Fwd: [Husker] Baseball

[NUStLNorris at aol.com]

In a message dated 2/13/05 1:24:19 PM Central Standard Time, 
slimmer37 at hamilton.net writes:


> I would agree that Fusilier is a key hitting in the three hole, but what 
> about the five spot we need someone there. Can Ledbetter produce there or 
> will Buckman be at that spot. Simo needs to be better in the eight or nine 
> hole. And will Boyer lead off. And on the Pitching front how has that Watson 
> 
> developed ?

I asked a friend, whose opinion and knowledge of Husker baseball I trust, the 
same question the other day about Watson and his potential contribution this 
year, Tony.  He said that word is Watson just can't find the plate thus far in 
pre-season workouts.  Not good.  Hopefully he can turn it around, because he 
was very highly regarded when recruited.

Alex Gordon will probably again hit in the three-hole with left-fielder 
Fusilier hitting clean-up.  Buckman is a highly regarded juco who will hopefully 
serve well in the designated hitter role (he can also play first).  Buckman hit 
about 16 dingers last year at the juco level so he's got some pop ... we need 
him to be a consistent, reliable run-producer.  Ledbetter is a big kid with 
power, but some definite holes in his swing.  I hope that Buckman is good enough 
so that Ledbetter can hit sixth.  If a highly-regarded, quintessential 
lead-off-type, table-setter outfielder recruit named Adams (Trey Adams, I think) can 
produce and lead-off our batting order, we can hit shortstop Joe Simokaitis 
second.  Jessie Boyer or Daniel Bruce would play rightfield and hit seventh, 
with a freshman named Nimo supposedly good enough to push for playing time.  
We've got some outfield depth with Fusilier back ... to the point where Jessie 
Boyer and veteran Daniel Bruce will HAVE to produce or look at serious playing 
time reduction.  Then again, injuries could help things sort themselves out.

A big blow occured last week when it was determined that catcher Adam Moore 
was gone for the season with a pending knee surgery.  Now it's all up to Alex 
Gordon's former high school teammate Jeff Christy to shoulder the load.  
Christy and highly-regarded Papillion recruit Ryan Wehrle (2nd base) will probably 
hit eighth and ninth.  We were looking at good depth at catcher to replace team 
leader-but-big-disappointment-at-the-plate-his-final-season John Grose, then 
the injury to Moore (who sounded a bit like Jed Morris in terms of his 
offensive ability to go with his catching.  Morris came to NU a good hitter, then 
developed into a great collegiate hitter between his sophmore and junior year).

Sorry for the length ... and a lot of speculation with regard to batting 
order and-the-like.  It's just based on what I've seen from watching Husker 
baseball and from what I hear from people who follow the program fairly closely.

Dave Norris