......Mestepey/Meier/Bumstead/Smith/New Signees/other pitchers I left off = LSU will be a strong team next year! I am very optimistic about our Baseball future IF we have a well conceived plan for the players to follow. I am sure we had that in Skip, I'm waiting to see how Smoke will do with "such details". I am hopeful. From mere observation, and I'm not a baseball expert but just a long time observer of Bertman and LSU Baseball, I am not very impressed with Smoke's style and decision making during crunch time. Perhaps he needs time to develop this, and I say this somewhat cynically b/c he had 11 years under Skip and 7 years as HC at ULaLa North, but I hope Smoke tightens up and sheds his laissez faire style. Big time winners are NOT laissez faire/laidback/ignore details. Skip bettah step up and give him the "page" he tore out from his book as he trained him. I hope this does not "rattle anybody's cage"......but I am stating my humble view :~D. UH HUH
He might turn out to be a top closer in the bigs. His talent is raw but it's there. You can't coach 90 plus mph. Of course, if any of you read the SI article about the Oriole pitcher they called the Wild One, you also know that a 110 MPH fastball won't make you a winner if you can't get it over the plate.
