The Oakland A's and Tampa Bay Rays, among others, have made the "opener" strategy famous this year. This is where a reliever starts the game, goes 3 innings or less, followed by a long reliever who bridges the gap to the set- up man+ closer. This is a reaction to a shortage of starting pitchers that can give quality starts consistently.

What does everyone think about this strategy ? I'm of the opinion that this is something UCD might want to try with its Sunday or Tuesday starters going forward.

One thing that keeps (in my opinion) UCD from moving forward is the inconsistency with the pitching. Since they don't play everyday there are a few pitchers who rarely get opportunities. Also, every year they promote at least 1 reliever from the year before to the rotation. It's partially the nature of college baseball (the draft + graduations). but the depth in the rotation usually isn't there due to inexperience. I'd be in favor of letting a freshman (one worthy of doing so of course) be an opener once a week. Since they are essentially a reliever beginning the game it's not such an issue if they don't have commandof a third pitch yet. As soon as the opponents get dialed in there's a pitching change. Good way to get the younger guys experience. And Vaughn likes his long relievers anyway.

Let's face it, in any given season it's not very likely
UCD has 3- 4 consistent starters + as good as the players are it's difficult for them to out- muscle + outpitch, and out- field the Big West competition. Perhaps we need to put our big UCD- educated brains to work + think of some unconventional ways to improve the win- loss record + fan support.

Analytics are also big in pro baseball now. Of course UCD doesn't have the financial resources to invest in a baseball analytics department and fancy equipment, but don't we have a statistics department ? Some more big brains that can collect some meaningful data on our athletes' performance, albeit perhaps not rpm, but stats like BABIP (batting average on balls in play) can be useful when deciding on the lineup + pinch hitters.