Rumor of Elih Marrero going juco. Anyone heard anything?

[Jacksondevildog]

Nm

[Taog Redloh]

Would be stupid of him if so. He's hands down the starter at C next year. I think he would have been even if Kruger had stayed.

[Coldsleeve Jr.]

Just wondering why he would do that

[Bothrops]

This has to be a joke. Tell me it's a joke..

[tireddawg]

What I'm hearing too.
Not sure of the reason.

[BrunswickDawg]

What I'm hearing too.
Not sure of the reason.
Has to be grades, nothing else makes sense.

[somebodyshotmypaw]

Allows him to get drafted a year earlier

[Dallas_Dawg]

This would suck. Hopefully just a bad rumor

[JoseBrown]

Man I hope not. That wud really suck. With AB's he would hit for decent/good average. With more time behind the plate he wud/shud stop the brain freezes and be fearless, throwing behind runners and such.

[Bothrops]

I can't imagine why he would do this

[Forrest4Moore]

If it indeed happens... It's due to grades. I know it sounds strange for baseball, but he struggled.

[DeviousDawg]

Hearing that this is nothing more than a rumor right now. Obviously things can change, for whatever reasons, and yeah, usually with these things, where there is smoke there is fire. However, as of tonight he is still on the baseball team and enrolled.

Grades would be the only reason for this rumor to start, and if grades were this much of an issue Elih would be in class this summer pulling up his GPA rather than playing ball in the Cape. He is a major key to our future success next year.

[War Machine Dawg]

Has to be grades, nothing else makes sense.

Bingo. Grades was my first thought.

Hopefully this is nothing more than a rumor, but how many times lately has one of these been wrong? I can't think of the last one.

[MarketingBully]

Bingo. Grades was my first thought.

Hopefully this is nothing more than a rumor, but how many times lately has one of these been wrong? I can't think of the last one.

These things have been wrong more then right depending on the source. If it's Todd or MstateBaseball bringing the info, that number goes up.

[MarketingBully]

If it's grades, he wouldn't be playing summer ball folks.

[MarketingBully]

Would be stupid of him if so. He's hands down the starter at C next year. I think he would have been even if Kruger had stayed.

I 100% agree with you on this. It wouldn't seems logical unless it were grades and if it were grades why is he playing summer ball? That would be the other question.

[Todd4State]

Bingo. Grades was my first thought.

Hopefully this is nothing more than a rumor, but how many times lately has one of these been wrong? I can't think of the last one.

We've had about as rough a weekend as a baseball program can have in July. We lost Kruger unexpectedly, had a de-commitment and then had one of our better pitching prospects had to leave the Cape because of a sore arm.

As many others have said if Elih had an issue with grades- no way we would have sent him off to the Cape. And if he transfers out right now- it would be a bad career move. He would have at the worst shared the job with Kruger and I wouldn't have been surprised if he moved Kruger to DH. With Kruger gone, it makes the job pretty much his. His best move from a draft standpoint based on how he has performed for us this year and in the Cape is to stay at MSU for the next two years and then be a badass his junior year. He has a legit chance to win the Johnny Bench Award in a couple of years and if he does that he will be a top five round pick depending on how his offense progresses. If he was hitting over .300 in the Cape it would make more sense even though his best move would still be to stay in college for two more years.

Things might be changing as far as our luck- we're about to flip one of Ole Miss's pitching recruits. He just de-committed from them recently.

[tireddawg]

It's not a sure thing but he's definitely more than flirting with the idea.
And I'm hearing grades. It could go either way.
So either way I'm right**

[tenureplan]

It's not a sure thing but he's definitely more than flirting with the idea.
And I'm hearing grades. It could go either way.
So either way I'm right**

C34's secret account**

[maroonmania]

Well would certainly be bad to lose Kruger AND Marrero. Better hope Lovelady gets that extra year and is back healthy I guess.

[MarketingBully]

It's not a sure thing but he's definitely more than flirting with the idea.
And I'm hearing grades. It could go either way.
So either way I'm right**

After the stupidity of the Newman situation, nothing would surprise me. Btw, Self basically said the same thing that Howland said (he is a two). Also Bonner said that they ignored Howland regarding his shot needed fixing and the NBA scouts affirmed everything Howland told Horatio and Malik. Howland will turn out to be right on what Newman needed to improve to get to the NBA. Amazing how that works.

[msstate7]

Paging steakonastick

[DeviousDawg]

It's not a sure thing but he's definitely more than flirting with the idea.
And I'm hearing grades. It could go either way.
So either way I'm right**

He is 100% still on the team as of last night, that's fact and all that can be confirmed right now. He is not flirting with the idea of transferring anywhere, he is where he wants to be.

[Mjoelner34]

C34's secret account**

Ha! Good one!

[tireddawg]

He is 100% still on the team as of last night, that's fact and all that can be confirmed right now. He is not flirting with the idea of transferring anywhere, he is where he wants to be.

Like I said it's just what I've heard & obviously someone else has heard it too. I don't usually post rumors but since someone brought it up, I thought I'd share what I've heard. I don't know Elih or the family & have no inside knowledge, just a rumor I've heard. But if you know this to be certain, that's great!

[MadDawg]

Just wish he wasn't such a liability at the plate.

[DeviousDawg]

Just wish he wasn't such a liability at the plate.

I think we will see atleast a .50 jump in his average next year and better power numbers. He wasn't really a liability at the plate last year, he was just a freshman not named Mangum.

He's got it all on the surface. Switch hitter with a smooth swing from both sides with some decent power potential. He hit the ball hard a lot last year, just always seemed to be right at someone. I guarantee if you look at his BAPIP, which is batting average with balls in play, it would be low, showing that he was snake bitten for most of the year.

Give him a summer of seeing SEC arms in the Cape and a Fall of hitting off our arms and he will be ready to go next year. He has the potential to be great. He should be a 330. hitter with 6-10 bombs type guy by his Junior year.

[Taog Redloh]

Just wish he wasn't such a liability at the plate.

Do you judge all freshmen this way? Because if you do, tell me how you feel about this list of players who hit at or below Marrero's mark of .243 in their freshman seasons:

Ryan Gridley, .243, 2015
Reid Humphreys, .241, 2014
Jacob Robson, .206, 2013
Matthew Britton, .177, 2012
Demarcus Henderson, .167, 2011
Hunter Renfroe, .160, 2011

Man, glad you gave up on those guys. They didn't contribute at all in their careers.

[preachermatt83]

He is 100% still on the team as of last night, that's fact and all that can be confirmed right now. He is not flirting with the idea of transferring anywhere, he is where he wants to be.

Thanks coach

[MadDawg]

Do you judge all freshmen this way? Because if you do, tell me how you feel about this list of players who hit at or below Marrero's mark of .243 in their freshman seasons:

Ryan Gridley, .243, 2015
Reid Humphreys, .241, 2014
Jacob Robson, .206, 2013
Matthew Britton, .177, 2012
Demarcus Henderson, .167, 2011
Hunter Renfroe, .160, 2011

Man, glad you gave up on those guys. They didn't contribute at all in their careers.

Who said anything about giving up on guys? Holy shit. While you are busy typing with your fists, please explain how hitting .233 ISN'T a liability at the plate. Good grief.

[DeviousDawg]

Who said anything about giving up on guys? Holy shit. While you are busy typing with your fists, please explain how hitting .233 ISN'T a liability at the plate. Good grief.

He was just trying to make a good point in a douchy way. His point was, a .233 batting average in the SEC as a freshman is not bad when compared to some of our past stud's freshmen years, especially when considering that he was snake bitten all year and also wasn't allowed to get into a groove due to Kruger coming off his injury as hot as a firecracker.

The SEC's pitching is as close to minor league pitching as it gets in College Baseball. We are talking about an 18 year old kid that is facing at the least a top 5 round pick starting pitcher every weekend. The adjustment from high school pitching to SEC pitching is the biggest adjustment a batter will make in his life, even more so than SEC to Minors or Minors to Majors. Considering this makes what Jake Mangum did this year even more astonishing. Going from Mississippi Private School pitching to SEC pitching in one year and finishing the season over .400 might be the greatest single season achievement in Mississippi State sports history. Palmeiro and Clark's freshmen years are better on paper, but they had juiced bats and were facing pitching that doesn't even compare to the SEC pitching of today.

[bulldogcountry1]

He just followed the curve that most good freshmen follow. He steadily improved over the season and hit a wall at the end of April. He was hitting over .300 going into SBW.

http://msstate_ftp.sidearmsports.com/stats/bb/2016/plyr_9.htm

He will be a solid hitter.

[tireddawg]

I think we will see atleast a .50 jump in his average next year and better power numbers. He wasn't really a liability at the plate last year, he was just a freshman not named Mangum.

He's got it all on the surface. Switch hitter with a smooth swing from both sides with some decent power potential. He hit the ball hard a lot last year, just always seemed to be right at someone. I guarantee if you look at his BAPIP, which is batting average with balls in play, it would be low, showing that he was snake bitten for most of the year.

Give him a summer of seeing SEC arms in the Cape and a Fall of hitting off our arms and he will be ready to go next year. He has the potential to be great. He should be a 330. hitter with 6-10 bombs type guy by his Junior year.

I agree with you on average and he hits the ball hard but if he hits 10 home runs I'll be pleasantly surprised.

[msujan]

Lovelady is much improved since the surgery. He was allowed a redshirt last year and will be in maroon and white this fall. He's in great shape. I expect him to start with Elih #2.

[Bothrops]

Marrero is going to be a good hitter and great catcher for us.

[Todd4State]

Lovelady is much improved since the surgery. He was allowed a redshirt last year and will be in maroon and white this fall. He's in great shape. I expect him to start with Elih #2.

Lovelady is good but Elih will start because he is better all around. Lovelady is going to have to improve offensively a good bit to start.

[Brando]

Lovelady is good but Elih will start because he is better all around. Lovelady is going to have to improve offensively a good bit to start.

Elih is going to be great for us. He just needs time to mature and play the game... He smoked the ball at the beg of last yr, then hit his slump. He will be awesome and I believe will be drafted as one of the top catchers when he is a JR if he stays with us and matures like he should... We are still 3 deep at catchers though with Skelton and Lovelady...