Was I reading into it, or was Coach DVH a bit peeved that he found out about Taccolini’s soreness during the trip instead of before it? I would imagine he could have put another pitcher on the traveling squad if he had found out sooner. Who knows what a difference that would have made with one more arm to throw at Auburn.
That’s the way it sounds to me.
Give him the opportunity to start tomorrow, or give someone else a chance. Sounds like he let the team down.
I do not think he “let the team down” but I do think he should have made sure coaches knew he was experiencing troubles with his forearm earlier than he did. He probably didn’t understand that it wasn’t going to get better.
Players don’t reveal injuries many times. They know that it might effect their playing time. They think there is a good chance it will be better the next day because often times it is. So you keep certain nagging things to yourself because they don’t seem like a big deal, then they get worse.
How many times have you seen someone go down in the field, and the trainer comes out only to have the player wave them away. It may turn out that the next inning, they don’t return to the field. In all honesty, the player should have come out as soon as it happened. But, they think they can walk it off or play through it.
I’m guessing Dom thought this was a soreness that would be gone after another day and he’d be ready to pitch. It didn’t work out.
Dave Van Horn is quick to call out a player. I can recall other instances like Blake Baxendale getting thrown under the bus for not coming to rehab with a hamstring issue. Blake didn’t think it was a big deal and then hurt it again. Ooops. Now you are in trouble with the head coach. Eventually, Blake was gone from the program.
I wonder who coach would have brought if he’d known about Dom’s soreness ahead of time anyway? I guess the last one on the roster, and what would they have brought that would have helped us?
It would have been a pitcher. I don’t have a copy of the 27-man roster for the trip. But it would be a pitcher who would have gotten some exposure to an SEC road trip, valuable experience. Perhaps he would have gotten in an inning or two somewhere and that would have given him a taste. Perhaps it could have been a guy to pitch to one batter in a situational matchup. For sure, there is no use in taking someone who can’t play.
In addition to the competitiveness all of these young men have, there is also the aspect of there being a thin line between treating an injury sensibly and being perceived by the fans, teammates and coaches as a “wuss” who can’t play through (reasonable) pain. No one wants to have that label.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that it is often very difficult for a player to immediately discern whether the pain they are feeling is short-term and not serious, from those that are more serious and that they should have looked at immediately. This is especially true for pain/injuries they have not suffered before. Most will default to “Playing through it” and assuming it is something that will “just go away” soon. If it turns out to be something of that nature, we laud the player for “being tough”. If he plays when he should not have, then we question his intelligence and/or selfishness.
It can be a difficult decision to navigate.
DVH is a no nonsense coach. Me and the wife traveled to Knoxville to see the Hogs play and to visit one of the players who we’ve know his entire life. This kid led the team in HR’s that year. In his 2nd AB our friend took a third called strike. I told the wife that DVH would bench him for taking the called 3rd strike. And as i predicted the kid was benched.
My wife was furious. But she does not understand baseball. After the game we visited with our friend and he understood why he was pulled. My son in law played baseball at UALR (will always be that to me). It’s a business in division 1 sports. That is just a fact. Coaches are paid to win.