[BCF4L]

JC has a very good top 4 at the plate in Shepherd, Callaham, Callaham, and Preece. The Callaham brothers really improved last year and I expect them to have big sophomore years at the plate. Lots of question outside of that especially in the outfield and behind the plate. The one addition that could be big is if Logan Morrow plays this year after being out all of last year with a football injury. He really came on toward the end of his freshmen year and showed some pop at the plate. The pitching should be solid with Montgomery and Rose as 1-2. You always know with JC they are going to play a difficult schedule and they are going to be well coached with Coach Hall in the dugout.

Paintsville has a really deep pitching staff with Kincheloe, Horn, Stratton and Lauffer. That is going to be a big strength for them this year. They are solid at the plate too. I thought I read in the offseason that Alex Johnson was transferring to Pburg for football. How is that going to affect baseball this spring? Has he already transferred or will he be in the field for the Tigers come March? LOL. He hit over .300 last year so that would be a big loss for Paintsville and big pickup for Pburg.

He’s at Prestonsburg which will help replace what we lost with Nic Kidd graduating. AJ should slide right into the SS position and also help with pitching depth. On top of that, what he brings offensively will help Prestonsburg tremendously. Prestonsburg with Allen, Luke Hall and AJ as your top 3 with Brayden Tussey and Brody Napier as relief gives you decent depth at pitching. Offensively is where my concern is with Prestonsburg this year. We’ve lost a lot of offense the past couple of years due to graduation so how do they respond? AJ will help plus Luke Hall and Barrett Hunter returning keeps some fire power at the top of the lineup. We will need to see Allen, Stumbo, and Brady Allen really step up offensively this season to help carry the pitching. I like this years team though. Should be a good one.

Good to know. That definitely changes how I view both Paintsville and Pburg. For Paintsville their pitching is going to be really strong, but they will struggle some games at the plate. Johnson was a good contact hitter for them and provided a lot of speed on the base paths. 

You are right though AJ will really help replace Nic Kidd. I like Pburg's arms they having coming back but do they have true Ace to replace Welch? I still can't believe that you all threw Welch against Shelby Valley in the semi-finals instead of saving him for the championship. Especially considering you had beat SV a month before by 15 runs!

Kaden Allen will be the “ace” this year IF he can limit walks and show consistency. I think we saw flashes last year of what his potential can be by throwing 3 no-hitters. But then there were games he didn’t make it out of the 2nd inning. As long as he shows consistency and throws strikes, he will be fine. I think he’s finally healthy and free of elbow and shoulder pain. He took most of the summer off to only workout and build muscle so I’m hoping that will help improve everything for him going into this year. 

As for using Welch, I think it’s one of those situations where you play the odds. Matt had pitched against Pikeville before and they seemed to hit him fairly well. Coach Tucker thought switching it up was the best option. With the schedule they play, they’re used to seeing mid-80’s. Trying to slow it down a bit I felt like was a great idea and if I recall, Pikeville struggled the first couple times through the lineup but then they started teeing it up. Good teams do that. Unfortunately we didn’t have a ton of depth to go to after Hall started getting hit some. That’s been our downfall the last few years is pitching depth. I’m afraid that’s going to be somewhat of an issue this year too. We shall see.