Todd4State
10-13-2014, 08:56 PM
This is one of my favorite parts of the baseball season- Playoff baseball and Fall baseball. I'm looking forward to the scrimmage at Smith-Wills on Saturday.
One of the biggest needs for us is going to be figuring out the bullpen. Hopefully we don't blow an OOC game or two trying to figure out who our closer is. But this will be a main focus during the OOC schedule the first three weeks. Two names I would watch as far as the closer situation goes- Zac Houston and Jacob Billingsley. Paul Young is a guy I would keep an eye on once SEC play starts. He is coming off of Tommy John surgery, but he has electric stuff when healthy. He was drafted by the Indians out of JUCO ball. He might be a closer or he might be our midweek guy when we have to play in Jackson. I think Lucas Laster is going to be our inning eater like Caleb Reed, Girodo, Ross, and etc. all were. Vance Tatum really impressed me last year too. Another guy I would watch is a JUCO pitcher named Logan Elliot. He's a guy that drops down, but he throws in the high 80's.
I think the rotation is going to be Fitts and Ross, although I would prefer Ross come out of the bullpen. And then the other spot probably will be between Preston Brown, Dakota Hudson, and Austin Sexton. Preston Brown is supposed to be healthy, but I'm not sure how many innings he can go and we might piggy back him with someone. Hudson has the talent to be a first round pick. Sexton probably had the best summer of the freshmen starting pitchers. I could see Vance Tatum and Jesse McCord putting themselves in the conversation as well. We have some really good talent on the mound, but we just have to figure out where the pieces fit.
Gavin Collins has a chance to be a first round pick himself and I think he has a chance to make the Team USA collegiate team next summer. He's going to be really good and I can see him being a 10 home run guy for us. He might be our best all around player- and when he is not catching he needs to DH. He had some lapses at times defensively, but most of that was due to inexperience. Cody Walker, Zach Randolph, and Josh Lovelady are depth guys. They'll fight for the back-up spot, but whoever wins that probably won't play a lot. My guess is Walker has the edge there.
Wes Rea and Matthew Britton are both seniors and they get to play with the new baseball. I think they both are going to have big years for us. Rea has more protection in the lineup and hopefully he won't try to do too much. However, when he does get a hit, it tends to be in a clutch situation. Like the Governor's Cup when he smoked the game winning double. Britton finished the year strong and then hit .300 in the Cape in limited time. From the Ole Miss series on, he hit over .300. I think both can have 10 home run seasons for us and hit .300. Both are also pretty good defensively as well.
As far as the middle infield, we have to replace Pirtle which is going to be tough. But we know what we have with Seth Heck, and we know he can play SS if necessary. John Holland has a lot of hype, but I don't know that I can realistically expect him to put up Pirtle like numbers. I do think that Holland can hit .300, and I think Heck can as well. Matt Spruill is another JUCO guy from Texas that will be in the mix to play second, and then Ryan Girdley is a freshman from Georgia that is going to compete. Girdley is a guy that is a lot like Pirtle, but he is just a freshman. If I had to guess, we'll see Heck at second and then Holland at SS. But I wouldn't rule the other two guys out.
Our OF is probably going to be small. That doesn't mean that they are going to suck though. But I'm sure I'll hear some Internet complaints about how small we are. Jake Vickerson caught some flack last year- but he had a really good summer and he finished the year strong. I think he will have a big year for us. Cody Brown showed some power this summer. I'll admit that when we recruited him, he was a questionable take- but he has proved me wrong. I love how he plays. He just has to be a little bit more under control and understand that he is not a big power guy. Jacob Robson also caught a lot of flack last year- but he was injured. If he is healthy he might be as good or better than CT. He played the last half of the summer and did very well. We have a JUCO OF/2B coming in named Michael Smith that is going to contend for some playing time and if Robson isn't healthy, he might get the CF job, and he might play second for us as well. We had to fight Vanderbilt for him.
I think Reid Humphreys will be the primary DH for us. I thought he had a pretty decent freshman year- he just has to develop. For some reason, I think he only hits 5 home runs for us and bats around .280. Probably because he missed the summer with a foot injury.
A few other guys to keep an eye on that are new for a lot of fans: Brent Rooker had a really good summer. He can play first base or the corner OF. He actually is one of our faster players and is around 6'3". Joey Swinarski missed a lot of the summer because of a concussion. He has five tool potential, but he is raw. He graduated HS early so that he could come to MSU, and honestly I wish he had played his senior year of HS. Another guy to watch is a true freshman from Tampa named Cole Gordon. He is a LH hitter who is listed at 6'5" and he is sort of like a LH hitting Brent Rooker. Finally, there is Luke Reynolds from Hinds CC who is a LH hitter that can play third or the OF. He is a high OBP guy.
As far as this team, I guarantee you that they remember last year which was disappointing to me. Last year, we were coming off of a NC runner up finish and we had to learn how to deal with that. Our guys also had to learn to do what they are asked to and not what they want to be. We all want to be a combination of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Sometimes we're more like Rod Carew. I thought we did a lot better at being who we are at the end of the year. To be honest, and I hate to say this, but Ole Miss and LSU embarrassed us last year in SEC play- at least we got the Governor's Cup. But of course we all want and demand more and should demand more. But those set backs are part of learning how to deal with success and understanding that you can't rest on your laurels and that having beards will make everything work out. I think we've learned our lesson and we are going to come out and have a great year. I think going to Omaha and possibly even winning the NC is a realistic goal for our team. I think we can host a regional and a SR. I'm looking forward to being number one in football and baseball.
One of the biggest needs for us is going to be figuring out the bullpen. Hopefully we don't blow an OOC game or two trying to figure out who our closer is. But this will be a main focus during the OOC schedule the first three weeks. Two names I would watch as far as the closer situation goes- Zac Houston and Jacob Billingsley. Paul Young is a guy I would keep an eye on once SEC play starts. He is coming off of Tommy John surgery, but he has electric stuff when healthy. He was drafted by the Indians out of JUCO ball. He might be a closer or he might be our midweek guy when we have to play in Jackson. I think Lucas Laster is going to be our inning eater like Caleb Reed, Girodo, Ross, and etc. all were. Vance Tatum really impressed me last year too. Another guy I would watch is a JUCO pitcher named Logan Elliot. He's a guy that drops down, but he throws in the high 80's.
I think the rotation is going to be Fitts and Ross, although I would prefer Ross come out of the bullpen. And then the other spot probably will be between Preston Brown, Dakota Hudson, and Austin Sexton. Preston Brown is supposed to be healthy, but I'm not sure how many innings he can go and we might piggy back him with someone. Hudson has the talent to be a first round pick. Sexton probably had the best summer of the freshmen starting pitchers. I could see Vance Tatum and Jesse McCord putting themselves in the conversation as well. We have some really good talent on the mound, but we just have to figure out where the pieces fit.
Gavin Collins has a chance to be a first round pick himself and I think he has a chance to make the Team USA collegiate team next summer. He's going to be really good and I can see him being a 10 home run guy for us. He might be our best all around player- and when he is not catching he needs to DH. He had some lapses at times defensively, but most of that was due to inexperience. Cody Walker, Zach Randolph, and Josh Lovelady are depth guys. They'll fight for the back-up spot, but whoever wins that probably won't play a lot. My guess is Walker has the edge there.
Wes Rea and Matthew Britton are both seniors and they get to play with the new baseball. I think they both are going to have big years for us. Rea has more protection in the lineup and hopefully he won't try to do too much. However, when he does get a hit, it tends to be in a clutch situation. Like the Governor's Cup when he smoked the game winning double. Britton finished the year strong and then hit .300 in the Cape in limited time. From the Ole Miss series on, he hit over .300. I think both can have 10 home run seasons for us and hit .300. Both are also pretty good defensively as well.
As far as the middle infield, we have to replace Pirtle which is going to be tough. But we know what we have with Seth Heck, and we know he can play SS if necessary. John Holland has a lot of hype, but I don't know that I can realistically expect him to put up Pirtle like numbers. I do think that Holland can hit .300, and I think Heck can as well. Matt Spruill is another JUCO guy from Texas that will be in the mix to play second, and then Ryan Girdley is a freshman from Georgia that is going to compete. Girdley is a guy that is a lot like Pirtle, but he is just a freshman. If I had to guess, we'll see Heck at second and then Holland at SS. But I wouldn't rule the other two guys out.
Our OF is probably going to be small. That doesn't mean that they are going to suck though. But I'm sure I'll hear some Internet complaints about how small we are. Jake Vickerson caught some flack last year- but he had a really good summer and he finished the year strong. I think he will have a big year for us. Cody Brown showed some power this summer. I'll admit that when we recruited him, he was a questionable take- but he has proved me wrong. I love how he plays. He just has to be a little bit more under control and understand that he is not a big power guy. Jacob Robson also caught a lot of flack last year- but he was injured. If he is healthy he might be as good or better than CT. He played the last half of the summer and did very well. We have a JUCO OF/2B coming in named Michael Smith that is going to contend for some playing time and if Robson isn't healthy, he might get the CF job, and he might play second for us as well. We had to fight Vanderbilt for him.
I think Reid Humphreys will be the primary DH for us. I thought he had a pretty decent freshman year- he just has to develop. For some reason, I think he only hits 5 home runs for us and bats around .280. Probably because he missed the summer with a foot injury.
A few other guys to keep an eye on that are new for a lot of fans: Brent Rooker had a really good summer. He can play first base or the corner OF. He actually is one of our faster players and is around 6'3". Joey Swinarski missed a lot of the summer because of a concussion. He has five tool potential, but he is raw. He graduated HS early so that he could come to MSU, and honestly I wish he had played his senior year of HS. Another guy to watch is a true freshman from Tampa named Cole Gordon. He is a LH hitter who is listed at 6'5" and he is sort of like a LH hitting Brent Rooker. Finally, there is Luke Reynolds from Hinds CC who is a LH hitter that can play third or the OF. He is a high OBP guy.
As far as this team, I guarantee you that they remember last year which was disappointing to me. Last year, we were coming off of a NC runner up finish and we had to learn how to deal with that. Our guys also had to learn to do what they are asked to and not what they want to be. We all want to be a combination of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams. Sometimes we're more like Rod Carew. I thought we did a lot better at being who we are at the end of the year. To be honest, and I hate to say this, but Ole Miss and LSU embarrassed us last year in SEC play- at least we got the Governor's Cup. But of course we all want and demand more and should demand more. But those set backs are part of learning how to deal with success and understanding that you can't rest on your laurels and that having beards will make everything work out. I think we've learned our lesson and we are going to come out and have a great year. I think going to Omaha and possibly even winning the NC is a realistic goal for our team. I think we can host a regional and a SR. I'm looking forward to being number one in football and baseball.