I felt pretty good coming out of fall ball. I didn't see any injuries reported by anyone. Yes, a couple of players were coming off surgery and a couple banged up but no one had season ending stuff.
Then the first and biggest bomb dropped right before the season: Gavin Collins had surgery on his catching hand. He is our 3 hole hitter and starting catcher. He was out several weeks and really never had the strength to hit balls like he should. Josh Lovelady and Walker did really good job while he was out but they aren't the hitter Gavin is.
Michael Smith came on strong the latter part of fall. In one of John Cohen's preseason interviews he indicated that Smith would be a difference maker. His first AB of the spring he smoked a ball to the wall for a double but came up lame at second. I strongly believe Smith would have been an offensive and defensive spark plug all year long.
Paul Young was another who had surgery last spring and was getting back into shape. He was drafted in the 21st round out of JC. He had a lot of raw talent as a pitcher. The cold spring really prevented him from getting action pre-SEC which would have given him valuable experience.
Myles Gentry never pitched much because of soreness, etc. He would have given us another arm in the thin bullpen.
Jesse McCord was a highly ranked player coming out of HS. Butch Thompson had such high hopes for him. Once he went down, I knew we were going down hill. He is a difference maker.
Matthew Britton got banged up in the beginning of the season, had a great game at Kentucky then messed his knee up. The last few games he has been tearing it up. He would have solved out 3B woes! I know some of you don't believe in him but he has a lot of talent. I said before the season, if he can hit the ball consistently, he would be a fine player. Well, he did at the end.
I truly believe losing Collins and Smith early hurt our offense production. We couldn't overcome the lack of offense. Then the pitching started to give up runs and we needed premium arms. Young never got untracked and McCord had surgery half way through.
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