Brent Rooker

[KB21]

Brent currently has a great chance of becoming the first triple crown winner in NECBL history. He is currently 1st in AVG, 1st in RBI, and 2nd in HR by 1.

[messageboardsuperhero]

And again I'll say.... I'd be shocked if we aren't a much improved team next year.

Pretty much all our pitchers are killing it in the cape.
Jacob Robson has been one of the best position players in the cape cod league, and Reid Humphreys has put up solid power numbers and gotten more experience against top flight pitching in the cape (and remember this is his first ever year of summer ball).
Rooker has been the best position player in the New England league this summer.
Reynolds and Gordon are both all stars in their leagues and raking.
Holland and Smith are both playing well in Cali.
Gridley was playing really well until he had to shut it down.

Mix in some of these elite freshman pitchers to shore up the pen, and I just have a hard time envisioning a scenario where we aren't significantly better.

[ScottH]

I just have a hard time envisioning a scenario where we aren't significantly better.

We have to be. There really is no option.

In this case, significant is the operative word. Like obscenity, everyone will have a hard time defining it but we'll know it if we see it.

Last place SEC finishes use up Omaha Goodwill quickly.

[dickiedawg]

Agreed. Improvement over the 2015 shit show is not optional.

[Todd4State]

Our OOC schedule is going to be a lot tougher next year. Oregon coming to Starkville and we're playing UCLA and USC in Los Angeles and probably Cal Santa Barbara. We're probably going to win about 30 and people will be bitching again. But at least they got the schedule they wanted.

As far as our players this summer- Daniel Brown has a good ERA, but he has walked WAY too many. That scares me a little bit. The other thing that worries me about our pitchers in the Cape is while they have had good summers, a lot of them have had good summers coming out of the bullpen. Which means they may not be all that great as starters. And the one proven starter- Sexton has been mediocre. I'm starting to think that Kale Breaux is going to be our Sunday guy and that the rotation is going to be Sexton, Tatum, and Breaux with Houston, Hudson, and Brown in the bullpen- which might be an upgrade over last year.

We'll have more power between a hopefully healthy Gavin Collins, Nate Lowe who I think takes over at first, Rooker, and Humphreys who has proven me right about not hitting for average. Reid will still hit between 5-10 especially if Cohen does something logical like protect him where he can see fastballs maybe hitting between Collins and Lowe?

Robson and Gridley are going to be good. Luke Reynolds is too good of a hitter to not find a spot for. We'll see if he DH's or plays third. Again, depends on how much his defense has improved. Luke Alexander and John Holland will fight for a MIF spot and I think Barfield competes with Reynolds for third depending on how healthy Barfield is. If Barfield wins third, Reynolds DH's.

Cody Brown and Michael Smith will get a lot of action as well.

[dawgs]

If we only win 30 games next year, then we should get players good enough to win more than 30 games against a decent OOC schedule. Scheduling our way to 40 wins doesn't make us a 40 win caliber team.

[Smitty]

No more excuses, Cohen

[KB21]

Our OOC schedule is going to be a lot tougher next year. Oregon coming to Starkville and we're playing UCLA and USC in Los Angeles and probably Cal Santa Barbara. We're probably going to win about 30 and people will be bitching again. But at least they got the schedule they wanted.

As far as our players this summer- Daniel Brown has a good ERA, but he has walked WAY too many. That scares me a little bit. The other thing that worries me about our pitchers in the Cape is while they have had good summers, a lot of them have had good summers coming out of the bullpen. Which means they may not be all that great as starters. And the one proven starter- Sexton has been mediocre. I'm starting to think that Kale Breaux is going to be our Sunday guy and that the rotation is going to be Sexton, Tatum, and Breaux with Houston, Hudson, and Brown in the bullpen- which might be an upgrade over last year.

We'll have more power between a hopefully healthy Gavin Collins, Nate Lowe who I think takes over at first, Rooker, and Humphreys who has proven me right about not hitting for average. Reid will still hit between 5-10 especially if Cohen does something logical like protect him where he can see fastballs maybe hitting between Collins and Lowe?

Robson and Gridley are going to be good. Luke Reynolds is too good of a hitter to not find a spot for. We'll see if he DH's or plays third. Again, depends on how much his defense has improved. Luke Alexander and John Holland will fight for a MIF spot and I think Barfield competes with Reynolds for third depending on how healthy Barfield is. If Barfield wins third, Reynolds DH's.

Cody Brown and Michael Smith will get a lot of action as well.

Those guys have had some spot starts though. When you combine their season work with their Cape work, they have come close to pitching 60 innings this year. I don't think I want them to get much more than that. Fall ball is around the corner, and these guys need to let their arms rest at some point. I still believe Dakota Hudson will end up being the Friday night guy.

[MsStateBaseball]

All these guys needed was experience and reps. They are good players. We will have the toughest SEC schedule and a pretty darn good non conf one. Playing at Florida and at Vanderbilt, at LSU. Arkansas and TAMU at home, those 5 are tough.

We will have a good team

[CadaverDawg]

Hudson should be a starter this year.

It's time for the 3 guys that were supposed to be our studs this year, to be our studs. Hudson, Sexton, Tatum...close with Houston...fill in with Freshmen like Breaux midweek and out of the pen. Daniel Brown is unreliable, WAY too many walks for summer ball. Shows me he hasn't improved his command from last season. We can't have guys coming out of the pen walking people...play the talented freshmen instead. I'm tired of watching underachieving upperclassmen.

We should have a great hitting nucleus with Collins, Rooker, Humphreys if Cohen will let them hit and not get in their heads. Robson should be a great lead off or 2 hole guy IMO. If Holland keeps playing like he is, we could potentially throw a top 5 of the order like this out there...

Robson
Holland
Collins
Rooker
Humphreys

Then guys like Reynolds, Cody Brown, Gridley, etc after that as a quality bottom half of the order.

Find a way to get Gordon in the lineup with the above, and you've got a stout 9

Give me these 9 somehow...

Robson
Reynolds
Collins
Rooker
Gordon
Humphreys
Holland
Cody Brown
Gridley

[Ralph]

Hopefully he can overcome our over complicated hitting drills next year

[Coach34]

We will certainly be improved- just have to wait and see how much

[RAYn_Man]

Brent Rooker gonna go off next year. Just watch.

[Tbonewannabe]

It would be nice to have the Jucos to compete for playing time rather than requiring them to immediately step in with no fall back.

[MsStateBaseball]

Right now I have the bullpen as:

Houston and Daniel Brown in 7-8th inning. They can go longer if they are on.
Ryan Rigby is the closer.

If Tatum can't be a starter he can join them to make 4 pretty good ones at the end.

Hudson is the Friday night guy, Sexton on Saturday.

This is where the freshman come in, lots of roles for them.

[RAYn_Man]

Right now I have the bullpen as:

Houston and Daniel Brown in 7-8th inning. They can go longer if they are on.
Ryan Rigby is the closer.

If Tatum can't be a starter he can join them to make 4 pretty good ones at the end.

Hudson is the Friday night guy, Sexton on Saturday.

This is where the freshman come in, lots of roles for them.

Are you really projecting a Juco transfer as our closer?

[Homedawg]

Are you really projecting a Juco transfer as our closer?

Yep. It appears he is....he also predicted 45 wins and 50 home runs and we know how that turned out. Take it w a grain of salt.....he's seeking followers.

[MsStateBaseball]

Yes Rigby the closer.

I predicted 35 wins.

I was so giddy the season started so good but the dreaded slump hit us.

Yes always looking for educated followers BTW I'm now on Facebook!

[Homedawg]

Yes Rigby the closer.

I predicted 35 wins.

I was so giddy the season started so good but the dreaded slump hit us.

Yes always looking for educated followers BTW I'm now on Facebook!

Arms Race--Baseball
If you look at the top 5 teams, they have elite starting pitching, end of story. We are getting there each year. Next year we will take a leap. By next year, Paul Young, Dakota Hudson, Vance Tatum (looking good), and Austin Sexton will really be good while the true freshmen get their act together in 2016. If you notice on my blog the commits by year, Butch is going after LHP's years ahead. We are getting pitching and catchers first. Let's hope we have turned the corner and turning into an elite program.

One big reason these baseball writers ignore us is the front line pitching. Nothing really to say while these guys get better. When we have a junior pitcher that is a 1st rounder every year, then we will get some major respect from these national writers.

Of course, winning any way you can this year will go a long way too. No doubt in my mind we can win 45 or more.



Previous post is from you baseball. Somehow, we lost 10 games in your prediction since this post. But ok you didn't predict 45!!! Yea right.

[state66]

Paul Young is still on the team?

[Todd4State]

Paul Young is still on the team?

No, that was a post from last year.

[Todd4State]

If we only win 30 games next year, then we should get players good enough to win more than 30 games against a decent OOC schedule. Scheduling our way to 40 wins doesn't make us a 40 win caliber team.

As Bill Parcells once said- you are what your record says you are.

Vanderbilt and LSU don't have a schedule as difficult as us next year- but at the same time we should expect our team which had a losing record to win 40 games with a killer schedule. That's why our fans don't make a lot of sense a lot of the time.

[MsStateBaseball]

No way I meant we would win 45 in 2015. I just need to be a better writer. I suppose my meaning is if the players develope than 45 is the goal. When I predict wins its going to be regular season only. Each year the goal is 35 in regular season. Last years goal of 20 non conference wins and 15 conference was certainly attainable with our schedule.

Don't follow me if you don't like what I say. If your good enough create your own Twitter and have at it.

[War Machine Dawg]

I just have a hard time envisioning a scenario where we aren't significantly better.

I can, and it's pretty easy to conjure. Cohen wastes fall doing whatever it is we do during fall ball, other than determine who our 10-11 best hitters are. All the hitters murdering the ball in their summer leagues come back and are told they aren't swinging the bat right and have their swings "tweaked" by The Hitting Guru resulting in diminished power. We constantly shuffle the lineup without ever settling on who our best 9 are and turning them loose every day. Pitchers improve, but we're still struggling to score enough runs for them, losing a lot of 3-2, 4-3 type games.

[CadaverDawg]

Gordon went off again last night with a bomb and 2 more hits, plus a shutout inning pitched. I wish we could put a lineup together that included he, Rooker, Hump, and Collins, and then we could just let them hit.

Could we play In the field with these guys? I have no idea if Gordon or Rooker can play 1B, so pardon me if I'm asking too much of them...
LF Hump
CF Robson
RF C Brown
3B Reynolds
SS Gridley
2B Holland
1B Gordon (or DH)
C Collins
DH Rooker (or 1B?)

[Smitty]

"We should be significantly better just by having Ross Mitchell gone, hell we would have gone to a regional if he wasn't on the team this past season"

- Todd4State

[War Machine Dawg]

Gordon went off again last night with a bomb and 2 more hits, plus a shutout inning pitched. I wish we could put a lineup together that included he, Rooker, Hump, and Collins, and then we could just let them hit.

Could we play In the field with these guys? I have no idea if Gordon or Rooker can play 1B, so pardon me if I'm asking too much of them...
LF Hump
CF Robson
RF C Brown
3B Reynolds
SS Gridley
2B Holland
1B Gordon (or DH)
C Collins
DH Rooker (or 1B?)

The problem is we have essentially 3-4 DH candidates. Hump is a 1B/DH. Ditto Gordon. Rooker appears to be a pure DH. Collins is a COF/DH. It's hard enough to get 3 of them into the lineup, much less all 4. Someone is going to sit, and none of us will like it. Based on that, I'd realistically like to see something like this:

CF: Robson
LF: Brown
RF: Collins
3B: Reynolds
SS: Gridley
2B: Freshman
1B: Hump
DH: Rooker
C: Lovelady/Marrero platoon

We can't a lineup that's basically the same as the one who finished 14th this past season and expect different results. Get Collins and his terrible D out from behind the dish and put him in the OF. It'll probably help his power, too, by keeping his legs fresher. I'd give Marrero every opportunity to prove he's ready behind the plate and use Lovelady as the midweek and Saturday/Sunday catcher for whichever game we rest Marrero. Hump moves to first because it's a no brainer. If he struggles, plug in Gordon instead.

I've seen enough of Holland. Let someone else take over at 2B. If we had another option at 3B, I'd probably sit Reynolds, too. We need new faces next season. If we're going to suck, let's suck with new blood.

[War Machine Dawg]

"We should be significantly better just by having Ross Mitchell gone, hell we would have gone to a regional if he wasn't on the team this past season"

- Todd4State


http://i.imgur.com/XWeFdT2.gif

[Tbonewannabe]

"We should be significantly better just by having Ross Mitchell gone, hell we would have gone to a regional if he wasn't on the team this past season"

- Todd4State

It wasn't Ross Mitchell, it was our coaches having their heads up their asses and refusing to pitch someone else. The new ball obviously screwed Ross more than the average pitcher. It sucked to have your most experienced pitcher become obsolete but they just decided to ride the year out without at least trying to get more experience for this year. Combine that with player leadership seeming to disappear and it was a perfect storm. Cohen received his mulligan so he better bring it this year.

[Tbonewannabe]

The problem is we have essentially 3-4 DH candidates. Hump is a 1B/DH. Ditto Gordon. Rooker appears to be a pure DH. Collins is a COF/DH. It's hard enough to get 3 of them into the lineup, much less all 4. Someone is going to sit, and none of us will like it. Based on that, I'd realistically like to see something like this:

CF: Robson
LF: Brown
RF: Collins
3B: Reynolds
SS: Gridley
2B: Freshman
1B: Hump
DH: Rooker
C: Lovelady/Marrero platoon

We can't a lineup that's basically the same as the one who finished 14th this past season and expect different results. Get Collins and his terrible D out from behind the dish and put him in the OF. It'll probably help his power, too, by keeping his legs fresher. I'd give Marrero every opportunity to prove he's ready behind the plate and use Lovelady as the midweek and Saturday/Sunday catcher for whichever game we rest Marrero. Hump moves to first because it's a no brainer. If he struggles, plug in Gordon instead.

I've seen enough of Holland. Let someone else take over at 2B. If we had another option at 3B, I'd probably sit Reynolds, too. We need new faces next season. If we're going to suck, let's suck with new blood.

Holland is kicking ass this summer so I wouldn't write him off yet. I would use the fall to evaluate with last year in mind. Make the players earn it. I would have a lineup going into next year and let them play instead of 60 different lineups.

[ScottH]

I have no idea if Gordon or Rooker can play 1B


Gordon's position is 1B

Rooker can play 1B but that's thought of as a secondary position for him.

[KB21]

I can, and it's pretty easy to conjure. Cohen wastes fall doing whatever it is we do during fall ball, other than determine who our 10-11 best hitters are. All the hitters murdering the ball in their summer leagues come back and are told they aren't swinging the bat right and have their swings "tweaked" by The Hitting Guru resulting in diminished power. We constantly shuffle the lineup without ever settling on who our best 9 are and turning them loose every day. Pitchers improve, but we're still struggling to score enough runs for them, losing a lot of 3-2, 4-3 type games.

....and not a single bit of that is true.

[KB21]

Gordon went off again last night with a bomb and 2 more hits, plus a shutout inning pitched. I wish we could put a lineup together that included he, Rooker, Hump, and Collins, and then we could just let them hit.

Could we play In the field with these guys? I have no idea if Gordon or Rooker can play 1B, so pardon me if I'm asking too much of them...
LF Hump
CF Robson
RF C Brown
3B Reynolds
SS Gridley
2B Holland
1B Gordon (or DH)
C Collins
DH Rooker (or 1B?)

Nate Lowe will be in the mix as well. Rooker went to the NECBL to specifically play RF. IMO, he will be our RF. To get Lowe's bat in the line up, Humphrey's will need to play LF. I think he can do it. He has the athleticism to do it, and his glove can be hid more in LF.

[MsStateBaseball]

He shuffled last year to get the hot players in the right spots. He usually don't shuffle that much.

Like I predict Cohen will be different, he learned too.

[maroonmania]

Holland is kicking ass this summer so I wouldn't write him off yet. I would use the fall to evaluate with last year in mind. Make the players earn it. I would have a lineup going into next year and let them play instead of 60 different lineups.

I agree, he may have needed a year to adjust to SEC ball but he hit well over .400 in JUCO and was originally signed by FSU so the dude has talent.

[maroonmania]

Nate Lowe will be in the mix as well. Rooker went to the NECBL to specifically play RF. IMO, he will be our RF. To get Lowe's bat in the line up, Humphrey's will need to play LF. I think he can do it. He has the athleticism to do it, and his glove can be hid more in LF.

I'm not convinced Humphreys should even be in the starting lineup. 6-8 HRs for the year will not make up for a .230 average if that's all he is ever going to hit for. If his average is going to be that awful he's only worth having in the lineup if he is hitting 15+ HRs for the year and we haven't seen that from him.

[War Machine Dawg]

He shuffled last year to get the hot players in the right spots. He usually don't shuffle that much.

Like I predict Cohen will be different, he learned too.

82 straight games with a different lineup says you have no idea what you're talking about. Cohen is the ultimate Meddler with his lineups. It's not even disputable.

[Ralph]

Gordon needs to play 1B and needs to be in the lineup. He's the most likely to be our future 1B for a while.

[dawgs]

82 straight games with a different lineup says you have no idea what you're talking about. Cohen is the ultimate Meddler with his lineups. It's not even disputable.

I commented even during our good years under Cohen that I thought he played with the lineup too much. A couple of platoon guys is 1 thing, but we'd have guys hitting in a different spot every game if they started back to back games. Hard for guys to get in a rhythm with that much movement going on.

[dawgs]

As Bill Parcells once said- you are what your record says you are.

Vanderbilt and LSU don't have a schedule as difficult as us next year- but at the same time we should expect our team which had a losing record to win 40 games with a killer schedule. That's why our fans don't make a lot of sense a lot of the time.

lsu and vandy don't play as tough of a schedule as us because they don't have to play themselves. When you take away a series against a top 5 team and fill it with a last place, it's going to have a pretty decent effect on the SOS.

[Todd4State]

It wasn't Ross Mitchell, it was our coaches having their heads up their asses and refusing to pitch someone else. The new ball obviously screwed Ross more than the average pitcher. It sucked to have your most experienced pitcher become obsolete but they just decided to ride the year out without at least trying to get more experience for this year. Combine that with player leadership seeming to disappear and it was a perfect storm. Cohen received his mulligan so he better bring it this year.

Exactly. Now that they can't use Ross, they're going to have to use someone that's going to be more effective. It wasn't Ross's fault that he was put in a bad spot.

Butch did a HORRIBLE job last year managing the pitching staff. If he had used Laster out of the pen along with Fitts and Houston and started Sexton, Hudson, and Tatum knowing that they were going to start this year anyway and use them like we had used Fitts his sophomore and junior years- we would have been fine.

Instead we kept trotting Ross out there and kept waiting for him to turn it around, figure it out, whatever- and it never happened. We lost almost EVERY SEC game he pitched in. And at the same time we didn't maximize our best two pitchers IMO last year in Laster and Fitts.

[Todd4State]

lsu and vandy don't play as tough of a schedule as us because they don't have to play themselves. When you take away a series against a top 5 team and fill it with a last place, it's going to have a pretty decent effect on the SOS.

So we should play a more difficult OOC schedule than them why? Your answer makes zero sense in the context of why we should play a more difficult OOC schedule than those two coming off of a losing season.

We should play either Oregon OR the tournament in Los Angeles. Not both. All we needed to do was not play as many SWAC schools- that doesn't mean "hey, let's take on the entire PAC 12 and ACC."

The SEC schedule will take care of the rest.

[ScottH]

The one thing last year reinforced was the SEC does take care of SOS.

Even with the craptastic non-conference our Strength of Schedule ended up 39 (13th in the SEC ahead of 14th LSU)

[Todd4State]

The one thing last year reinforced was the SEC does take care of SOS.

Even with the craptastic non-conference our Strength of Schedule ended up 39 (13th in the SEC ahead of 14th LSU)

Yep. The thing is you HAVE to win those cupcake games- and we didn't do that. And compounded it by being horrible in the SEC.

[dawgs]

So we should play a more difficult OOC schedule than them why? Your answer makes zero sense in the context of why we should play a more difficult OOC schedule than those two coming off of a losing season.

We should play either Oregon OR the tournament in Los Angeles. Not both. All we needed to do was not play as many SWAC schools- that doesn't mean "hey, let's take on the entire PAC 12 and ACC."

The SEC schedule will take care of the rest.

I don't mind our hitters seeing some decent pitching prior to sec play. Some being more than 1 or 2. Also, either we are good or we aren't. I don't think a regional spot will turn on SOS. I don't think a regional host will either. Going like 38-18 against a tougher schedule looks just as good or better than 42-14 against a weaker schedule, I think they'd both put us in the same spot. I mean, if you are saying either play Oregon or the LA tourney, we are talking about changing 3 games from tough games to likely Ws. IMO the benefits of playing a tough OOC (preparing hitters and pitchers for sec quality talent, SOS boost, potential big hosting boost if we take care of business) outweigh the benefits of playing a Memphis type (maybe 1-3 more Ws). It isn't football where you need to get yourself to an undefeated or 1 L situation to be in position, and 2 Ls even against a tough schedule likely puts you out.

[Todd4State]

I don't mind our hitters seeing some decent pitching prior to sec play. Some being more than 1 or 2. Also, either we are good or we aren't. I don't think a regional spot will turn on SOS. I don't think a regional host will either. Going like 38-18 against a tougher schedule looks just as good or better than 42-14 against a weaker schedule, I think they'd both put us in the same spot. I mean, if you are saying either play Oregon or the LA tourney, we are talking about changing 3 games from tough games to likely Ws. IMO the benefits of playing a tough OOC (preparing hitters and pitchers for sec quality talent, SOS boost, potential big hosting boost if we take care of business) outweigh the benefits of playing a Memphis type (maybe 1-3 more Ws). It isn't football where you need to get yourself to an undefeated or 1 L situation to be in position, and 2 Ls even against a tough schedule likely puts you out.

There is a fine line between the benefit of seeing good pitching and having the teams confidence destroyed- and that lingering over the entire season. And it's not just hitting- pitchers can lose confidence if they get shelled. Ask Daniel Brown. Our team really only needs one weekend of that- and add in Cohen's constant changing of the lineup and it's a bad recipe.

One reason I feel the way that I do is the committee has shown historically that they will put in a team with 40 wins and a slightly easier schedule in as a higher seed over a team with 34 wins with a more difficult schedule. There is a lot more "regionalization" in the college baseball tournament though- at least for now as some are calling for a change to that. And when I say regionalization I mean teams that are put in the same regional based on proximity as opposed to actual resume- for example a regional with LSU, Tulane, Stephen F Austin, and Southern in it.

The NCAA usually rewards you more for winning rather than having a really difficult schedule. Depending on what mood that they are in that year.

[dawgs]

There is a fine line between the benefit of seeing good pitching and having the teams confidence destroyed- and that lingering over the entire season. And it's not just hitting- pitchers can lose confidence if they get shelled. Ask Daniel Brown. Our team really only needs one weekend of that- and add in Cohen's constant changing of the lineup and it's a bad recipe.

One reason I feel the way that I do is the committee has shown historically that they will put in a team with 40 wins and a slightly easier schedule in as a higher seed over a team with 34 wins with a more difficult schedule. There is a lot more "regionalization" in the college baseball tournament though- at least for now as some are calling for a change to that. And when I say regionalization I mean teams that are put in the same regional based on proximity as opposed to actual resume- for example a regional with LSU, Tulane, Stephen F Austin, and Southern in it.

The NCAA usually rewards you more for winning rather than having a really difficult schedule. Depending on what mood that they are in that year.

in 2002 and 2011, uga went to regionals with overall records barely above .500 because they played a tough schedule. in 2004 and 2006-2008, ucla made a regional each season despite only being 5 or 6 games over .500 because they played a tough schedule. i'm sure there are plenty of other examples, but those 2 just came to mind as programs i've seen get regional bids with unspectacular overall records because of their SOS.

[Tbonewannabe]

in 2002 and 2011, uga went to regionals with overall records barely above .500 because they played a tough schedule. in 2004 and 2006-2008, ucla made a regional each season despite only being 5 or 6 games over .500 because they played a tough schedule. i'm sure there are plenty of other examples, but those 2 just came to mind as programs i've seen get regional bids with unspectacular overall records because of their SOS.

Didn't those teams have around the #1 SOS? The NCAA seems to reward the very top but if you have like #10 you end up screwed but I could be completely wrong. SOS is such a hard thing. You play Arizona and they have a down year and there goes your SOS boost. I am sure several teams thought last year we would be a good SOS boost. With the SEC, we just don't need to lose any of those stupid SWAC games because you gain nothing. We need more UAB or Memphis games and NO losses to Ark Pine Bluff or Jackson St.