We have good depth and a good team, others can pick up the slack. We want to be as healthy as possible for the final run (and I’m not really including the SEC tournament as part of that run, it’s the regionals, super regionals and the world series that matter now. Get people rested and healed for a strong finish. This particular team is built to do just that.
It doesn’t sound like Biggers can do any additional damage; it’s just a pain tolerance matter, and another week won’t get a broken finger healed anyway. But Koch, yeah, sit him down.
Get Biggers back on the field and find out if he can play. It’s important to find out what If he can play defense and also how effective he will be with the bat. The swelling may go down enough for him to try to go against Georgia.
I would like to hear the X-ray results on Koch’s ankle. That may tell the story on him!
I’m hoping they both are able to play at Georgia.
I’m by no stretch a doctor. I didn’t even stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. However, I’d think a small fracture might be more closely healed and perhaps less painful 2-3 weeks out from the injury than it would be 1 week out. We do have some doctors on this board, maybe they’ll weigh in on this.
Are we sure Koch’s injury isn’t serious–doesn’t involve the achilles tendon, etc?
DVH said he thought Koch had a sprain, so we’re going off that. Normal splinting time for a finger fracture is three weeks, followed by repeat X-rays to see if more time is needed.
If they are well enough to play, I’d say play them because we have a lot to play for in the series with Georgia. But I wouldn’t take a chance with either one of them. Obviously, Koch’s injury could be much worse than a sprain, but we won’t know until later. Biggers should only play if he feels comfortable gripping a bat, otherwise Kenley will do just fine. DVH doesn’t need to rush either one back into the lineup, but he also has to consider that these three games may have a say in the Hogs getting a top 8 seed. Going 5-14 on the road won’t help, but 7-12 (two wins at Georgia) sounds better.
If either one is less than full speed, I’d say hold them out. Not just to get additional healing time, but because their backups are good enough that I suspect they’d be better playing healthy than Koch & Biggers would be playing hurt. Besides, this deep into the season I’d think Koch would be almost exhausted. Playing catcher is the toughest position on the field besides pitcher–and pitchers get lots of rest between outings. Catchers don’t.
If the weather forecast holds up, it may be a moot point. But I agree that DVH shouldn’t play them if they aren’t ready. I’d think Biggers would probably be closer to ready than Koch, but we’ll see.
It’s never up to the players or coaches.
It’s first up to the doctors.
Well, it’s up to the doctors to clear them, but as I understand it Jax is already cleared. If he can play “as long as the play is tolerable” I’d think that’s got to be his call. Even then, I’d bet he’d say, “yeah, I can stand it” and the coach might think he’s being a bit hesitant. Koch, of course, no one on here really knows about.