Good news

[basedog]

Hunter Hines is coming back!

[Commercecomet24]

Yes and hopefully Mershon as well. Hopefully Hunter is driven to get better it's his last shot to get drafted high after next season

[basedog]

Yes and hopefully Mershon as well. Hopefully Hunter is driven to get better it's his last shot to get drafted high after next season

I say that is a no brainer. Glad he is coming back. I hope he has an awesome year.

[Commercecomet24]

I say that is a no brainer. Glad he is coming back. I hope he has an awesome year.

Right on!

[Cowbell]

There is no dollar amount on the value of having Mershon and Hines back - they guarantee we atleast have leasership which has been our biggest hole over the last three years.

[basedog]

There is no dollar amount on the value of having Mershon and Hines back - they guarantee we atleast have leasership which has been our biggest hole over the last three years.

Value and leadership indeed. Very critical imo for next year.

[msstate7]

Huge news. Feeling better about next season

[HoopsDawg]

that kind of power and experience is extremely valuable.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Value and leadership indeed. Very critical imo for next year.

HH and DM are going to be hungry leaders. Need that.

Would be cool if they recruited Dakota Jordan to come back for another season

[Cooterpoot]

Mersh is gone

[confucius say]

Mersh is gone

He just wants to be a pro.

Also, Hines needs a full on attitude adjustment if he's going to be a team leader

[DownwardDawg]

We are a Super Regional team next year.

[Cooterpoot]

We are a Super Regional team next year.

We were one this year but we didn't get it done. I don't see it. I see a regional team with holes but better overall depth. Mershon leaving is a huge blow. CF and 3B are questions. Lots of guys that simply haven't done it at this level yet. Pitching will be good. Could it be a super team later in the season? Sure but still things to address.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

We were one this year but we didn't get it done. I don't see it. I see a regional team with holes but better overall depth. Mershon leaving is a huge blow. CF and 3B are questions. Lots of guys that simply haven't done it at this level yet. Pitching will be good. Could it be a super team later in the season? Sure but still things to address.

What is our pitching situation? That transfer from Indiana state is a starter, Pico and Ligon are guys where you'd expect 1 to make the jump to starter. Hardin and Black might develop into more reliable bullpen arms. Not sure where the other 14ish innings will come from but I don't know the roster that well

[Tbonewannabe]

What is our pitching situation? That transfer from Indiana state is a starter, Pico and Ligon are guys where you'd expect 1 to make the jump to starter. Hardin and Black might develop into more reliable bullpen arms. Not sure where the other 14ish innings will come from but I don't know the roster that well

Pico was finally healthy at the end of the year. He is one SEC starter. Probably Sat or Sunday. We just need two more weekend guys out of Ligon and the transfers. It would be great if Loftin was healthy also.

[Cooterpoot]

What is our pitching situation? That transfer from Indiana state is a starter, Pico and Ligon are guys where you'd expect 1 to make the jump to starter. Hardin and Black might develop into more reliable bullpen arms. Not sure where the other 14ish innings will come from but I don't know the roster that well

Hardin is done.
Pico and our transfer are two starters. Juco transfer and Ligon look to battle for 3. But Parker could move guys around, because he's got a little depth now.

[Commercecomet24]

Hardin is done.
Pico and our transfer are two starters. Juco transfer and Ligon look to battle for 3. But Parker could move guys around, because he's got a little depth now.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Grant being able to get a weekend rotation spot in the spring.

[State82]

I'm cautiously optimistic about Grant being able to get a weekend rotation spot in the spring.

I asked this a while back and I think Todd answered it but I can't remember what he said. Do you know how far along he is post-op?

[Commercecomet24]

I asked this a while back and I think Todd answered it but I can't remember what he said. Do you know how far along he is post-op?

Just from what i've heard he's right on track in his rehab. We're being cautious and making sure he's 100%. He should be good to go in the spring

[Coach34]

Rosey reporting Mershon hasnt even begun talks yet about an Angels offer

[basedog]

Not surprised. I'm thinking and hoping he comes back.

[Brobi-wan]

Hines coming back helps a lot. Shame we couldn’t get DJ back too

[viverlibre]

Rosey reporting Mershon hasnt even begun talks yet about an Angels offer

He's also high on the JC pitcher coming in and another true freshman pitcher. He is concerned the pitcher transferring in from UK may sign with MLB.

2025 is going to be good year, we'll host and challenge for a top 8 national seed.

[Cooterpoot]

Rosey reporting Mershon hasnt even begun talks yet about an Angels offer

Got to wait on the guys ahead of him and compare the NIL/"desire to play pro". It's a dumb move to go but there's a lot of push to do it.

[Cooterpoot]

He's also high on the JC pitcher coming in and another true freshman pitcher. He is concerned the pitcher transferring in from UK may sign with MLB.

2025 is going to be good year, we'll host and challenge for a top 8 national seed.

Top 8? Depends on how the dominoes fall bull with the moves being made, I feel a little better. Hosting is the damn minimum if things fall like I think!

[bigbub50]

Who is the incoming Juco pitcher ppl are high on?

[viverlibre]

Who is the incoming Juco pitcher ppl are high on?

Can't remember his name, he signed with Kansas State, then transferred to Juco. Rosebowl said a MLB scout told him he was the best pitcher in Juco. It's in this pod:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/7-18-24-steve-robertson-handicaps-%24-mershon-coming/id611229475?i=1000662650293

[Commercecomet24]

Got to wait on the guys ahead of him and compare the NIL/"desire to play pro". It's a dumb move to go but there's a lot of push to do it.

Yeah it all comes down to is just ready to start pro ball. I agree it's a dumb move if he goes. If he's patient and stays another year he could really move up.

[Saltydog]

He's also high on the JC pitcher coming in and another true freshman pitcher. He is concerned the pitcher transferring in from UK may sign with MLB.

2025 is going to be good year, we'll host and challenge for a top 8 national seed.

Yeah, ok.........Let's bookmark this thread.......We're closer to being in the bottom of the league than we are to hosting...........

[viverlibre]

Yeah, ok.........Let's bookmark this thread.......We're closer to being in the bottom of the league than we are to hosting...........

What is it about our fanbase that we have so many that expect us to and want us to fail? There's no way this kind of mindset is so engrained in other fanbases of successful programs.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Yeah, ok.........Let's bookmark this thread.......We're closer to being in the bottom of the league than we are to hosting...........

Eh I wouldn't go that far. We will go from 4 to 2 (at the most) holes in the lineup and Parker has enough talent that he'll put something together. Will it be the best offense? No. Will it be the lowest ERA? No. But both could be middling which could put us as a bubble team to host

[Homedawg]

Yeah, ok.........Let's bookmark this thread.......We're closer to being in the bottom of the league than we are to hosting...........

Maybe. But the exact same thing was said last year at this time and that proved to be brutally wrong.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Maybe. But the exact same thing was said last year at this time and that proved to be brutally wrong.

This time last year I said we'd squeeze into a regional, lose it, and bring Lemo back for another bad year. I don't know if I was "brutally" wrong, but we did better than I thought and were a high 2 seed. 10 sports lower in RPI and we would have been a bubble team. I now think we'll make the tournament next year too, but I don't think we'll host.

Ultimately, lemos in season management SUCKS. He DHs the wrong person at the wrong time, sticks with the wrong lineups for way too long, and pulls pitchers at the wrong time. He costs us a lot of games compared to our talents actual ceiling. We have to have 11 draft picks to be a 2 seed, as an example. Given that we have the NIL to poach starters from Kentucky, I worry Lemo will be kept on life support indefinitely; us always buying enough talent to just make up for Lemos bad coaching and keep him employed here

But we'll see next year. If we host or make a super he should get '26. If we miss both of those again... that's 4 years since he'll have hit the "state standard" and bringing him back again means we are now a "field of 32" program that doesn't expect to seriously compete. I could see next year playing out either way but I highly doubt we miss the tournament entirely

[SPMT]

Commerce, basedog, other coaches?.

What does Hines need to do to change his draft perception?

I know many say he needs to hit to all fields. To me that could be difficult to change. He?s most likely been exclusively a pull hitter since he was a kid.

Is that really changeable?

To me, he needs to get jacked and strong as hell. He lost a lot of baby fat and looked pretty small this year.

[KB21]

Commerce, basedog, other coaches?.

What does Hines need to do to change his draft perception?

I know many say he needs to hit to all fields. To me that could be difficult to change. He?s most likely been exclusively a pull hitter since he was a kid.

Is that really changeable?

To me, he needs to get jacked and strong as hell. He lost a lot of baby fat and looked pretty small this year.

It's more about chase and swing and miss with him. He chased a lot of pitches that were out of the zone last season, and he also had some swing and miss issues on some in the zone.

[Commercecomet24]

Commerce, basedog, other coaches?.

What does Hines need to do to change his draft perception?

I know many say he needs to hit to all fields. To me that could be difficult to change. He?s most likely been exclusively a pull hitter since he was a kid.

Is that really changeable?

To me, he needs to get jacked and strong as hell. He lost a lot of baby fat and looked pretty small this year.

Theres a lot he can do to make the adjustments necessary to become a more complete hitter. He's always gonna be a high k guy because power hitters tend to be that way. He lacks plate discipline and he swings at so many pitches that aren't close, it looks as if he's decdided he's gonna swing before the pitch is even thrown. He needs to work on learning the zone better and pitch recognition. He's gonna have to put in some work and make some adjustments if he's gonna become the hitter he needs to be to earn a high draft spot. Very telling that he wasn't even drafted this year. Scouts are seeing the same things I've just mentioned and his lack of plate discipline and pitch recognition killed his stock. He's got work to do unless he's happy being a 15-20 hr, .260 hitter with 25% k rate, which means his career will end after next year.

[basedog]

Theres a lot he can do to make the adjustments necessary to become a more complete hitter. He's always gonna be a high k guy because power hitters tend to be that way. He lacks plate discipline and he swings at so many pitches that aren't close, it looks as if he's decdided he's gonna swing before the pitch is even thrown. He needs to work on learning the zone better and pitch recognition. He's gonna have to put in some work and make some adjustments if he's gonna become the hitter he needs to be to earn a high draft spot. Very telling that he wasn't even drafted this year. Scouts are seeing the same things I've just mentioned and his lack of plate discipline and pitch recognition killed his stock. He's got work to do unless he's happy being a 15-20 hr, .260 hitter with 25% k rate, which means his career will end after next year.

I think u nailed it 24. But one thing he needs is confidence, he seemed pretty confused and lost at the plate. All athletes need to have confidence they can get the job done. Hitters can get hot and then they can also get cold. If it was me, I would cut down on my swing especially after two stirkes, but that is easy to say when I'm not batting.

P.S. Seems Mershon has a nice NIL deal in front of him, around $250K from us.

[Commercecomet24]

I think u nailed it 24. But one thing he needs is confidence, he seemed pretty confused and lost at the plate. All athletes need to have confidence they can get the job done. Hitters can get hot and then they can also get cold. If it was me, I would cut down on my swing especially after two stirkes, but that is easy to say when I'm not batting.

P.S. Seems Mershon has a nice NIL deal in front of him, around $250K from us.

There's an old drill(because I'm old), that i've seen work countless times and i've used it over and over. You have a guy stand in the box with no bat and have a guy throw pitch after pitching mixing fbs, breaking balls, changeups, etc. and have him call what kind of pitch it is and whether or not ball or strike. It can help a hitter learn the zone better and pitch recognition.

ETA Mershon isn't gonna get that kind of money from the Angels. If he's wise he'll take our deal and comeback and improve his draft stock for next year and cash in.

[Really Clark?]

There's an old drill(because I'm old), that i've seen work countless times and i've used it over and over. You have a guy stand in the box with no bat and have a guy throw pitch after pitching mixing fbs, breaking balls, changeups, etc. and have him call what kind of pitch it is and whether or not ball or strike. It can help a hitter learn the zone better and pitch recognition.

ETA Mershon isn't gonna get that kind of money from the Angels. If he's wise he'll take our deal and comeback and improve his draft stock for next year and cash in.

That's a really good drill. Work it with dominate eye training, spin focus, large to small eye focus training, etc.

[basedog]

There's an old drill(because I'm old), that i've seen work countless times and i've used it over and over. You have a guy stand in the box with no bat and have a guy throw pitch after pitching mixing fbs, breaking balls, changeups, etc. and have him call what kind of pitch it is and whether or not ball or strike. It can help a hitter learn the zone better and pitch recognition.

ETA Mershon isn't gonna get that kind of money from the Angels. If he's wise he'll take our deal and comeback and improve his draft stock for next year and cash in.

Awesome advice and coaching techniques!

I just think Mershon will be back, $250K for the coming year to stay in college is good money. Plus he can work on his game w/o much pressure and enjoy another year of college life.

[State82]

There's an old drill(because I'm old), that i've seen work countless times and i've used it over and over. You have a guy stand in the box with no bat and have a guy throw pitch after pitching mixing fbs, breaking balls, changeups, etc. and have him call what kind of pitch it is and whether or not ball or strike. It can help a hitter learn the zone better and pitch recognition.

That's a great routine to work with.

[Commercecomet24]

That's a really good drill. Work it with dominate eye training, spin focus, large to small eye focus training, etc.

Right on and it works! I guess folks would consider it low tech now, lol, but it's dang sure tried and true!

[Commercecomet24]

Awesome advice and coaching techniques!

I just think Mershon will be back, $250K for the coming year to stay in college is good money. Plus he can work on his game w/o much pressure and enjoy another year of college life.

100%! Big man on campus, making excellent money and put off having to slog around the bus leagues for a year, lol

[SPMT]

There's an old drill(because I'm old), that i've seen work countless times and i've used it over and over. You have a guy stand in the box with no bat and have a guy throw pitch after pitching mixing fbs, breaking balls, changeups, etc. and have him call what kind of pitch it is and whether or not ball or strike. It can help a hitter learn the zone better and pitch recognition.

ETA Mershon isn't gonna get that kind of money from the Angels. If he's wise he'll take our deal and comeback and improve his draft stock for next year and cash in.


That?s a great idea for a drill. I?m going to work that with my son some. That?s not really his weakness though.

I?m torn on swinging at breaking balls. They are clearly very hard to hit. Like a really good slider is going to be really tough to hit when executed properly. One that doesn?t break much?.sure.

[Commercecomet24]

That?s a great idea for a drill. I?m going to work that with my son some. That?s not really his weakness though.

I?m torn on swinging at breaking balls. They are clearly very hard to hit. Like a really good slider is going to be really tough to hit when executed properly. One that doesn?t break much?.sure.

It's a really good drill. Even it he doesn't have that as a weakness, it'll help in learning to let the ball travel and you'll be amazed at how he learns to pickup spin when not having the pressure of hitting the baseball and it all carries over to the box when it's live.

[SPMT]

It's a really good drill. Even it he doesn't have that as a weakness, it'll help in learning to let the ball travel and you'll be amazed at how he learns to pickup spin when not having the pressure of hitting the baseball and it all carries over to the box when it's live.

Thanks. His weakness is getting to two strikes too easily. Watch first strike, fouls next..sitting 0-2 or 1-2. When the pitchers are better you are done in those situations. Could get away with it when younger and just hit a double or hr or something. Now, you are going to miss the 78 mph slider that some top top 14u-15u can throw on 1-2 count.

[Cooterpoot]

Angels will have money to give Mersh, it just depends on if they are willing to do it. If they are, I'd say Mersh is gone. If not, it gets interesting.

[Coach34]

Hines needs the ol Bobby Wooldridge treatment of breaking poor habits this Fall

Pull an outside pitch during BP? Bear crawl to 1st for each time it happens
Take a called 3rd strike? Bear crawl back to the dugout
Swing at a pitch out of the zone with no strikes? Bear crawl to the foul pole

Doing that this Fall would force some habit changes at the plate for the Spring. It's an old school tried and true method.

[Todd4State]

This time last year I said we'd squeeze into a regional, lose it, and bring Lemo back for another bad year. I don't know if I was "brutally" wrong, but we did better than I thought and were a high 2 seed. 10 sports lower in RPI and we would have been a bubble team. I now think we'll make the tournament next year too, but I don't think we'll host.

Ultimately, lemos in season management SUCKS. He DHs the wrong person at the wrong time, sticks with the wrong lineups for way too long, and pulls pitchers at the wrong time. He costs us a lot of games compared to our talents actual ceiling. We have to have 11 draft picks to be a 2 seed, as an example. Given that we have the NIL to poach starters from Kentucky, I worry Lemo will be kept on life support indefinitely; us always buying enough talent to just make up for Lemos bad coaching and keep him employed here

But we'll see next year. If we host or make a super he should get '26. If we miss both of those again... that's 4 years since he'll have hit the "state standard" and bringing him back again means we are now a "field of 32" program that doesn't expect to seriously compete. I could see next year playing out either way but I highly doubt we miss the tournament entirely

You were literally questioning why we brought Lemonis back last year. And yes you were brutally wrong. It's absolutely hilarious that you're mad because you think we're going to keep "winning so we have to keep Lemonis." Isn't that the whole point?

I see the football mentality with some of our fans trying to understand baseball coaching is strong here. Baseball isn't like football where coaches have a ton of control into play calls and can control who gets the ball in certain situations to an extent. It's much more individualized and therefore pitching probably has more to do with the outcome than anything else. And even if you have the right people out there- there is always the chance of an off day. If a team wins 100 games in MLB that still means they lost 62. That doesn't mean Joe Torre managed the team poorly or had the wrong lineup out there. So because of the fact that talent wins games more often than not the best way for us to succeed is to bring in talent which we are doing. Whether our fans recognize it or not is another story.

[Todd4State]

It's a really good drill. Even it he doesn't have that as a weakness, it'll help in learning to let the ball travel and you'll be amazed at how he learns to pickup spin when not having the pressure of hitting the baseball and it all carries over to the box when it's live.

I like a drill that is similar- the dot drill. Which is probably the next step in the progression. Put a blue or green dot on the ball and have the hitter call out the dot color. It can be varied where you have the hitter swing at a certain color and take the other.

May not work if the hitter is color blind. LOL.

[Todd4State]

Awesome advice and coaching techniques!

I just think Mershon will be back, $250K for the coming year to stay in college is good money. Plus he can work on his game w/o much pressure and enjoy another year of college life.

With our NIL and what I suspect the bonus will be- I would definitely say that the best financial move is likely to go back to MSU for another year.

The exception being if the Angels go way overslot which is possible I guess.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

You were literally questioning why we brought Lemonis back last year. And yes you were brutally wrong. It's absolutely hilarious that you're mad because you think we're going to keep "winning so we have to keep Lemonis." Isn't that the whole point?

I see the football mentality with some of our fans trying to understand baseball coaching is strong here. Baseball isn't like football where coaches have a ton of control into play calls and can control who gets the ball in certain situations to an extent. It's much more individualized and therefore pitching probably has more to do with the outcome than anything else. And even if you have the right people out there- there is always the chance of an off day. If a team wins 100 games in MLB that still means they lost 62. That doesn't mean Joe Torre managed the team poorly or had the wrong lineup out there. So because of the fact that talent wins games more often than not the best way for us to succeed is to bring in talent which we are doing. Whether our fans recognize it or not is another story.

We aren't winning at the State standard, you yourself admit this.

No, I'm not using a "football" mindset.

Pitching is the most important? Pitching? Funny, because in another thread today YOU defended Lemos underperformance of his talent level by saying that most of the talent was pitching, and hitters are more important. Which is it?

You from another thread after I showed Lemo did not win many games per draft pick:


Considering that 7-8 of those draft picks were pitchers and therefore not even on the field much of the time and that we had three position players drafted it would kind of prove your "stat" wrong.

[Todd4State]

We aren't winning at the State standard, you yourself admit this.

No, I'm not using a "football" mindset.

Pitching is the most important? Pitching? Funny, because in another thread today YOU defended Lemos underperformance of his talent level by saying that most of the talent was pitching, and hitters are more important. Which is it?

You from another thread after I showed Lemo did not win many games per draft pick:

You absolutely are using a football mindset. It's very clear that you think that the head coach has a lot more control of what goes on during a game than what he actually does. If our 8th place hitter is due up in an inning instead of our clean up guy there is nothing that Lemonis can do about that other than use a pinch hitter who probably isn't good enough to start. In football you can have your QB target a receivers or hand it off to an all world running back and sometimes it doesn't matter if the other team knows it.

I didn't say that the hitters were more important. I said that there were only a few them that were drafted on the field at the same time. Meaning that most of our drafted guys who were PITCHERS were on the bench. Meaning your stat was skewed. Which is why literally no one in the sport uses that stat. I've always said that pitching is more important. What was the difference between last year and 2022 and 2023? We literally fixed pitching and defense and almost doubled our SEC win total, made the regionals.

And no this season wasn't up to standard but it was enough of an improvement to stay the course- we were literally 2 wins from the standard and we won 17 SEC games. And the reality is Lemonis is the one who made the changes, hires, and improved the team. That's hard for you to swallow I'm sure but that's the reality. And now we're taking steps to correct the offense with a portal class ranked fifth in the country which is not bad considering that Lemonis was accused of "not showing enough urgency" in the portal in mid June the day the portal opened among other things.

[schddog72]

Hunter Hines is coming back!

I suspect that the main reason he's coming back is to see if he can break Jordan's strikeout record.

[Pancho]

well, I guess that is the case now....maybe

[99jc]

Angels will have money to give Mersh, it just depends on if they are willing to do it. If they are, I'd say Mersh is gone. If not, it gets interesting.

i thought you posted he was 100%gone!

[SPMT]

I suspect that the main reason he's coming back is to see if he can break Jordan's strikeout record.

Please stop. A couple things:

1. I can assure he doesn?t want to do that.
2. He may not be an mlb player but it is ours and his best interest to bat 350 with 30 bombs next year.

He deserves criticism for whatever reason allowed him to under perform this year but he has 20-30 a year pro ball power.

Let?s constructively criticize, I.e. he chases too many pitches etc.

Let?s not be dicks. If we found out the dude didn?t work on his game all last off season and showed up for BP in February then yeah, be a jerk. I think kid is disappointed and hopefully finds his groove again.

[Coach34]

I suspect that the main reason he's coming back is to see if he can break Jordan's strikeout record.

lol- he is likely going to be the all-time State HR hitter

[SPMT]

lol- he is likely going to be the all-time State HR hitter


Right! And we?ve not heard he?s a cancer or shit starter like Alford was. If he is, then I?m all on being rough on them.

[Coach34]

Right! And we?ve not heard he?s a cancer or shit starter like Alford was. If he is, then I?m all on being rough on them.

Haha- people say he and Alford had a ?spirited disagreement? and Hunter got his point across 2 years ago

He has South Jackson DNA so I know he has punched a couple of people in his life