Cws

[KB21]

Even if you include Kendall, that's only three freshmen- and it still doesn't change the fact that he is near the bottom of his team in batting average.

And it also doesn't change the fact of the matter that those teams are carried by experienced players- not their freshmen.

It also doesn't take into account park factors, which do effect things. That doesn't diminish the fact that Mississippi State has limited power in their line up. Opposing teams hit only 22 home runs at Dudy Noble this year. Heck, our team hit 6 in Kentucky's cracker jack stadium. You can see why Cohen played to his ball park there, as he had power hitters up and down his line up. Cohen has always stressed hitting the ball up the middle and using all the fields to his hitters. Ryan Strieby, former SEC Player of the Year, credits Cohen for making him a better hitter overall because of this approach, but even he probably benefited from that stadium more than most realize.

For those that believe Cohen coaches hitters to not hit home runs:

2009 Connor Powers = .668 SLG, 19 HR, 15 2B
2009 Russ Sneed = .532 SLG, 9 HR, 8 2B
2009 Ryan Duffy = .645 SLG, 10 HR, 8 2B
2009 Cody Freeman = .533 SLG, 6 HR, 3 2B
2009 Team = .468 SLG, 61 HRs, 103 2B

2010 Connor Powers = .696 SLG, 16 HR, 18 2B
2010 Luke Adkins = .532 SLG, 8 HR, 14 2B
2010 Nick Vickerson = .525 SLG, 8 HR, 12 2B
2010 Russ Sneed = .524 SLG, 9 HR, 10 2B
2010 Ryan Duffy = .642 SLG, 10 HR, 7 2B
2010 Team = .474 SLG, 68 HR, 112 2B

He's not coaching players to hit singles and not home runs. He's also had some bad luck with recruiting power guys. Runey Davis went pro from his first class. Corey Dickerson went pro from his second class. He lost Chase Vallot and Cord Sanberg last year and Austin Riley and Greg Pickett this year.