2027 Depth Chart

#26
#26
kong said:
He's a stud. I went back and watched his at bats against georgia tech last year. He went 2-3 with a homerun and 2 intentional walks. The homerun was off of a Dylan Loy lefty on lefty slider.
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He was our first commit so it's old news and that is why he gets slept on I guess? He is probably our top portal guy in my opinion. Versatility and numbers in conference and off good competition were insane.
 
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#27
#27
senorb19 said:
He was our first commit so it's old news and that is why he gets slept on I guess? He is probably our top portal guy in my opinion. Versatility and numbers in conference and off good competition were insane.
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This guy may pitch a little bit and bat clean up. Tremendous power to all fields. Reminds me of BB
 
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#30
#30
senorb19 said:
This is my favorite part of the offseason when the draft dust settles. I will throw a prediction out there to come back to on opening day.

Lineup
1) Chris Ramirez SS (R)
2) Blake Grimmer 1B (L)
3) Trent Grindlinger LF (R)
4) Levi Clark C (R)
5) Braydon Kersey DH (L)
6) Wyatt Hanoian 2B (S)
7) Travis Sanders 3B (R)
8) Blaine Brown RF (L)
9) Andrew Duncan CF (R)

Bench: Lawless, Myatt, Trivella (Transfer), Koeninger (Top 20 Fresh.) *2 way, Dunlap (Top 40 Fresh.), Curry (Top 50 Fresh.), Wood (Top 70 Fresh.), Teasley (Top 150 Fresh.) *2 way, Dugan (Top 200 Fresh.), Springall (Top 200 Fresh.)

Rotation
Fri - Mack (RHP)
Sat - Appenzeller (LHP)
Sun - McCoy (LHP-Transfer) / Parker Detmers (RHP-Transfer) *rehabbing injury
Midweek - Gary Morse (LHP-Top 100 Fresh.) / Shawn Sullivan (RHP-Top 80 Fresh.)

Bullpen:
Hayden Simmerson (RHP-Transfer) - closer/high leverage
Braydon Kersey (RHP-Transfer) - closer/high leverage
Ricky Ojeda (LHP-Transfer) - long relief/high leverage
Broday Trosclair (LHP-Transfer) *rehabbing injury
Will Haas (LHP)
Chandler Day (LHP)
Jackson Estes (LHP)
Brady Frederick (RHP)
Ethan Baiotto (RHP)
Gannon Grant (RHP- Top 100 Fresh.)
Cade Allen (RHP- Top 150 Fresh.) - redshirt/dsa?
Cooper Shrum (RHP- Top 150 Fresh.) - redshirt/dsa?
Drew Christine (LHP-386 ranked Fresh.) - redshirt/dsa?

Notes: This team is LOADED. Most talented recent team on paper? The returning production is insane compared to last year. There is so much depth on this team. Competition will be fun this fall. So many guys can play different positions so will be interesting to see where they end up. Will update as fall camp news comes out!
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That looks pretty encouraging on paper. Let’s go!!
 
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#33
#33
NighthawkVol said:
Based on what? Kersey hasn’t done it in the SEC. Levi has.
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Baseball is like basketball. There's SEC talent all over other conferences. This kid faced plenty of professional level arms I guarantee you. That statement is rather stupid and I don't mean it in as attacking you, not my intent. Half our lineup will not have done it at the SEC level so with your logic hardly anyone should start for us.
 
#34
#34
Vawlk Tuah said:
Baseball is like basketball. There's SEC talent all over other conferences. This kid faced plenty of professional level arms I guarantee you. That statement is rather stupid and I don't mean it in as attacking you, not my intent. Half our lineup will not have done it at the SEC level so with your logic hardly anyone should start for us.
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I didn’t say he can’t be an SEC talent or that there aren’t guys at lower levels who are good enough. I said he hasn’t proven it.

You stated that Kersey is a better hitter than Clark. You didn’t say he MAY be or he COULD be. You said he is. As if he’s proven it. He hasn’t. I put Clark higher in the lineup because I know what he can do. I HOPE Kersey’s (and Ramirez, Wright, etc.) production translates. It very well may, and I think it will to some degree. But it also may not. And it also may, but not to the degree that we hope or to the degree that puts them ahead of Clark in terms of production. We simply don’t know yet.

You also understand, I assume, that there are very productive guys at lower levels who don’t pan out at higher (or even different) levels. Myatt won a JUCO triple crown. It hasn’t translated (yet) to the SEC. Cannon Peebles was never the transfer he was touted to be when he came over from NC State. Brady Frederick was great at Tennessee Tech and considered a draft candidate. He hasn’t translated to the SEC.

You’re convinced Kersey will succeed in the SEC at a high level. I hope you’re right. I assume you’ve seen him play quite a bit against top level pitching in order to be so convinced and to call my take “stupid” for suggesting the mere possibility that his game (as a hitter) might not be superior to that of Levi Clark, a likely 2027 high round draft pick.

It’s a guess at this point. If you have Kersey batting cleanup in your projection, great. But it’s a bit bizarre to take umbrage with my projection because you believe in absolute terms that Kersey is a superior hitter to Levi Clark simply because there are guys at lower levels who translate to the SEC, while you ignore the fact that some (many) do not.

As for this: “Half our lineup will not have done it at the SEC level so with your logic hardly anyone should start for us.”

No. That is not my logic. This is called a straw man. I told you why I have Clark higher in the lineup than Kersey. I said nothing about Kersey not starting.
 
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#35
#35
NighthawkVol said:
I didn’t say he can’t be an SEC talent or that there aren’t guys at lower levels who are good enough. I said he hasn’t proven it.

You stated that Kersey is a better hitter than Clark. You didn’t say he MAY be or he COULD be. You said he is. As if he’s proven it. He hasn’t. I put Clark higher in the lineup because I know what he can do. I HOPE Kersey’s (and Ramirez, Wright, etc.) production translates. It very well may, and I think it will to some degree. But it also may not. And it also may, but not to the degree that we hope or to the degree that puts them ahead of Clark in terms of production. We simply don’t know yet.

You also understand, I assume, that there are very productive guys at lower levels who don’t pan out at higher (or even different) levels. Myatt won a JUCO triple crown. It hasn’t translated (yet) to the SEC. Cannon Peebles was never the transfer he was touted to be when he came over from NC State. Brady Frederick was great at Tennessee Tech and considered a draft candidate. He hasn’t translated to the SEC.

You’re convinced Kersey will succeed in the SEC at a high level. I hope you’re right. I assume you’ve seen him play quite a bit against top level pitching in order to be so convinced and to call my take “stupid” for suggesting the mere possibility that his game (as a hitter) might not be superior to to Levi Clark, a 2027 high round draft pick.

It’s a guess at this point. If you have Kersey batting cleanup in your projection, great. But it’s a bit bizarre to take umbrage with my projection because you believe in absolute terms that Kersey is a superior hitter to Levi Clark simply because there are guys at lower levels who translate to the SEC, while you ignore the fact that some (many) don’t.

As for this: “ Half our lineup will not have done it at the SEC level so with your logic hardly anyone should start for us.”

No. That is not my logic. This is called a straw man. I told you why I have Clark higher in the lineup than Kersey. I said nothing about Kersey not starting.
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Bless you for your patience. 🙏 😇

The casuals drift in from the RF and FF and make themselves at home with outrageous takes, i am assuming, to stir up poopie 💩.
 
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#37
#37
Vawlk Tuah said:
Baseball is like basketball. There's SEC talent all over other conferences. This kid faced plenty of professional level arms I guarantee you. That statement is rather stupid and I don't mean it in as attacking you, not my intent. Half our lineup will not have done it at the SEC level so with your logic hardly anyone should start for us.
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Nothing stupid or illogical about @NighthawkVol post. You were a bit over the top. No offense intended of course.
 
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#38
#38
wtmvol said:
Anyone dare take a stab at this thing?

Best I can tell, our pitching staff looks something like:

Weekend starters:
Appenzeller
Mack
McCoy?

Other pitchers:
Detmers
Trosclair
Ojeda
Simmerson
Haas
Frederick
Baiotto
Day
Estes
Kersey (if he’s used as a pitcher)
Grant
Sullivan
Morse

Hitters:
I’m not going to worry about positions yet. Let’s just try to sort out who’s in the rotation. I know there’s more players than this, but this is who I see as most likely to get playing time.

Grimmer
Clark
Grindlinger
Koeninger
Ramirez
Lawless
Duncan
Hanoian
Kersey
Brown
Sanders
Trivella
Myatt
Dunlap

So as long as they let us bat 14 guys, we should be able to keep everyone happy…
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I laughed at the let us bat 14 guys, until I realized sadly the state of affairs in sports now a days and who knows, it could happen . Bat everyone , like the kiddos. SMH
 
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#39
#39
NighthawkVol said:
I didn’t say he can’t be an SEC talent or that there aren’t guys at lower levels who are good enough. I said he hasn’t proven it.

You stated that Kersey is a better hitter than Clark. You didn’t say he MAY be or he COULD be. You said he is. As if he’s proven it. He hasn’t. I put Clark higher in the lineup because I know what he can do. I HOPE Kersey’s (and Ramirez, Wright, etc.) production translates. It very well may, and I think it will to some degree. But it also may not. And it also may, but not to the degree that we hope or to the degree that puts them ahead of Clark in terms of production. We simply don’t know yet.

You also understand, I assume, that there are very productive guys at lower levels who don’t pan out at higher (or even different) levels. Myatt won a JUCO triple crown. It hasn’t translated (yet) to the SEC. Cannon Peebles was never the transfer he was touted to be when he came over from NC State. Brady Frederick was great at Tennessee Tech and considered a draft candidate. He hasn’t translated to the SEC.

You’re convinced Kersey will succeed in the SEC at a high level. I hope you’re right. I assume you’ve seen him play quite a bit against top level pitching in order to be so convinced and to call my take “stupid” for suggesting the mere possibility that his game (as a hitter) might not be superior to that of Levi Clark, a likely 2027 high round draft pick.

It’s a guess at this point. If you have Kersey batting cleanup in your projection, great. But it’s a bit bizarre to take umbrage with my projection because you believe in absolute terms that Kersey is a superior hitter to Levi Clark simply because there are guys at lower levels who translate to the SEC, while you ignore the fact that some (many) do not.

As for this: “Half our lineup will not have done it at the SEC level so with your logic hardly anyone should start for us.”

No. That is not my logic. This is called a straw man. I told you why I have Clark higher in the lineup than Kersey. I said nothing about Kersey not starting.
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Well put! One correction, though. Frederick came from ETSU.
 
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#40
#40
NighthawkVol said:
A very early WAG…

Defensive Lineup:

C: Stone Lawless/Trent Grindlinger/Sean Dunlap
1B: Levi Clark/Braydon Kersey/AJ Curry
2B: Wyatt Hanoian/Travis Sanders/Tyler Myatt/Mario Trivella/Colt Springall
SS: Chris Ramirez/Cole Koeninger/Jaxson Wood
3B: Blake Grimmer/Michael Teasley
LF: Trent Grindlinger/Tyler Myatt
CF: Andrew Duncan/Jack Dugan/Jaxson Wood
RF: Blaine Brown/Cole Koeninger
DH: Braydon Kersey/Travis Sanders/Tyler Myatt/Cole Koeninger

Weekend Starters:

Landon Mack-RHP
Cameron Appenzeller-LHP
Jake McCoy-LHP

Bullpen:

William Haas-LHP
Broday Trosclair-LHP
Parker Detmers-RHP
Ricky Ojeda-LHP
Hayden Simmerson-RHP
Brady Frederick-RHP
Chandler Day-LHP
Braydon Kersey-RHP
Ethan Baiotto-RHP
Jackson Estes- LHP
Gary Morse- RHP
Shawn Sullivan-RHP
Gannon Grant-RHP
Cade Allen-RHP
Cooper Shrum-RHP
Drew Christine-LHP

Batting Order:

1) Wyatt Hanoian-2B
2) Blake Grimmer-3B
3) Trent Grindlinger-LF
4) Levi Clark-1B
5) Blaine Brown-RF
6) Stone Lawless-C
7) Braydon Kersey-DH
8) Andrew Duncan-CF
9) Chris Ramirez-SS
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Took the * off McCoy, since he’s in the boat. Of course, he could be an inning eating middle relief guy and Haas could be the Sunday starter.

I also put Dugan and Wood as backups in CF after listening to McKee’s podcast this morning.

Plenty of options. Next year is going to be fun.
 
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#41
#41
NighthawkVol said:
Took the * off McCoy, since he’s in the boat. Of course, he could be an inning eating middle relief guy and Haas could be the Sunday starter.

I also put Dugan and Wood as backups in CF after listening to McKee’s podcast this morning.

Plenty of options. Next year is going to be fun.
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Going to be fun to see who emerges out of that group. More excited about our pitchers getting better coaching.
 
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#42
#42
senorb19 said:
This is my favorite part of the offseason when the draft dust settles. I will throw a prediction out there to come back to on opening day.

Lineup
1) Chris Ramirez SS (R)
2) Blake Grimmer 1B (L)
3) Trent Grindlinger LF (R)
4) Levi Clark C (R)
5) Braydon Kersey DH (L)
6) Wyatt Hanoian 2B (S)
7) Travis Sanders 3B (R)
8) Blaine Brown RF (L)
9) Andrew Duncan CF (R)

Bench: Lawless, Myatt, Trivella (Transfer), Koeninger (Top 20 Fresh.) *2 way, Dunlap (Top 40 Fresh.), Curry (Top 50 Fresh.), Wood (Top 70 Fresh.), Teasley (Top 150 Fresh.) *2 way, Dugan (Top 200 Fresh.), Springall (Top 200 Fresh.)

Rotation
Fri - Mack (RHP)
Sat - Appenzeller (LHP)
Sun - McCoy (LHP-Transfer) / Parker Detmers (RHP-Transfer) *rehabbing injury
Midweek - Gary Morse (LHP-Top 100 Fresh.) / Shawn Sullivan (RHP-Top 80 Fresh.)

Bullpen:
Hayden Simmerson (RHP-Transfer) - closer/high leverage
Braydon Kersey (RHP-Transfer) - closer/high leverage
Ricky Ojeda (LHP-Transfer) - long relief/high leverage
Broday Trosclair (LHP-Transfer) *rehabbing injury
Will Haas (LHP)
Chandler Day (LHP)
Jackson Estes (LHP)
Brady Frederick (RHP)
Ethan Baiotto (RHP)
Gannon Grant (RHP- Top 100 Fresh.)
Cade Allen (RHP- Top 150 Fresh.) - redshirt/dsa?
Cooper Shrum (RHP- Top 150 Fresh.) - redshirt/dsa?
Drew Christine (LHP-386 ranked Fresh.) - redshirt/dsa?

Notes: This team is LOADED. Most talented recent team on paper? The returning production is insane compared to last year. There is so much depth on this team. Competition will be fun this fall. So many guys can play different positions so will be interesting to see where they end up. Will update as fall camp news comes out!
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Great summary! Thank you for taking the time to put this together.

Just a hunch but based on how he progressed last season, I think Blaine Brown is going to be MUCH improved. IDK if the numbers show it or not but he handled outside off-speed pitches very well in the final month of the season. Early in the season it was an automatic swing and miss. For that reason I think he may bat higher in the order BUT I actually like him at 8 or 9. If he can get on base before the top of the order comes up he will score a lot of runs for us.

This may be one of those years where the bottom of our lineup is just as good as the top.
 
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#43
#43
bpalmer28 said:
Great summary! Thank you for taking the time to put this together.

Just a hunch but based on how he progressed last season, I think Blaine Brown is going to be MUCH improved. IDK if the numbers show it or not but he handled outside off-speed pitches very well in the final month of the season. Early in the season it was an automatic swing and miss. For that reason I think he may bat higher in the order BUT I actually like him at 8 or 9. If he can get on base before the top of the order comes up he will score a lot of runs for us.

This may be one of those years where the bottom of our lineup is just as good as the top.
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Long swing, has a ton of JHay in it. Huge hole above the waist inner half. Approach can help somewhat to it but at best imo we are looking at a 260ish hitter that has really hot and really cold streaks in him. Hopefully I am wrong
 
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#44
#44
fearsvolz said:
Long swing, has a ton of JHay in it. Huge hole above the waist inner half. Approach can help somewhat to it but at best imo we are looking at a 260ish hitter that has really hot and really cold streaks in him. Hopefully I am wrong
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Big smile guy and obviously talented. Put up really strong numbers and led Rice in hitting as a true frosh. Simply, Did not translate and is another reason to have cautious optimism on the portal class. Sec pitching completely befuddled Brown.

I also think Blaine had nekid pics of someone. I don’t suspect this is true, but I heard his NIL deal promised him appearances/starts in games. He played every game except the last, which is telling. With E being a hitting coach, I never could understand why Blaine wasn’t benched for a bit. Our short right field fence is the worst thing for a guy like this because he was constantly over swinging trying to launch one. He showed a few glimmers with some opposite field hitting, but it was short lived. No question, the guy oozes talent, but he also comes off as a loafer, and doesn’t shake off bad moments well. Slumps, pouts and hangs his head after outs. Was always 30 feet behind the last person coming off the field. I’m trying not to judge to harsh because left field is the further from our dugout, but I suspect it was the same on the road. Anyway, would be a great testament to Elander if he can work him into a .300 hitter and cut down his chase rate. i hope he has a shorter leash and better plan if Blaine starts showing the same tendencies.
 
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#45
#45
WaywardVol said:
Big smile guy and obviously talented. Put up really strong numbers and led Rice in hitting as a true frosh. Simply, Did not translate and is another reason to have cautious optimism on the portal class. Sec pitching completely befuddled Brown.

I also think Blaine had nekid pics of someone. I don’t suspect this is true, but I heard his NIL deal promised him appearances/starts in games. He played every game except the last, which is telling. With E being a hitting coach, I never could understand why Blaine wasn’t benched for a bit. Our short right field fence is the worst thing for a guy like this because he was constantly over swinging trying to launch one. He showed a few glimmers with some opposite field hitting, but it was short lived. No question, the guy oozes talent, but he also comes off as a loafer, and doesn’t shake off bad moments well. Slumps, pouts and hangs his head after outs. Was always 30 feet behind the last person coming off the field. I’m trying not to judge to harsh because left field is the further from our dugout, but I suspect it was the same on the road. Anyway, would be a great testament to Elander if he can work him into a .300 hitter and cut down his chase rate. i hope he has a shorter leash and better plan if Blaine starts showing the same tendencies.
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I agree with a lot of what you said here. And it wasn't just BB. We had days last year where there was no energy before and during the game at times. See the first two games at KY. CJE even called the team out afterwards after that run rule loss.

I did see a couple of our returning juniors said it's time to step up the leadership after the season ended. Loved hearing that!
 
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#46
#46
WaywardVol said:
I don’t suspect this is true, but I heard his NIL deal promised him appearances/starts in games. He played every game except the last, which is telling. With E being a hitting coach, I never could understand why Blaine wasn’t benched for a bit. Our short right field fence is the worst thing for a guy like this because he was constantly over swinging trying to launch one. He showed a few glimmers with some opposite field hitting, but it was short lived. No question, the guy oozes talent, but he also comes off as a loafer, and doesn’t shake off bad moments well. Slumps, pouts and hangs his head after outs. Was always 30 feet behind the last person coming off the field. I’m trying not to judge to harsh because left field is the further from our dugout, but I suspect it was the same on the road. Anyway, would be a great testament to Elander if he can work him into a .300 hitter and cut down his chase rate. i hope he has a shorter leash and better plan if Blaine starts showing the same tendencies.
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Oh come on. You know it isn't remotely true so why even bring it up and put it out there?
 
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