On last week’s podcast, we said the Duke series would be a “show-me” moment for the Canes. We didn’t like the results, with a devastating sweep preceded by a shutout against FAU. Javi Salas, who threw the 23rd perfect game in D1 history for the Canes, joined the CanesInSight Podcast with his thoughts on what went wrong and what needs to get fixed:
On the Duke series: Definitely a “show-me” week and not the show we wanted to see. Three one-run losses, which are gut wrenching as baseball fans. On Friday night, walk-off loss in the ninth. Sunday, walk-off loss in the 11th. Saturday, tight ballgame, lose by one run.
The Canes find themselves in quite the predicament, 6-9 in the conference. This is a team that started off so well, beating Virginia two out of three, beating North Carolina two out of three, two Top 15 ball clubs. And now we've seen three straight series losses.
The trajectory is very concerning since we're 30 games into the season. I'm sure everybody in that locker room is trying to problem solve at this point and get the ship back on track.
On the team’s fundamentals in close games: In these one-run games, everything gets magnified. Early in the season, the ball was flying out of the park at astronomical rates. You get into conference play, you're gonna see good pitching. You're gonna see teams that know they have to win these series.
The ACC is loaded. Seven ranked teams as of today in the Top 25 poll. There's no easy weekend, so pitching becomes heightened. Fielding percentage, one of the big barometers of team success, becomes heightened. Base running, something that we've talked about at length here, becomes heightened. You need to protect your 27 outs and you need to get them at all costs.
Unfortunately, the last couple of weeks, we've just seen a decline in the ball club. I attribute it to a couple of things. When we had Coach Gutierrez on early in the season, he mentioned baseball IQ. Getting guys to buy in, understanding how valuable outs are, understanding that the game is won and lost at small margins, and how the little things magnify themselves. We've seen that go against Miami in ACC play. It's something you don't want to see, especially at this portion of the season, but it's something they can correct. There's still 15 games left to play. If they want to make a tournament run, they’ve got to do it right now.
On the decline of the offense: The name of the game in baseball is sample size. Once you start getting at bats, you start seeing the hot and cold zones of all these hitters. Everybody has that data. It's widely disseminated. I'm sure Duke's game plan mirrored Clemson's game plan.
The key to beating the Hurricanes is keeping them in the yard. You’ve got to keep Daniel Cuvet in the yard, you’ve got to keep Blake Cyr in the yard, and you’ve got to keep Jason Torres in the yard. We've seen that in ACC play. We have 16 home runs as a team in conference play, over 30 in non-conference play. So what does that tell me? Teams are scouting. Their scouting reports are much better. They know how to pitch to these guys. They know their weaknesses.
It’s a testament to how tough the conference is. The ACC is the number one, number two conference in all the Power Five.
On what Miami needs to do to make the tournament: Miami is sitting at second to last in the Coastal, right above Pitt. We still have three games against Virginia Tech, three games against Louisville, three games against Pitt and three against Georgia Tech. There’s some winnable games there. You gotta sweep Pitt. Got to take two out of three against Virginia Tech and Louisville. And the Georgia Tech series again, you’ve got to find a way to win it.
There is a path for Miami. The only thing the coaching staff and everybody in that locker room is thinking about is we’ve got to win on Tuesday against FAU. Every single game is must-win from here on out.
But you’ve got to figure out the identity of the ball club. What exactly are we? Because early in the year, this team was hitting the ball all over the place. We’ve seen the starting pitching make a U-turn. Gage Ziehl has been out of this world in conference play. Rafe Schlesinger has held his own. Herrick Hernandez had a great start on Sunday. So the starting pitching has more than held its own.
Relief pitching has been the weak spot for Miami. They still haven't figured out who exactly the stoppers are. There's a sort of an identity crisis now for Miami. Those guys need to look in the mirror. The leaders need to figure out, “What kind of team do we want to be remembered for?” Do you want to be the team that turned it around midway through the season or the team that started off great, hit some troubles and then sputtered out?
On the hidden ball trick that resulted in a crucial balk: The ball gets hit into the outfield. Dorian Gonzalez catches it at second. I've been a part of some hidden ball tricks at the professional level. Usually, you just get a look from the person who has the ball that he's going to hold on to it. For whatever reason, Ashton Crowther didn't clear the mound completely. He had one foot in the dirt, which in college you're not allowed to be anywhere on the surface of the mound. Dorian goes and tags a guy at second base.
It was a weird play because you saw it in slow motion. The second base umpire didn't necessarily see it. They all conferred and one of the umpires said that Crowther was still on the mound area.
It was one of those things where Crowther has to know, “Hey, I can't be on the surface. I need to completely clear.” One of those things where there are good intentions, but bad execution. You don't want to give away runs. At the end of the day, Miami has a 7-1 lead, and then they have a 10-7 lead. They managed to allow those leads to evaporate quickly in the span of an inning. The hidden ball trick is just a small portion of that comeback for Duke, but you want to circle those two comebacks and say, “This can't happen again.”
On FAU: They were a thorn in my side in my career. I faced FAU a bunch and they got the best of me a couple times. The park is not going to be packed. It's a Tuesday night. It's one of those games where you’ve got to bring your own energy, your own mojo. The good ball clubs understand that. Midweeks are what's going to be the difference between hosting or not playing in the field of 64.
You've got to erase what's happened. You've got to come out really energetic. There's got to be a rigor and discipline about the way they go about their business. I don't want to say that FAU has no business beating us. They've been a good ball club. They've made it to regionals. They've played in a super regional. But Miami has to win this game.
On FSU: Last year, FSU looked very similar to what Miami looks like this year. Link Jarrett comes in from Notre Dame and purges the program. They struggled a whole bunch last year, goes into the portal, has a really good recruiting offseason, and they're the number nine team in the country.
If Miami ever wanted an opportunity to right the ship, it's this week. You have four in-state rival games. FSU is going to be a packed house and hostile environment. I guarantee you no one's going to pick Miami to win this series. So, why not?
If you win a series against Florida State, things look a little bit better. The fans are going to be in a much better spot. The boards would be a little bit more jolly.
I love playing at **** Howser Stadium. They're going to pack it up. You're gonna hear the chop. You're gonna hear these guys all jacked up. There's gonna be some bitter trash talk between the two dugouts. There's no love lost here, more so than with Florida, especially in that environment. Let’s find out what this ball club is made of.
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