What changes should be made ASAP in Baseball?

[Drugdog]

1. Hitting Coach
2. Weight Program
3. Recruit bigger players.

[scottycameron]

Take a cue from softball and recruit more size, LOL. (I know, I know, that was bad! just couldn't pass it up- all seriousness I love our softball girls!)

Got to keep your sense of humor in times like these - they are only temporary!

[RougeDawg]

1. Hitting Coach
2. Weight Program
3. Recruit bigger players.

A mechanics oriented hitting coach will take care of power, before any weight room or larger players would help. Any sized player can experience more power with a few changes to their stance and a set of hitting drills that force you to make contact at the power points of your swing. It's difficult to explain on here but I've seen a slap hitting singles 5'6", 170 guy start denting the wall in the gaps with just a few small changes and these drills. From our players the last 5 years or so, whoever is teaching our hitters is not doing any of these power enhancing drills nor altering the mechanics of our hitters. And by mechanics I'm not talking about changing their swing. I'm Talking about moving the hands A few inches here or there before the swing or moving the front foot a few inches also.

Yes bigger stronger hitters would not hurt, but a hitting coach now would help dramatically.

[sandjunky]

I would add nutritionist...dudes that have been here for years have developed zero mass and have not dropped body fat.... team looks small and soft



A mechanics oriented hitting coach will take care of power, before any weight room or larger players would help. Any sized player can experience more power with a few changes to their stance and a set of hitting drills that force you to make contact at the power points of your swing. It's difficult to explain on here but I've seen a slap hitting singles 5'6", 170 guy start denting the wall in the gaps with just a few small changes and these drills. From our

players the last 5 years or so, whoever is teaching our hitters is not doing any of these power enhancing drills nor altering the mechanics of our hitters. And by mechanics I'm not talking about changing their swing. I'm Talking about moving the hands A few inches here or there before the swing or moving the front foot a few inches also.

Yes bigger stronger hitters would not hurt, but a hitting coach now would help dramatically.

[maroonmania]

All I know is I watching a little of the OM-Bama game yesterday and OM has about 4 or 5 guys in their lineup that would dwarf any of ours other than Rea and maybe Hump (when he plays).

[smootness]

Hire RougeDawg.

[scottycameron]

Nutritionist? LOL. What is that supposed to mean?

[starkvegasdawg]

looks small and soft

That's never a good combination.

[BulldogBear]

A mechanics oriented hitting coach will take care of power, before any weight room or larger players would help. Any sized player can experience more power with a few changes to their stance and a set of hitting drills that force you to make contact at the power points of your swing. It's difficult to explain on here but I've seen a slap hitting singles 5'6", 170 guy start denting the wall in the gaps with just a few small changes and these drills. From our players the last 5 years or so, whoever is teaching our hitters is not doing any of these power enhancing drills nor altering the mechanics of our hitters. And by mechanics I'm not talking about changing their swing. I'm Talking about moving the hands A few inches here or there before the swing or moving the front foot a few inches also.

Yes bigger stronger hitters would not hurt, but a hitting coach now would help dramatically.
^This. Easy decision to me.

[Dawg61]

Stop playing teeball would be the first change I'd make. Cohenball dominates little league but we're playing in the SEC not the Starkville 10-12 years old league.

[sandjunky]

Nutritionist? LOL. What is that supposed to mean?

It means their diets do not match their weight training if there is weight training and if they did weight train preseason, they've done a poor job with nutrition in maintaining any added muscle since the season started....they're diets should be something like 40/40/20 with 1.5-2 grams of protein for each pound of lean body mass, followed by carbs and fats....

[scottycameron]

It means their diets do not match their weight training if there is weight training and if they did weight train preseason, they've done a poor job with nutrition in maintaining any added muscle since the season started....they're diets should be something like 40/40/20 with 1.5-2 grams of protein for each pound of lean body mass, followed by carbs and fats....

Jesus, when did all that start?

[weblow]

1. Hitting Coach
2. Weight Program
3. Recruit bigger players.

1. Hitting Coach---yes, a must. Proven hitting coach, not some grad student or 3rd rate guys that we call a hitting coach and let Cohen do it. A real hitting coach.
2. Strength Coach----we have one wondering around with a pot belly and he is mainly responsible for dealing with Adidas and other things a grad student would do.
3. A leash or chain to keep Cohen in the dugout or home for game days. For a team that is built off of speed, we are worse on the bases than 90% of the teams we play. Attempting to steal 3rd today, with our fastest guy at second and a lead in the 9th is a good example.

I like Cohen, haven't missed a home series and have watched or listen to every other game but we are just not good and not well coached at this point. My opinion is this, when Cohen first got here and the next couple of years he was known as the Intense Bastard. Players hated him and the grey hairs complained about his language that they could hear from the stands. In 2013 the team came to him and basically said that he needed to let them have a personality, the facial hair, goofing around in the dugout, bench mob.........Everyone ate it up because the product on the field was top notch.

Fast forward to this year. Cohen has gotten soft and the team has always been soft. No one fears a single bat that steps up or any pitcher that we have starting or in the pen. We have a group of soft ass headcases for the most part that are just not good overall. Friday night, with our backs against the wall, we watch 3rd strike 6 times. You turn on the LSU aTm game and see two teams that look focused and every batter looks like they would cut off their arm to make contact. We don't have that make up, mentally or physically. Now we have the same assplay in the dugout and soft team and look like clowns because we are not good.

I personally think we need the Intense Bastard to show his ass back up. That won't really solve it though. Until Cohen proves that he is willing to recruit the big hitters and intense, aggressive players, we will suffer to make Hoover.

There is zero excuse, zero for this team with the classes we have had to be this bad and looking at staying home for the SEC Tourney, much less having no shot in hell at making a regional. No excuse.

[State82]

Due to time constraints (and to save thread space) I'm not going to quote it. But, what weblow just said. Hard to lay it out any better than that. Truth just plain hurts sometimes.

[Todd4State]

Weblow had a good post. But I'll add some things and put my two cents in.

1. Mingione has pretty much lost his job to the volunteer assistant. I hope Western Carolina has a job opening for him. That said, I'd get rid of Dillon too. I'd try to hire someone like UCF's hitting coach and then someone that has a background in coaching catchers- like Ed Easley. And I think this might be Ed's last year. But we'll see on that.

2. A new strength coach is a good idea because it might help us limit injuries more. That has been a huge issue for awhile now.

3. On Weblow's #3- a new hitting coach might help with baserunning as well. Mingione is HORRIBLE as a third base coach. Sometimes he just stands there and doesn't even make a signal one way or the other. And the players are just looking at him like "well?". Ming- if you're in doubt, just tell the runner to hold up by default. Yeah, it's not foolproof- but at least you don't get the runner thrown out because of your indecision.

4. I loved the Bench Mobb but at the time I was worried that it might be one of the worst that could happen in the long run. The reason I say that is because I think it caused Cohen to soften up- and probably too much. He has to find the happy medium between intense bastard and being OK with the Bench Mobb stuff. All he really has to do is just let the players wear their hair and beards the way that they want to- and then stay on their ass in practice.

5. We need a director of baseball operations that handles the misc. stuff that the strength coach is doing. Heck, I'd do it if they paid me enough. Seriously.

6. We need MLB to include International players in the draft ASAP. That's going to drop our recruits down some in the draft- and make it more likely that they come to school. I wouldn't be surprised if we benefit from that more than any other SEC school because of our scholarship situation compared to the others.

7. I would get with Keenum and tell him about the uneven playing field in college baseball and ask him to help with scholarship money. I'd ask for "leadership scholarships" that cover full or as much tuition as possible and then use the baseball scholarship portion to cover everything else- books, room and board, etc. We get by using academic scholarship money which is fine. But not every baseball player is Jeremy Jackson. Using leadership scholarships open us up to more players.

8. I'd try to get in on some (or maybe just one a year) players that Scott Boras advises. We probably won't get very many of them- but MLB HAAAAAAATTTTTEESS dealing with Boras. Ask the Cubs right now. He's had a few high end guys go to college over the years.

9. I'd get with some big time booster like a Richard Adkerson or whomever runs AFLAC and target about four elite level recruits- 2 pitchers and 2 hitters and ask the booster to work out a deal with those players where they get one million guaranteed once their career is over at MSU. That's basically guaranteeing them first-second round money- plus whatever they get once they get drafted in three years plus an education. If nothing else- it will bleed the hell out of some MLB team and make it harder to sign our players. They'll probably turn us in to the NCAA- but that's why we pay the money AFTER they leave and aren't student athletes anymore. No paper trail- it's the Phillies word vs. ours.

10. I'd get a new bat contract. I'd tell Easton, Louisville Slugger, and DeMarini that we're looking and to give us their best shot. I'd have our hitters test out all three bats in the offseason and then rate them. The ones the players like the best gets the contract. I'd also tell Adidas to stop with the ridiculous uniforms. We wear either pinstripes like the YANKEES not the PHILLIES, the 1985 style white uniforms or the maroon top with the same style or the 1990 team style uniform at home. And on the road we wear the gray "Mississippi State" one that we have or a gray version of the 1985 style uniform or the 1985 maroon top. AND THAT IS IT. If they want to do St. Patty's day and a military tribute camo one, that is fine too- but those are the only exceptions.

11. We need an elite local travel team. Get someone like Jay Powell and Jarrod Parks involved with it. That's going to help our Mississippi recruits transition to college ball sooner- and hopefully not have to wait three years before we see some legit production from them.

12. STOP RECRUITING SO MANY JUCO'S!!!!!! The only good thing that came from Smitty's post about how he was right about Daniel Garner besides making him look like a dumbass again was it made me realize how bad our hitters were in JUCO. Hitting .330 in JUCO ball translates into about .240 in SEC ball. We need to focus on bringing in more Brent Rooker's- power guys that have to be developed rather than having all of our power prospects be elite level players that MLB wants.

[Jacksondevildog]

Rack him.


Weblow had a good post. But I'll add some things and put my two cents in.

1. Mingione has pretty much lost his job to the volunteer assistant. I hope Western Carolina has a job opening for him. That said, I'd get rid of Dillon too. I'd try to hire someone like UCF's hitting coach and then someone that has a background in coaching catchers- like Ed Easley. And I think this might be Ed's last year. But we'll see on that.

2. A new strength coach is a good idea because it might help us limit injuries more. That has been a huge issue for awhile now.

3. On Weblow's #3- a new hitting coach might help with baserunning as well. Mingione is HORRIBLE as a third base coach. Sometimes he just stands there and doesn't even make a signal one way or the other. And the players are just looking at him like "well?". Ming- if you're in doubt, just tell the runner to hold up by default. Yeah, it's not foolproof- but at least you don't get the runner thrown out because of your indecision.

4. I loved the Bench Mobb but at the time I was worried that it might be one of the worst that could happen in the long run. The reason I say that is because I think it caused Cohen to soften up- and probably too much. He has to find the happy medium between intense bastard and being OK with the Bench Mobb stuff. All he really has to do is just let the players wear their hair and beards the way that they want to- and then stay on their ass in practice.

5. We need a director of baseball operations that handles the misc. stuff that the strength coach is doing. Heck, I'd do it if they paid me enough. Seriously.

6. We need MLB to include International players in the draft ASAP. That's going to drop our recruits down some in the draft- and make it more likely that they come to school. I wouldn't be surprised if we benefit from that more than any other SEC school because of our scholarship situation compared to the others.

7. I would get with Keenum and tell him about the uneven playing field in college baseball and ask him to help with scholarship money. I'd ask for "leadership scholarships" that cover full or as much tuition as possible and then use the baseball scholarship portion to cover everything else- books, room and board, etc. We get by using academic scholarship money which is fine. But not every baseball player is Jeremy Jackson. Using leadership scholarships open us up to more players.

8. I'd try to get in on some (or maybe just one a year) players that Scott Boras advises. We probably won't get very many of them- but MLB HAAAAAAATTTTTEESS dealing with Boras. Ask the Cubs right now. He's had a few high end guys go to college over the years.

9. I'd get with some big time booster like a Richard Adkerson or whomever runs AFLAC and target about four elite level recruits- 2 pitchers and 2 hitters and ask the booster to work out a deal with those players where they get one million guaranteed once their career is over at MSU. That's basically guaranteeing them first-second round money- plus whatever they get once they get drafted in three years plus an education. If nothing else- it will bleed the hell out of some MLB team and make it harder to sign our players. They'll probably turn us in to the NCAA- but that's why we pay the money AFTER they leave and aren't student athletes anymore. No paper trail- it's the Phillies word vs. ours.

10. I'd get a new bat contract. I'd tell Easton, Louisville Slugger, and DeMarini that we're looking and to give us their best shot. I'd have our hitters test out all three bats in the offseason and then rate them. The ones the players like the best gets the contract. I'd also tell Adidas to stop with the ridiculous uniforms. We wear either pinstripes like the YANKEES not the PHILLIES, the 1985 style white uniforms or the maroon top with the same style or the 1990 team style uniform at home. And on the road we wear the gray "Mississippi State" one that we have or a gray version of the 1985 style uniform or the 1985 maroon top. AND THAT IS IT. If they want to do St. Patty's day and a military tribute camo one, that is fine too- but those are the only exceptions.

11. We need an elite local travel team. Get someone like Jay Powell and Jarrod Parks involved with it. That's going to help our Mississippi recruits transition to college ball sooner- and hopefully not have to wait three years before we see some legit production from them.

12. STOP RECRUITING SO MANY JUCO'S!!!!!! The only good thing that came from Smitty's post about how he was right about Daniel Garner besides making him look like a dumbass again was it made me realize how bad our hitters were in JUCO. Hitting .330 in JUCO ball translates into about .240 in SEC ball. We need to focus on bringing in more Brent Rooker's- power guys that have to be developed rather than having all of our power prospects be elite level players that MLB wants.

[GTHOM]

Find some players who are more worried about winning than being cute, find some players that look and play like their nuts have dropped and not just going thru the motions.

Cohen needs to go back to being himself personality wise, but change his recruiting a little bit. Cant play small ball when your pitchers arent holder, stratton, lindgren, graveman

[Irondawg]

BTW the Athletic Department has its own nutritionist/dietitian - not sure how much the baseball teams uses her but she's there

[Todd4State]

Find some players who are more worried about winning than being cute, find some players that look and play like their nuts have dropped and not just going thru the motions.
Cohen needs to go back to being himself personality wise, but change his recruiting a little bit. Cant play small ball when your pitchers arent holder, stratton, lindgren, graveman

I knew I left something out. We've got to get back to the types of players that have won at MSU in the past- the hard nosed tough players. We've gotten away from that and we're paying for it.

The good news is there are a lot of those types of player in Mississippi. We only typically have started three Mississippians this year- Rea, Humphreys, and Cody Brown. It's not a coincidence that those are three of our better players- and Cody is by far the toughest guy on the team.

Get a few elite talents like Renfroe and Stratton and surround them with hard nosed guys at the other positions- that's our recipe for success.

[ShotgunDawg]

1. Mingione has pretty much lost his job to the volunteer assistant. I hope Western Carolina has a job opening for him. That said, I'd get rid of Dillon too. I'd try to hire someone like UCF's hitting coach and then someone that has a background in coaching catchers- like Ed Easley. And I think this might be Ed's last year. But we'll see on that. What makes you think that Mingione has lost his job to the volunteer assistant? Mingione has been with Cohen for years at different schools. I doubt he is leaving

2. A new strength coach is a good idea because it might help us limit injuries more. That has been a huge issue for awhile now.

3. On Weblow's #3- a new hitting coach might help with baserunning as well. Mingione is HORRIBLE as a third base coach. Sometimes he just stands there and doesn't even make a signal one way or the other. And the players are just looking at him like "well?". Ming- if you're in doubt, just tell the runner to hold up by default. Yeah, it's not foolproof- but at least you don't get the runner thrown out because of your indecision. Every team hates their 3B coach. It's a thankless job in which people only realize when they screw up

4. I loved the Bench Mobb but at the time I was worried that it might be one of the worst that could happen in the long run. The reason I say that is because I think it caused Cohen to soften up- and probably too much. He has to find the happy medium between intense bastard and being OK with the Bench Mobb stuff. All he really has to do is just let the players wear their hair and beards the way that they want to- and then stay on their ass in practice. Agree. The happy medium between good cop & bad cop is tough for coaches to find

5. We need a director of baseball operations that handles the misc. stuff that the strength coach is doing. Heck, I'd do it if they paid me enough. Seriously. We already have a Director of Baseball Ops

6. We need MLB to include International players in the draft ASAP. That's going to drop our recruits down some in the draft- and make it more likely that they come to school. I wouldn't be surprised if we benefit from that more than any other SEC school because of our scholarship situation compared to the others.This is interesting, although I'm sure there are some unintended consequences.

7. I would get with Keenum and tell him about the uneven playing field in college baseball and ask him to help with scholarship money. I'd ask for "leadership scholarships" that cover full or as much tuition as possible and then use the baseball scholarship portion to cover everything else- books, room and board, etc. We get by using academic scholarship money which is fine. But not every baseball player is Jeremy Jackson. Using leadership scholarships open us up to more players.If we were a private school, this would be much easier. Not sure if this is possible

8. I'd try to get in on some (or maybe just one a year) players that Scott Boras advises. We probably won't get very many of them- but MLB HAAAAAAATTTTTEESS dealing with Boras. Ask the Cubs right now. He's had a few high end guys go to college over the years. Boris only advises 4-5 players in each draft & they all are slotted for the first 3 or so rounds. I don't believe this would help us.

9. I'd get with some big time booster like a Richard Adkerson or whomever runs AFLAC and target about four elite level recruits- 2 pitchers and 2 hitters and ask the booster to work out a deal with those players where they get one million guaranteed once their career is over at MSU. That's basically guaranteeing them first-second round money- plus whatever they get once they get drafted in three years plus an education. If nothing else- it will bleed the hell out of some MLB team and make it harder to sign our players. They'll probably turn us in to the NCAA- but that's why we pay the money AFTER they leave and aren't student athletes anymore. No paper trail- it's the Phillies word vs. ours. Hmmm, this is intriguing, but I doubt any booster is going to commit $4 mil a year to future player compensation

10. I'd get a new bat contract. I'd tell Easton, Louisville Slugger, and DeMarini that we're looking and to give us their best shot. I'd have our hitters test out all three bats in the offseason and then rate them. The ones the players like the best gets the contract. I'd also tell Adidas to stop with the ridiculous uniforms. We wear either pinstripes like the YANKEES not the PHILLIES, the 1985 style white uniforms or the maroon top with the same style or the 1990 team style uniform at home. And on the road we wear the gray "Mississippi State" one that we have or a gray version of the 1985 style uniform or the 1985 maroon top. AND THAT IS IT. If they want to do St. Patty's day and a military tribute camo one, that is fine too- but those are the only exceptions. Not the problem

11. We need an elite local travel team. Get someone like Jay Powell and Jarrod Parks involved with it. That's going to help our Mississippi recruits transition to college ball sooner- and hopefully not have to wait three years before we see some legit production from them. Will only help in a minor way & has been blown out of proportion. MS doesn't have the talent level, & how would it be an elite travel team without MS producing "elite" players? The only way this would help is if team attracted players from across they South to play. However, why would a kid from Memphis, Baton Rouge, Atlanta, or New Orleans drive to Jackson to play when he can stay in Memphis and play for Dulins, Atlanta and play for East Cobb, and Louisiana and play for Marrucci?

12. STOP RECRUITING SO MANY JUCO'S!!!!!! The only good thing that came from Smitty's post about how he was right about Daniel Garner besides making him look like a dumbass again was it made me realize how bad our hitters were in JUCO. Hitting .330 in JUCO ball translates into about .240 in SEC ball. We need to focus on bringing in more Brent Rooker's- power guys that have to be developed rather than having all of our power prospects be elite level players that MLB wants. I agree, but you have to do what you have to do. My guess is that the coaches wouldn't be recruiting JUCOs if they had adequate younger players

[Todd4State]

1. Mingione has pretty much lost his job to the volunteer assistant. I hope Western Carolina has a job opening for him. That said, I'd get rid of Dillon too. I'd try to hire someone like UCF's hitting coach and then someone that has a background in coaching catchers- like Ed Easley. And I think this might be Ed's last year. But we'll see on that. What makes you think that Mingione has lost his job to the volunteer assistant? Mingione has been with Cohen for years at different schools. I doubt he is leaving

2. A new strength coach is a good idea because it might help us limit injuries more. That has been a huge issue for awhile now.

3. On Weblow's #3- a new hitting coach might help with baserunning as well. Mingione is HORRIBLE as a third base coach. Sometimes he just stands there and doesn't even make a signal one way or the other. And the players are just looking at him like "well?". Ming- if you're in doubt, just tell the runner to hold up by default. Yeah, it's not foolproof- but at least you don't get the runner thrown out because of your indecision. Every team hates their 3B coach. It's a thankless job in which people only realize when they screw up

4. I loved the Bench Mobb but at the time I was worried that it might be one of the worst that could happen in the long run. The reason I say that is because I think it caused Cohen to soften up- and probably too much. He has to find the happy medium between intense bastard and being OK with the Bench Mobb stuff. All he really has to do is just let the players wear their hair and beards the way that they want to- and then stay on their ass in practice. Agree. The happy medium between good cop & bad cop is tough for coaches to find

5. We need a director of baseball operations that handles the misc. stuff that the strength coach is doing. Heck, I'd do it if they paid me enough. Seriously. We already have a Director of Baseball Ops

6. We need MLB to include International players in the draft ASAP. That's going to drop our recruits down some in the draft- and make it more likely that they come to school. I wouldn't be surprised if we benefit from that more than any other SEC school because of our scholarship situation compared to the others.This is interesting, although I'm sure there are some unintended consequences.

7. I would get with Keenum and tell him about the uneven playing field in college baseball and ask him to help with scholarship money. I'd ask for "leadership scholarships" that cover full or as much tuition as possible and then use the baseball scholarship portion to cover everything else- books, room and board, etc. We get by using academic scholarship money which is fine. But not every baseball player is Jeremy Jackson. Using leadership scholarships open us up to more players.If we were a private school, this would be much easier. Not sure if this is possible

8. I'd try to get in on some (or maybe just one a year) players that Scott Boras advises. We probably won't get very many of them- but MLB HAAAAAAATTTTTEESS dealing with Boras. Ask the Cubs right now. He's had a few high end guys go to college over the years. Boris only advises 4-5 players in each draft & they all are slotted for the first 3 or so rounds. I don't believe this would help us.

9. I'd get with some big time booster like a Richard Adkerson or whomever runs AFLAC and target about four elite level recruits- 2 pitchers and 2 hitters and ask the booster to work out a deal with those players where they get one million guaranteed once their career is over at MSU. That's basically guaranteeing them first-second round money- plus whatever they get once they get drafted in three years plus an education. If nothing else- it will bleed the hell out of some MLB team and make it harder to sign our players. They'll probably turn us in to the NCAA- but that's why we pay the money AFTER they leave and aren't student athletes anymore. No paper trail- it's the Phillies word vs. ours. Hmmm, this is intriguing, but I doubt any booster is going to commit $4 mil a year to future player compensation

10. I'd get a new bat contract. I'd tell Easton, Louisville Slugger, and DeMarini that we're looking and to give us their best shot. I'd have our hitters test out all three bats in the offseason and then rate them. The ones the players like the best gets the contract. I'd also tell Adidas to stop with the ridiculous uniforms. We wear either pinstripes like the YANKEES not the PHILLIES, the 1985 style white uniforms or the maroon top with the same style or the 1990 team style uniform at home. And on the road we wear the gray "Mississippi State" one that we have or a gray version of the 1985 style uniform or the 1985 maroon top. AND THAT IS IT. If they want to do St. Patty's day and a military tribute camo one, that is fine too- but those are the only exceptions. Not the problem

11. We need an elite local travel team. Get someone like Jay Powell and Jarrod Parks involved with it. That's going to help our Mississippi recruits transition to college ball sooner- and hopefully not have to wait three years before we see some legit production from them. Will only help in a minor way & has been blown out of proportion. MS doesn't have the talent level, & how would it be an elite travel team without MS producing "elite" players? The only way this would help is if team attracted players from across they South to play. However, why would a kid from Memphis, Baton Rouge, Atlanta, or New Orleans drive to Jackson to play when he can stay in Memphis and play for Dulins, Atlanta and play for East Cobb, and Louisiana and play for Marrucci?

12. STOP RECRUITING SO MANY JUCO'S!!!!!! The only good thing that came from Smitty's post about how he was right about Daniel Garner besides making him look like a dumbass again was it made me realize how bad our hitters were in JUCO. Hitting .330 in JUCO ball translates into about .240 in SEC ball. We need to focus on bringing in more Brent Rooker's- power guys that have to be developed rather than having all of our power prospects be elite level players that MLB wants. I agree, but you have to do what you have to do. My guess is that the coaches wouldn't be recruiting JUCOs if they had adequate younger players

1. Dillon has been coaching the hitters this year per several people I have talked to. You don't go from coaching hitters to not coaching them and come back in all likelihood.

5. I didn't realize we had replaced Bratton? I just assumed that we were splitting his old duties up.

6. We'll see what happens. I know it has been rumored as far as discussion for the next MLB CBA. It could very well end up being two separate drafts- one international and then the traditional June draft. I know the owners aren't real fond of paying Cubans 30 million dollars and the established MLB players probably aren't real wild about a guy that has zero MLB experience making that much.

7. Why can Vandy get away with it, but we can't? The NCAA can't tell MSU how to spend their own scholarship money. If a kid is a legit D-I prospect- he's probably a "leader" on his team and at his school. It's perfectly justifiable- even if it would make Bear Bryant proud. Full tuition is full tuition- even if MSU's is of lesser "monetary value" than Vandy.

8. I wouldn't try to make a living off of Boras's clients. But it doesn't hurt. Worst case scenario- a guy like Kris Bryant is now "MSU commit Kris Bryant".

9. I admit this is a pipe dream. We would need someone like a Phil Knight to realistically pull it off.

11. I wouldn't expect an elite travel team in Mississippi to attract kids from Memphis or Louisiana. The main thing I want it to is get Mississippi players at bats and innings pitched. Honestly, I think they would suck at first- but I'm not worried about Mississippi having the best elite travel baseball team ever. I'd rather them take their lumps in the summer circuit than their freshman and sophomore years at MSU. We always find 20 players for the Sun Belt classic- I think we can swing that. And I also want them to have some coaches like Powell that have MLB experience coaching them to teach them higher level skills sooner.

12. We could have and in hind sight should have focused more on high school guys. I think Cohen was looking for a quick fix and it blew up in his face. Also, our scholarship situation has been jacked up for years and it has led to us having like one huge big class followed up by two small classes- and I think the JUCO's are a way to get attrition quicker to get things back on schedule.

[shannondawg]

I saw a lot of strutting up to the plate without a reason to strut.

[smootness]

I just want to say that I agree that generally 3rd base coaches are hated more than they should be...but that Brian Snitker was legitimately horrific.

I don't know how you can be as bad as he was at judging when to send a runner.

[yjnkdawg]

I saw a lot of strutting up to the plate without a reason to strut.


If they would just take their Omaha colored glasses off and just look at their "current" overall and SEC record, then their strutting should cease.

[Todd4State]

If they would just take their Omaha colored glasses off and just look at their "current" overall and SEC record, then their strutting should cease.

A lot of our guys didn't even play in Omaha or had very little to do with us getting there or contribute during the CWS run making their strutting worse.

[yjnkdawg]

A lot of our guys didn't even play in Omaha or had very little to do with us getting there or contribute during the CWS run making their strutting worse.

Yeah, I know and agree. Basically, what I meant was that they need to look at reality and they should see there is no reason to do any strutting. I should have left the Omaha thing off. My bad.

[Todd4State]

Yeah, I know and agree. Basically, what I meant was that they need to look at reality and they should see there is no reason to do any strutting. I should have left the Omaha thing off. My bad.

Actually, I agree with you too. I think we have some guys that think that because they play for MSU that good things will just happen because in their heads "it just happened" with the last group of guys. We need an attitude adjustment whatever way anyone wants to put it.