Collegiate Baseball Preseason Poll

[TheRef]

Vandy comes in at #1
We are at #20
TSUN is in the "Receiving Votes" category (Equivalent ranking of #46)

Full Poll: http://baseballnews.com/collegiate-baseball-div-poll-12-22-14/

[Coach34]

That's fair. Our pitching has something to prove this year. Offensively and defensively we should be outstanding

[Political Hack]

what happened with UCLA? losing record to #10? that's strong.

Surprised #20 was good for 3rd in the SEC.

[engie]

Laughable. But all preseason baseball polls are. I think it is pretty fair for us IMO...but the "political correctness" and misranking of the SEC outside of the top 3 schools makes it a joke...

There are 12 SEC teams among the(real) top 40...

[Political Hack]

Laughable. But all preseason baseball polls are. I think it is pretty fair for us IMO...but the "political correctness" and misranking of the SEC outside of the top 3 schools makes it a joke...

There are 12 SEC teams among the(real) top 40...

easy

[engie]

Tennessee is going to surprise people this year. They are improving with Serrano...

Really, the only team I consider bad on the frontend is Mizzou...

[messageboardsuperhero]

I'm shocked to see USCe at 21- they should be one of the best teams in the east this year, and I'd put them in the same tier as UF and Vandy.

They are also vastly underrating the SECw. Arkansas at 36? Alabama and UM outside of the top 40? Absurd.

[Jacksondevildog]

We better hit the ball because I haven't heard real encouraging things about our pitching staff for this year.

[engie]

We better hit the ball because I haven't heard real encouraging things about our pitching staff for this year.

Largely because we're a vastly improved hitting team... and the new baseballs are making a big difference...

Can't tell much until you start playing other people.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Laughable. But all preseason baseball polls are. I think it is pretty fair for us IMO...but the "political correctness" and misranking of the SEC outside of the top 3 schools makes it a joke...

There are 12 SEC teams among the(real) top 40...

These preseason polls always put way too much emphasis on how a team finished in the NCAA tournament the year before. College baseball is by far the hardest of the big 3 sports to project going into a season.

That being said, UM outside of the top 40 is crazy to me- no matter who they lost. They'll drop off from last year but still be a solid team. Trent, Woodman, Bortles, Orvis, Robinson, etc.- that's several good pieces.

[Jacksondevildog]

Vastly improved hitting team and a staff that has only 4 guys that can hit 90. That per someone that I know on the team that will contribute a lot this year. There is talent on the staff, but unproven guys on the staff and we lost so much on the back end of the bullpen.

[engie]

They should be top 25. They are just now fully stocked with Godwin recruits. They will reap that reward for a few years. Seems they were overly punished for having more players drafted than anyone else last year... "Oh, you lost x -- must not be top 40". Ignoring the fact that they've actually been(RPI):
2014 - 4
2013 - 27
2012 - 21
2011 - 38
2010 - 22
2009 - 10
2008 - 32
2007 - 10
2006 - 13
2005 - 2
2004 - 12
2003 - 38
2002 - 33
2001 - 23

Yep -- seems pretty likely they will be a mid-40s team**

[engie]

Vastly improved hitting team and a staff that has only 4 guys that can hit 90. That per someone that I know on the team that will contribute a lot this year. There is talent on the staff, but unproven guys on the staff and we lost so much on the back end of the bullpen.

4 guys that can hit 90? LOL

It might be the best source ever -- but this part being so wrong calls everything else they actually said into question. It's not like this is something hard to disprove -- the Swan has MPH figures from the fall on most of our staff....

[ScottH]

That being said, UM outside of the top 40 is crazy to me- no matter who they lost. They'll drop off from last year but still be a solid team. Trent, Woodman, Bortles, Orvis, Robinson, etc.- that's several good pieces.

Long term the key loss is Dulin. That's going to end up being a monumental screw up.

[messageboardsuperhero]

They should be top 25. They are just now fully stocked with Godwin recruits. They will reap that reward for a few years. Seems they were overly punished for having more players drafted than anyone else last year... "Oh, you lost x -- must not be top 40". Ignoring the fact that they've actually been(RPI):
2014 - 4
2013 - 27
2012 - 21
2011 - 38
2010 - 22
2009 - 10
2008 - 32
2007 - 10
2006 - 13
2005 - 2
2004 - 12
2003 - 38
2002 - 33
2001 - 23

Yep -- seems pretty likely they will be a mid-40s team**

UM will consistently be a top 30-40 team no matter what, as long as Bianco is there- but we won't really know what this new hitting coach is made of for another couple of years. Will they stay in the top tier or fall back into where they were from 2010-2013? Time will tell.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Long term the key loss is Dulin. That's going to end up being a monumental screw up.

UM screwed it up by offering him in the first place... They were in a tough spot though.

[Political Hack]

I'm so ready for baseball to start and football's not even over.

It's boring during the downtime between major sports.

[State82]

Vandy comes in at #1
We are at #20
TSUN is in the "Receiving Votes" category (Equivalent ranking of #46)

Full Poll: http://baseballnews.com/collegiate-baseball-div-poll-12-22-14/

Vandy had 3 players on the first team Louisville Slugger preseason All America team. They are starting to really get under my skin with their scholarship manipulation.

[Dawg61]

I'm so ready for baseball to start and football's not even over.

It's boring during the downtime between major sports.

We should start a basketball program for the gap in between sports**

[Todd4State]

I'm not too terribly worried about the pitching, although I totally understand why people are. We don't have anyone that is a Stratton or Graveman type talent right now at the moment. But what we do have is a few guys that are experienced that have had a lot of SEC success and a few that have played and performed in Omaha in Fitts, Ross, Laster and the good news is that Preston Brown has looked healthy and should be good to go. At the same time, none of those guys are going to blow up a radar gun and knock scouts off their feet.

If I had to guess, the thing that they are toying with right now is going with Laster/Fitts, Ross, and then Preston/Fitts.

One thing that has to be mentioned that could change everything completely is Dakota Hudson. He missed a lot of the fall with a back issue. IF he comes back, it will change everything completely in our favor. And from what I understand, he is supposed to be back this spring. He is a guy that can blow up a radar gun and wow scouts. Hudson has legit first round type potential and if he can be our ace, it will allow us to move someone like Laster or Ross to the bullpen.

Actually, it would be great if Austin Sexton, Jesse McCord, and Vance Tatum took the bull by the horns and knock the seniors into the bullpen minus Preston Brown. Those three guys along with Zac Houston will go a long way in determining how strong or how weak our staff is this year.

We also need Myles Gentry, Logan Elliott, and Daniel Brown to step up and fill in the Ross/Caleb Reed/Pollorena roles for us.

[DudyDawg]

I'm really excited to see Tatum. I think he has the potential to be a poor man's lindgren out of the pen, which is a damn good shutdown pitcher.

Hopefully gavin, Reid and Maybe even Wes in the middle (where i assume they'll start the season) will provide some pop we didn't have last year. I think we are better than the 20th best team in college baseball, but it doesn't really matter

[Todd4State]

These preseason polls always put way too much emphasis on how a team finished in the NCAA tournament the year before. College baseball is by far the hardest of the big 3 sports to project going into a season.

That being said, UM outside of the top 40 is crazy to me- no matter who they lost. They'll drop off from last year but still be a solid team. Trent, Woodman, Bortles, Orvis, Robinson, etc.- that's several good pieces.

Yes, but those pieces had good players surrounding them that they don't have right now. They're going to have to step up and be "the guys" this year- and probably without as good of protection.

On top of that, they are going to have to deal with "the year after" syndrome like we did last year.

[Todd4State]

I'm really excited to see Tatum. I think he has the potential to be a poor man's lindgren out of the pen, which is a damn good shutdown pitcher.

Hopefully gavin, Reid and Maybe even Wes in the middle (where i assume they'll start the season) will provide some pop we didn't have last year. I think we are better than the 20th best team in college baseball, but it doesn't really matter

I'm fairly certain we will have more power next year- Gavin and Reid will be better, and they can protect Rea in the lineup. Britton has more power than a lot of our fans realize as well. Robson and Michael Smith will give us more speed on the basepaths as well. Holland realistically probably won't replace Pirtle, but he should still be productive.

And if nothing else, the new baseballs will travel further. Some of those lazy fly balls that Rea hits will now get out of the park.

[Todd4State]

UM screwed it up by offering him in the first place... They were in a tough spot though.

They put all of their eggs in that basket and then someone took that basket. And it looks like Cohen is the one that took the basket.

They should have let Dulin go to Memphis- where he might end up anyway. Losing Fenter, Clay Casey, and Tysten Barlow is going to hurt them big time in a few years.

Fenter is good enough to possibly take a rotation spot for us next year as a true freshman.

[Jacksondevildog]

Agree on Fenter. I watched him pitch at Wrigley during the Under Armor all star game and I was jealous that the RebAls were getting him. He is a huge pickup for us, including Barlow.

[Todd4State]

Agree on Fenter. I watched him pitch at Wrigley during the Under Armor all star game and I was jealous that the RebAls were getting him. He is a huge pickup for us, including Barlow.

I'm ready for our current class to get to campus in 2016. I think 2018 could be a really good year for MSU baseball. Hopefully the draft is kind to us.

[messageboardsuperhero]

They put all of their eggs in that basket and then someone took that basket. And it looks like Cohen is the one that took the basket.

They should have let Dulin go to Memphis- where he might end up anyway. Losing Fenter, Clay Casey, and Tysten Barlow is going to hurt them big time in a few years.

Fenter is good enough to possibly take a rotation spot for us next year as a true freshman.

Do you see Fenter as a starter or a closer? I've been told he'd be best as an elite closer with an electric fastball, ala Nick Burdi from Louisville.

ETA: And now you've got me thinking about the 2015 class, and I'm getting me excited.

[Todd4State]

Do you see Fenter as a starter or a closer? I've been told he'd be best as an elite closer with an electric fastball, ala Nick Burdi from Louisville.

ETA: And now you've got me thinking about the 2015 class, and I'm getting me excited.

I think he has the ability to do both. I could see him possibly coming in as a freshman and being a closer depending on our situation next year. But I think as far as SEC goes, we're going to use him as a starting pitcher eventually. I think Parker Ford will be our closer for that group if he doesn't go pro. As far as Fenter being a pro and what his future holds- I could see where some teams think that he will be a closer in MLB when he gets to that point.

But that might be a good reason for him to go to college- if he can be a quality SEC starting pitcher, it will make him more attractive to MLB teams.