Gehrig Frei

[bigbub50]

Frei has 5 of our 11 errors. Also batting .455, .500 ob%, 2/2 stolen bases. What?s the right move with him moving forward?
He?s not going to unseat mustache at DH.
Could give him another shot at 1b.
Could move Ace to OF and play him at 3B.
Could play him at 2b and pray they don?t hit it to him.

[msstate7]

Isn't the strength of the team pitching. If so, better get a butcher out of the field

[Leeshouldveflanked]

If he cant handle second base, he sure cant handle third

[bigbub50]

Can mustache play 1b? Slide frei into DH?

[Todd4State]

If he cant handle second base, he sure cant handle third

Eh- third is his natural position. It's apples and oranges to compare the two positions really. There are definitely players that can play both but I guarantee you that they had to put in a lot of work to be adequate at it.

[Todd4State]

Can mustache play 1b? Slide frei into DH?

He can and I think that is the best logical option for this discussion. Because then you could play Butkner or Reeves at second base and we're sitting Hines anyway.

[Coach34]

If he cant handle second base, he sure cant handle third

he's been a 3rd baseman for awhile. Trying to learn 2nd. We have decide if we think he will get better at 2nd or what do we do with him. His bat almost has to be in the line-up.

As I talked about before the season- defense was going to be a concern.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Can mustache play 1b? Slide frei into DH?

Seems right. If Hines is 200 hitter versus decent pitching. His season should be over.

[Homedawg]

He can and I think that is the best logical option for this discussion. Because then you could play Butkner or Reeves at second base and we're sitting Hines anyway.

No he can't. Technically he can. But he's not good there.

[Coach34]

Thats Lemon's dilemma:

Hines is clearly the best defender at 1st but is struggling at the plate
Frei is a hitting machine to start the season and has to play but is not very good at 2nd
None of the other 2nd basemen really look good at the plate but are much better defenders
Reese has 3B locked down
Sullivan/Stevens/Stallman/Downs have the corner spots covered in the OF. All 4 are off to good starts at the plate and Stevens arm in RF is a weapon

People say Lemon's recruiting sux and it just isnt true- he did a great job of bringing bats in but wasnt able to improve us at 2B and C. Reeves needs to be the guy but has to get going as does Highfill. Frei just has to rotate with the corner OF guys for AB's or replace Hines if he doesnt get the bat going

[StarkVegasSteve]

Thats Lemon's dilemma:

Hines is clearly the best defender at 1st but is struggling at the plate
Frei is a hitting machine to start the season and has to play but is not very good at 2nd
None of the other 2nd basemen really look good at the plate but are much better defenders
Reese has 3B locked down
Sullivan/Stevens/Stallman/Downs have the corner spots covered in the OF. All 4 are off to good starts at the plate and Stevens arm in RF is a weapon

People say Lemon's recruiting sux and it just isnt true- he did a great job of bringing bats in but wasnt able to improve us at 2B and C. Reeves needs to be the guy but has to get going as does Highfill. Frei just has to rotate with the corner OF guys for AB's or replace Hines if he doesnt get the bat going

So we're back to the Josh Hatcher conundrum we had in 2021. Eventually we had to move Hancock to 1B. I think we're going to end up with Frei at DH and move Sullivan to 1B. That would let you go Stallman, Downs/Stevens in the corner OF spots, although I think Stevens ends up winning that job. This way you can still bring in Hines as a defensive guy in the late innings and his bat could still provide some good pop if he ran into one.

The other thing we have to figure out is what the hell we are going to do with Highfill? He's not hitting and his fielding is bad. I don't know that we can continually run him out there. Hell Powell can hit .227 and he's better behind the plate, or at least doesn't allow as many passed balls.

[Coursesuper]

So we're back to the Josh Hatcher conundrum we had in 2021. Eventually we had to move Hancock to 1B. I think we're going to end up with Frei at DH and move Sullivan to 1B. That would let you go Stallman, Downs/Stevens in the corner OF spots, although I think Stevens ends up winning that job. This way you can still bring in Hines as a defensive guy in the late innings and his bat could still provide some good pop if he ran into one.

The other thing we have to figure out is what the hell we are going to do with Highfill? He's not hitting and his fielding is bad. I don't know that we can continually run him out there. Hell Powell can hit .227 and he's better behind the plate, or at least doesn't allow as many passed balls.

Agree on Powell he is way more comfortable behind the plate and can hit at least .227 with out all the free bases.

[Coach34]

Agree on Powell he is way more comfortable behind the plate and can hit at least .227 with out all the free bases.

yep. Highfill needs to get going soon or be replaced

[Coursesuper]

Thats Lemon's dilemma:

Hines is clearly the best defender at 1st but is struggling at the plate
Frei is a hitting machine to start the season and has to play but is not very good at 2nd
None of the other 2nd basemen really look good at the plate but are much better defenders
Reese has 3B locked down
Sullivan/Stevens/Stallman/Downs have the corner spots covered in the OF. All 4 are off to good starts at the plate and Stevens arm in RF is a weapon

People say Lemon's recruiting sux and it just isnt true- he did a great job of bringing bats in but wasnt able to improve us at 2B and C. Reeves needs to be the guy but has to get going as does Highfill. Frei just has to rotate with the corner OF guys for AB's or replace Hines if he doesnt get the bat going

Frie to the 3 spot makes as much sense as any lineup we can run out there. We can't leave that production out of the lineup for a guy that is only hitting bad pitching or mistakes. Can't start a game 6 outs down.

[confucius say]

We better figure out a catcher before sec play. Our pitchers pick more off than highfill throws out. And his receiving sucks. Going to be an issue.

[The Federalist Engineer]

We better figure out a catcher before sec play. Our pitchers pick more off than highfill throws out. And his receiving sucks. Going to be an issue.

Literal and Humorless Dorks, don't read this post. Creative guys read-on.

I wonder if MSU cannot make history with the catcher situation by having Brooks Bryan (1) un-enroll at Troy today 3/7/25 (2) enroll at MSU 3/8/25 (3) move to Starkville and (4) join the MSU baseball team in time to play next weekend.

An audacious move like this has never been done. D1-to-D1 move within the season. But in professional baseball, people do this every day.

FYI, a mock trial related to a Wisconsin-to-Miami football transfer found that the NCAA does not have a legal argument to prevent this from happening.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Literal and Humorless Dorks, don't read this post. Creative guys read-on.

I wonder if MSU cannot make history with the catcher situation by having Brooks Bryan (1) un-enroll at Troy today 3/7/25 (2) enroll at MSU 3/8/25 (3) move to Starkville and (4) join the MSU baseball team in time to play next weekend.

An audacious move like this has never been done. D1-to-D1 move within the season. But in professional baseball, people do this every day.

FYI, a mock trial related to a Wisconsin-to-Miami football transfer found that the NCAA does not have a legal argument to prevent this from happening.

In all seriousness, that's where this portal stuff is headed. They're going to have to put safeguards on it or some guy will blow up in early season action and be starting for LSU the first SEC Weekend.

[Tbonewannabe]

Thats Lemon's dilemma:

Hines is clearly the best defender at 1st but is struggling at the plate
Frei is a hitting machine to start the season and has to play but is not very good at 2nd
None of the other 2nd basemen really look good at the plate but are much better defenders
Reese has 3B locked down
Sullivan/Stevens/Stallman/Downs have the corner spots covered in the OF. All 4 are off to good starts at the plate and Stevens arm in RF is a weapon

People say Lemon's recruiting sux and it just isnt true- he did a great job of bringing bats in but wasnt able to improve us at 2B and C. Reeves needs to be the guy but has to get going as does Highfill. Frei just has to rotate with the corner OF guys for AB's or replace Hines if he doesnt get the bat going

Frei needs a Roger Dorn fielding montage to get to serviceable at 2nd. Can we just let the guy take some online classes so he can take grounders for 5 hours a day?