[d4cohn]

Just where are these desperately needed elite pitchers among Hanson's inaugural class of NINE recruits?

We have a Top 100 player and pitching prospect (she was a Top 25 pitcher in her class) in this freshman class of nine who has a 6.08 ERA, while allowing an opposing batting average of .376. We have a Top 50ish (#52 exactly) player and pitching prospect (she is a consensus Top 15 pitcher in her class) who will be a freshman next year. To say nothing of our ace, who put up a near 3.00 ERA in non-conference play, and our reliever/long reliever who started today and went 6 innings, allowing only 3 earned runs against ASU.

We did not lose today because of our pitching. We lost today because the opposing ASU pitcher had a perfect game going against us through four innings, and we weren't able to generate any offense in the first sixth innings, or in the bottom of eighth when scoring one run would have won us the game. Of our 24 runs scored in 12 Pac-12 games so far (an alarming statistic on its own), only 10 runs have been scored on non-extra base hits, and of those 10, 4 have scored due to defensive errors. As such, because of the coaching staff's offensive philosophy, we rely on power, rather than small-ball, to score runs, even though we are slugging only .249 in conference play.

Recruiting pitching talent is one facet of the game, albeit a very important one. However, focusing only on pitching recruiting is too simplistic, and obfuscates other areas where this staff has struggled greatly, namely pitching development and developing a consistent offensive strategy that doesn't strand a lot of runners and fail to score runs. The latter two reasons explain why, barring a road win against Oregon State next weekend, we are likely headed toward a second consecutive 0-24 Pac-12 record, not the number of stars associated with our pitching staff.

[d4cohn]

Just where are these desperately needed elite pitchers among Hanson's inaugural class of NINE recruits?

We have a Top 100 player and pitching prospect (she was a Top 25 pitcher in her class) in this freshman class of nine who has a 6.08 ERA, while allowing an opposing batting average of .376. We have a Top 50ish (#52 exactly) player and pitching prospect (she is a consensus Top 15 pitcher in her class) who will be a freshman next year. To say nothing of our ace, who put up a near 3.00 ERA in non-conference play, and our reliever/long reliever who started today and went 6 innings, allowing only 3 earned runs against ASU.

We did not lose today because of our pitching. We lost today because the opposing ASU pitcher had a perfect game going against us through four innings, and we weren't able to generate any offense in the first sixth innings, or in the bottom of eighth when scoring one run would have won us the game. Of our 24 runs scored in 12 Pac-12 games so far (an alarming statistic on its own), only 10 runs have been scored on non-extra base hits, and of those 10, 4 have scored due to defensive errors. As such, because of the coaching staff's offensive philosophy, we rely on power, rather than small-ball, to score runs, even though we are slugging only .249 in conference play.

Recruiting pitching talent is one facet of the game, albeit a very important one. However, focusing only on pitching recruiting is too simplistic, and obfuscates other areas where this staff has struggled greatly, namely pitching development and developing a consistent offensive strategy that doesn't strand a lot of runners and fail to score runs. The latter two reasons explain why, barring a road win against Oregon State next weekend, we are likely headed toward a second consecutive 0-24 Pac-12 record, not the number of stars associated with our pitching staff.