Gopher softball 2023

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In the minds and hearts of Minnesota Fans Piper has always been a great to outstanding PITCHING COACH. In the past, final decisions on who pitched and when were probably made by the HC or a combo platter of her input and the HC....is this correct?

As the HC/Pitching Coach now, Piper comes across more confused, frustrated and perhaps overwhelmed. As previously stated somewhere this is looking a lot like the Whalen hire. Piper cannot pitch or play for these players, but she is responsible for leadership/development of this team.

Some of these games have been very unfortunate on how they have been handled. For coaches like Whalen and Piper It is a different ERA OF ATHLETES playing this and all sports compared to their college days. It just isn't the same.
 

One of the things I found interesting was the announcers said that only Michigan has committed to providing the equipment for play review in baseball and softball. Makes me wonder if the Gopher program is committed to video review or not? You got a love the commitment, the Pac 12 had in allocating the funds to equip each stadium with the proper equipment. I’m sure UCLA is going to enjoy coming into a conference that pinches pennies.
 



RPI Standings:
Northwestern - 11
Michigan - 22
Nebraska - 32
Maryland - 34
Ohio State - 35
Wisconsin - 40
Indiana - 41
Minnesota - 44
Penn State - 51
Iowa - 65
Illinois - 72
Rutgers - 84
Purdue - 100
Michigan State - 119
 

twinsbballfan said:
One of the things I found interesting was the announcers said that only Michigan has committed to providing the equipment for play review in baseball and softball. Makes me wonder if the Gopher program is committed to video review or not? You got a love the commitment, the Pac 12 had in allocating the funds to equip each stadium with the proper equipment. I’m sure UCLA is going to enjoy coming into a conference that pinches pennies.
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twinsbballfan said:
One of the things I found interesting was the announcers said that only Michigan has committed to providing the equipment for play review in baseball and softball. Makes me wonder if the Gopher program is committed to video review or not? You got a love the commitment, the Pac 12 had in allocating the funds to equip each stadium with the proper equipment. I’m sure UCLA is going to enjoy coming into a conference that pinches pennies.
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Won't be pinching pennies any more with new contract. And for the record, UCLA athletic dept budget has been a disaster. Hence why they wanted into the B1G.
 

It may be me but our hitters seem to have a lot of issues with Pitchers that have a good change up.
Is this because we rely on the long ball to much or because we are such a young team
 

4EverAGopher said:
In the minds and hearts of Minnesota Fans Piper has always been a great to outstanding PITCHING COACH. In the past, final decisions on who pitched and when were probably made by the HC or a combo platter of her input and the HC....is this correct?

As the HC/Pitching Coach now, Piper comes across more confused, frustrated and perhaps overwhelmed. As previously stated somewhere this is looking a lot like the Whalen hire. Piper cannot pitch or play for these players, but she is responsible for leadership/development of this team.

Some of these games have been very unfortunate on how they have been handled. For coaches like Whalen and Piper It is a different ERA OF ATHLETES playing this and all sports compared to their college days. It just isn't the same.
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I'm not in a situation to agree or disagree with you about most specifics, but the past 3 Gopher softball seasons have been a pale & disappointing reflection of the 10-12 years before. And it's not just my male ego; my wife also gets distraught. The last 3 years in Softball & Volleyball have been equally deflating for fans who care. I think it's not on-field players or on-field game management that's lacking, but the failure to recruit top-20 level pitching out of high school.
LarBear said:
It may be me but our hitters seem to have a lot of issues with Pitchers that have a good change up.
Is this because we rely on the long ball to much or because we are such a young team
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From what I saw, OSU & NW's pitchers located their changeups knee-high or lower and on the corners, where they're supposed to be. Stanbrick & Schwartz's changeups were too often over the middle of the plate about belt high.
 



NW's Williams dumped two horrendous changeups high & over the middle of the plate. They both went for huge HRs that should've won the game for MN......but we gave it away.
 

Hrothgar said:
NW's Williams dumped two horrendous changeups high & over the middle of the plate. They both went for huge HRs that should've won the game for MN......but we gave it away.
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Can confidently say that neither of those pitches were changeups. Breezy hit a curveball that didn't get in on the hands enough and Krapf hit a riseball.

Minnesota has really struggled against good changeups in the last couple seasons IMO. It hasn't made much sense to me because they should be hitting off Pease in practice, and Pease has a very very good changeup.
 

John3298 said:
Can confidently say that neither of those pitches were changeups. Breezy hit a curveball that didn't get in on the hands enough and Krapf hit a riseball.

Minnesota has really struggled against good changeups in the last couple seasons IMO. It hasn't made much sense to me because they should be hitting off Pease in practice, and Pease has a very very good changeup.
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Maybe that’s the problem, John. Pease’s change up is so good they just flail at it and never learn to reset and go opposite field with it. :unsure:
 

okay I missed the first 2 innings of the 2nd game on Sunday. So I guess Pease was missing the plate and hit a couple of batters, seems hard to believe so I went back today to watch it, but I can’t seem to find it, only game one , anybody know where I can find it?
 



LarBear said:
It may be me but our hitters seem to have a lot of issues with Pitchers that have a good change up.
Is this because we rely on the long ball to much or because we are such a young team
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When you practice swing for the fence you are all in with a hard fast swing and predict where the ball will be. To be a good change up hitter you need to have a very controlled swing To make contact.
Seems like Gopher hitters don’t track the ball well and tend to pull their eyes off the ball with the hard swing. If you watch the NW batters they put their eyes on the ball and follow it to the bat. That is the difference between hitting for contact VS hitting for the fence. It won’t get solved In this season or seasons to come as long as the hitting coach is in love with the long ball swing. The bats have so much pop you really don’t need to swing as hard as the Gophers do. You just have to the hit ball in the sweet spot. By the time these players arrive at this level thy already have a ton of experience so it’s not because they are young.
 
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Whenever I see some of the powerhouse teams at bat, they always seem to make solid contact. Is it just difference in talent level or is it legit coaching philosophy?
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
Whenever I see some of the powerhouse teams at bat, they always seem to make solid contact. Is it just difference in talent level or is it legit coaching philosophy?
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Maybe a combination of the two? The one attracts the other?
 

twinsbballfan said:
When you practice swing for the fence you are all in with a hard fast swing and predict where the ball will be. To be a good change up hitter you need to have a very controlled swing To make contact.
Seems like Gopher hitters don’t track the ball well and tend to pull their eyes off the ball with the hard swing. If you watch the NW batters they put their eyes on the ball and follow it to the bat. That is the difference between hitting for contact VS hitting for the fence. It won’t get solved In this season or seasons to come as long as the hitting coach is in love with the long ball swing. The bats have so much pop you really don’t need to swing as hard as the Gophers do. You just have to the hit ball in the sweet spot. By the time these players arrive at this level thy already have a ton of experience so it’s not because they are young.
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This might be the worst understanding of hitting I've ever read. smh.
 

WayOfTheGopher said:
Whenever I see some of the powerhouse teams at bat, they always seem to make solid contact. Is it just difference in talent level or is it legit coaching philosophy?
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I just think players play the game and coaches take the complaining from fans like us.
 
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Chase the Rise said:
This might be the worst understanding of hitting I've ever read. smh.
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Let's look at MLB since they spend millions of dollars trying to figure out how to score more runs than the other team. In 2022 an player considered an excellent hitter in MLB made hard contact with the ball 40% of the time which resulted in an Average of .322 The hitters made Medium contact with the ball 45% of the time which resulted in an Average of .232 and a hitter made soft contact with the ball 15% of the time which resulted in a .049 Average. Also When a player had Excellent Exit Velocity (110mph) they had a 27% chance of hitting a HR and 72% chance of getting a hit. Medium Exit Velo (95 MPH) They had a 5% chance to hit a HR and 22% chance of getting a hit. Poor Exit Velo (80 mph) they had a 0% chance of a HR and 9% chance to get a hit. If the goal is to score more runs than the other team then you have to hit the ball hard and you can't hit it hard without swinging hard. Also it pays to continue to swing hard even with 2 strikes and risk striking out with the chance to hit the ball hard.
 

Twocents said:
Let's look at MLB since they spend millions of dollars trying to figure out how to score more runs than the other team. In 2022 an player considered an excellent hitter in MLB made hard contact with the ball 40% of the time which resulted in an Average of .322 The hitters made Medium contact with the ball 45% of the time which resulted in an Average of .232 and a hitter made soft contact with the ball 15% of the time which resulted in a .049 Average. Also When a player had Excellent Exit Velocity (110mph) they had a 27% chance of hitting a HR and 72% chance of getting a hit. Medium Exit Velo (95 MPH) They had a 5% chance to hit a HR and 22% chance of getting a hit. Poor Exit Velo (80 mph) they had a 0% chance of a HR and 9% chance to get a hit. If the goal is to score more runs than the other team then you have to hit the ball hard and you can't hit it hard without swinging hard. Also it pays to continue to swing hard even with 2 strikes and risk striking out with the chance to hit the ball hard.
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While I generally agree with this, I have a step-daughter that is an exception to this. She is currently batting .545, and OBP of .667. While her SLG is only .727 she does not swing hard. Always controlled and therefore can lay off bad pitches as well as handle the change. This has led to zero K's so far this season.
 

mngolf said:
While I generally agree with this, I have a step-daughter that is an exception to this. She is currently batting .545, and OBP of .667. While her SLG is only .727 she does not swing hard. Always controlled and therefore can lay off bad pitches as well as handle the change. This has led to zero K's so far this season.
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I can respect this, and understand there are outliers...but what level are we talking about? And not that it's happening, but if we are talking HS, stats don't mean anything. Too much home cooking in the books for anything to be taken seriously.

Knowing the recruiting landscape....unless you are a lefty slapper the number one data metric coaches want to see is ball exit speed. Plain and simple.
 

Chase the Rise said:
This might be the worst understanding of hitting I've ever read. smh.
Click to expand...
Twocents said:
Let's look at MLB since they spend millions of dollars trying to figure out how to score more runs than the other team. In 2022 an player considered an excellent hitter in MLB made hard contact with the ball 40% of the time which resulted in an Average of .322 The hitters made Medium contact with the ball 45% of the time which resulted in an Average of .232 and a hitter made soft contact with the ball 15% of the time which resulted in a .049 Average. Also When a player had Excellent Exit Velocity (110mph) they had a 27% chance of hitting a HR and 72% chance of getting a hit. Medium Exit Velo (95 MPH) They had a 5% chance to hit a HR and 22% chance of getting a hit. Poor Exit Velo (80 mph) they had a 0% chance of a HR and 9% chance to get a hit. If the goal is to score more runs than the other team then you have to hit the ball hard and you can't hit it hard without swinging hard. Also it pays to continue to swing hard even with 2 strikes and risk striking out with the chance to hit the ball hard.
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Don’t look at MLB…different game and different skill set. with a larger diameter bat and a smaller ball the physics are a little different. Also the skill set of a MLB player is entirely different. This is a classic male thought process that is never thought out. Alot to include ….wood bats require much more speed and force to produce HR’s then composite bats, so strength and force are different in MLB. Also a softball bat is a smaller diameter. There is a much more higher probability of hitting a softball off center due to ball diameter to bat diameter ratio. The outlier is just that an outlier and they falls on both sides. Also in MLB the managers dress up like they might get to play in the game….funny chit. Not sure what the effect of mangers not wearing matching uniforms would have on that study, but maybe they should study that!
 

Chase the Rise said:
This might be the worst understanding of hitting I've ever read. smh.
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Twocents said:
Let's look at MLB since they spend millions of dollars trying to figure out how to score more runs than the other team. In 2022 an player considered an excellent hitter in MLB made hard contact with the ball 40% of the time which resulted in an Average of .322 The hitters made Medium contact with the ball 45% of the time which resulted in an Average of .232 and a hitter made soft contact with the ball 15% of the time which resulted in a .049 Average. Also When a player had Excellent Exit Velocity (110mph) they had a 27% chance of hitting a HR and 72% chance of getting a hit. Medium Exit Velo (95 MPH) They had a 5% chance to hit a HR and 22% chance of getting a hit. Poor Exit Velo (80 mph) they had a 0% chance of a HR and 9% chance to get a hit. If the goal is to score more runs than the other team then you have to hit the ball hard and you can't hit it hard without swinging hard. Also it pays to continue to swing hard even with 2 strikes and risk striking out with the chance to hit the ball hard
Chase the Rise said:
I can respect this, and understand there are outliers...but what level are we talking about? And not that it's happening, but if we are talking HS, stats don't mean anything. Too much home cooking in the books for anything to be taken seriously.

Knowing the recruiting landscape....unless you are a lefty slapper the number one data metric coaches want to see is ball exit speed. Plain and simple
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Chase the Rise said:
I can respect this, and understand there are outliers...but what level are we talkin about? And not that it's happening, but if we are talking HS, stats don't mean anything. Too much home cooking in the books for anything to be taken seriously.

Knowing the recruiting landscape....unless you are a lefty slapper the number one data metric coaches want to see is ball exit speed. Plain and simple.
Click to expand...
The bat manufacturers have spent massive amounts of money and have a huge amount of data that says a ball that is hit in the sweet spot of a composite bat and in the center ball of the will have a higher exit velocity. Sweet spot and center of the ball is the best method to achieve exit speeds. Funny that a recruiter, wold throw out his own metrics in the case of a slapper. Maybe because slappers hit to contact and in the end contact and speed are more important than some bullshit metric. Hit the ball with the sweet part of the bat and you will get the exit velocity. It is a proven fact, so anything that gets in the way of you making contact with the sweet spot is detrimental to exit velocity.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I can respect this, and understand there are outliers...but what level are we talking about? And not that it's happening, but if we are talking HS, stats don't mean anything. Too much home cooking in the books for anything to be taken seriously.

Knowing the recruiting landscape....unless you are a lefty slapper the number one data metric coaches want to see is ball exit speed. Plain and simple.
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These stats are for HS but are the same for her seasons in PGF. And I can assure you there is no home cooking for her HS as all of us parents sit next to the scorekeeper(the superintendant) and rip him on everything the group doesn't agree on. He's tried to do home cooking for his daughter.

If that is all that a coach wants to see, then I'm good with her not being seen. Much better player than all the big swingers we see year round.
 


twinsbballfan said:
The bat manufacturers have spent massive amounts of money and have a huge amount of data that says a ball that is hit in the sweet spot of a composite bat and in the center ball of the will have a higher exit velocity. Sweet spot and center of the ball is the best method to achieve exit speeds. Funny that a recruiter, wold throw out his own metrics in the case of a slapper. Maybe because slappers hit to contact and in the end contact and speed are more important than some bullshit metric. Hit the ball with the sweet part of the bat and you will get the exit velocity. It is a proven fact, so anything that gets in the way of you making contact with the sweet spot is detrimental to exit velocity.
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Again so much wrong in this.

With kids that can produce higher exit velo, even miss hit balls have a chance that go out of the park. Higher exit velo=more hard hit balls, even ones that are miss hit.

Even a 85mph exit velo ground ball has a higher chance to get through the infield or be an error than something hit to contact at 65mph.

Sweet spot is nice, but a mis hit higher exit velo is better. Just facts.

Slappers are different because of speed not because of contact. The best slappers are ones that can produce balls hit with high exit velo, this you can’t sit on one aspect of the slap game. This shouldn’t be this difficult to understand.

Go see how many SEC schools are recruiting contact hitters. The offensive game is speed and exit velo.
 

Amidst the interesting discussions of hitting, I'm reminded of Ken Burns' comment, though maybe not original with him, that baseball/softball is the only sport in which the defense has the ball. Good/outstanding teams are anchored in good pitching. The old baseball axiom was: good pitching beats good hitting. Still true---I think.....
 

mngolf said:
These stats are for HS but are the same for her seasons in PGF. And I can assure you there is no home cooking for her HS as all of us parents sit next to the scorekeeper(the superintendant) and rip him on everything the group doesn't agree on. He's tried to do home cooking for his daughter.

If that is all that a coach wants to see, then I'm good with her not being seen. Much better player than all the big swingers we see year round.
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Hrothgar said:
Amidst the interesting discussions of hitting, I'm reminded of Ken Burns' comment, though maybe not original with him, that baseball/softball is the only sport in which the defense has the ball. Good/outstanding teams are anchored in good pitching. The old baseball axiom was: good pitching beats good hitting. Still true---I think.....
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I still think that holds true, however, I would say that hitting at the collegiate level has definitely improved over the past few years. There are usually only a few true shut down pitchers and on any given day even they can get lit up. Combine that with the minuscule strike zone that college softball seems to embrace. It’s becoming a more offensive game.
 

Chase the Rise said:
I still think that holds true, however, I would say that hitting at the collegiate level has definitely improved over the past few years. There are usually only a few true shut down pitchers and on any given day even they can get lit up. Combine that with the minuscule strike zone that college softball seems to embrace. It’s becoming a more offensive game.
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I agree about the miniscule strike zone, especially on pitches at the belt or only slightly above (invariably called balls). But I see exceptions. RH pitchers' screwball-type pitches to RH hitters are almost always called strikes, even when appearing to be 6" inside. I'm keep reminding myself it's the camera angle on TV sendings, but I think not; viewers aren't blind. On the other side, NW's LH Williams throws fast balls to RH hitters 3-4" outside and gets strike calls on them, remindful of umpires' favoring of MLB's RH Greg Maddux of the Braves years ago, who seldom needed to throw a pitch over the plate to get called strikes by the umpires.
 

Hrothgar said:
Amidst the interesting discussions of hitting, I'm reminded of Ken Burns' comment, though maybe not original with him, that baseball/softball is the only sport in which the defense has the ball. Good/outstanding teams are anchored in good pitching. The old baseball axiom was: good pitching beats good hitting. Still true---I think.....
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Strange that we have a pitcher that ranks in the top 10 in NCAA in strike outs and has a very low BB rate yet we still can’t win games. The ratio of hitters to pitchers is 1-9. How perfect would a pitcher have to be to over come those odds. The hitting coach at OU says a hitter has to learn her own self and understand that the win is the most important thing. Quality at bat is important to a batter (Hard hit ball) but the wins is more important! So you have to learn to respond when you are needed to respond. The game has not changed yet…you still need to pass home to score…and not a point is awarded for hard hit balls. The batters have to learn when and how to score. Learning to bunt , not striking out on pitches that we’re out of the zone and learning to have discipline against pitchers that can’t strike you out with out the help of missed swings and getting caught looking. The batter has to want to win the game and not just hit the ball hard. We are not here to say good job you hit the ball hard Susie, don’t worry will get them next time…We are here to chant M I N N E S O T A! That only happens when we score. So if you want to change the chant to every time the pitcher strikes out a opposing batter, I’m sure the pitching staff will welcome your cheers, but it won’t win games pure and simple. And by the way Ken Burns is a great narrator/storyteller but his cinematography skills suck. Showing washed out pictures to music and narration do not make a great movie……more like a book..just saying !
 
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