WMD's Baseball Thoughts

[War Machine Dawg]

Nothing earth shattering here or anything we haven't said before. Just wanted to put my own thoughts out there.

Allow me to start by saying I've been hard on Cohen the last couple of seasons. And rightfully so, considering how poor the product on the field was. But he deserves a whole lot of credit for this year's team. He's always going to meddle and do some inexplicably dumb things. It's just who he is. It's going to drive all of us nuts, but we're just going to have to learn to live with it. But for the most part he's cut out the musical chairs lineup selection. We're starting pretty much the same 9-10 guys every day. Yes, there's still some shuffling of the lineup, but it's not nearly as bad as it was the last couple of years. The roles are much more defined so far this year. That's a good thing. It's easy to see Cohen has found a group of guys he trusts to run out there consistently and we're benefitting from it. Bottom line, he's done everything he needed to do to right the ship. Kudos to him.

I'm not looking at the numbers, but offense seems to be better this year. We certainly have more power, and I don't necessarily mean homers. We're a good doubles team. That makes a big difference in our ability to score runs, because we aren't having to string together a whole bunch of singles. But we also have some homer power, too. Not as much as some teams, but there's still the threat of the long ball in our lineup.

Having Robson and Mangum at the top of the order has made a HUGE difference. They're the table setters and make our offense go. Robson has some Ks, but he makes up for it with a bunch of walks and has an OBP well over .400. Can't wait to get him back into the lineup - hopefully this weekend against aTm. He and Mangum both bring speed and smart baserunning to the lineup. Robson was on pace to swipe 30 bags before getting hurt. THAT'S the kind of aggressive baseball we've been aching to see.

We need to solidify 2B moving forward. Holland is good defensively, but isn't hitting that well. We were so much better here with Gridley starting. I'd give Stovall a long look starting tomorrow against Memphis. Like Mangum, he seems like a gamer who just battles. We also have to get Collins going offensively. He's flirting with the Mendoza line in SEC play. I think he needs a couple of mental health days, but I'm not in charge of those decisions. But a couple of days off couldn't hurt as much as he's struggling right now. We also need to get Kruger going again to be at our best. He & Rook could be hell at the DH, plus it gives us a very solid backup to Marrero.

Defense is good, not great. We were better with Belmont at SS, but his bat still isn't SEC ready. He and Gridley were elite up the middle. Gridley and Holland are just good because of Gridley's lack of range and limited arm strength at SS. Collins is getting better at 3B. Hump is just ok in LF, but he's in the lineup with his bat. LF isn't exactly a premium defensive position anyway. NBD, so far as I'm concerned. Robson & Mangum in CF & RF respectively are elite. Those guys cover some damn ground out there. Robson has an average to below average arm, but does a good job of covering it. Mangum has a better arm in RF and is capable of the occasional spectacular throw. Look back to the runner he hosed at 3B against Northern Miss. Lowe is solid at 1B. He's not Grizzly Rea, but he hasn't needed to be. Marrero has some issues at times, but overall he's the best C we've had in ages.

Pitching is good. We all know how good Hudson & Sexton have been. Johnny Wholestaff has been effective in the midweek. Pilkington looked really good Sunday, especially when you consider he was getting his first SEC start against the #1 team in the nation. Houston's outing was also very encouraging. What stood out to me was the he seemed to be enjoying the spotlight and the challenge. 1 run lead, #1 team in the nation, on the road and he WANTED the ball. That's a really good sign moving forward. As Cohen keeps saying, for us to be as good as we want to be, Houston is going to have to be a big part of it. Rigby has been nails out of the pen. Hump is solid closing it out. Small has been impressive and I want to see him get more use going forward. Wouldn't mind seeing him close some, actually. I also like Blake Smith in the middle innings. Want to see more of Ryan Cyr, too. He's looked good when he's been out there. If Pilk & Houston can be an effective Sunday combo for us, we're in serious business.

Overall, this team just has "it." They battle and have a swagger. It might be the best team of the entire Cohen Era, at least at roughly the halfway mark. We could be looking at a very special season if we can fix the things I mentioned above - 2B, Collins & Kruger on offense, Sunday pitching, and bullpen. I'd kill to see us win the SEC regular season championship. We certainly appear to be in the driver's seat in the West, although we've only played one series against a division opponent to date.

Right now I'd say we're definitely in the fight for a national seed. Hopefully we can get one and be playing Regional & Super Regional baseball in Starkville. Talk about record crowds and an intimidation factor - holy shat I'd hate to be an opposing team playing postseason baseball in Starkville.

Let's go kick some Aggie ass this weekend. See you gents at SBW. Hail State!

[Big4Dawg]

No mention of Cody Brown?!?!

Good write up.

[BeardoMSU]

How did you forget to mention OM sweeping the mighty Arkansas?!?!**

Jk, lol. Good write up, WMD.

[bobcat91]

Excellent post. It's time everyone recognize that Cohen is here to stay and quit trying to create a riot when we don't win 40 games and host. I want more consistency as well, but dividing the fans isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's enjoy the rest of the season and get to work on a Natty and a new state of the art stadium.

[War Machine Dawg]

Excellent post. It's time everyone recognize that Cohen is here to stay and quit trying to create a riot when we don't win 40 games and host. I want more consistency as well, but dividing the fans isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's enjoy the rest of the season and get to work on a Natty and a new state of the art stadium.

Let's be fair: When you follow up a trip to the Championship Series with two losing seasons, one of which saw you finish dead last in the SEC and is one of the worst seasons in modern MSU baseball history, you're going to catch hell. And frankly, you have earned every bit of criticism you face. But credit where it's due, Cohen apparently took a look in the mirror during the offseason and made some changes. The ability to honestly evaluate yourself and adapt accordingly is crucial in the coaching business and it appears Cohen can do that. Very positive and encouraging trait.

[blacklistedbully]

Think you meant to say, "Hudson" instead of, "Houston" once, but yeah, good write up.

[War Machine Dawg]

One other thing I forgot to mention: Butch leaving to take the Auburn HC gig might be the best thing that could've happened for Cohen and our program. And I don't mean that as a slight to Butch. He's a hell of a coach and did a damn good job for us. He definitely earned his chance to sit in the big seat. But Wes Johnson has brought a different mentality and philosophy to our pitching staff. It's not just about throwing hard with him. It's about the mental side and wanting to be the guy when you're on the hill. The fact that he's big into velo and the mechanical side is a bonus. Plus he's got a track record of being one hell of an evaluator of pitching talent, so I expect us to see even more guys running it up there 95+ in the future. I think we got the only guy out that that was an upgrade from Butch.

[War Machine Dawg]

Think you meant to say, "Hudson" instead of, "Houston" once, but yeah, good write up.

Yep. Thanks for the heads up.

[Todd4State]

Let's be fair: When you follow up a trip to the Championship Series with two losing seasons, one of which saw you finish dead last in the SEC and is one of the worst seasons in modern MSU baseball history, you're going to catch hell. And frankly, you have earned every bit of criticism you face. But credit where it's due, Cohen apparently took a look in the mirror during the offseason and made some changes. The ability to honestly evaluate yourself and adapt accordingly is crucial in the coaching business and it appears Cohen can do that. Very positive and encouraging trait.

You mean one losing season. Yes, 2014 was disappointing- but we won 18 SEC games and went to the finals of a regional.

[Todd4State]

One other thing I forgot to mention: Butch leaving to take the Auburn HC gig might be the best thing that could've happened for Cohen and our program. And I don't mean that as a slight to Butch. He's a hell of a coach and did a damn good job for us. He definitely earned his chance to sit in the big seat. But Wes Johnson has brought a different mentality and philosophy to our pitching staff. It's not just about throwing hard with him. It's about the mental side and wanting to be the guy when you're on the hill. The fact that he's big into velo and the mechanical side is a bonus. Plus he's got a track record of being one hell of an evaluator of pitching talent, so I expect us to see even more guys running it up there 95+ in the future. I think we got the only guy out that that was an upgrade from Butch.

Agree about Wes and I think it was a good time for Butch to go on and make his mark somewhere else. But the under the radar hire that I think has made a huge difference also is Will Coggin as assistant hitting coach basically.

The thing about Wes is our guys haven't been in his system for a year- plus we he had to learn about our older guys and what they could do and then we have a lot of freshmen pitchers thrown into the mix. That caused us some management issues earlier in the season with losses to FAU and EKU- but now that Wes knows what we have and what our guys can do it has gotten a lot better. I believe we lead the SEC in ERA in SEC only games.

Also- Butch coming in mid stream like he did has caused Auburn some issues as well. Probably even worse because I'm pretty sure he brought in a new hitting coach as well. Not a great situation to be in for the short term- but I do think Butch will win there. But he gets a pass this year.

[baseballfan]

Good evaluation. I think this team had "it" also. Everyone has to keep getting better.

[Todd4State]

Excellent post. It's time everyone recognize that Cohen is here to stay and quit trying to create a riot when we don't win 40 games and host. I want more consistency as well, but dividing the fans isn't going to get us anywhere. Let's enjoy the rest of the season and get to work on a Natty and a new state of the art stadium.

I agree with this 110%. That said, I think we will see more seasons like this going forward. The sad fact of the matter is before 2011 when we went to a SR and then had the culminating moment where we had our big run in Omaha- our program has had to learn how to win again on a National Level. Part of that is getting there and accomplishing that on the field- which we did from 2011-2013- but then part of that is also learning how to handle winning and the success that comes along with it. I think some of that was the "problem" with the players the past two seasons- we had the run in 2013 and then they decided they were satisfied with that.

I think some people realized that last season was a perfect storm kind of deal- we weren't given time to adjust our recruiting to the new ball, we had some key injuries, we had crappy bats- heck the best thing that happened last year was the F U Ole Miss jersey because it gave us an excuse to tell Adidas that we weren't going to be their official baseball ad, and then Butch had his worst season from a coaching standpoint. A guy like Cohen who has won the SEC and taken a team to the finals in Omaha- odds are pretty good that he is going to be able to fix things.

But I am afraid that the sad fact of the matter is there is always going to be a minority that isn't going to like Cohen simply because he's not Ron Polk- and they are going to come out of the woodwork when things don't go well.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

You mention getting Kruger going again. I honestly think we are all spoiled from Kruger's hot start. Kruger is a nice player, but I don't think he is a great hitter. I'm a believer that hitters will hit. Look at Mangum. He hit .414, .457, and .504 last 3 years in high school. He hit in travel ball. He hit everywhere he has ever played. Hitters hit. According to Kruger's bio he hit .172, .330, and .343 in his three years of high school. He then hit .208 as a freshman at Oregon, .283 in summer ball, and .310 in JUCO. Nothing about those numbers say he's going to hit .300 against SEC pitching. I just don't think he is the hitter that many on this board think he is.

[Tbonewannabe]

I agree with this 110%. That said, I think we will see more seasons like this going forward. The sad fact of the matter is before 2011 when we went to a SR and then had the culminating moment where we had our big run in Omaha- our program has had to learn how to win again on a National Level. Part of that is getting there and accomplishing that on the field- which we did from 2011-2013- but then part of that is also learning how to handle winning and the success that comes along with it. I think some of that was the "problem" with the players the past two seasons- we had the run in 2013 and then they decided they were satisfied with that.

I think some people realized that last season was a perfect storm kind of deal- we weren't given time to adjust our recruiting to the new ball, we had some key injuries, we had crappy bats- heck the best thing that happened last year was the F U Ole Miss jersey because it gave us an excuse to tell Adidas that we weren't going to be their official baseball ad, and then Butch had his worst season from a coaching standpoint. A guy like Cohen who has won the SEC and taken a team to the finals in Omaha- odds are pretty good that he is going to be able to fix things.

But I am afraid that the sad fact of the matter is there is always going to be a minority that isn't going to like Cohen simply because he's not Ron Polk- and they are going to come out of the woodwork when things don't go well.

Some people are not going to be happy with Cohen unless he wins a title but we did have one of the worst seasons in history last year. Not many coaches wouldn't hear a lot from that. Let Saban have a year where he loses every SEC game and a couple of ooc and Bama fans would want a new coach.

[Todd4State]

Some people are not going to be happy with Cohen unless he wins a title but we did have one of the worst seasons in history last year. Not many coaches wouldn't hear a lot from that. Let Saban have a year where he loses every SEC game and a couple of ooc and Bama fans would want a new coach.

True- but I'm talking about on a smaller scale like a losing streak.

[bhamdawgfan]

Lowe is solid at 1B. He's not Grizzly Rea, but he hasn't needed to be.

You're right. He's better. I don't get the love fest for Rea. Was he agile for an overweight first baseman? Yes. Still averaged 5 errors/season.

Lowe has ZERO so far. By far the best defensive first baseman we've had in a LONG time. Hits better than Rea as well, outside of the 2013 postseason.

[Tbonewannabe]

True- but I'm talking about on a smaller scale like a losing streak.

I think people probably overreacted to the midweek losses but one was a really bad loss. It also was at the beginning of the year with last year a little bit fresher in everyone's mind. Give Cohen credit, he learned from those losses. We aren't giving some pitchers as much leeway so when they start going down we pull them. As good as Houston was last weekend, he started losing it so they pulled him quick. At the beginning of the year he would have walked the bases loaded before we would have done anything.

[maroonmania]

I agree with this 110%. That said, I think we will see more seasons like this going forward. The sad fact of the matter is before 2011 when we went to a SR and then had the culminating moment where we had our big run in Omaha- our program has had to learn how to win again on a National Level. Part of that is getting there and accomplishing that on the field- which we did from 2011-2013- but then part of that is also learning how to handle winning and the success that comes along with it. I think some of that was the "problem" with the players the past two seasons- we had the run in 2013 and then they decided they were satisfied with that.

I think some people realized that last season was a perfect storm kind of deal- we weren't given time to adjust our recruiting to the new ball, we had some key injuries, we had crappy bats- heck the best thing that happened last year was the F U Ole Miss jersey because it gave us an excuse to tell Adidas that we weren't going to be their official baseball ad, and then Butch had his worst season from a coaching standpoint. A guy like Cohen who has won the SEC and taken a team to the finals in Omaha- odds are pretty good that he is going to be able to fix things.

But I am afraid that the sad fact of the matter is there is always going to be a minority that isn't going to like Cohen simply because he's not Ron Polk- and they are going to come out of the woodwork when things don't go well.

There are some that will never fully accept Cohen until he never cusses in the dugout, never puts enough players on the team prior to the season where cuts have to be made (like RP would), never bunts, and never meddles with the lineup. Well Cohen is who he is, and he certainly doesn't do everything like I would, and no he's not always the most likeable guy on campus, but he's still a darn good coach that makes sure his staff recruits their tails off and there is much more good about him than bad.

[bulldogcountry1]

When it comes to Cohen, I don't understand why people have such a time understanding why knowledgeable baseball fans get so upset with him. He deserves most of the flack he gets because he makes so many decisions that don't make no sense to anyone but him. When things don't go his way, he doesn't have the patience to stay back and let the preparation and talent take hold. He HAS to inject himself into the same somehow, someway. This one weakness is why most of fans got so frustrated because it was very hard to watch. It's safe to say the players didn't respond to it positively, either.

Coming into this season, the meddling was the single most important thing I was concerned about. From the start, you could see improvement from that aspect, but there was still at least one decision every game that 90% of other D1 coaches would question, lineup changing, like bunting early, taking out starters too soon, etc.

Eventually, these things began to taper off. The lineup began to stabilize, the bunting began to be more infrequent and logical, and things got more predictable. This leads to a "Which came first?" question. Of course, winning cures everything, but I am hoping Cohen has evolved a bit. We will always see some degree of meddling because Cohen hates to lose so much, but I hope he has been able to recognize what damage he is doing when he doesn't trust his players.

[War Machine Dawg]

I agree with this 110%. That said, I think we will see more seasons like this going forward. The sad fact of the matter is before 2011 when we went to a SR and then had the culminating moment where we had our big run in Omaha- our program has had to learn how to win again on a National Level. Part of that is getting there and accomplishing that on the field- which we did from 2011-2013- but then part of that is also learning how to handle winning and the success that comes along with it. I think some of that was the "problem" with the players the past two seasons- we had the run in 2013 and then they decided they were satisfied with that.

I think some people realized that last season was a perfect storm kind of deal- we weren't given time to adjust our recruiting to the new ball, we had some key injuries, we had crappy bats- heck the best thing that happened last year was the F U Ole Miss jersey because it gave us an excuse to tell Adidas that we weren't going to be their official baseball ad, and then Butch had his worst season from a coaching standpoint. A guy like Cohen who has won the SEC and taken a team to the finals in Omaha- odds are pretty good that he is going to be able to fix things.

But I am afraid that the sad fact of the matter is there is always going to be a minority that isn't going to like Cohen simply because he's not Ron Polk- and they are going to come out of the woodwork when things don't go well.

Lots of truth in this statement. I despise Polk for the way he handled his exit and ripped Cohen's hiring. It ensured a fractured fan base no matter what Cohen does. Frankly, his name should be completely stripped from campus until he either publicly apologises and backs Cohen or he dies. And I think we all know which of those is more likely to happen first. But let's not turn this into a Polk thread.

[maroonmania]

Frankly, his name should be completely stripped from campus until he either publicly apologises and backs Cohen or he dies.

I would be fine with this. While I greatly appreciate the success we had under Polk, for the most part, during his first stint, I still can't believe he would not act with enough professionalism to avoid the split he personally ensured within the fan base over Cohen's hire. Pisses me off that he basically thought he was and is MSU baseball and the hell with everything else no matter the consequences. I mean come on, show a little class. He made Cohen's rebuild job twice as hard as it should have been and I personally won't forgive that. I mean the guy quit on us himself once around 92 and then DID get to name his successor with McMahon and to still threw his major tantrum after we brought him back for another stint. That whole ordeal just gets all over me. I admire Cohen for taking the high road and apparently working through the fallout Polk left him without ever really speaking negatively of Polk.

[Tbonewannabe]

I would be fine with this. While I greatly appreciate the success we had under Polk, for the most part, during his first stint, I still can't believe he would not act with enough professionalism to avoid the split he personally ensured within the fan base over Cohen's hire. Pisses me off that he basically thought he was and is MSU baseball and the hell with everything else no matter the consequences. I mean come on, show a little class. He made Cohen's rebuild job twice as hard as it should have been and I personally won't forgive that. I mean the guy quit on us himself once around 92 and then DID get to name his successor with McMahon and to still threw his major tantrum after we brought him back for another stint. That whole ordeal just gets all over me. I admire Cohen for taking the high road and apparently working through the fallout Polk left him without ever really speaking negatively of Polk.

It is a shame that Polk did that to one of his players.

[smootness]

You mean one losing season. Yes, 2014 was disappointing- but we won 18 SEC games and went to the finals of a regional.

Thank you.