re: Send Guidry into the offseason focused on middle infield

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He’s had command issues, not stuff issues

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They go hand in hand. His stuff isn't good enough to get away with not having command. He has zero room for error with his lack of velocity. He has to be able to paint the black with his fastball/cutter and not have it leak back over the plate. And he's got to be able to throw all his pitches in any count. He can't be too predictable. Even if his slider is really on, but he can't throw his fastball for, not just strikes (he can't miss in the zone), but move in and out on the corners, guys can just sit on the slider.

And because it's got so much vertical movement with little velocity, he's got to be perfect. Guys have seen it so much by now, that if he doesn't get them early in the count, and he starts throwing it 5, 6, 7 times in a row, they start just fouling it off until he finally hangs one and it gets hammered. And his fastball has so little velocity that SEC hitters can sit on the slider and adjust to the fastball and hammer it if he tries to sneak it by and it catches too much plate.

I'm not hating on Guidry as a person or a player. I think his back injury has really, really set him back in the weight room, which has manifested on the field. He's not physically ready to compete at this level right now. Velocity matters. A lot. ESPECIALLY with the currently smaller SEC strike zone and the balls being juiced. Again, he just has no room for error. I've said this before but nuts >> stuff can only work for so long.

And I've seen people allude to him not being committed because of his girlfriend or whatever, and I just can't buy that. Dude turned down $2 million+ to come to LSU (right? Wasn't his number a hard $3 million? I'm sure he was offered over 2 if that's the case. Unless the injury scared MLB clubs off). I just can't see a guy as competitive as him not putting in the requisite work to make up for that decision.

I'm pretty sure his plan was to play 2 years and bounce with a bonus similar to or even higher than he was offered out of high school and 2 years of experience playing in the purple and gold. I just think his body simply won't allow it. Or hasn't yet. But I don't know him. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he doesn't feel that sense of urgency. Or hasn't yet. This offseason will be really interesting for his future for sure.