SEC Baseball Tournament: Biggest Things To Watch In Hoover

As the page now turns to Hoover, Ala, for the SEC Baseball Tournament, here are the biggest things to watch for this week.

The tournament starts on Tuesday, when seeds 9-through-16 all play for a chance to match up with seeds 5-through-8 on Wednesday. The winners of Wednesday’s games will move on to the quarterfinals, where the top four seeds await their opponent on Thursday and Friday.

Aside from the extra rest, an added benefit of the double-bye granted to the top four seeds is being able to set their rotation as if it was a normal weekend series. Unlike lower-seeded teams who will have to manage their pitching staff carefully to not blow through too many arms.

https://twitter.com/SEC/status/1923899803433349596

What to watch for this week

Can Florida play itself into hosting a regional with a good week?

You cannot find many teams in the SEC right now who are playing better ball than the Florida Gators, ranked No. 15 in this week’s D1Baseball’s Top 25. After starting 1-11 in the conference, the Gators finished SEC play 14-4 and have set themselves up to swoop in at the eleventh hour and be a regional host.

Right now, Florida is 15-15 in the conference and 37-19 overall, with an RPI of 14 and the fourth-highest strength of schedule. Across all the major baseball outlets, Florida is a two-seed with a chance at hosting.

https://twitter.com/11point7/status/1923877610720760292

Looking at their path in the tournament, they ideally need two wins this week to give themselves a real chance. The good news is that they play South Carolina on Tuesday, a team they swept this year; Ole Miss in the second round, a series they lost, but it was before Florida’s recent explosion.

If they were to win both those games, Florida would not play again till Friday, where they would face Arkansas, a team they took two out of three against back in April.

How likely is it that a top-four seed wins the tournament?

While nothing is ever guaranteed, it is certainly not a hot take to say that No. 2 Texas, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 1 LSU, and No. 9 Vanderbilt all have great chances to win it. A common attribute all four teams have is a great pitching staff – staffs that will be fully rested and ready to go.

While Texas may be down its Friday night starter, Ruger Riojas, Luke Harrison and Jason Flores have shown they are capable of holding down the fort. But it is the bullpen teams need to worry about – guys like Dylan Volantis, Max Grubbs, and Thomas Burns have dominated for the Longhorns and made things difficult for opponents.

LSU and Vanderbilt have two of the best starting rotations, not just in the SEC but in the entire country. The Tigers will roll the one-two-punch of Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson, who rank second and third in strikeouts this season.

https://twitter.com/11point7/status/1918850066640445880

JD Thompson has been excellent all year and is a strikeout away from 100 on the year. Cody Bowker is a serviceable No.2, and Connor Fennell might be the best Sunday starter in the country with a 2.85 ERA and a 6-0 record, Fennell has been lights-out.

Arkansas’ pitching staff also features plenty of firepower. Zach Root’s 102 strikeouts are sixth-best in the country and will be the first man rolled out for the Razorbacks.

Following Root is Gage Wood, who has been solid since returning from injury. They also have Gabe Gaeckle who can eat up innings and save Arkansas from using its bullpen.

Which teams outside of the top four can make a run?

With the tournament being single-elimination, any team playing on day one will have the difficult task of trying to make a deep run without burning through its pitching. Florida is one of the few in this group to have shown an ability to succeed without great pitching depth, making them a popular dark-horse candidate.

Two other teams with high hopes of contending are No. 21 Tennessee and No. 10 Georgia. Both feature deep rotations and explosive offensives they hope can take them deep into the tournament.

https://twitter.com/jontweetssports/status/1923793348889891081

Georgia leads the nation in home runs with 132, Tennessee is third in the country with 120. Good pitching with explosive offenses are always a good recipe to have at this time of the year.