Baseball is now the weak link of the big 3

[Drugdog]

Sports. Shocking.

[CadaverDawg]

Sports. Shocking.

My what 3 weeks can change. 3 weeks ago we were talking about hosting a Regional and how basketball might as well be shut down....now we're likely going to miss out on Regionals altogether, and basketball has stolen the show. I really hope we get it turned around on the diamond, but when your hitting sucks and your bullpen sucks, that's 2 incredibly huge problems to fix within the season.

[Homedawg]

Sports. Shocking.

Let's not go crazy. Basketball has a long way to go to catch baseball, long way. Don't let emotions of a sour first half and a good hire ruin perspective of reality.

[msstate7]

My what 3 weeks can change. 3 weeks ago we were talking about hosting a Regional and how basketball might as well be shut down....now we're likely going to miss out on Regionals altogether, and basketball has stolen the show. I really hope we get it turned around on the diamond, but when your hitting sucks and your bullpen sucks, that's 2 incredibly huge problems to fix within the season.

Too bad we couldn't keep playing Cincinnati, Marshall, etc. Now we see why cohen backed out of that tourney. No excuse to be this bad esp considering I hear night and day how great a recruiter cohen is. Yeah, he's put together one hell of a team

[Dawg61]

Too bad we couldn't keep playing Cincinnati, Marshall, etc. Now we see why cohen backed out of that tourney. No excuse to be this bad esp considering I hear night and day how great a recruiter cohen is. Yeah, he's put together one hell of a team

Cohen's recruiting isn't the problem and it's not for lack of talent on the team either. Only two options I see. Cohen overhauls his coaching style on hitting, bunting and how to use pitchers correctly or he finds another job. He's got about two years to make a choice.

[Maroonthirteen]

Talent, coaching......yada yada yada..... But of the big 3 sports baseball is the one in which it is all about talent. It is your guy in the box vs their guy on the hill. It is as simple as that. Also I dont buy for a second that Cohen handcuffs guys with some approach at the plate. We are just simply not that talented at the plate.

Which that still falls back on Cohen's recruiting. It hasn't been good. I don't care what recruiting rankings have been. Proof of the pudding.....

[yjnkdawg]

I agree with Dawg61, I don't think recruiting or lack of talent are the issues. Look at the bio's on these players. I think what were good hitters, prior to coming to MSU, have been retrained to play Cohen small ball and they have forgotten how to actually hit like they used to, or maybe being held back to some extent. It could be too, that some of these new players have just not adjusted yet to SEC pitching. It does happen. I also agree with Dawg61 on some of these pitching moves, as part of the problem, especially to pull a pitcher when he already has a count on a batter. So far we don't have a Lingo or Holder type pitcher to come in and shut a team down. So we can't count on the 1-0 wins or whatever like we used too.

[ShotgunDawg]

Rick Ray had a 24% winning percentage in the SEC in his tenure & Cohen has a 43.7% winning percentage in the SEC in his tenure. Show Cohen some respect

[ShotgunDawg]

I agree with Dawg61, I don't think recruiting or lack of talent are the issues. Look at the bio's on these players. I think what were good hitters, prior to coming to MSU, have been retrained to play Cohen small ball and they have forgotten how to actually hit like they used to, or maybe being held back to some extent. It could be too, that some of these new players have just not adjusted yet to SEC pitching. It does happen. I also agree with Dawg61 on some of these pitching moves, as part of the problem, especially to pull a pitcher when he already has a count on a batter. So far we don't have a Lingo or Holder type pitcher to come in and shut a team down. So we can't count on the 1-0 wins or whatever like we used too.

So you think our players being good hitters high school correlates with them being good hitters in the college/SEC?

[Dawg61]

So you think our players being good hitters high school correlates with them being good hitters in the college/SEC?

Watch the games. Then watch other teams play games. Pay attention to how other coaches manage their team and how our hitters approach hitting. MSU's is VASTLY different than any other GOOD team you can find college or pro. Cohen embarrasses himself every game with his approach to winning games.

[deadheaddawg]

Thread needs pics

http://www.msubulldogclub.com/projects/files/2014/08/dudy-home-v2.jpg

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/355ffa4be6699dda856cd888a58411f6214b2260/c=53-0-499-336&r=x383&c=540x380/local/-/media/JacksonMS/MississippiStateSports/2014/08/12/1407874612000-LFL.jpg

http://www.msubulldogclub.com/projects/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/dudy-noble-field/6_0.jpg

https://cdn3.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/USCKYC_NxrbHmLLq86fKpJN5KE4=/0x0:1100x619/1050x591/cdn0.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/36856200/5.0.jpg

[War Machine Dawg]

My what 3 weeks can change. 3 weeks ago we were talking about hosting a Regional and how basketball might as well be shut down....now we're likely going to miss out on Regionals altogether, and basketball has stolen the show. I really hope we get it turned around on the diamond, but when your hitting sucks and your bullpen sucks, that's 2 incredibly huge problems to fix within the season.

B...b...but one of our resident baseball experts say the only thing wrong is the bullpen. We score enough runs if the bullpen could hold a lead!!!11!!!****

[Todd4State]

Watch the games. Then watch other teams play games. Pay attention to how other coaches manage their team and how our hitters approach hitting. MSU's is VASTLY different than any other GOOD team you can find college or pro. Cohen embarrasses himself every game with his approach to winning games.

I'll say it again:

C- JUCO
1B- Fifth year senior originally recruited as a pitcher.
2B- JUCO that did start out at FSU
3B- JUCO
SS- JUCO
LF- Drafted by Nationals- leads team in home runs and batting average continues to climb.
CF- Drafted by Padres- leads team in batting average
RF- Former walk-on
DH- Draftable prospect that had injuries in high school but otherwise would have been drafted.

So, we have THREE SEC hitters on our team.

[Todd4State]

B...b...but one of our resident baseball experts say the only thing wrong is the bullpen. We score enough runs if the bullpen could hold a lead!!!11!!!****

Way to wait until the first time we've been shut out this year to "prove you are right"- almost halfway into the season no less. Coming off the heels of a game where we scored 12. Games like tonight happen to everybody.

Of course you are the genius who came up with "we should have a better offense to overcome our bullpen giving up nine runs" if I'm not mistaken- and if you aren't, I certainly remember you supporting it.

[Todd4State]

So you think our players being good hitters high school correlates with them being good hitters in the college/SEC?

And he thinks that that Cohen is telling them to not hit.

[RossDawg82]

I don't think the issue is Cohen. Granted I personally wouldn't bunt some of the guys he bunts, but small ball is what he knows and what he has had success with. We just have hitters that can't produce when needed. We are in a huge slump right now, and it will take leadership to get us out of it. The last 2 years this should have been Reas team and I haven't seen a lick of leadership out of him. We need a lot of bullpen work, but if there is one coach I trust on the staff it's Thompson. I think we can still get hot, but the players are gonna have to want it badly enough and right now they don't. We look like a very uninspired team right now.

[hoopdawg92]

Offer hitting coach position to Jim Page and if he accepts, turn all hitting aspects over to him. PERIOD!

Am I Biased? Yep...but dude knows hitting. Would he do it? Not sure....been a successful head coach for 25 or so years...

[Jacksondevildog]

The intense bastard needs to hire a hitting coach. Our program will stagnate until he does so or changes his philosophy offensively. By stagnate, I mean be a regular 2 seed in regionals with the very occasional host possibility.

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

Our offense isn't bad. We are scoring a lot of runs and getting on base a lot. We aren't hitting for any power though.

[msstate7]

Our offense isn't bad. We are scoring a lot of runs and getting on base a lot. We aren't hitting for any power though.

We hit pretty well till there are runners on in scoring position, then we choke. Timely and situational hitting are bad. Couple that with lack of power and you're gonna struggle

[Eric Nies Grind Time]

We hit pretty well till there are runners on in scoring position, then we choke. Timely and situational hitting are bad. Couple that with lack of power and you're gonna struggle

If we were hitting for any power we would have a top 5 offense in the country.

[Dawg61]

I'll say it again:

C- JUCO
1B- Fifth year senior originally recruited as a pitcher.
2B- JUCO that did start out at FSU
3B- JUCO
SS- JUCO
LF- Drafted by Nationals- leads team in home runs and batting average continues to climb.
CF- Drafted by Padres- leads team in batting average
RF- Former walk-on
DH- Draftable prospect that had injuries in high school but otherwise would have been drafted.

So, we have THREE SEC hitters on our team.

Two years. Change the little league offensive approach or get fired. You'll come around eventually Todd.

[DudyDawg]

We aren't very good. That's about the long and short of it