Nebraska vs Texas Tech baseball

[PaulCrewe]

I appologize for not making my point clear. I am not a big fan of writing, hence the poor writing skills. However, I would like to clarify my thoughts regarding Keller and the Nebraska pitching staff.

 

Keller- IMO, best pro pitching prospect on the roster. Big frame, big arm and the kid, age wise, should still be a senior in high school (turns 19 this summer). Has had no individual pitching instruction, other than coaches he has played for. Big, young, raw and already having good success. The raw part is what leads to his lack of command but makes me excited about this kid. Once the light switch goes on with him and his secondary pitches, he will be dominant. Point I want to emphsis, he is still having success...<3.00 era, as a freshman, is very good. He has great poise and presence on the mound. Cudo's to the coaches for getting this kid. The fact he is still struggling with the command of this pitch is certainly not Anderson...he doesn't coach pitchers. Since he didn't have a pitching coach growing up, he probably taught himself how to throw a slider or curve and it was probably wrong.

 

Nebraska pitching staff- best since 2008. Has a chance to be better. Also, very similar with the mix of power arms and finesse. I really like our pitching staff and when we get Ehlers, it will be even better.

 

Bonus thought- IMO, we will see growing pains with Erstad as our hitting coach. Every starter this year has at least one year under their belt with a different Husker hitting coach and his philosophy's. Erstad is learning the players and they are learning him. Our hitting or lack there of, cost us the game Sunday, not the pitching. Our pitchers held Tech to 3 runs. Tech threw 2 pitchers for 8 innings with > 5.5 era and we didn't score 1 run against them and only had 1 hit after the 3rd inning. I am huge Erstad supporter and think he will bring a big time offense to Nebraska, but may not be till next year or earliest end this year.

Now I like this. This is a well put post, that actually adds to the discussion of NU baseball. I agree Turn2. The other thing that I will point out is that the hitting will only get better as the weather continues to warm up. I know that is pretty cliche but it is true. Hopefully the staff can continue to pitch well, that is my biggest concern at this point. Ehlers will only help a ton, because we seem to be running the same guys out of the pen and innings are starting to pile up.

[HuskerHacker]

+1, totally agree with Turn's post above.

 

Keller will be a stud once he's matured.

 

The pitching staff (meaning the current group of kids throwing the rock) is strong with a mixture of different "out" pitches. (Still missing that knee bending change up though) I think Newman, is a very good "young" pitching coach that in time will be a rock to lean on. My concern is the lack of our pitchers ability to successfully rely on the off speed. We are seeing more off speed this year then we have and that is very encouraging but... where is the change up? Does Newman know how to teach it?

 

Erstad, improvement is obvious. Hope is, by season's end, we are driving in more runners from 2nd with two outs and that as a whole, we finish no lower then 5th in OB% in the conference. (Might be a difficult achievement as one has to wonder if our pitchers are seeing tiny box in comparison to the exaggerated box our hitters are facing.) T.O. in the Big 10 announcement warned us fans that we might (probably should expect) see an increase in poor officiating.

 

Lets all face it, like the sports before baseball, if our boys have to turn to an official to make a judgment it likely won't go our way. Hence the mythical "left early" call.

 

Wish our athletes, in every sport, would play with a chip on their shoulders instead of a controlled belief that everything will work out in the end. (I write this with a voice in my head reminding me of how proud I am of our athletes conducting themselves respectfully and us not having to apologize to other fans for conduct similar to that of the Fresno State players.) Maybe Anderson should try to light a fire under these young men with the "us against the world" mentality?

[Turn2]

Wish our athletes, in every sport, would play with a chip on their shoulders instead of a controlled belief that everything will work out in the end. (I write this with a voice in my head reminding me of how proud I am of our athletes conducting themselves respectfully and us not having to apologize to other fans for conduct similar to that of the Fresno State players.) Maybe Anderson should try to light a fire under these young men with the "us against the world" mentality?

 

Couldn't agree more with you. However, there is a balance between chip and passive, respectful and arrogant. This fall during the Red & White series, two coaches and two players were calling each other out. "I going to whip your effin a$$ if you don't"....... I liked it, I liked the fire, the passion. Don't play the game afraid to lose! Don't disrespect your opponent and DON'T fear them either. Play the game hard and as if it were the last time you would play the game!