IMO, you have to play a little Moneyball. Create a system and recruit guys who fit in that system. Guys who might be overlooked but play the kind of baseball you want.

I think getting guys who might need a redshirt year to be D1 ready would be a good plan. Find projects who are hard workers with good college projection who may get overlooked by programs that go for draft-ready high school seniors.

I would actually come up with a plan to build a team instead of trying to ride the hot hands to victory and hope I get enough of those to recruit better players who will immediately make the team better. This is incredibly foolish logic if you're not a team like Fullerton that can actually do it.

Ever since 2008 I've seen this team basically fly by the seat of its collective pants. Spurts of winning and smart play dashed by a couple injuries. Or sometimes the play isn't that great but it gets really bad after said injuries. Let's take a look at a couple examples:

2012: Freshman Tino Lipson's injured a good chunk of the year and the offense takes a nosedive. Dayne Quist also misses a few starts, and suddenly the team can't win on Sundays at all (Quist pitched on Fridays)..That's all it took- one position player and 1 pitcher's injuries to make a promising season into a losing one. Neither player was even having a tremendous year.

2016: The rotation seems to be developing after 2 wins in the Gifford Classic but Zach Stone hurts himself warming up in the bullpen against Michigan. After a nailbiting win and a pair of merciful rainouts the rotation's progress comes to a halt until Robert Garcia wins against Air Force in his 1st start. Just one tiny problem though- the weakened bullpen can't protect any leads, so it really doesn't seem to matter how well Garcia's starts go. . Oh, and don't forget the offensive dip after Ryan Anderson's injury.

So what was the point ? That losing a couple of good but not superstar players made such a huge difference. That's the mark of not being a good team. A good team can come together and collectively overcome setbacks though no one may replace the injured player's contributions on their own. UC Davis has many very good players, but it is not a good team, and it hasn't been since 2008. The players they've had drafted, even in terrible years like 2009 (Andy Suiter, Ryan Scoma, Ty Kelly), are a testament to that.

So how do you formulate a plan ? I think you start by thinking beyond the current year. You're UCD Your best players are probably mostly seniors in your opinion so you play them all the time, but how does that bode for the future ? Not well. It means you're rebuilding year after year because you were so obsessed w/trying to win now that you didn't give your younger players a chance to develop and gain experience for when it's their time to shine.

Let's look at 2 positions where this stung them from the 2015 team. Kevin Barker and John Williams took all the playing time in center. Izaak Silva started every single game at catcher. Oops ! Well, we'll just hand the C.F. job to a HS player who hasn't even started his senior season of baseball yet and not bother getting our reserve catcher any playing time because we'll just randomly get a freshman and a couple junior college guys to work w/our developing staff. Pitchers and catchers don't need to have chemistry or know each other very well anyway !!!!

The results of that logic ? The new center fielder didn't hit his weight in 2016 and now gathers dust on the bench until they need someone to pinch- run. One of the juco catchers doesn't hit and the other is injured all year. The freshman catcher hits and gives everyone hope for a brighter future but now he gathers more dust than the other guy, probably due to injury

And isn't this same logic being applied this year at 1B, C, and SS? Hmm...

And the other part of this is not playing favorites with the pitching staff. Pitchers need a chance to get stronger + grow into their frames just like position players. For Pete's sake they're teenagers when they arrive at UCD most of them. However, this regime shelves pitchers who don't produce right away and forgets about them until they get frustrated +quit or simply are passed by.

One thing Vaughn might want to consider doing is bringing back Coach Swimley's practice of playing reserves and throwing little- used pitchers on Tuesdays (mostly D- I opponents) until such time as this team establishes itself. Used to frustrate the heck out of the fans but it had some very important purposes as I came to learn. It gave the regulars a rest and gave him a chance to evaluate reserve players/less- used pitchers without hurting the team in conf. play. He found some really good players that way. John Holtkamp for example had double digit wins as a sophomore. Now the D- I Aggies don't differentiate between conf and non- conference because the Big West kicks their behinds on a regular basis, but maybe they should. There's some potential good in getting some of these guys some rest in preparation for conf. games. Others need experience for when it is their turn.

And if you're going to lose 11- 2 to Stanford it doesn't hurt as much if you got some unexpected contributions from some new guys, especially if you're not going to the playoffs that year. What inevitably happens each year is you have injuries and the replacement players are thrown into Big West games w/little preparation

So I'm going to make the bold suggestion that Vaughn start the following lineup against the next Tuesday opponent other than SAC State:

SS: Pluschkell
3B: Lara
1B: Van Blake
LF: Anderson
DH: Salazar
2B: Ouellette
C: Roberts
RF: Evans
CF: Kelly

Pitchers to use (a subset of these): Blais, Hannah, the other Lara, Barraza, possibly even Briggs. And if they somehow have a lead late, Stone or Loar can close it out.

That's right, a no seniors- allowed starting lineup (but the seniors may enter as reserves). I don't see a pretty result on the scoreboard but the experience for these players would be valuable

Get Blue and Rock to install lights.

I don't know how many games Blue attends. Baseball games aren't the friendliest places for people with that surname. :D

Another thing I would need to do if I were the coach is improve my management of the bullpen. There are certain situations pitchers do not do well in right now. For Matt Blais right now that's relief work period (though he's done a good job as a starter). For Chris Brown it's anything other than mop- up work until he establishes the control that made him successful early last year. And yet both of them were used in those kinds of situations this past week. Brown came in to protect a 3 run lead against Sac State and promptly loaded the bases (all of the runners scored). What was also odd was why he was left in that long. Why Brown when Loar, Peters, and Stone were available ?

And Blais was brought in for one of the Fullerton games. Why ? At least when Loar gave up his 4 runs it wasn't a bad choice, just a bad outing for a good pitcher against a good team.

More on this later..

I found a cool picture of our baseball stadium. Great pic but a lot of room for improvement.

Great pic ! Hey, and the Aggies did not lose yesterday X-)

I like how they magically added a packed house.

Ha! Now it makes sense. I was wondering what game that could have been given the size of the crowd.

Picnic Day games draw a decent crowd. Not this year!

I recall a few years back (when we still lived in Davis) walking behind a group of Long Beach State baseball fans in town after a game saying: "Wow, actually a great downtown? I love this place. Why aren't they better?" I have no answer to that very good question.

The downtown is nice in Davis because it doesn't cater to anyone (except lovers of sushi and noodle dishes) in particular. They're not trying to do a poor imitation of SF, as Sacramento has been doing for the last few years.

All the same there's not so much to do there that the city can't come out and support the baseball team. There are two major factors at work there- lack of interest and lack of information.

The first is cured by making the team relevant to people. Nothing does that better than winning. To do this the university is really going to need to do more than force the baseball team make do with what scraps are left over after football + basketball are satisfied. It has to be more than an ugly redheaded stepchild of a program.

And then there is the matter of coaching. I'm not going to going to throw Vaughn under the bus and say he and his staff are terrible and need to go or anything. They have a lot of improvements to make, and I'm ok with them remaining in their roles if we can see consistent improvement, not only in the field, but in their decision- making. For example, I don't want to see Chris Brown pitching in the 7th inning until that kid stops putting his first three pitches way out of the strike zone. I don't want to see the starting catcher get pinch- hit for in the 4th or 5th inning unless he's hurt. And I sure as heck don't want to see them allow the worst possible kind of clusterfudge to happen before they take a struggling pitcher out.

The other part is caused by UCD not doing all it can to promote baseball +other outdoor winter/spring sports. Davis Baseball still has this weird vibe surrounding it where not many people know about it. I tell people I'm going to a UCD baseball game and I might as well be telling them I'm going to watch roosters play magic cards (South Park reference. SP came out my freshman year in Davis.)

UCD Baseball fans are passionate, but it is niche. When I was a student, I went to quite a number, and even skipped class a few times when Long Beach or Fullerton would visit. I even sat outside the stadium for promos. Most of the non-scout fans who attend (not related or dating the players) go often, but its often the same people. Weekend games are a fun way to enjoy the spring sunshine without going to Raley Field. But weekday games need lights to make it more of an event. Also, most of the students who attend are already die-hard baseball fans who love the game. If you look on campus, you'll see all five mlb teams represented on caps and apparel. The non-baseball fans have no reason to attend, but if they add promos and fight for lights, they could make some sort of party deck and bring apathetic students to cheer on their team. What do you think?

Now that beer is being sold at sporting events, UCD should mimic what Poly is doing with Krukow's Corner, or whatever it is called.

Lights are an absolute must. If the Little League fields at the corner of Covell and F have lights, ICA should have them as well.

I don't understand why teams (like baseball) that struggle to draw fans charge non-students for admission. It is self-defeating. Fans who can't stay for a long time aren't going to pay to watch (much less park if the game isn't on a weekend) if they don't feel like they're going to get their money's worth. Getting drop-in fans might be a good way to raise the program's awareness.

The games used to be free for several years. It wasn't until the Dobbins family gift came in that they were able to put in the fancy new gate and build a new ticket booth. I can understand them wanting to get a little help offsetting the game costs, but it is very little help. I doubt if they average 100 paid admissions per game- that's $800.00. But it's probably closer to 70- 80, which is $560- $640. At least $100- $150 of that is paid to people to either sell you a ticket or prevent you from entering without one. So in the end you wind up with enough money for a bucket or two of baseball's.

I noticed they did start charging only $2 for Tuesday games. That's a good start. Why should you pay full price when neither team is going to be using all of their best players ?

It would be nice if they would at the very least give free admission if you show up in the 5th inning or later. Why should you have to pay to watch half the game or less ? Send the ticket salesperson and ticket takers home. This would encourage some walk- up traffic from campus visitors, such as visiting parents (that is to say parents of students that are not players). You save a little money on wages. Not like you're selling tickets then anyway- they're just farting around. Maybe they buy a hot dog or a soda ?

You never know who will stop by just to see what's going on. It could be alumni visiting campus. A lot of these international student programs or business conferences (which are mainly during the summer so not entirely applicable to baseball)

Also I think it would be nice if re- scheduled games were free. Sometimes they don't do a good job of updating people. This was especially true during the D2 era. You can't accurately predict whether a game will actually be played or not based on the weather forecast. Opening day last year they played through a soggy mess to a 12- 0 loss. Last Tuesday they were rained out with the sun shining because of the field condition. In 2011 they cancelled the game (rightfully so- no one could've expected them to play) the day after Scott Heinig passed away. The only problem I had w/that was that they didn't update the website w/that into or even put a sign out at the ballpark that said the game was cancelled. So I went all the way to Davis for no reason at all. When people show up +they don't play that's an inconvenience to the fans. If the rescheduled game forms a double- header, the double- header should be free. That would really encourage people to show up + spend that ticket money on concessions.

Great point! I used to drop by at the old Toomey Field field, and an inning here, an inning there, and my interest rose.

Marketing?

We might be spending more on staff at some games than we collect in revenue?

Movielover, you know from my previous rants I think they have too much gameday staff >:O Just because we have a medical school doesn't mean our sporting events need to be bland, sterile affairs. They have to spend some money to get more fans in the park. They can't get around it.

We do have a sports marketing dept, and per former interim director Gould there is a separate baseball marketing person or persons responsible. At least, that''s where she said she forwarded it. It didn't wind up in the delete box to be certain because Coach Vaughn told me that he also read it . Good thing I talked business exclusively and left my opinions of the team''s play out of it, right ?

How do they market it better ? Not my job, not my prob. :) The person or people getting paid to market the team need to find some creative ways to attract fans. I already gave them some free suggestions. Any more and I need some compensation. All I know is there''s something wrong when Davis residents and businesspeople don't even know UCD has a baseball team, much less the dates + times of the games. Lack of interest is one thing, but the nearby community isn't even aware of it to not be interested.

I think our FT marketing person has been reassigned to a non-sports position elsewhere on campus.

I agree, the stadium could also use a little color.