Todd4State
03-13-2025, 02:43 AM
Pitching- we kind of experimented some but I thought we handled it better from a coaching standpoint than we have in the past. Siary looks like a guy that can be a good midweek starter/long relief option for at least 3 innings. Grant and Burns had some good and some bad. Would like to see Grant start against Jackson State next week to see how he handles it. I think Nate Williams is really emerging as the closer and Ryan McPherson is emerging as the relief ace. Chase Hungate is really good too as the arm angle guy. I like what I saw mostly from Kevin Mannell. Case in point about Parker- he had a mound visit right after Mannell beaned the guy from Nicholls. That kind of thing can rattle a pitcher but even though Mannell walked the next hitter he was able to refocus and get out of the inning. That kind of a thing is a small thing but it is a moment that may have been the difference in a 1 run game. I think we need to get Stone Simmons back out there but out of the bullpen. I think he can help us if we get him in the right role. I mostly liked what I saw from Noah Sullivan and Nolan Stevens on the mound. I think both should pitch more and I think both can help us out of the bullpen. No Jacob Pruitt was a very curious thing. He may have been in the stands charting pitches- but I didn't see him on the field.
Catching- all three didn't really impress me that much defensively. Lots of mistakes from all three like letting runners just take bases while it looks like our catcher of all people isn't paying attention and Ross mishandling what looked like a fastball with a runner on and giving up a base. Again- not popular but I still think of the three Ross Highfill is the best option of the three. Ross is also the best offensively so I can see why we are starting him.
Infield- Hines is continuing to use the whole field and it is paying dividends for everyone. Not striking out nearly as much and his at bats are a lot more competitive. Second base is still up for grabs between Reeves and Gatlin Sanders. IMO Reeves is the better option there even though Gatlin has a higher batting average I think that will regress to the mean and I think Reeves will go up and his numbers are skewed from his slow start. And when you take everything into account Reeves glove will win the job. Ace Reese looks like a MLB player and has a legit chance to be considered the best third baseman in MSU history. Good to see Cupp back. Most of his AB's were good tonight except one where he struck out on a pitch at shoulder level.
Outfield- We moved some guys around and we didn't even see Stallman in Biloxi. Downs looks like a different player than he did last year. A lot more pop obviously. Chance is a grinder/dirtbag and did what he usually does. Really like what I'm seeing from Stevens in the OF and at the plate overall. Big luxury having a guy like that down in the lineup. O'Brien is still developing but I think he will be a solid player who has a chance to be a .300 hitter by the time he is a junior. He has speed and kind of reminds me a little bit of Damian Schianeaux a CF for us in the mid 1990's who was a really good player for us. Noah Sullivan at the plate had at least 1-2 home runs taken from him by the wind this midweek. He'll be fine though. Gehrig Frei is a really nice luxury to have coming off of the bench. With so many productive guys I think we're going to see a lot of platoon/subs when SEC play starts in game.
Game 1 in Biloxi we took care of business. Game 2 was tough and there was a lot of "that's baseball" that happened in that game. Nicholls was playing out of their mind defensively and TBH we didn't put our best lineup out there. We had to overcome some walks and HBP's and we found a way to do it every single time. Hopefully that will carry over into SEC play. Because it's going to get real very soon.
Catching- all three didn't really impress me that much defensively. Lots of mistakes from all three like letting runners just take bases while it looks like our catcher of all people isn't paying attention and Ross mishandling what looked like a fastball with a runner on and giving up a base. Again- not popular but I still think of the three Ross Highfill is the best option of the three. Ross is also the best offensively so I can see why we are starting him.
Infield- Hines is continuing to use the whole field and it is paying dividends for everyone. Not striking out nearly as much and his at bats are a lot more competitive. Second base is still up for grabs between Reeves and Gatlin Sanders. IMO Reeves is the better option there even though Gatlin has a higher batting average I think that will regress to the mean and I think Reeves will go up and his numbers are skewed from his slow start. And when you take everything into account Reeves glove will win the job. Ace Reese looks like a MLB player and has a legit chance to be considered the best third baseman in MSU history. Good to see Cupp back. Most of his AB's were good tonight except one where he struck out on a pitch at shoulder level.
Outfield- We moved some guys around and we didn't even see Stallman in Biloxi. Downs looks like a different player than he did last year. A lot more pop obviously. Chance is a grinder/dirtbag and did what he usually does. Really like what I'm seeing from Stevens in the OF and at the plate overall. Big luxury having a guy like that down in the lineup. O'Brien is still developing but I think he will be a solid player who has a chance to be a .300 hitter by the time he is a junior. He has speed and kind of reminds me a little bit of Damian Schianeaux a CF for us in the mid 1990's who was a really good player for us. Noah Sullivan at the plate had at least 1-2 home runs taken from him by the wind this midweek. He'll be fine though. Gehrig Frei is a really nice luxury to have coming off of the bench. With so many productive guys I think we're going to see a lot of platoon/subs when SEC play starts in game.
Game 1 in Biloxi we took care of business. Game 2 was tough and there was a lot of "that's baseball" that happened in that game. Nicholls was playing out of their mind defensively and TBH we didn't put our best lineup out there. We had to overcome some walks and HBP's and we found a way to do it every single time. Hopefully that will carry over into SEC play. Because it's going to get real very soon.