Back after a few days off...baseball notes Christmas edition

[MsStateBaseball]

Official roster released by school. 39 players on it. Got to be at 35 by opening day. As Todd noted, ranked 20th today by Collegiate Baseball. OM not even in top 40 after finishing in top 8 last year. Recruiting...
Read Butch interview by Gene:
Starters are deeper this year, Preston Brown leads the group. He is highly impressed by Fr Jesse McCord, has him as potential Sunday starter. Ranked #200 by PG. This kid is going to be great. Fitts and Tatum are the closers. Others are still vying for roles. Staff has great potential I think.

I will do huge write up toward end of January.

[Coach34]

Fitts is an interesting closer

[MetEdDawg]

I like Fitts as a closer, especially if we've got a deep enough rotation for Friday through Sunday. He's got the stuff for closer and I think it's been clear by our use of him that we already see him as a shorter innings guy any ways. I think he could add a couple MPH to his FB if he's only asked to go 1-2 innings at the end of a game instead of coming in to start it off.

And I love hearing about McCord. I think he's got insane potential and love hearing he could break into the weekend rotation this year.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I read the same interview and wasn't so impressed. We will be talented in spots, but our most talented pitchers will also be very inexperienced. The amount of walks this fall worries me- as that was a problem for us last year as well. I could be reading too much into it, but it seemed almost like Thompson felt like this is his worst staff since 2011- and I don't say worst because I think we'll be awful... Just not up to the same level as the last three.

The good news is that this might be our best defensive team of the Cohen era, and I fully expect the offense to take a couple of steps forward. If the pitching staff does come together, we will be very good.

ETA:About McCord though, he will be a stud. I would not be the least bit surprised if he is a starter on the weekends- even given Cohen's reluctance to start freshmen. He is maybe the most advanced pitcher Cohen has signed to date, or at least since Routt.

[MsStateBaseball]

Butch is always hard on some pitchers BC he knows they can do better. I am still very high on Paul Young as I suspect Butch is. I think by May he will give us some solid innings. All the LHP should be really good except Mahoney who I think will redshirt. Dakota Hudson will be very good too.

I think we are really talented at all spots and it will show in wins.

[Todd4State]

I can't remember who said we were ranked 20th, but it wasn't me, so I won't take credit for it.

The most interesting this is it sounds like we will use Tatum a lot. I like that because he impressed me as a freshman last year. He came in a bases loaded jam and won the Governor's Cup by shutting down Ole Miss over 3-4 innings. He pitched well in the SEC Tournament.

It sounds to me like I said earlier today that they are hoping Hudson will be a starter- but it's wait and see at this point. If he's not ready or not healthy, we're going to have to piece things together again.

It sounds like they want to move Ross back to the bullpen if at all possible, which I think all of us agree would be for the best. My guess is they are hoping our rotation is:

Friday- Preston
Saturday- Laster
Sunday- Hudson

[Dallas_Dawg]

I think Ross coming out of the pen is best for our postseason chances. I we could find 3 starters that can go 4 plus innings a game, we can be back in Omaha

[Todd4State]

Butch is always hard on some pitchers BC he knows they can do better. I am still very high on Paul Young as I suspect Butch is. I think by May he will give us some solid innings. All the LHP should be really good except Mahoney who I think will redshirt. Dakota Hudson will be very good too.

I think we are really talented at all spots and it will show in wins.

Paul Young could be our secret weapon down the stretch. But he won't be available until March unless he progresses fairly quickly. Ultimately, if all goes well, I think we will use him as our midweek starter once SEC play starts. That way he can play some teams like Arkansas-Pine Bluff that are pretty easy but he can also see action against some good teams like Ole Miss, USM, and Memphis where he will have to actually make some pitches.

But we're going to be careful with him because there is no need to rush him back. However, if he does well, we should be able to work him into the rotation around time for the Regionals to start.

[Todd4State]

I think Ross coming out of the pen is best for our postseason chances. I we could find 3 starters that can go 4 plus innings a game, we can be back in Omaha

I totally agree. We know Preston can go at least five, but I question his durability. He's a guy that we could piggyback with Fitts. Laster can go 4-5 and he would be another guy we could piggyback. Dakota Hudson is a question mark as far as health, and therefore durability as well.

[messageboardsuperhero]

All I want in our starters are guys who can come in for five-six innings, throw strikes, and keep the ball down. Our infield defense is too damn good for our guys to walk a bunch of people. We know Preston Brown and Laster can do that. If Hudson can, it's a huge plus, IMO. I'd also like to see Sexton and Daniel Brown pitch well.

[MsStateBaseball]

We are going to be a very good in 2015. Very good. This team is complete in every facet, just needs experience. We keep getting more talented players each year. You will see what I am talking about.

[Todd4State]

We are going to be a very good in 2015. Very good. This team is complete in every facet, just needs experience. We keep getting more talented players each year. You will see what I am talking about.

The biggest thing is sorting the pitching staff out. It's going to suck when it costs us a couple of games that we should win early, but we will be fine once we figure it all out.

We need to upgrade our pitching talent to Stratton level if we want a NC- but Hudson, McCord, Riley, Fenter, Breaux, Pilkington, Mitchell Miller, and Ellott Johnson- we have it coming on the way.

[I seen it dawg]

Sexton has to be in the mix somewhere I would think.

[Smitty]

Shouldn't we expect for Hudson to be one of the guys this year? Sophomores in college baseball aren't too "young"

[engie]

All I want in our starters are guys who can come in for five-six innings, throw strikes, and keep the ball down. Our infield defense is too damn good for our guys to walk a bunch of people. We know Preston Brown and Laster can do that. If Hudson can, it's a huge plus, IMO. I'd also like to see Sexton and Daniel Brown pitch well.

Exactly. The radar gun doesn't mean much for our success overall. We've got to knock down the walk totals. Significantly. We allowed the 4th most in the SEC last year, led in WPs, and were only one off the lead in hit batters. Way too many free passes.

Our pitching staff can improve drastically without the talent level going up just by doing a better job of executing pitches. Some of that will self-correct with increased confidence and experience in the catching personnel...

[I seen it dawg]

Our walks and WPs will be helped significantly by losing Lindgren and having Collins catch the majority of the innings with his additional year of experience. And the fact the entire staff is a year older.

[Todd4State]

Shouldn't we expect for Hudson to be one of the guys this year? Sophomores in college baseball aren't too "young"
The concern is his back injury, not his youth.

[Bama_Dawg]

The biggest thing is sorting the pitching staff out. It's going to suck when it costs us a couple of games that we should win early, but we will be fine once we figure it all out.

We need to upgrade our pitching talent to Stratton level if we want a NC- but Hudson, McCord, Riley, Fenter, Breaux, Pilkington, Mitchell Miller, and Ellott Johnson- we have it coming on the way.

I watch Pilkington on a regular basis. Even since he was a HS freshman, he's been dominant. I can't wait to see him in Starkvegas (he already wears the maroon and white). BTW, from his mouth, he's in the low to mid 90s now.

[MsStateBaseball]

Thanks, sounds good. He should be a dandy dozen. Keep us updated.

[messageboardsuperhero]

I watch Pilkington on a regular basis. Even since he was a HS freshman, he's been dominant. I can't wait to see him in Starkvegas (he already wears the maroon and white). BTW, from his mouth, he's in the low to mid 90s now.

If this is really true, wow.

I know a few of our 2015 commits have made velo jumps lately. Jared Padgett was up in the low 90s last week, and the Cyr kid from Kansas was supposedly hitting 98 in a flat ground throwing session. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll throw that hard in a game- but he's someone in that class a lot of our fans have been overlooking (myself included) who has a very strong arm.

Here's a video of him throwing that he tweeted out. He looks to have bulked up and put on some good weight. http://instagram.com/p/y7BX0iRe1U/

[Bama_Dawg]

My worry with Konner (Pilkington) is burnout. All he does is throw. He loves baseball, but you have to shut things down from time to time to rest. I know over the past couple summers he worked with the Marlins travel team and they tweaked his motion a bit over the last summer and got some velocity. Hopefully he can stay healthy and out of the draft....