Collegiate Baseball preseason # 2

[bully99]

Cue the bully99 hate in 3,2,1

[Big4Dawg]

http://www.secdigitalnetwork.com/NEWS/tabid/473/Article/248453/eight-sec-baseball-teams-ranked-by-collegiate-baseball.aspx

[messageboardsuperhero]

Here it is: http://www.collegebaseballdaily.com/2013/12/20/2014-collegiate-baseball-news-top-40-preseason-poll/

Damn. I'm not complaining or anything, but they seem to have us a little high. They also have LSU at 3 and UVA outside of the top 10.

Oh well, rankings mean jack-shit before the season starts- now we have to go out and prove it.

ETA: Also, why in the hell isn't Arkansas higher?

[starkvegasdawg]

UCLA must have really lost some people to start out 15.

[Political Hack]

love it. hope the players handle the hype well.

[rabbitthedawg]

I hope UCLA lost all those pitchers! They were something!!

[smootness]

Oh. snap.

[engie]

Was almost positive that we'd be in the top 5. Kinda surprised that we are #2.

We lost our #1 starter and arguably #1 bullpen arm -- along with our top 2 hitters. If only we were recruiting to fill those roles better**

[bully99]

Virginia surprised me. Scuttlebutt during the fall suggested they might be #1. Several more polls to go though.

[smootness]

Collegiate Baseball is the one that had our recruiting class #2 as well. Seems like they may know what they're talking about, and they clearly like the players we're bringing in.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Collegiate Baseball is the one that had our recruiting class #2 as well. Seems like they may know what they're talking about, and they clearly like the players we're bringing in.

No doubt- Collegiate Baseball seems to really love us.

[Todd4State]

Like I said- we win the NC if Woodruff is healthy. I think our starting rotation will be improved and our bullpen will be fine. Hudson will essentially replace Girodo in a round about way- moving Lindgren to the bullpen.

We're better at catcher than we were last year as well in terms of talent. Worst case scenario is Randolph and Walker- and they're both pretty good defensively.

We lose Frazier and Frost out of the infield, but we return Rea who has been improving every year, Pirtle, and then we replace our losses with Reid Humphries who looks ready and will be an upgrade over Frost, and then Britton and Heck may not hit as well as Frazier, but they will give us more power and may be an upgrade defensively.

No one is going to replace Hunter in terms of individual all around production- HR, RBI, AVG, SB and outfield assists. But we have a lot of veterans and a lot of speed in Robson, CT, Demarcus, and then Vickerson is going to get plenty of playing time as well. Derrick Armstrong is a solid college player. Then we have some wild cards in our freshmen with Gavin Collins, Swinarski, and Brent Rooker who can all play out there. If one of them emerges and provides some power, it will help us tremendously.

Detz returns at DH and he will continue to be an on base machine.

So, IMO we're improved everywhere except RF and maybe SS. But maybe more importantly, this team has CWS experience and a LOT of it coming back. That is huge when you are talking in terms of winning championships. Our players know how to win.

[Todd4State]

UCLA must have really lost some people to start out 15.

They had three pitchers that carried them. And two of them left. They can not hit.

We lost simply because we couldn't match their starters- Graveman didn't pitch for us- and because we had some weaknesses defensively at third base and catcher. That's dicey when you play a team than bunts a lot.

[bully99]

Cohen told Swindoll couple weeks ago that Rooker and Dylan Ingram would probably be redshirted.

Perfect Game will probably have OM preseason #1.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Like I said- we win the NC if Woodruff is healthy. I think our starting rotation will be improved and our bullpen will be fine. Hudson will essentially replace Girodo in a round about way- moving Lindgren to the bullpen.

We're better at catcher than we were last year as well in terms of talent. Worst case scenario is Randolph and Walker- and they're both pretty good defensively.

We lose Frazier and Frost out of the infield, but we return Rea who has been improving every year, Pirtle, and then we replace our losses with Reid Humphries who looks ready and will be an upgrade over Frost, and then Britton and Heck may not hit as well as Frazier, but they will give us more power and may be an upgrade defensively.

No one is going to replace Hunter in terms of individual all around production- HR, RBI, AVG, SB and outfield assists. But we have a lot of veterans and a lot of speed in Robson, CT, Demarcus, and then Vickerson is going to get plenty of playing time as well. Derrick Armstrong is a solid college player. Then we have some wild cards in our freshmen with Gavin Collins, Swinarski, and Brent Rooker who can all play out there. If one of them emerges and provides some power, it will help us tremendously.

Detz returns at DH and he will continue to be an on base machine.

So, IMO we're improved everywhere except RF and maybe SS. But maybe more importantly, this team has CWS experience and a LOT of it coming back. That is huge when you are talking in terms of winning championships. Our players know how to win.

We certainly look better on paper going into this year than we did last year. That postseason experience is huge too.

What are your realistic expectations going into this season? Anything less than hosting will be a disappointment to me. Some good goals for the team would be to compete for the SEC and get a national seed.

[engie]

I think a national seed is a reasonable expectation this year. Hosting would still be a satisfactory year though.

I'd love to actually win the SEC regular season title for the first time in 25 years...

[Goat Holder]

Are you saying we would have won in 2013 with Woodruff, or are you saying we WILL win in 2014 with Woodruff? Because I still don't think we're talented enough to go around proclaiming stuff like that. Took an awful lot of clutch hits for us to get there this past year, pitching wasn't the problem until the finals.

Detz doesn't return at DH, he returns at 3B and will likely start there all year. Cohen said as much on Wednesday, that he's settled in at that position. Britton is the starter at SS too, he's becoming a leader on the team. We don't 'lose' anything with Frost, that much is guaranteed. He's just a Cohen player much like Perkins is for Mullen.

[Goat Holder]

I think we lost because we didn't have the clutch hit drop in the 1st game. We had to have that one. The second game was a cluster-f*ck from the beginning. If we could have gotten to Game 3 with Graveman, we could have done it IMO.

[smootness]

Are you saying we would have won in 2013 with Woodruff, or are you saying we WILL win in 2014 with Woodruff? Because I still don't think we're talented enough to go around proclaiming stuff like that. Took an awful lot of clutch hits for us to get there this past year, pitching wasn't the problem until the finals.

I agree with this somewhat. I don't think that just because we played in the national championship series, that we were truly the #2 team in the country last year. We were definitely playing like it late, though. We got a lot of clutch hits, but we also didn't have Renfroe playing at the absolute top of his game, either. We won a lot of games by pitching well (which was no fluke) and playing good defense (again, no fluke).

It's obvious that at least one unbiased, national source thinks we're going to be at that level this year.

It's impossible to say that we should win the national title with a healthy Woodruff because we're not just head and shoulders better than everyone; but I don't have a problem with that prediction. It isn't outlandish at all.

Our pitching will be better than it was last year. Girodo is a big loss, but getting Woodruff healthy, having Ross Mitchell back, adding guys like Hudson and Houston, and having guys like Lindgren with more experience should lead to a potentially devastating pitching staff.

It will hinge on our offense, but there are reasons to think we will be good enough there to be a great overall team. I think we have enough talent, the question is whether some of that talent (Garner, Humphreys, Collins, Robson, etc.) are ready to step up and step out.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Are you saying we would have won in 2013 with Woodruff, or are you saying we WILL win in 2014 with Woodruff? Because I still don't think we're talented enough to go around proclaiming stuff like that. Took an awful lot of clutch hits for us to get there this past year, pitching wasn't the problem until the finals.

Detz doesn't return at DH, he returns at 3B and will likely start there all year. Cohen said as much on Wednesday, that he's settled in at that position. Britton is the starter at SS too, he's becoming a leader on the team. We don't 'lose' anything with Frost, that much is guaranteed. He's just a Cohen player much like Perkins is for Mullen.

Did Humphreys practice some in the outfield this fall? I'd love to put him in RF, Detz at 3rd (assuming his defense is better), Garner at DH, and Walker at catcher- that would give us one hell of a lineup. Either way, we need both Detz's and Humphreys' bats in their.

[smootness]

Either way, we need both Detz's and Humphreys' bats in their.

I definitely agree with this. I would assume we will see Humphreys in the outfield some. I don't see 3 OFs on our team good enough to keep Humphreys from moving out there if need be.

We have Robson, Bradford, Vickerson, Henderson, and Armstrong that will probably be the primary rotation out there as of now (let me know if I'm missing someone - I don't see Swinarski as an immediate-impact guy right now). That's a good group, but it seems to be our weakest grouping on the team, or the least set in stone. I like the potential of all of them, especially Robson and Vickerson, but if we can add some real pop in that group, we should do it.

[Goat Holder]

I don't think you're going to see this. I think if Humphreys plays it'll be DH. He's honestly competing more with Garner for that spot, than he is with the outfielders. Bradford and Henderson are set, per Cohen. Vickerson is looking like he'll be the left fielder.

[smootness]

I'm fine with DH, too.

[Tbonewannabe]

Didn't Reid have close to the best fall at the plate? Can't keep him out of the lineup.

[Todd4State]

Cohen told Swindoll couple weeks ago that Rooker and Dylan Ingram would probably be redshirted.

Perfect Game will probably have OM preseason #1.

That's doesn't totally surprise me. Rea has first base locked down as long as he stays healthy. Ingram played at a small school in Alabama and he probably has a little bit more of bigger leap in competition because of that. Rooker struggled in the fall- I think he has to believe that he is good enough to play SEC ball which he is.

[Todd4State]

We certainly look better on paper going into this year than we did last year. That postseason experience is huge too.

What are your realistic expectations going into this season? Anything less than hosting will be a disappointment to me. Some good goals for the team would be to compete for the SEC and get a national seed.

I think we will win somewhere between 35-40 games if we stay healthy. We should be in the hunt for a National Seed and hosting a regional at the very least.

[Dawg61]

We lost because UCLA took advantage of the dead bats. It was ****ing IMPOSSIBLE to hit a homerun in that park last year. Only 3 in all the games combined! That's not baseball. At no point (besides UCLA last year) in the history of baseball are you instructed to throw 89 mph fastballs at the top of the strike zone and get rewarded for it. Any other league any other park those balls are getting DESTROYED. UCLA was just smarter than us. Play us anywhere else and we win the national championship. The dead bats rule is so awful. Please just go to wood.

[Todd4State]

Are you saying we would have won in 2013 with Woodruff, or are you saying we WILL win in 2014 with Woodruff? Because I still don't think we're talented enough to go around proclaiming stuff like that. Took an awful lot of clutch hits for us to get there this past year, pitching wasn't the problem until the finals.

Detz doesn't return at DH, he returns at 3B and will likely start there all year. Cohen said as much on Wednesday, that he's settled in at that position. Britton is the starter at SS too, he's becoming a leader on the team. We don't 'lose' anything with Frost, that much is guaranteed. He's just a Cohen player much like Perkins is for Mullen.

Would have won with Woodruff in 2013. Any team that wins a championship along the way has a lot of clutch hits. Actually, if you look at NCAA postseason run we won every game in our regional (other than the one we lost of course) by at least two runs. We dominated Virginia and the only reason the second game was a 1 run game was because we started to throw the ball around the ballpark in the 9th out of nerves which was due to inexperience in that situation as much as anything. The same thing happened in Omaha in game 1 against OSU where we had some nerves at the start and then calmed down, and we did have the clutch hit by Porter against Indiana. Then we beat Oregon State by three.

So, we actually hit pretty well and outplayed most of our opponents- but a lot of our postseason games were closer than they actually were because of some of our players getting caught up in the situation a little bit.

With Detz, I'm being speculative. I think a lot of the reason Cohen is playing him at third is because we need his bat, but he also wants CT to pitch. If CT pitches, that means he DH's. I think CT will probably struggle on the mound and we move him to CF full time which will displace one of the outfielders. So, I think what will eventually happen is Detz will DH and Humphries will move to third to get everyone in the lineup.

[Todd4State]

We lost because UCLA took advantage of the dead bats. It was ****ing IMPOSSIBLE to hit a homerun in that park last year. Only 3 in all the games combined! That's not baseball. At no point (besides UCLA last year) in the history of baseball are you instructed to throw 89 mph fastballs at the top of the strike zone and get rewarded for it. Any other league any other park those balls are getting DESTROYED. UCLA was just smarter than us. Play us anywhere else and we win the national championship. The dead bats rule is so awful. Please just go to wood.

I agree that it didn't help. The new ball in a couple of years and hopefully our new Adidas bats will help us out. We got away from a line drive approach as well.

[smootness]

I really do think it had more to do with that field than the bats. The bats are obviously having a big effect on offensive production in college baseball, but it's not nearly as drastic anywhere else as it was in Omaha. I think even if they went to the gorilla ball bats, teams would struggle to hit it out consistently. The field is facing the opposite direction from Rosenblatt, and evidently the wind is always blowing in.

[Goat Holder]

So did we, smart guy. Did you happen to catch Game 1?

[Goat Holder]

Cohen is just trying to help Bradford get drafted IMO

[Todd4State]

Cohen is just trying to help Bradford get drafted IMO

Probably so, but he's not going to help him out at the expense of the team. CT is a good player, but he is small and injury prone. That's two strikes against him no matter what he does this year.

[MsStateBaseball]

I expect to be top 10 in all the polls beside PG. CB has been a fan of us for 30 years. With the health of Paul Young that pput us over the top. First order of business is to win the SEC then I expect to host regional. RPI and SOS goes into national seed. We win the conf we will be one. I cannot wait until baseball

[Todd4State]

I expect to be top 10 in all the polls beside PG. CB has been a fan of us for 30 years. With the health of Paul Young that pput us over the top. First order of business is to win the SEC then I expect to host regional. RPI and SOS goes into national seed. We win the conf we will be one. I cannot wait until baseball

I bet Paul Young is our midweek starter. We can bring him along slowly and develop him now that he is healthy.

Fri- Woodruff
Sat- Fitts/Lindgren
Sun- Hudson/Ross

Woodruff is our ace, but if he struggles, we can go to Ross, Gentry, Cox, etc.

Fitts has starting experience and he should be better than last year. He's a fastball/curve right handed pitcher. Lindgren is a left handed sinker/slider guy. That's a difficult contrast for hitters.

Hudson throws 93-96 and is tall and right handed. Then we come back with Ross throwing left-handed at 82-86 with a lot of movement. Plus, this allows us to use Ross on Friday if we need him- which hopefully isn't very often.

Young is a pitcher for the first time in his life. I'd start him out on a 50 pitch limit and then build up throughout the year to about 100 pitches and just teach him how to pitch physically. We'll have plenty of bullpen to back him up.

[bully99]

Yes collegiate baseball publication has been a big supporter of MSU going back decades. It's been run by the Pavlovich family for about 40 years and they've been good friends with Ron Polk. They've done a lot of positive stories about State baseball over the years.
perfect game ..well they love them some bears

[engie]

I dunno Todd... Young was 5-0 last yr with 5 complete games...

I'm all for starting him slow given his injury, but he was a total iron man last yr in Juco...

[messageboardsuperhero]

I bet Paul Young is our midweek starter. We can bring him along slowly and develop him now that he is healthy.

Fri- Woodruff
Sat- Fitts/Lindgren
Sun- Hudson/Ross

Woodruff is our ace, but if he struggles, we can go to Ross, Gentry, Cox, etc.

Fitts has starting experience and he should be better than last year. He's a fastball/curve right handed pitcher. Lindgren is a left handed sinker/slider guy. That's a difficult contrast for hitters.

Hudson throws 93-96 and is tall and right handed. Then we come back with Ross throwing left-handed at 82-86 with a lot of movement. Plus, this allows us to use Ross on Friday if we need him- which hopefully isn't very often.

Young is a pitcher for the first time in his life. I'd start him out on a 50 pitch limit and then build up throughout the year to about 100 pitches and just teach him how to pitch physically. We'll have plenty of bullpen to back him up.

Damn, our pitching staff makes me wooly- really our whole team does.

It's crazy to think about how far Cohen and co. have brought us in the last 5 years. When he got here, guys like Kyle Hann or Derrick Armstrong would've been stars instead of fighting for playing time. And a pitcher like Austin Sexton would've been thrown into the fire on weekends, whether he was ready for it or not.

[Todd4State]

I dunno Todd... Young was 5-0 last yr with 5 complete games...

I'm all for starting him slow given his injury, but he was a total iron man last yr in Juco...

That's also probably why his arm was hurt in the fall. I think he has the ability to do it- he just needs someone to show him how to do it and learn how to do it.