Send Guidry into the offseason focused on middle infield

He'd be better off staying on campus and living in the weight room.

He needs physical development more than he needs skills development.

ETA: And that's whether they intend to keep pitching him or have him play a position. He needs to add weight either way.

Where would you even put him if Braswell comes back? I guess we will have an opening at 3rd but after this year it seems like Jay is going to be looking for some experience in the portal.

I say get him in the weight room and figure out how to get that FB back up to 95. Could be a good closer for us.

Why is that funny?

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He'd be better off staying on campus and living in the weight room.

He needs physical development more than he needs skills development.

ETA: And that's whether they intend to keep pitching him or have him play a position. He needs to add weight either way.

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they tried to get him to last year. tried to get him to gain 15-20 lbs...he gained 2. and he didnt play summer ball last year either.

great kid, great leader, just a great person but at this time at least, he doesnt seem real interested in putting in the amount of work it takes to add 15-20lbs of mostly muscle.

its one of the biggest reasons why he has been injured quite a bit too.

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As long as he is striking people out, people need to chill as if his stuff isn’t good enough

He’s had command issues, not stuff issues

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Personally I think he needs to add a third pitch.

91 mph fast ball and power curve is a great combo. The problem is we've seen guys sit on that curve and hammer it. Then when the velo on the fastball is down to 88, unless placed perfectly, can cause problems. If he were able to add an effective changeup or slider, he could be lethal. And actually lethal, not 3.77 ERA lethal.

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Why is that funny?

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because he's never thrown 95, so him "getting back up" to 95 insinuates he was at that point previously

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He was at 95 in high school

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he maxed out at 92
LINK

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was hitting 94 last year in South Carolina.

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no he wasn't. He maxed out at 93 but sat in the 89-91 range where he's always been. Every scouting report out there on him says the same thing. He was never a 94 guy and certainly not a 95 mph guy. Could he get to that point if he commits himself to a workout regimen? Possibly

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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.

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As long as he is striking people out, people need to chill as if his stuff isn’t good enough He’s had command issues, not stuff issues

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Don’t always agree with Lester but this is spot on. I see a ton of people question Guidry’s pitching ability and I have no idea why