Home Baseball UC Irvine Post Game Thoughts – Canham is a Mess

UC Irvine Post Game Thoughts – Canham is a Mess

140

Why is everyone okay with Mitch?

I literally had a few minutes all weekend to catch the Beavs, so I tuned in today to watch extra innings. That lasted only about ten minutes because Canham chose to draw in infield in rather than walk the bases loaded and setup the DP. There are so many ways to score a run in that situation that the obvious call is to walk the bases loaded and take your shot with a force at home, strikeout, or the DP. Way better odds on than what he did.

Why are Beaver fans okay with Mitch?

Why is there not outrage over such horrible managing?

Will the media ask tough questions and start to question this guy, or are they going to do the “he’s learning on the job”, “he’s one of us” and all that biased crap?

140 COMMENTS

  1. I’m more concerned with Dorman tbh. Yes Mitch has made some questionable decisions but I’m more worried about averaging 3 hit batters a game plus the walks. Runners left on base has been a disappointment as well.

  2. 3
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    Pulling Mulholland so quick was the foreshadow to the loss.
    Keeping Armstrong at the bottom half of the line-up was ridiculous.
    Dukart has become a rally killing machine, Gretler should be starting at 3rd.

    If Canham is coaching like he has 162 games to figure it out and let the guys mature, he is a fool. The season is now in no man’s land after so many non-conference losses.
    Saturday loss may have been some home cooking by the home plate ump to ring up Ober in the top half, then gift a homerun over the foul pole to Anteaters.

    Today’s game turned on a throwing error after a swinging strike and the back-up catcher couldn’t throw to first for the out. Opened the door for the comeback when the Beavs were up 5-0…

    Canham has some definite issues and it is going to be more apparent as time goes on. Pitching coach isn’t very good at preparing the starters, nor is there consistency with the bullpen.
    It strikes me that Canham is too passive and the team is good at coasting on momentum good or bad, and becomes too passive as well.

    Bright side is they are still in first place in Pac-12, albeit a 3 way tie…

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      “If Canham is coaching like he has 162 games to figure it out and let the guys mature, he is a fool.” This sounds like a potential factor.

      Also, is there any leadership on the team an issue? Coasting on momentum is a recipe for mediocrity. You don’t coast, you try to drive the outcome. Are any players doing that if the staff is not?

      Its disappointing. Casey worked so hard to build a program, and I thought that Canham’s tenure under him as a catcher might lead to effective management.

  3. 4
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    The lack of energy and management issues (which lie mostly with Canham and Dorman) are concerning. Although, the former issue wasn’t as prevalent this weekend.

    Maybe a reason why Beaver fans aren’t so concerned about Mitch is that fans haven’t been able to attend games this season, so they don’t see firsthand what is happening. Or, COVID has made people forget about sports altogether. Going to a baseball game on a spring Friday night was a pretty big event for many but people have accepted the new normal of not attending public events. Unless they follow the baseball account on social media, some just forgot about baseball altogether.

    Maybe Beaver Nation will wake up if the team misses the tournament this year. This team is really underperforming with the amount of talent they have on the roster.

    • This team is really underperforming with the amount of talent they have on the roster.

      If you are talking about pitching I wholeheartedly agree. I’m more concerned about the Dorman hire. The amount of walks and HBP is alarming.

      If you’re talking about offense/defense/positional players than I beg to differ. This team is lacking in talent. I was listening to the radio broadcast on Saturday and Parker was talking about the player at the plate and how it was a great story. He had no D1 offers other than Oregon St. Didnt have any D2 offers either. But Pat Bailey saw something in him. What?!?!?

      Meckler maybe? Don’t remember which player. But that story alone is concerning. How did recruiting drop off so sharply????

  4. 4
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    For me I am not overly critical of Canham because firing him after what really is his first season would be a bigger disaster than keeping a guy for another year or two that maybe has a few more warts than you’d like. I mean Casey’s crews were definitely always a little crisper but I don’t see Casey having more than 2 or 3 more wins than Canham this year if he was the skipper.

  5. 7
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    Why didn’t he have mcdowell bunt to at least move the runner over with one out……or better yet, pinch hit for him. Mcdowell is not ready for pitching at this level, period.

  6. 9
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    What a weekend. Exciting games. Too bad they didn’t win the series. Could have easily lost first game. Still learning what this team and coaching staff are all about. They made strides after getting swept by quacks. Curious who plays during the big conference series. Good thing we aren’t a sour fan base with a quick trigger. Life goes on.

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    I can’t believe how far OSU baseball has fallen! Meanwhile the d*cks are now a top 10 team and they have the easiest teams to play left on their schedule. The Beavers on the other hand have a brutal stretch and could likely lose every remaining series. The d*cks will most likely win each of their remaining series, and will (I can’t believe that I’m saying this) probably be at Top 5 team ath the end of the season. The Beavers will probably miss the playoffs and the d*cks look Omaha bound. Polar opposite season I thought these two teams would have at the beginning. Mitch better get it together or else OSU will become an afterthought and live in the shadow of UO in yet another sport! Baseball used to be OSU’s one consistent sport Beaver fans could have pride in year in and year out. Now we’ve slipped into the dangerous situation of mediocrity.

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      I can. Wasn’t it inevitable once the Ducks brought back baseball that one day they’d be better than us? Just from the $ aspect, but add to that they’re a more intense uni with more forward looking principles, and it seemed inevitable. I knew once Casey left that timeline had been pulled forward. Now we’re there.

  8. 5
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    Idk if I’m just getting older or what but I really enjoyed that series. They played well against a good opponent. Mistakes were made by both sides but it was a damn entertaining series.maybe I just care more about being entertained these days over winning. #HappyLoser

  9. 9
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    Wow don’t know what to say. Crazy talk. Tough series and lost to solid UCI team. Still battling for P12 championship. Good place to be.

      • 9
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        Did you? You watched for 10 minutes (your words). So they set up a double play which they had other than the force to home. If bases are loaded, infield still in and the hit to the outfield wins it. Maybe they next batter would have been an easier out? Cheer up buttercup!

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          That makes zero sense.

          You’re saying a manager should always play the worst odds because some aberration could come true or what the last batter did will happen with the next, different batter?

  10. 25
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    As with all sports you need to give Canham a chance to recruit his own team. A lot of people want to compare to 2018 team which was completely loaded. Beavs aren’t gonna have that team year in and year out, not even Casey did.

    Quit with the little brother attitude that the ducks own us. We are currently winners of civil war football and basketball. The sky is not falling.

  11. 7
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    Basing this on nothing more than a gut bomb feeling.

    I believe Travis Throckmorton will be the Beavs next QB commit in the 2022 class.

  12. 7
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    I get the frustration by Beaver fans, but in my opinion there’s still plenty of season left. I will have more of a picture of Mitch at the end of the season. Great series against a great UC Irvine team. There’s lots of lessons and growth gained this weekend. I do think when the light is on, we have a very good team that has potential to make a deep NCAA Tournament run. My guess is that we will barely remember this series at the end of the season. Baseball is a long season ( Even in College compared to other sports.) Losses happen. Flush it and move on to the next series.

    • 13

      Like he said he hasn’t watched them but 10 minutes and a few other times for a lil I think. Pretty hard to judge a team that you haven’t watched much.

    • Ya but to play devil’s advocate they said that last year and wasn’t very impressive during the season. Played decent for a freshman tho. The screen pass turned into a td could be really impressive by him or the D could’ve been that bad. Always hard to judge when they’re playing against themselves. They also say every qb looks good. I just don’t think there is much to take away just yet.

      • Beason wasn’t impressive? I thought he was our second best receiver. Made the most of opportunities and had great hands. Also had to get use to two different qbs.

        • I wouldn’t call being the second best receiver on the team last year impressive. I’m by no means saying he was bad but he was hyped up quite a bit last year before the season. That said I can definitely see him making a big leap this year playing with Harrison ,tongue and more experienced qbs.

          • In 5 games he was tied to lead all receivers with 3 tds and had 16 receptions…..as a freshman. I guess we have differing opinions about what “not impressive” means. I think he is going to have a huge year. BE does seem to pump up the players in their articles though. Any good recruit gets a lot of love and optimism.

            In other news, it’s interesting to look back at recruiting classes from 2018, 2019, 2020 to see who is contributing (transfers have been crucial), who barely plays, and who has left.

          • I mean I would say we differ. He played in 7 games so 16 receptions isn’t great. His 3rd td was the last offensive play of the season I believe in garbage time from Gulbranson albeit a good catch. Tied with lindsay who also wasn’t impressive so I don’t think that says a whole lot.

            Agree that its interesting to see who contributes and/or plays well from the recruiting classes. If you go way back a lot of the big time recruits never planned out and a lot of them end up retiring. A big factor is keeping guys in the program for 4-5 years to develop especially with the transfer portal. A large amount of them don’t play out their eligibility at OSU.

          • Weird when I looked up his stats earlier it didn’t show the wazzu game. Doesn’t show any stats for Washington still either according to espn.

            I don’t see how Gould, Irish, Flemings, and so forth are going to get pt.

          • I think I saw it on the beavers site that he played in 7 but that could mean special teams only so who knows but says he started 5.

            I could see Irish and Gould being used to take the top off of the defense but that’s about it at this point. I thought Irish showed a lot of potential as a freshman but he hasn’t seemed to develop much unfortunately. He played well on special teams however. I think I remember Gould making a mistake in either first down or sideline awareness. I remember thinking to myself that’s why he’s not playing. Hopefully it’s more of a sign of the depth improving than its guys not developing. Haven’t heard anything about either of them this spring. Never been overly impressed with flemings. You need to have elite speed to play at his size and he looks to have more very good/great speed. More of a gadget player at best. IMHO

          • Gould was measured at 163 lb last year. If he adds on another 20 pounds there’s less chance he’ll get hurt and should get more playing time. Hopefully that doesn’t slow him down because his greatest asset is his speed.

          • It seems like champ should transfer to a lower division school. I could see him being an impact player at another level at this one he is a kick returner and that’s about it.

          • According to Blitz just about every receiver other than Champ and Beason was hurt last week: Bradford, Lindsey, Tongue, Harrison, Irish, Gould, Pope.

  13. Should I use this thread for non Canham relayed updates?

    On the transfer DT front, I’ve learned that Josh Rogers from aTm will be visiting OSU although I dont know specifically which day(s).

    Also, I’m going to drop a gut bomb. I believe Travis Throckmorton will eventially be a 2022 QB verbal commit to OSU.

    • Looks like Josh Rogers will likely be a June 4th weekend visitor.
      Along with the mystery WR from Texas(potentially)

      Later that week, QB Nate Johnson visits mid week.

      June 11th weekend so far has:
      Luka Vicnic
      Shakaun Bowser
      Jaylen Lewis
      Ronald Lewis

      June 18th weekend so far has:
      Colston Loveland
      Damien Martinez

      There are several other visitors with dates up in the air. I’ll update them as I get informed of changes.
      I dont have solid dates for our other 2 verbal commits, but you can count on them coming. As well as a couple more QBs(Throckmorton and Fowler-Nicolosi)

  14. Tinkle adding a 7’2” center with a 7’11” wingspan. Transfer from Maryland, doesn’t look like he played a whole ton but the Beavers really could use a real protector.

  15. football recruiting: 6’5” in state Lakeridge WR Olsen reportedly received a Louisville offer, and hopes to get one from Oregon State. His dad is an OSU alum. Olsen interested in staying in state for family OR potentially going somewhere warm…

      • I’m ok with not offering a freshman. Establish a solid relationship and see if he continues to progress in his sophomore year. invite him to camps, unofficial game day visits. Spring game visits. If he has a good sophomore year, make the hard press then.

      • Would be good to see a few tall WRs on the roster. Plenty of time to build a relationship with him as Bill stated. I thought it was interesting he came right and said he hoped for an OSU offer.

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    NFL draft this week.

    Per ESPN,
    Jefferson rated as the #11 rb. #163 overall
    Rashed Jr rated as the #7 OLB. #149 overall
    Wright rated as the #34 CB. #272 overall.(there are 259 picks).

    JJ should go somewhere in 4-6. Fumble issues hold him back from rounds 2 and 3.
    Rashed also 4-6. Bad final year pushes him back.
    Wright – 7th round is a hope. A team will have to really like him as a project and stash him on their practice squad for a year or two.

    • Thought this was interesting.

      https://www.si.com/nfl/draft/prospect-rankings/2021-nfl-draft-prospect-rankings-cornerbacks

      Dunn is rated as 16th best CB and projected in Round 5. This is even ahead of Wright (Round 6). This site must put a premium on height and length for the CB position. I didn’t think Dunn was that good, but maybe the mediocre play was more due to the poor line play than from his technique and coverage abilities.

      FWIW, I checked on how this site rated Beavers from last year’s draft. They had Hodgins in Round 5, Brandel in Round 7 and Luton as a PFA. So they weren’t too far off with maybe the exception of Luton who went in Round 6 last year.

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        I don’t think they saw Dunn play. I’d be extremely surprised if he gets picked. Wright has the frame and speed that teams look for but his actual play brings his grade down.

          • Wright had his spots but his play was not consistent. There were more than enough times where he got burned or didn’t give much effort to make a tackle. If he was consistent, he could have made first or second team all conference.

            It’s possible that he does better with NFL coaching. No guaranteed spot after tomorrow in the league.

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            Agreed. Leaving early was a really poor decision for him (and even more so for Hamilcar). Player & team would both have benefited from another year.

  17. Recent QB offer recipient,Travis Throckmorton, will be coming up to visit OSU unofficial visit the weekend of the Spring Game, May 8th. Also has had a virtual visit with the OSU staff recently.

    • I think this one is on Tinkle. Silver should have taken some of Reichele’s minutes early on. Smart player (zero turnovers all season), smooth shot. Looked like a decent defender with length for a guard.

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        Zero turnovers…but if you look at his minutes played it was about 4-5 games worth as a starter. Impressive but not all-star category.

  18. Canham moves Armstrong to #3 in the order, sits Dukart in favor of Gretler at 3b. Casey and Meckler the only lefties in lineup vs LHP.

    No Melton today, anyone heard what’s up??

  19. Notice Joe Casey wearing #23….Kevin Abel’s number.
    EDIT/ADD: Apparently Parker explained the situation earlier, I didn’t hear it.

  20. Good Grief! I read Canzano’s bit today about the search for a new leader for the PAC 12 and found myself agreeing with him. Maybe I have Covid or something.

  21. Josh Worden podcast Dynasty in the Woods is really interesting so far, first episode just released and so far focusing on Noback. First thought, Casey was very religious, attending mass daily. Anything he said was backed up by trying to be a great Christian man. Does Mitch have this same pull? Obviously it takes time to establish mutual respect but just a thought. Does Mitch also put an emphasis on building men? Can he do that at his age? I think having Bailey helped, someone a little older other than say Barney, Gibson, Wong, etc.

    • Vultures! To be fair anytime a QB gets their first P5 offer they’re usually pretty high on that school and the way with QBs commit earlier to not lose their spot its a safe bet. Plus he basically said as much in his interview with biggins if everything went good on his trip that he would.

  22. Lineup posted, still no Melton eventhough this lineup is heavy to left handed hitters. Armstrong remains at #3, Dukart back at third, Gavin Logan catching. AJ Lattery gets the start, from what we’ve seen he’s a strike thrower.
    No indicatiion of what uni # Casey will wear this time around, he’s batting fifth.

      • Yeah, I was concerned about a team rules violation from the start, just heard Parker say that there is hope that Melton will be available for UCLA. I’m leaning toward covid or a minor injury.

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    I asked in a previous thread but couldn’t find it if I got an answer but for those of you that have followed baseball the last decade did Casey switch up lineups and positions this much? I’m not really talking about batting order but starters and positions.

    • Looks like Martin is the star out of the walk ons. Always like getting lineman walk ons as they are the ones that can change their bodies the most and really develop over 5 years. Wish they would bring in more DL walkons.

      • I was watching Koby Moananu’s film last night. He looks like a pretty versatile athlete. Not sure what position he would play at OSU. He was a pretty good WR as a junior but his senior year was cancelled. Also interested in playing baseball for the Beavs.
        He’s currently about 6’2″ 190lbs.
        Utah also wanted him for football/baseball as a PWO

        • I would assume WR or DB. Not sure how fast he is. Also a possibility of putting on weight to play LB. I didn’t watch any film tho, thats just based on height.

  24. 2
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    Jets draft Zach Wilson. A formality at this point. Anyone dislike the pick? I like his ability, but he has so much time to throw in every video I’ve seen.

          • It was a joke because at the draft they said “he has a big family” and said he had like 36 siblings…they scanned around the room and it was packed wall to wall. Lol. I assumed he’s Mormon and now on his way to producing 95 kids since he’s now rich. Maybe it’s a bad joke. I liked it. Who knows anymore these days.

    • Highly overrated IMO. Playing against scrubs made him look better. Did he take a mission too? That makes him older and less valuable than other QBs. Seems like a standard jets pick.

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      @AB what would you have done with the 3rd pick? I heard they tried to trade for Rodgers. I love all these analysts and radio voices talking up these qbs like they are all going to be successful and worth a first round pick. What happened to maybe 1-2 qbs going first round and the rest going 2nd-3rd round. I would guess 1 out of the 5 selected first round will be a long term starter for a playoff team. Maybe 2 if Jones just keeps it simple with a genius HC.

  25. DORMAN IS A GENIUS!
    Well, not really, but the two games vs LMU showed pitching numbers we’ve not seen very often this season. A total in two games of 5 BB, 2HBP, and only 1 WP.
    OTOH, the Beavs benefited from 14 BB and 1 HBP, that along with 4 E’s (compared to 5 by Beavs).

    We’re not likely to see the Bruins be that helpful!
    In fact, Beavs and Bruins are pretty close in most statistical categories. Exception might only be Beavs ERA advantage (2.87 vs 3.50) and Bruins advantage in Runs/Game (7.38/6.45)……….somethings got to give, right?

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    Mitch’s refusal to play small ball in obvious situations with guys in RISP with zero outs at several times this year where if we would’ve move them in we would have won the game is really, really pissing me off. Games 2 and 3 against UCI. Games 4-6 against UO. Game 3 against Utah. Game 1 vs. WAZZU. All could have been wins if we played small ball and got those runs in. We should be 36-4 (15-0) on the season instead of 28-12 (10-5).

    Next, WE LEAVE TOO MANY GUYS ON BASE. This isn’t the 2017 and 2018 squad who could hit anyone and score at will. We cannot afford to constantly leave 8+ runners on per game. Like I mentioned above, that’s fixed with small ball. The only guys I trust to get a hit with RISP right now are Melton, Forrester and Armstrong (I’d still have Army bunt due to his speed). The rest of the guys are either A) too young or B) do not have the plate vision and power to not be bunting with RISP.

    Let’s not also forget the morons who are tying to claim this is his first season. While yes, his 2020 was cut very short, we were well on our way to being a sub-.500 team on that year. This isn’t the football team where we pray to be a .500 team. This is a national championship level program.

    Send Mitch back to the Minors, he isn’t fit for the college game as a coach.

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