This is officially a broken record but for the third consecutive day after a Brady Feigl start I want to open the Morning After discussing the big junior right-hander. I put the main points in the story yesterday, and they need to be repeated. That ERA is 0.81 and he's struck out 25 with only two walks so far this season. Yesterday was seven innings and no runs against an Eastern Illinois team that’s not bad offensively. They can’t pitch, but Feigl didn’t have to hit off them.
He’s controlled the game for the third consecutive start and has gone at least six innings in all four starts this season. Feigl’s ability to miss bats and show plus offering with multiple pitches have never been in dispute, but he wasn’t consistent in past years and he struggled to shutdown the big inning — either by walking batters or allowing the big multi-RBI hit. That’s why I’m so focused on that 25-2 K-BB ratio. There are no gifts to the offense, and he’s also only given up one extra base hit — a double against Long Beach last week.
Feigl is the most efficient pitcher on the roster so far and it’s because of his dominance. In 26.1 innings this season he’s thrown 350 pitchers, averaging 6 1/2 innings and 87 pitches per start. That’s compared to 5.9 innings and 91 pitchers on average for each Ryan Rolison start and 5.0 innings and 89 pitches on average in James McArthur’s three starts. All three guys have been excellent, but Feigl is a step above them so far this season. He’s showing form that should excel against SEC hitters also, and the added innings can greatly benefit the bullpen.
Speaking of Rolison, Mike Bianco has described his outings the past two weeks as “just OK.” On the one hand, it’s obvious he’s graded on a negative curve since he’s gone 6.2 and 7 innings in those two starts and allowed three and two earned runs. But I know what Bianco means. The fastball command is more erratic than the first two starts, and he hasn’t been able to just hammer that breaking ball in the zone like is expected. Rolison has shown frustrated signs himself on the mound.
He probably just needs to chill and pitch and quit thinking so much. Also, Rolison seems like someone who responds to being challenged, so Bianco might try to amp him up before the SEC opener against Tennessee next week. There are some mindset similarities with him and past lefties Drew Pomeranz and Christian Trent.
Rolison is fine, and the Ks are happening more than three times more often than walks. The expectations are enormous, and that’s just life. His best bet is to ignore them and forget it immediately when the fastball doesn’t go exactly arm side like he wants on a specific pitch.
I have non idea what TBA will be for Eastern Illinois on Sunday, but I have a decent guess since the first two starters were over 4 and 5, respectively, in ERA. Austin Peay and Little both had nothing in terms of SEC pitching, and unless Georgia State signed Nuke LaLoosh in the offseason, I know what that’s going to look like Tuesday and Wednesday in Atlanta. Point being Ole Miss will have played eight games between seeing an SEC-type arm when Tennessee rolls into town.
Winthrop had one — and maybe two — high level pitchers, and Long Beach had Zak Baayoun and a couple relievers that I liked. Tulane had a low level SEC arm or two maybe. Point being, there’s not a lot of sample size of how Ole Miss is going to react offensively when conference play starts. But that’s not crazy uncommon. It’s just more emphasized given the Rebels’ struggles at the plate last season. Last year there were five weekend nonconference starters I’d put in that category that faced Ole Miss before league play.
In saying that there’s no doubt that Grae Kessinger and Cooper Johnson have at least adjusted approaches in a positive way and are showing the style necessary to be successful to their relative expectations offensively. Entering the weekend, Johnson (93.3 percent) was first on the team in contact rate, and Kessinger (85.7) was third just behind Jacob Adams (91.3).
The three players who will dictate Ole Miss’ offensive potency are Thomas Dillard, Chase Cockrell and Cole Zabowski. All three have reasons for optimism through the first 15 games, but there’s also some differing amounts of skepticism because hitting average pitching has never been the issue. Dillard, at times this season, has been tremendous with his approach and focus on hitting to all fields. He led Ole Miss in walk percentage last season, and the eye is still very good this season. The terrible weekend at Long Beach may have even been a good thing because it rattled him back into concentration. Dillard has a tendency to revert back to old tendencies when pressing, so he needs reps and good at-bats to make that more the habit.
Cockrell has 5 extra base hits and 14 total in 31 at-bats. He has massive power, and I don’t care if he strikes out some or has a bad couple days. I think he needs consistent at-bats until someone does a lot to take them from him. Zabowski is better this year as well, and he’s only struck out six times in 40 at-bats. Like with Cockrell, that number isn’t a huge deal but still worth being mentioned.
Will Golsan just needs to keep swinging. The at-bats are better, though I do think he’s pressing and swinging at some bad pitches. I don’t believe in clutch hitting really, but it’s interesting that 10 of Golsan’s 13 RBIs have come with two outs, and he’s hitting .400 with runners in scoring position. There’s contribution.
I don’t have stats to back this up, and maybe it’s a topic for tomorrow, but I really, really like Tyler Keenan. He’s going to be a force in the middle of the order during his career.
He’s controlled the game for the third consecutive start and has gone at least six innings in all four starts this season. Feigl’s ability to miss bats and show plus offering with multiple pitches have never been in dispute, but he wasn’t consistent in past years and he struggled to shutdown the big inning — either by walking batters or allowing the big multi-RBI hit. That’s why I’m so focused on that 25-2 K-BB ratio. There are no gifts to the offense, and he’s also only given up one extra base hit — a double against Long Beach last week.
Feigl is the most efficient pitcher on the roster so far and it’s because of his dominance. In 26.1 innings this season he’s thrown 350 pitchers, averaging 6 1/2 innings and 87 pitches per start. That’s compared to 5.9 innings and 91 pitchers on average for each Ryan Rolison start and 5.0 innings and 89 pitches on average in James McArthur’s three starts. All three guys have been excellent, but Feigl is a step above them so far this season. He’s showing form that should excel against SEC hitters also, and the added innings can greatly benefit the bullpen.
Speaking of Rolison, Mike Bianco has described his outings the past two weeks as “just OK.” On the one hand, it’s obvious he’s graded on a negative curve since he’s gone 6.2 and 7 innings in those two starts and allowed three and two earned runs. But I know what Bianco means. The fastball command is more erratic than the first two starts, and he hasn’t been able to just hammer that breaking ball in the zone like is expected. Rolison has shown frustrated signs himself on the mound.
He probably just needs to chill and pitch and quit thinking so much. Also, Rolison seems like someone who responds to being challenged, so Bianco might try to amp him up before the SEC opener against Tennessee next week. There are some mindset similarities with him and past lefties Drew Pomeranz and Christian Trent.
Rolison is fine, and the Ks are happening more than three times more often than walks. The expectations are enormous, and that’s just life. His best bet is to ignore them and forget it immediately when the fastball doesn’t go exactly arm side like he wants on a specific pitch.
I have non idea what TBA will be for Eastern Illinois on Sunday, but I have a decent guess since the first two starters were over 4 and 5, respectively, in ERA. Austin Peay and Little both had nothing in terms of SEC pitching, and unless Georgia State signed Nuke LaLoosh in the offseason, I know what that’s going to look like Tuesday and Wednesday in Atlanta. Point being Ole Miss will have played eight games between seeing an SEC-type arm when Tennessee rolls into town.
Winthrop had one — and maybe two — high level pitchers, and Long Beach had Zak Baayoun and a couple relievers that I liked. Tulane had a low level SEC arm or two maybe. Point being, there’s not a lot of sample size of how Ole Miss is going to react offensively when conference play starts. But that’s not crazy uncommon. It’s just more emphasized given the Rebels’ struggles at the plate last season. Last year there were five weekend nonconference starters I’d put in that category that faced Ole Miss before league play.
In saying that there’s no doubt that Grae Kessinger and Cooper Johnson have at least adjusted approaches in a positive way and are showing the style necessary to be successful to their relative expectations offensively. Entering the weekend, Johnson (93.3 percent) was first on the team in contact rate, and Kessinger (85.7) was third just behind Jacob Adams (91.3).
The three players who will dictate Ole Miss’ offensive potency are Thomas Dillard, Chase Cockrell and Cole Zabowski. All three have reasons for optimism through the first 15 games, but there’s also some differing amounts of skepticism because hitting average pitching has never been the issue. Dillard, at times this season, has been tremendous with his approach and focus on hitting to all fields. He led Ole Miss in walk percentage last season, and the eye is still very good this season. The terrible weekend at Long Beach may have even been a good thing because it rattled him back into concentration. Dillard has a tendency to revert back to old tendencies when pressing, so he needs reps and good at-bats to make that more the habit.
Cockrell has 5 extra base hits and 14 total in 31 at-bats. He has massive power, and I don’t care if he strikes out some or has a bad couple days. I think he needs consistent at-bats until someone does a lot to take them from him. Zabowski is better this year as well, and he’s only struck out six times in 40 at-bats. Like with Cockrell, that number isn’t a huge deal but still worth being mentioned.
Will Golsan just needs to keep swinging. The at-bats are better, though I do think he’s pressing and swinging at some bad pitches. I don’t believe in clutch hitting really, but it’s interesting that 10 of Golsan’s 13 RBIs have come with two outs, and he’s hitting .400 with runners in scoring position. There’s contribution.
I don’t have stats to back this up, and maybe it’s a topic for tomorrow, but I really, really like Tyler Keenan. He’s going to be a force in the middle of the order during his career.
