Post Non-Con Baseball lineup thoughts

[Tater]

So we've gotten 16 games into the season and seen just about every variation possible with our lineup and batting order. As we start to settle on who is and isn't a part of the games, we've figured a couple of things out.

Ace is the 2 hole. No shocker there. 1.223 OPS. He's had some dud moments but overall he is settled into that spot and has 3rd base locked up.

Bryce Chance has locked up the 9 hole and does his role excellently. Having 1.000+ OPS is typically a great player mark in college - our 9 hole has 1.061 and looks comfortable in that role. He can play any of the outfield spots we need as well.

Caterpillar feels like we can't bench him. He needs to stay in the 3 hole behind Ace and either be the 1B or the DH. 1.378 OPS is nuts no matter the competition.

This then leads to the next thing to notice. Stallman (though hurt) has 1.456 OPS. Nuclear hitting. It seems obvious to have him and Sullivan be 1B/DH and 3/4. But then you look at Cornholio and he's got a 1.329 OPS. We saw a bit of the potential softball lineup with him in Left yesterday. If he can be serviceable defensively out there then good ****ing luck with the 2-3-4-5.

Then at 2nd base you've got the Frei / Wyers platoon battle. Frei has double the at bats so take Wyers #s with a grain of salt, but 1.354 OPS makes it hard to bench and why he earned DH and leadoff yesterday. Frei mashes and has a 1.048 himself. This means you've got 5 guys vying for 3 lineup spots and platooning / earning their way into the lineup with insane #s. Cornholio being able to play LF opens this up to 4 spots and only one odd man out.

Woodson seems defensively to be our only real option at shortstop as his bat is far better than Sanders. Having him in 6, 7, or 8 hole makes the most sense based on batting side diversification and matchups.

Then you get back to the outfield. Teel has had a rough go of it but is a Rowdy like slow starter and still is at .921 OPS. You think with this week off if he's not too injured he'll be right back in the lineup and can be a 1-hole at his best or a 6-7-8 if others are performing. He then has CF defense on lock and along with Chance makes up for some of the shortcomings you have with Cornholio in left.

But then that leaves out Valincius and Parker. VV has performed when given the bat and Parker ****ing tanks bad pitches. Nunnalee is on thin ice in all regards and may have well played himself out of rotation. There's late game defensive replacement opportunities - but right now these 3 have to deal with a hot bat coming for their spot. Mind you if Teel doesn't get going like we expect - they can challenge for his spot too.

Chone/Raymond has pretty much settled into an even split. Maybe Milewski is healthy and ready to challenge again - but with those two hovering around the 1.000 OPS mark - hard to shake it up further.

All this to say - damn we're loaded.

My lineup for Arkansas would be:

Teel - CF
Reese - 3B
Sullivan - DH
Stallman - 1B
Cornholio - LF
Frei / Wyers (L/R split) - 2B
Woodson - SS
Raymond / James - C
Chance - RF

May swap Frei/Wyers with Teel going to 8 and Raymond/James going to 6

[Coach34]

Yeah- agree with most of that.

Sean Puffy James has a good bat but is not good at the catching part of catcher. If Milewski is healthy has probably has the best glove and that will get him on the field. Raymond is solid and has been a good surprise.

Appears we now want to leadoff Teel vs RHP's and slide him down the order vs LHP's
Wyers just wont go away- love that. Same with Cornholio.
Hope Stall gets that foot cleared up soon

I've said it a bunch and will say it again- most talent we have ever had. Need a couple more arms to keep growing up

[Quaoarsking]

Who is Cornhole? Mershon? We need to pin a table of nicknames so we'll know who everyone is talking about.

[Coach34]

Who is Cornhole? Mershon? We need to pin a table of nicknames so we'll know who everyone is talking about.

Bevis = Cornholio...you must not have watched the show

[No BS Dawg]

Cornholio is Blake Bevis. It?s a play on a Beavis and Butthead character that Beavis would sometimes ?become?.

[Leroy Jenkins]

Are you threatening me?

[Pancho]

Hard, he said Hard.......

[Tripp McNeely]

Who is Cornhole? Mershon? We need to pin a table of nicknames so we'll know who everyone is talking about.

Or maybe they can just use their real names, like adults?

[Tater]

Who is Cornhole? Mershon? We need to pin a table of nicknames so we'll know who everyone is talking about.

Bevis started in left field yesterday. As others have said - Cornholio* is his alter ego from the show.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Friday is RHP- Gabe Gaekle flush out with the LHH crew. Then DVH will put in a Lefty Reliever, adjust with Bevis and Chone for L/R balance
Saturday is LHP- Hunter Dietz flush out with RHH crew.
Sunday is LHP- Collin Fisher again flush out with RHH crew.

Of course, Arkansas is going to have quality relief so a great test of the full lineup of hitters.

[Coach34]

Or maybe they can just use their real names, like adults?

Nahhhhh- whats the fun in that? Even MLB guys, NBA, NFL go by nicknames all the time.

[Quaoarsking]

Bevis = Cornholio...you must not have watched the show

No, never seen that show (before my time), but I think I have heard the word before.

[maroonmania]

Cornholio is Blake Bevis. It?s a play on a Beavis and Butthead character that Beavis would sometimes ?become?.

Well there needs to be a consensus on nicknames or either we need a decoder ring. Seen Bevis called Butthead and now Cornholio. Someone needs to decide and stick with it. Keeping up with all these random nickname references is too much effort. I mean when did Sullivan become Caterpillar?

[Tater]

Well there needs to be a consensus on nicknames or either we need a decoder ring. Seen Bevis called Butthead and now Cornholio. Someone needs to decide and stick with it. Keeping up with all these random nickname references is too much effort. I mean when did Sullivan become Caterpillar?

When he put that caterpillar on his upper lip

[Quaoarsking]

When he put that caterpillar on his upper lip

Didn't he have that on Day 1?

[The Federalist Engineer]

Well there needs to be a consensus on nicknames or either we need a decoder ring. Seen Bevis called Butthead and now Cornholio. Someone needs to decide and stick with it. Keeping up with all these random nickname references is too much effort. I mean when did Sullivan become Caterpillar?

https://crowsfeat.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/reservoir-dogs-why.gif

[schddog72]

Bevis = Cornholio...you must not have watched the show

THANK YOU!! And I didn't watch the damn show either!!

[Todd4State]

I don't disagree with anything Tater. I just want to add this though. We need to figure out who our midweek guy is. I think that's going to end up being Foster. Now when we play Jackson State and Grambling it might be one of the freshmen like Miller probably. Who we start against Tulane will be interesting.

We need to go to Fayetteville and make a statement. We have talent but we need to start cashing in with wins which I think we will. They're going to play us hard but I think we're hungry and the UCLA experience is going to pay off for us.

[Coach34]

Well there needs to be a consensus on nicknames or either we need a decoder ring. Seen Bevis called Butthead and now Cornholio. Someone needs to decide and stick with it. Keeping up with all these random nickname references is too much effort. I mean when did Sullivan become Caterpillar?

I'm for going with Cornholio instead of Butthead. Easy switch early in the season.

[Tater]

I'm for going with Cornholio instead of Butthead. Easy switch early in the season.

Oh coach and I agree with no argument. Board might break from this.

[maroonmania]

I don't disagree with anything Tater. I just want to add this though. We need to figure out who our midweek guy is. I think that's going to end up being Foster. Now when we play Jackson State and Grambling it might be one of the freshmen like Miller probably. Who we start against Tulane will be interesting.

We need to go to Fayetteville and make a statement. We have talent but we need to start cashing in with wins which I think we will. They're going to play us hard but I think we're hungry and the UCLA experience is going to pay off for us.

I would be perfectly happy with results so far this season if we would have pulled off either of the UCLA or USM games. I'm glad we don't have any bad losses so far this year but we don't really have any high quality wins yet either. And both of those games were ours for the taking. We will get plenty of chances for quality wins in conference but would have been nice to get an OOC high quality win to help out in our quest for a national seed. We do get one additional shot at USM but that's the only other high RPI OOC game left outside of the Gov's cup game. And 3 SWAC games this year is way too many. We have Alcorn, Jackson St. and Grambling. Those games are worthless.

[starkvegasdawg]

No, never seen that show (before my time), but I think I have heard the word before.

https://youtu.be/Dk57aLMoYGE?si=s7H7qZn96GGpYE92

[Coach34]

I would be perfectly happy with results so far this season if we would have pulled off either of the UCLA or USM games. I'm glad we don't have any bad losses so far this year but we don't really have any high quality wins yet either. And both of those games were ours for the taking. We will get plenty of chances for quality wins in conference but would have been nice to get an OOC high quality win to help out in our quest for a national seed. We do get one additional shot at USM but that's the only other high RPI OOC game left outside of the Gov's cup game. And 3 SWAC games this year is way too many. We have Alcorn, Jackson St. and Grambling. Those games are worthless.

We are the only SEC team without a bad loss. We beat UCLA had we not had the bad luck with the ground rule double not to mention Puffy having problems at Catcher. Milewski is healthy again and that should help.

We are the team to beat this year. We can hit the ****ing ball. Our pitching just has to grow up

[Saltydog]

Good stuff Tater but nobody in this thread addressed the elephant in the room and that's the closer role. Right now it's our Achilles heel. We don't have a lock down guy and that's an issue and no, I don't think Davis is the guy.

[Todd4State]

I would be perfectly happy with results so far this season if we would have pulled off either of the UCLA or USM games. I'm glad we don't have any bad losses so far this year but we don't really have any high quality wins yet either. And both of those games were ours for the taking. We will get plenty of chances for quality wins in conference but would have been nice to get an OOC high quality win to help out in our quest for a national seed. We do get one additional shot at USM but that's the only other high RPI OOC game left outside of the Gov's cup game. And 3 SWAC games this year is way too many. We have Alcorn, Jackson St. and Grambling. Those games are worthless.

As I type this our RPI is 17. We're in a great spot to make a move. We have beaten Arizona State and Virginia Tech and did so handily at a neutral site. Are those two National Seeds? Probably not but they're decent to good teams.

[Todd4State]

Good stuff Tater but nobody in this thread addressed the elephant in the room and that's the closer role. Right now it's our Achilles heel. We don't have a lock down guy and that's an issue and no, I don't think Davis is the guy.

The problem with Davis is the coaches overextended him. The last time he pitched less than two innings and got the job done. Webb has done a good job closing out games. Pitzer can close. Gleason can probably close as well if needed. It's more an issue of understanding who can do what.

I think that gets locked down in SEC play.

[Tater]

Good stuff Tater but nobody in this thread addressed the elephant in the room and that's the closer role. Right now it's our Achilles heel. We don't have a lock down guy and that's an issue and no, I don't think Davis is the guy.

I distinctly ignored pitching and just talked about the lineup and how it's got potential to be one of our best ever. The OPS is off the charts and it feels like a couple pieces haven't even gotten hot yet. Reese and Teel feel like they are underperforming even those Reese's OPS says otherwise. Iron is sharpening iron with all these guys fighting for extra playing time and not pressing, but rather rising to the occasion and making OConnor have to bench 1.000+ OPS guys. This lineup runs deeeeeep

[smootness]

As I type this our RPI is 17. We're in a great spot to make a move. We have beaten Arizona State and Virginia Tech and did so handily at a neutral site. Are those two National Seeds? Probably not but they're decent to good teams.

VT is not a decent team.

[Saltydog]

I distinctly ignored pitching and just talked about the lineup and how it's got potential to be one of our best ever. The OPS is off the charts and it feels like a couple pieces haven't even gotten hot yet. Reese and Teel feel like they are underperforming even those Reese's OPS says otherwise. Iron is sharpening iron with all these guys fighting for extra playing time and not pressing, but rather rising to the occasion and making OConnor have to bench 1.000+ OPS guys. This lineup runs deeeeeep

It may not be our best lineup ever (that remains to be seen) but I don't think there's any question that this is the deepest lineup for any MSU team and I've been watching MSU baseball since 1977.

[KOdawg1]

Vs. RHP

1. Teel - CF
2. Ace - 3B
3. Sully - DH
4. Stallman - 1B
5. Frei - 2B
6. Raymond - C
7. Woodson - SS
8. Parker - RF
9. Chance - LF

Vs. LHP
1. Wyers - 2B
2. Ace - 3B
3. Sully - DH
4. Valincius - RF
5. Bevis - 1B
6. Teel - CF
7. Woodson - SS
8. Milewski/James - C
9. Chance - LF

[Todd4State]

VT is not a decent team.

They would be a bottom half of the SEC team and they may not make a regional. That said- they beat a very good Georgia Tech team yesterday. They're respectable and they play in a strong conference. That's a good recipe to keep their RPI respectable.

[Leroy Jenkins]

Leading the conference at .356 as a team and this depth is crazy. Past years, when we subbed I was just hoping the guys off the bench could draw a walk or HBP. Every game there are guys in that 3rd base dugout that would have been on the field previous years.

[Leroy Jenkins]

https://www.secsports.com/sport/baseball/stats


I feel like 61 HRs so far is a lot (UGA) even if they have played 18 of 19 games at home. We're 4th with 27. Its going to pickup for everyone soon. Historically early season HR average is 0.9 a game, late season average is 1.5, if you belive the robots.

[Coach34]

Georgia's stadium is a bandbox that will be high scoring every weekend. It's as bad as Kentucky's was in the 80's.

We will keep hitting and likely go over 100 again to keep setting records like Lemon's team did last year

[Leroy Jenkins]

If that Arlington series was at DNF we'd have another 3-5 HRs probably.

[Todd4State]

If that Arlington series was at DNF we'd have another 3-5 HRs probably.

Heck the first weekend I think we hit like one home run or something like that. I might be forgetting one or two. It's going to even out over the course of the year but if we had a normal first weekend we would be even higher.

[Pinto]

Part of it is philosophy as well. Oak doesn?t want home run or bust. He doesn?t care if we hit one, but players aren?t being coached to only swing for the fences

[DEDawg]

Who is Cornhole? Mershon? We need to pin a table of nicknames so we'll know who everyone is talking about.

I still dont know who dirtbag is lol

[Leroy Jenkins]

Part of it is philosophy as well. Oak doesn?t want home run or bust. He doesn?t care if we hit one, but players aren?t being coached to only swing for the fences

Not complaining. 4th in HRs in the league is fine with me, 3rd in SLG. It’s just the huge gulf between UGA and everyone else makes it look less impressive .

[BrunswickDawg]

Georgia's stadium is a bandbox that will be high scoring every weekend. It's as bad as Kentucky's was in the 80's.

We will keep hitting and likely go over 100 again to keep setting records like Lemon's team did last year

Foley Field has always been that way. I played there in HS, and even my light hitting ass put one out in BP lol. It's the 2nd highest field above sea level in the SEC and the wind tends to blow out there - great recipe for HRs.
Steve Webber used to tell a story of Bo Jackson putting one OVER the light standard in LCF that landed in parking lot well over 500 ft away. Said it was the longest HR he ever saw at any level of baseball.