Baseball

[msstate7]

Who went?

[MsStateBaseball]

I did. We are much improved in all areas. Humphreys and Collins are great hitters. Sexton pitched great. I think we are top 10 team.

[msstate7]

Good. Hope you're right

[Todd4State]

All I can say is I fully expect Reid Humphreys to play everyday. Having him and Gavin Collins in the lineup at the same time is going to protect Rea and make us a lot more dangerous.

A lot of people don't realize how big of a loss Robson was last year. If he's healthy- he is going to be an upgrade for us in the outfield as well.

[Schultzy]

Do we have an ace?

[preachermatt83]

Do we have an ace?

Ross

[msstate7]

Do we have an ace?

Do we have 3 starters that can give us 6 IP?

[ScottH]

In my best Ron White mimicry - we are headed to year after year of being "loaded".

The talent we are stockpiling might actually be exceeding my initial lofty Cohen expectations.

When Butch finds us 4-5 6+ inning staters watch out.

[Todd4State]

Do we have an ace?

IMO, we're going to have to see if one emerges. You could make a strong case for Ross. At this time, I don't think we have a true traditional ace- a guy that can go out and give us 7 IP every single time and shut out the other team if he is on. I think Dakota Hudson, Austin Sexton, Vance Tatum, and Jesse McCord all have that kind of potential though- but they haven't proved it yet.

I do think that we have a lot of good parts and that we can and probably will piece together a very effective staff though. Like we have done in the past.

[Todd4State]

Do we have 3 starters that can give us 6 IP?

We're going to piggy back guys at the start of the year and then if someone(s) that can go deep emerges, then we will be more traditional. Like Stratton and Graveman.

I'm really pleased with how Preston Brown has performed- I wasn't counting on him coming back to his old form.

The veterans will be Ross, Fitts, Preston Brown, and then Daniel Brown a JUCO guy. Then we will also look at the sophomores- Dakota Hudson, Sexton, Tatum, and maybe Jesse McCord who is a freshman. My hope is that Hudson and Sexton emerge and then we can use Fitts and Laster on Sunday and then use Preston Brown midweek. Probably won't work out that way, but it would be really nice.

The sophomores have higher ceilings than our veteran guys.

[Todd4State]

In my best Ron White mimicry - we are headed to year after year of being "loaded".

The talent we are stockpiling might actually be exceeding my initial lofty Cohen expectations.

When Butch finds us 4-5 6+ inning staters watch out.

The guys that we are about to sign in November have me really excited- especially if we can get them on campus. Austin Riley, Gray Fenter, Breaux, Jared Padgett, Konnor Pilkington, and Parker Ford especially as far as pitching. And then Marrero, Alexander, Pickett, Stovall, and Mangum are all talented hitters as well. We just have to keep them all.

[Saltydog]

certainly not trying to discredit you by any means because you do have a lot of insight into the program but this team, while talented, is young and inexperienced.

[MsStateBaseball]

Mainly I think we have talented hitters more so than 2014, Collins and Humphreys. Holland is very good. I think we learned lessons from last year. I think we have more overall talent.

[messageboardsuperhero]

certainly not trying to discredit you by any means because you do have a lot of insight into the program but this team, while talented, is young and inexperienced.

You could say that about pretty much any elite college team, considering the best programs bring their top players in on a three-year cycle. The most talented guys on our team this year are sophomores or juniors, for the most part- and that's better than a lot of teams can say. Last year our most talented players, outside of Lindgren and Holder, were either freshmen or hurt/recovering from injuries (Woodruff, Young, Robson, etc.)

It's really way too soon to say how good this team will be, but we've got a bunch of 4/5 year players coming back on the mound- and we've got several sophomore pitchers returning who are very talented. Our defense will be one of the best on the conference, as always. And I really have a hard time imagining us having as much trouble scoring runs as we did last year. That's just my opinion though, based on how college players typically develop.

[TUSK]

BASEBALL?!?!?!

There's NO Baseball... in Football season!!!!

:D

[MsStateBaseball]

And now, take Cole Gordon from Florida, these kids play in big tournaments year round, even though the speed of the game is better they aren't intimidated. Signees next year even more so. Austin Riley has played against the best nationwide.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Mainly I think we have talented hitters more so than 2014, Collins and Humphreys. Holland is very good. I think we learned lessons from last year. I think we have more overall talent.

There's really no doubt in my mind that we will have more talented hitters this coming season.

At catcher, we replace Collins (Fr.) with Collins (So.)- I expect him to make big strides.
At first, we bring back Rea with another year of experience- he will be no worse than he was last year, and I'd be shocked if he didn't have a better year.
At second, we replace Pirtle with Holland- Pirtle will be very tough to replace. Holland is good though. May see some drop off but not too much.
At shortstop, I expect Heck to be about the same. Maybe a little better with another year of experience. Also remember he hit a ton of line drives that found gloves last year.
At third, I'd expect Britton to be better. He finished strong last year and had a good summer. I've also heard very promising things about the Reynolds guy from JUCO.
Humphreys is no doubt an offensive upgrade over what we had at RF last year.
I think at least one of Robson, Brown, and Smith can give us what CT did in 2014, even though CT did have a solid year.
I expect Vickerson to be better in LF, and we could also play Brown or Rooker here.
We'll also have better DH options.

Again, I'm not saying we'll be an offensive juggernaut- but we won't struggle to score runs as much as we did in 2014.