I coached at Skip's baseball camp for several years about 18 years ago. I can tell you this. Smoke was the one who all the people around the organization gave credit to for team fundamentals and recruiting. If you recall, a lot of the fundamental aspects to LSU's playing fell off when Smoke left. Fielding and bunting worsened but it didn't really matter because everyone hit the ball out of the park. With those things said, that doesn't necessarily translate into a good coach (team morale, motivation, etc.) The point being- Smoke knows baseball.
i concur.... excellent perspective most aren't aware of. Skip had all the intangibles and a horseshoe up his arse. That 'envision it happening' stuff really works if you believe. Smoke may not have whatever 'that' was that Skip has....but who the hell does. No one.
simple question for ya if Smoke was such a fundamentals coach as you say, then why do we suck at simple fundamentals such as base running?
I'll answer your question with a question... If Smoke is so bad at fundamentals why would Skip pick him as his replacement? I don't remember all of Smoke's teams being this bad at fundamentals. Sometimes it has to lie with the players, Smoke can't be out there making plays for players.
LSUstudent that is a good question. The best way to not get picked off is to take a short lead. But when you do that, you might not be able to beat out a bang-bang play at the next base or advance an extra base on a single. Baserunning is mainly instinctive and there is only so much you can teach. Some people can take huge leads and never get picked off while others can be right next to the bag and then lean the wrong way. The only way I could blame a coach for getting picked off is if the coach is forcing the player to take a bigger lead than they are comfortable with. The only people who could answer that question for us is the current players. I do agree that if I were coaching a bunch of guys who weren't good baserunners, they would be closer to the bag. As I said earlier, the down side would be that you can't advance as many bases.
We don't suck at base running. A few mistakes here and there may make it appear to you, as a fan of LSU, that it is so, but look at the number of base runners we've had and the number of times they've been picked off (not caught stealing) and you will find that such a happening is rare. Do you watch other college teams? Don't you think they make mental errors on occasion?
And ppl say its fundamentals we hit into so many DPs yet when we try to get a slight advantage by bigger leads I guess its fundamentals getting thrown out. Oh how LSU and its 18-20 yr olds should always be perfect.
