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Every scout starts out the same way. I go to Warren Nolan and I check out the opponent's schedule, look for good wins, bad losses, strength of schedule, RPI, common opponents etc...Then I open up their stats and UT stats, spend some time looking at that, looking for things that pop out in a good, bad or unusual way. After that I might go back through the last series they played, read the reports. For mid week opponents, I don't put forth the effort that I do for our SEC brethren, which I suppose is obvious by now. 
For the last couple of years, even prior to actually writing a scout, when looking at the info...especially when we are preparing to play a highly ranked opponent, it has been, most of the time, fairly depressing. For the last three years, going into these type games I didn't have to get much past the team ERA to realize we don't have a really legit shot "on paper" to keep up.
Last year's Vandy scout is a good example. Even though we matched up decently with two of three of their starters, their relief pitchers and closers had, in many cases, even better ERA's. Last year we beat them 2 out of three anyway in the regular season, so those numbers don't mean much...but I don't know that when I write up the scout.
For the first time, I can say this...
well, how about I just show you...
Fri: RHP Carson Fulmer 1.85 ERA vs. Bret Marks 1.38 ERA
Sat: RHP Walker Buehler 2.55 ERA vs. Drake Owenby 2.20 ERA
Sun: RHP Jordan Sheffield 2.27 vs. Hunter Martin 2.16
VU Team ERA: 2.95
UT Team ERA: 2.70
This is a first in the Serrano era.
That's the good news, the bad news is they have 3 guys (20 IP Min.) under 2.00 and we aren't there yet. Still, it popped out to me so I figured it might be worth sharing.
Vandy's b/avg. is .204 and ours is .216...not bad.
Moving on...
Vandy is ranked #3 in two polls, #2 in the D1 poll. They've won nine of their last 10. RPI 12, SOS is 58. They don't really have any bad losses and their best win might be #5 UCLA.
They are a veteran team and most of the names will be familiar. The one player I'll address first is their Sunday starter Mr. Sheffield. He didn't play last year due to injury, however I did get to watch him this summer as he was in the same league as our Eric Freeman (I think). He was rusty and to be honest he had some of the same issues Serrano was having...that's not the case anymore. I've only seen one of his outings but he looks like a different guy, much better control.
Another thing that jumped out was that Hayden Stone had only pitched 4.2 innings, he was their closer last year, really good player. I don't know what the injury is but he is injured, I don't know what the status is on him.
One thing I noticed was that Sheffield and Fulmer, their walks seemed high to me, so...
Brett Marks 39 IP, 10 BB
D. Owenby 32.2 IP 8 BB
C. Fulmer 34 IP 18 BB
Sheffield 31.2 IP 14 BB
Obviously, their pitching depth is superb, as always.
Where the teams really separate is at the plate. Their team BA is .315...better than any other team we've played so far. Ro Coleman (.271) will likely lead off, that's about as bad an average as your gonna see.
Rhett Wiseman (.381), Dansby Swanson (.364), Zander Wiel (.348) and Bryan Reynolds (.340) will be in the top of that line up somewhere...all those guys can hit with power, plenty of doubles and dingers between them.
I'm not exactly sure what's up with catcher Jason Delay, he's only started 11 games, might be hurt. A young guy, not sure we'll see him, but I was impressed with Penn Murfee.
Several of these Vandy players were on Team USA with Stew this past summer so these guys know each other well.
Vandy's fld% is at .971, they have 29 errors in 25 games, so...there's that.
The UT team we've seen so far can't out hit Vandy..."on paper" ...so it's going to fall on our starting pitching to keep us in it. I'm not going to talk worse case scenarios, but a lot of things are going to have to go our way and I'll just leave it at that.
Worked last year.
GBO!!!
For the last couple of years, even prior to actually writing a scout, when looking at the info...especially when we are preparing to play a highly ranked opponent, it has been, most of the time, fairly depressing. For the last three years, going into these type games I didn't have to get much past the team ERA to realize we don't have a really legit shot "on paper" to keep up.
Last year's Vandy scout is a good example. Even though we matched up decently with two of three of their starters, their relief pitchers and closers had, in many cases, even better ERA's. Last year we beat them 2 out of three anyway in the regular season, so those numbers don't mean much...but I don't know that when I write up the scout.
For the first time, I can say this...
well, how about I just show you...
Fri: RHP Carson Fulmer 1.85 ERA vs. Bret Marks 1.38 ERA
Sat: RHP Walker Buehler 2.55 ERA vs. Drake Owenby 2.20 ERA
Sun: RHP Jordan Sheffield 2.27 vs. Hunter Martin 2.16
VU Team ERA: 2.95
UT Team ERA: 2.70
This is a first in the Serrano era.
That's the good news, the bad news is they have 3 guys (20 IP Min.) under 2.00 and we aren't there yet. Still, it popped out to me so I figured it might be worth sharing.
Vandy's b/avg. is .204 and ours is .216...not bad.
Moving on...
Vandy is ranked #3 in two polls, #2 in the D1 poll. They've won nine of their last 10. RPI 12, SOS is 58. They don't really have any bad losses and their best win might be #5 UCLA.
They are a veteran team and most of the names will be familiar. The one player I'll address first is their Sunday starter Mr. Sheffield. He didn't play last year due to injury, however I did get to watch him this summer as he was in the same league as our Eric Freeman (I think). He was rusty and to be honest he had some of the same issues Serrano was having...that's not the case anymore. I've only seen one of his outings but he looks like a different guy, much better control.
Another thing that jumped out was that Hayden Stone had only pitched 4.2 innings, he was their closer last year, really good player. I don't know what the injury is but he is injured, I don't know what the status is on him.
One thing I noticed was that Sheffield and Fulmer, their walks seemed high to me, so...
Brett Marks 39 IP, 10 BB
D. Owenby 32.2 IP 8 BB
C. Fulmer 34 IP 18 BB
Sheffield 31.2 IP 14 BB
Obviously, their pitching depth is superb, as always.
Where the teams really separate is at the plate. Their team BA is .315...better than any other team we've played so far. Ro Coleman (.271) will likely lead off, that's about as bad an average as your gonna see.
Rhett Wiseman (.381), Dansby Swanson (.364), Zander Wiel (.348) and Bryan Reynolds (.340) will be in the top of that line up somewhere...all those guys can hit with power, plenty of doubles and dingers between them.
I'm not exactly sure what's up with catcher Jason Delay, he's only started 11 games, might be hurt. A young guy, not sure we'll see him, but I was impressed with Penn Murfee.
Several of these Vandy players were on Team USA with Stew this past summer so these guys know each other well.
Vandy's fld% is at .971, they have 29 errors in 25 games, so...there's that.
The UT team we've seen so far can't out hit Vandy..."on paper" ...so it's going to fall on our starting pitching to keep us in it. I'm not going to talk worse case scenarios, but a lot of things are going to have to go our way and I'll just leave it at that.
Worked last year.
GBO!!!
