want to see the team be in a position to make a late season run come mid may.

 

GBR! Come find me in Feb......

 

 

On a sidenote...anybody know how much coverage of baseball their will be with the Big 10 network?

[68hskr]

For those of you in the know, what is up with Kash Kalkowski. I remember that he was a highly touted pitcher out of Grand Island, but I think he sat out 2010 with an injury. Is he back yet and will he contribute this upcoming year?

[95huskers]

For those of you in the know, what is up with Kash Kalkowski. I remember that he was a highly touted pitcher out of Grand Island, but I think he sat out 2010 with an injury. Is he back yet and will he contribute this upcoming year?

 

he did sit out with an injury. i actually was out in vegas in march, the same weekend the skers were playing texas i believe, and met him and his parents in the airport. i think he will be back this year and in full health

[Turn2]

For those of you in the know, what is up with Kash Kalkowski. I remember that he was a highly touted pitcher out of Grand Island, but I think he sat out 2010 with an injury. Is he back yet and will he contribute this upcoming year?

 

he did sit out with an injury. i actually was out in vegas in march, the same weekend the skers were playing texas i believe, and met him and his parents in the airport. i think he will be back this year and in full health

 

 

He played in the Red & White series this fall, but as a second baseman. If he fielded a ball cleanly, the batter was out...he did not make any throws. Also, when he was hitting, they used a pinch runner for him...even at the plate.