MSU Baseball Players We (Maybe) Should be Talking About More

[Todd4State]

1. Maddox Webb. He was the closer at The Citadel and he throws in the low 90's but has a really good curveball. For MSU he is a candidate to be the closer and even if he doesn't get that role, I think he will see a good bit of action this year.

2. Brandon Sweeney. Another pitcher who maybe is a dark horse candidate to close. He's tall at 6'7" and is very long with some deception. He also has SEC experience which some of our new guys don't have. His ERA was bloated because quite frankly Paul Manieri screwed him over. He could be a good long relief option for MSU as well.

3. Dane Burns. Justin Parker loves this guy. And he was drafted by the Royals after taking a year off due to an injury. He is draft eligible this year and he is a candidate to be a relief ace or maybe even a darkhorse candidate to start for MSU.

4. Reed Stallman. Most fans are talking about Blake Bevis, Noah Sullivan and Gehrig Frei. Stallman is a good LH option off of the bench though and has some power. If Bevis struggles to adjust to the SEC Reed may be a good option to take over at 1B.

5. Vytas Valinicus. Similar to Reed but maybe even better, he was one of Illinois top players and he was considered a top 20 portal pick up by most services. Probably more of an OF, but he has the ability to play 1B. He's also a senior so he has some good college baseball experience.

[DawgNsuds]

may not exactly fit this tread, but what are your thoughts on Duke Stone? I met his family at a football game and so I've come to take an interest him

[The Federalist Engineer]

Jackson Logar - RHP with 41% wiff rate and 95mph and 220 BAA. Comes to MSU with 115 innings of D1 experience and 14 career starts. Junior Transfer from James Madison

[MStateDawg]

4. Reed Stallman. Most fans are talking about Blake Bevis, Noah Sullivan and Gehrig Frei. Stallman is a good LH option off of the bench though and has some power. If Bevis struggles to adjust to the SEC Reed may be a good option to take over at 1B.

5. Vytas Valinicus. Similar to Reed but maybe even better, he was one of Illinois top players and he was considered a top 20 portal pick up by most services. Probably more of an OF, but he has the ability to play 1B. He's also a senior so he has some good college baseball experience.

In any typical year, these 2 would be big parts of the lineup. But this year.... there's just so much depth they're going to have to fight for ABs. We have five guys (Bevis, Vytas, Stallman, Chance & Frei) fighting for ABs at 2 spots: DH & LF. It's going to be a war for playing time.

[Coursesuper]

1. Maddox Webb. He was the closer at The Citadel and he throws in the low 90's but has a really good curveball. For MSU he is a candidate to be the closer and even if he doesn't get that role, I think he will see a good bit of action this year.

2. Brandon Sweeney. Another pitcher who maybe is a dark horse candidate to close. He's tall at 6'7" and is very long with some deception. He also has SEC experience which some of our new guys don't have. His ERA was bloated because quite frankly Paul Manieri screwed him over. He could be a good long relief option for MSU as well.

3. Dane Burns. Justin Parker loves this guy. And he was drafted by the Royals after taking a year off due to an injury. He is draft eligible this year and he is a candidate to be a relief ace or maybe even a darkhorse candidate to start for MSU.

4. Reed Stallman. Most fans are talking about Blake Bevis, Noah Sullivan and Gehrig Frei. Stallman is a good LH option off of the bench though and has some power. If Bevis struggles to adjust to the SEC Reed may be a good option to take over at 1B.

5. Vytas Valinicus. Similar to Reed but maybe even better, he was one of Illinois top players and he was considered a top 20 portal pick up by most services. Probably more of an OF, but he has the ability to play 1B. He's also a senior so he has some good college baseball experience.

Dane Burns has a very very high celling. When he gets more consistent he is going to be hard to handle for opposing offenses. He can have real swing and miss stuff.

[AlSwearengen]

I think Sweeney was the one that D1 or PG said had been consistently good all fall. They had been to watch fall practice and he did well and I'm sure the coaches told them that he had been good throughout fall.

[Homedawg]

may not exactly fit this tread, but what are your thoughts on Duke Stone? I met his family at a football game and so I've come to take an interest him

Might be the highest draft pick of all the soph pitchers we have.

[Coach34]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Maddox Webb, 2026 sleeper? ��<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/HailStateBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HailStateBB</a> righty has several fastball traits MLB teams like and an above-average breaking ball.<br><br> <a href="https://t.co/0dJd4OAETA">pic.twitter.com/0dJd4OAETA</a></p>&mdash; Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) <a href="https://twitter.com/BaseballAmerica/status/2016286062239154611?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 27, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

[Coach34]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">For those not aware, Kyle’s brother Aiden Teel is the real deal<br><br>Transferred to <a href="https://twitter.com/HailStateBB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HailStateBB</a> with Coach O’Connor from UVA. He absolutely raked in the Northwoods League this summer<br><br>176 PA<br>.387/.455/.671<br>1.126 OPS<br>11 HR<br>18/21 SB <br>2 K ‼️<br><br>He is BAs #89 Ranked Prospect in 2026 <a href="https://t.co/kF9IUJbB9w">https://t.co/kF9IUJbB9w</a> <a href="https://t.co/eJ9BtAbYQx">pic.twitter.com/eJ9BtAbYQx</a></p>&mdash; Baseball Unstitched (@BaseUnstitched) <a href="https://twitter.com/BaseUnstitched/status/2016332735091179996?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 28, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

he's not overlooked- but a good shoutout

[Saltydog]

I agree about Webb but I think a player that nobody is really talking about that could be really good is Chone James. We talk about all of these big sticks in the lineup and he's not one of them but he could be really good at the top of the lineup.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Bryce Chance. Everyone has kind of forgotten about him with the UVA guys, Wyers, Woodson, and Ace.

[Todd4State]

Bryce Chance. Everyone has kind of forgotten about him with the UVA guys, Wyers, Woodson, and Ace.

Maybe we should be talking about Gatlin Sanders more too. He's kind of sort of like Chance. An underdog who is a good college player. We obviously have brought in some more talented players like Woodson, Wyers, and Chone James. But Gat hit over .300 last year and he plays really good solid defense. I don't know if he starts or plays- I fully expect Woodson to start at SS on opening day. But I do think there are some potential scenarios where he finds his way into the lineup and plays potentially.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Sanders plays 6 positions. He seems a natural baseball athlete. Ty Cobb numbers at Jones County JC. Last year he struggled to hit more than singles.

If he spent the off season at launch-angle-school and bought some Drew Gilbert bats at a Knoxville pawnshop, a 5-11 185lbs should be able to slug better in 26. He's a Mechanical Engineer major, 100% he's been working-on his slugging mechanics, let's see how he does.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Might be the highest draft pick of all the soph pitchers we have.

This sophomore class of pitchers is going to give MSU depth to run at big things in 2026 and 2027.

Then you have Bauer, Beliveau, Rhoads, and Miller as high quality Freshmen that will be sophomores in 2027.

This must be how Arkansas feels every year, stable full of Warhorse pitchers.