Let's talk about Detz.

[dickiedawg]

I didn't realize just how badly Detz is struggling.

Detz is one of 3 players to have played in every game this year (19 starts, 20 gp) and trails only Brett Pirtle in ABs. Easily our OBP king last year, Detz has struggled mightily in 2014. BA of .192, OBP of .291 (that's .84 and 1.02 below team average, respectively). He hit .318 with an OBP of .449 last year.
We're looking at 73 ABs, more than enough to be relevant.

What the heck is wrong? Is it time to stop wishing we could get Garner, Humphreys and Detz in the same lineup?

[Will James]

.210 BABIP

Don't know if someone changed him up but he needs to get back to working counts.

[bully99]

What I don't understand, is when you have Walker, Armstrong, Heck, Pirtle, and Detz in the line-up,that's 5 juco players. Where are all the "stud" freshman players that Cohen has supposedly been bringing in. Are they not developing them or just not making good recruiting decisions.

[Bothrops]

Detz will be fine.

[Goat Holder]

I am concerned about this too, but only with our TOP recruits. You must remember, Rea/Henderson/Collins/Bradford/Frazier/Renfroe were high school guys, so he has to get credit for those. And basically ALL our pitchers. And it's not like JUCO guys are bad.....we almost got to Omaha with JUCOs in 2011. They have their place at MSU.

I'm worried about our top end recruits. Woodruff, Norris, Britton, Stark, Bole. However, in baseball, it really is all just a damn crapshoot. Look at the recruiting class Ole Miss got a few years ago (Preston Overbey and them, all the seniors now). They haven't done shit, and they were all drafted it seemed like.

[bully99]

Palmeiro's kid has played very little at NC State. First base was his but he didn't win the job. Wouldn't be surprised if he went juco next year and tried division I again.

[Irondawg]

For this weekend at least I would seriously consider putting Hendo and Vick at the 1-2 spots since they are our best OBP and SB guys at the moment. Follow them with Pirtle/Rea/Humphries/Garner/Bradford/Collins/Heck with Britton and Armstrong as situational guys. Maybe start Brown a game as wel as he earned some PT.

I want to trust Detz will come around but it just hasn't happened yet. Maybe give him the Saturday start and if he shows signs of breaking out of the funk, plug him back in Sunday if Humpries/Garner isn't hitting.

And I can't blindly look at BAIP either. It's a good stat but can be misleading. If your're roping the ball but right at guys you can say the luck is going to change, if you're popping up and hitting weak groundouts with the onyl hits being texas leaguers and IF singles then it really means nothing.

I haven't watched enough but reading the recaps I've seen comments on Humphries and Garner hitting lasers at people and haven't read a lot of notes about Detz getting robbed so i have to think he's simply not making good contact.

And none of that matters at all if our pitching doesn't get it in gear this weekend.

[HoopsDawg]

For this weekend at least I would seriously consider putting Hendo and Vick at the 1-2 spots since they are our best OBP and SB guys at the moment. Follow them with Pirtle/Rea/Humphries/Garner/Bradford/Collins/Heck with Britton and Armstrong as situational guys. Maybe start Brown a game as wel as he earned some PT.

I want to trust Detz will come around but it just hasn't happened yet. Maybe give him the Saturday start and if he shows signs of breaking out of the funk, plug him back in Sunday if Humpries/Garner isn't hitting.

And I can't blindly look at BAIP either. It's a good stat but can be misleading. If your're roping the ball but right at guys you can say the luck is going to change, if you're popping up and hitting weak groundouts with the onyl hits being texas leaguers and IF singles then it really means nothing.

I haven't watched enough but reading the recaps I've seen comments on Humphries and Garner hitting lasers at people and haven't read a lot of notes about Detz getting robbed so i have to think he's simply not making good contact.

And none of that matters at all if our pitching doesn't get it in gear this weekend.

Good post. Rare for this board.

[Homedawg]

For this weekend at least I would seriously consider putting Hendo and Vick at the 1-2 spots since they are our best OBP and SB guys at the moment. Follow them with Pirtle/Rea/Humphries/Garner/Bradford/Collins/Heck with Britton and Armstrong as situational guys. Maybe start Brown a game as wel as he earned some PT.

I want to trust Detz will come around but it just hasn't happened yet. Maybe give him the Saturday start and if he shows signs of breaking out of the funk, plug him back in Sunday if Humpries/Garner isn't hitting.

And I can't blindly look at BAIP either. It's a good stat but can be misleading. If your're roping the ball but right at guys you can say the luck is going to change, if you're popping up and hitting weak groundouts with the onyl hits being texas leaguers and IF singles then it really means nothing.

I haven't watched enough but reading the recaps I've seen comments on Humphries and Garner hitting lasers at people and haven't read a lot of notes about Detz getting robbed so i have to think he's simply not making good contact.

And none of that matters at all if our pitching doesn't get it in gear this weekend.

Your take on Babip is spot on. And detz is hitting a ton Of lazy fly balls. Great post.

[War Machine Dawg]

Detz could probably benefit from a few "mental health" days riding the pine. Let him clear his head for a week and watch Humphreys play. But knowing Cohen, that's very unlikely to happen. Detz probably still has 2-3 weeks of leash left before Cohen looks at making a change.

[Todd4State]

I am concerned about this too, but only with our TOP recruits. You must remember, Rea/Henderson/Collins/Bradford/Frazier/Renfroe were high school guys, so he has to get credit for those. And basically ALL our pitchers. And it's not like JUCO guys are bad.....we almost got to Omaha with JUCOs in 2011. They have their place at MSU.

I'm worried about our top end recruits. Woodruff, Norris, Britton, Stark, Bole. However, in baseball, it really is all just a damn crapshoot. Look at the recruiting class Ole Miss got a few years ago (Preston Overbey and them, all the seniors now). They haven't done shit, and they were all drafted it seemed like.

Woodruff- nearly broken his arm in half. He's actually fortunate we didn't push him and find out about it because I have yet to see a pitcher come back from a humerus fracture- and that was where he was headed.

Norris- Injured his knee and actually played through a ton of pain. He was drafted by MLB as a pitcher and actually did OK as a pitcher once we moved him there save for a home run he gave up in extra innings.

Britton- He wasn't a high level prospect. Wasn't drafted out of high school and didn't commit until NSD. He was always going to be a project no matter what. Basically a calculated gamble based on his upside.

Stark- Attitude problem.

Bole- Same as Stark. Attitude problem. Went JUCO and did worse there.

[ButcherShop]

#FreeHumphreys

[Sandman14]

I understand that there is some grumbling because we've lost about 3 games more than we should have at this time. It's a little silly to get up in arms over blowing three games, we actually blew about 4, but I have no concern.

Setting aside that we've thrown away 3-4 games this year (player failure issues, it happens from time to time when you are dealing with 19-20 year olds), John Cohen is doing an A+++ job at being the head baseball coach at Mississippi State. From recruiting, to developing, to setting lineups, to bitch slapping folks in the the media--when you add it all up, he's doing an A+++ job. He took us to the supers in the third year removed from having one of the bottom 4 rosters in terms of talent in the SEC. Then we won the SEC tourney and went back to the regionals. Then we finished runner up to the national champs. If he needs juco, he uses juco. If he needs high schools kids, he uses them. If a top talent doesn't pan out, screw it, we just plug the next guy in and keep rolling toward the national title that, with any luck at all, will surely come within the next 5 years at some point.

Just making sure to weave into the conversation a little dose of reality.