New Baseball Signee

[AROB44]

UMS-Wright star Tanner Allen picks Miss. State over LSU

UMS-Wright *baseball standout Tanner Allen *had a last-minute change of plans following a recent coaching change in the Southeastern Conference. The longtime LSU commit reconsidered his options last week and instead signed with SEC rival Mississippi State on Monday night.

[Cary Hudson's little bro]

Coach Cannizzaarroo outchea flipping commits!

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/11/ums-wright_baseball_star_tanne.html

[Tbonewannabe]

Does this guy fill one of the spots of one of the guys we lost or did we just take him because he is really good? He plays infield or outfield so he is pretty versatile.

[trob115]

He appears to be a player.

[Thick]

Well, we need some extra quality players. Our signee list has quite a few possible draft casualties on it per PG ratings. Cannizzaro has several excellent qualities, but his best asset might be his connection to MLB scouts and directors. He will have the luxury of uncovering what could help us retain possible draft players to knowing which ones are locks to take the money and leave. The draft will always be a problem for us, but we may have the guy that can help us retain more then we lose in the future.

[KentuckyDawg13]

"Allen also started for three years at quarterback for the UMS football team, which was eliminated from the 4A playoffs in the second round on Friday."

[DeviousDawg]

He plays shortstop in high school but I think he will start in the outfield when he gets to school. He's not really a power guy, but has enough to drive the ball in the gap, think Brett Pirtle. He was also a 3 year starter at quarterback, which demands a lot of his time throughout the year, he will only improve as he focuses on solely baseball. Huge pick up late in the game.

[CadaverDawg]

He plays shortstop in high school but I think he will start in the outfield when he gets to school. He's not really a power guy, but has enough to drive the ball in the gap, think Brett Pirtle. He was also a 3 year starter at quarterback, which demands a lot of his time throughout the year, he will only improve as he focuses on solely baseball. Huge pick up late in the game.

Bigger than Pirtle though? Or is he a smaller guy?

[RiverCityDawg]

Bigger than Pirtle though? Or is he a smaller guy?

PG says 6-0 180.

[CadaverDawg]

PG says 6-0 180.

Cool, thanks

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

He plays shortstop in high school but I think he will start in the outfield when he gets to school. He's not really a power guy, but has enough to drive the ball in the gap, think Brett Pirtle. He was also a 3 year starter at quarterback, which demands a lot of his time throughout the year, he will only improve as he focuses on solely baseball. Huge pick up late in the game.

not a power guy? Alright who is right and who is wrong on this? I am hearing both.

http://lsu.247sports.com/Board/59425/Contents/Big-time-baseball-commitment-39515797

The comments here also give an indication that he will not entertain the thought of the draft. A lot could change I guess but good news.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

interesting take from the guys over on Tiger Droppings. We got a good one guys! May be more to come...


https://s22.postimg.org/atshv8boh/fsfs.jpg

This was another quote that I didnt crop in for some reason.


"Andy to MSU will be a difference maker for a couple seasons. He's made a lot of connections with kids the next few cycles for LSU."

[DeviousDawg]

not a power guy? Alright who is right and who is wrong on this? I am hearing both.

http://lsu.247sports.com/Board/59425/Contents/Big-time-baseball-commitment-39515797

The comments here also give an indication that he will not entertain the thought of the draft. A lot could change I guess but good news.

Nah he's not really a power guy if you base that off home runs. Last year he batted .450 with 5 HR and 10 triples, and that's on a much smaller field than DNF and against Alabama 4A pitchers. He's a contact guy with good gap power. I think Pirtle is a fair comparison, although Allen is much further along than Pirtle was at this point in his career.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Gotcha thanks!

[Todd4State]

This is obviously a pretty big flip. He made the Team USA U 18 40 man roster. It sounds like he can play outfield or middle infield and my guess is outfield because I'm expecting us to lose at least one outfielder to the draft. Cannizaro may be able to retain our guys better so we will see. Either way he will find his way onto the field whether it's shortstop or center field.

I think he will hit with more power than Pirtle but he won't be Hunter Renfroe either. I could see him hitting five or so by the time he is a junior.

[Joe Schmedlap]

Pirtle was damn good

[preachermatt83]

Very very good pick up.

[maroonmania]

Is there anywhere to see the list of baseball players we signed this Fall?

[Todd4State]

Is there anywhere to see the list of baseball players we signed this Fall?

247 sports has a baseball recruiting thread that has all of our commitments on it. Gene had been slacking on that lately.

[Commercecomet24]

This is obviously a pretty big flip. He made the Team USA U 18 40 man roster. It sounds like he can play outfield or middle infield and my guess is outfield because I'm expecting us to lose at least one outfielder to the draft. Cannizaro may be able to retain our guys better so we will see. Either way he will find his way onto the field whether it's shortstop or center field.

I think he will hit with more power than Pirtle but he won't be Hunter Renfroe either. I could see him hitting five or so by the time he is a junior.

This is one of the flips I heard might be coming. He liked LSU but loved Cannizaro. Kids got great bat speed, plus arm and can run. This was a great pickup for us.

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

247 sports has a baseball recruiting thread that has all of our commitments on it. Gene had been slacking on that lately.

Gene has his up now. Just went to TD to look around. The last poster to post on that thread above said, "I honestly would have rather given State CPM (Coach Paul Maneri) than Canny".

Todd...also saw that LSU has commits in 2018 from 2 guys at MUS in Germantown, Tn. I wonder how close Canny is to them?

[Commercecomet24]

There's also a couple of stud pitchers commited to LSU right now for next years class that are wavering.

[Todd4State]

Gene has his up now. Just went to TD to look around. The last poster to post on that thread above said, "I honestly would have rather given State CPM (Coach Paul Maneri) than Canny".

Todd...also saw that LSU has commits in 2018 from 2 guys at MUS in Germantown, Tn. I wonder how close Canny is to them?

I bet they would rather us have Manieri than Cannizaro. Cannizaro is their guy that had saved Manieri in regards to recruiting. I saw a post somewhere on a LSU board talking about how LSU had to land Vanderbilt type talent to win like they want to and I think Cannizaro can do that.

[Todd4State]

Gene has his up now. Just went to TD to look around. The last poster to post on that thread above said, "I honestly would have rather given State CPM (Coach Paul Maneri) than Canny".

Todd...also saw that LSU has commits in 2018 from 2 guys at MUS in Germantown, Tn. I wonder how close Canny is to them?

Probably pretty close on the MUS guys.

[Todd4State]

There's also a couple of stud pitchers commited to LSU right now for next years class that are wavering.

That's our biggest need in this class right now with guys like Jack Owen decommitting. I love Bryce Hutchinson and Zane Stephens. If we can land a couple of studs that will make his class top five of it isn't already.

[Commercecomet24]

That's our biggest need in this class right now with guys like Jack Owen decommitting. I love Bryce Hutchinson and Zane Stephens. If we can land a couple of studs that will make his class top five of it isn't already.

Couple are real close right now. Don't know what its gonna take to finish the flip but Cannizaro doing work, and these kids love him! Kids are different now and it takes someone that understands this generation to reach them now. That's what I keep hearing from recruits and parents is how well he relates to these teenagers. I think Cohen had the foresight to know that this generation of ballplayer is different and a younger more innovative Coach is needed. Losing Cannizaro was a huge blow to LSU. Their fans are right about they would rather have us take Manieri. The recruits I've talked to had almost no interaction with Manieiri, Cannizaro was doing the heavy lifting. I believe Manieri has become a little complacent down there with Cannizaro and Dunn doing all the work. Tiger fans may burn him if he don't get off his whiny butt and start recruiting.

[Todd4State]

Couple are real close right now. Don't know what its gonna take to finish the flip but Cannizaro doing work, and these kids love him! Kids are different now and it takes someone that understands this generation to reach them now. That's what I keep hearing from recruits and parents is how well he relates to these teenagers. I think Cohen had the foresight to know that this generation of ballplayer is different and a younger more innovative Coach is needed. Losing Cannizaro was a huge blow to LSU. Their fans are right about they would rather have us take Manieri. The recruits I've talked to had almost no interaction with Manieiri, Cannizaro was doing the heavy lifting. I believe Manieri has become a little complacent down there with Cannizaro and Dunn doing all the work. Tiger fans may burn him if he don't get off his whiny butt and start recruiting.

Merry Flipmas from Cannizaro? They're stuck with Manieri as long as he wins 40 and they will never be like they were under Bertman.

[Commercecomet24]

Merry Flipmas from Cannizaro? They're stuck with Manieri as long as he wins 40 and they will never be like they were under Bertman.

You're exactly right, Manieri aint Bertman and never will be.

[maroonmania]

247 sports has a baseball recruiting thread that has all of our commitments on it. Gene had been slacking on that lately.

The 247 thread appears to be members only and, like you said, for whatever reason Gene hasn't updated since the 2016 class. Could someone just list our signees here in this thread if you have them?

[maroonmania]

Gene has his up now. Just went to TD to look around. The last poster to post on that thread above said, "I honestly would have rather given State CPM (Coach Paul Maneri) than Canny".

Todd...also saw that LSU has commits in 2018 from 2 guys at MUS in Germantown, Tn. I wonder how close Canny is to them?

Where is Gene's list located? His baseball signees area still stops at 2016.

[Homedawg]

Where is Gene's list located? His baseball signees area still stops at 2016.

There is a list on the main page of the signees

[Todd4State]

I'll help everyone out.

Pitchers

Chad Bryant- RHP from Thomasville, Al.
Zane Stephens- RHP from Suwanee, Fl.
Bryce Hutchinson- RHP/1B from Spruce Creek, Fl.

Jared Liebelt- JUCO RHP from Waubansee, Ill. Started out at Villanova.
Pearson MacMahan- JUCO RHP from St. John’s Rivere CC, Fl. Drafted by the Pirates last year.
John Mason- JUCO RHP from Wallace State CC
Cameron Voss- JUCO LHP from Niagra CC, NY
Troy Bacon- JUCO RHP from Santa Fe CC in Fl. Committed to Florida out of high school.

You can see why I say that we need more high school pitchers in this class.

Catcher
Marshall Gilbert- JUCO from John Logan CC in Ill.

Infielders

Owen Lovell- Cullman HS in Al. Could also play the outfield and possibly pitch as well. I think he ends up at first base for us eventually.

Alex Pener- JUCO first baseman from Scottsdale CC in Az.

Rowdy Jordan- MIF from Auburn, Al. Likely second baseman.
Jordan Westburg- INF from New Braunfels, Tx. I think he ends up most likely at third base but second and shortstop are possible.
Justin Foscue- INF from Grissom HS in Al. Same positions as Westburg.

Tanner Allen- SS/CF from UMS Wright HS in Al. My early guess is shortstop but could end up at CF depending on what happens with our OF recruits in the draft.

Outfielders- Honestly might be the best OF group I have seen since I have been following MSU recruiting. Especially if you include Lovell and Allen. We’ll see who we get into school.

Quenton Holmes- CF all the way. Probably our biggest draft risk too. Monsignor Clancy HS in NY.
Josh Hatcher- corner OF from Lee County HS in Ga.
Jordan Anderson- Corner OF but I could see him playing CF in the SEC from James Clemons HS in Al.
Reynaldo Riviera- JUCO Corner OF/1B/DH from Chipola CC in Fl. I’m listing him as an OF because I think Cole Gordon wins the first base job and I think Rooker leaves for MLB which probably opens up RF for Riviera if we get him past the draft.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

Thanks Todd!

[Tripp McNeely]

What happened to lasch?

[Todd4State]

What happened to lasch?

Decommitted on NSD and tried to sign with Auburn but they didn’t have a spot for him, so now he’s probably going to end up somewhere in California.

[Todd4State]

Thanks Todd!

Happy to do it! That’s why we’re ELITEdawgs.

[Commercecomet24]

Todd just sent you a PM.

[ZedFedder]

Lasch signed with CS Fullerton.

[IMissJack]

Merry Flipmas from Cannizaro? They're stuck with Manieri as long as he wins 40 and they will never be like they were under Bertman.

Well enjoy Cannizaro while we have him, cause LSU will come calling if Manieri falters, or retires.

[I seen it dawg]

Well enjoy Cannizaro while we have him, cause LSU will come calling if Manieri falters, or retires.

He is not and never has been an "LSU guy" no more so than Alan Dunn has been. He coached there for a few years that's it. It was a job. He grew up around and played and starred at Tulane. Who passed him over for their job for whatever reason, possibly he didn't even apply. Don't understand why people say and think he just automatically goes back to LSU because he worked there for a couple of years.

So I guess if Kyle Whittingham gets offered and accepts the Oregon football job then we may as well just deal with the fact that Mullen is headed to Utah because he was an assistant there. (I could live with that)

[bobcat91]

Well enjoy Cannizaro while we have him, cause LSU will come calling if Manieri falters, or retires.

We turned the keys to the program to him and he is about to get to recruit to the best college baseball facility for the next 20 years. When he wins, pay the man and he will be here for a long long time.

[Todd4State]

Well enjoy Cannizaro while we have him, cause LSU will come calling if Manieri falters, or retires.

People said that about Bianco too. LSU has had a couple of coaching changes in that time and he?s still at Ole Miss. And Bianco is more LSU connected than Cannizaro.

It?s possible that Cannizaro could go there, but it just depends on how Manieri leaves. My guess is Manieri is going to try to get Brian O?Connor there if he can. The key thing to remember is Cannizaro and Manieri didn?t always get along- I?m not sure how deep the wounds there are but there is a reason that Cannizaro didn?t tell Manieri that he was going to MSU until the Friday that Cohen was announced as our coach and why he is trying to take LSU?s recruits. Manieri was taking most of the credit for the work that Cannizaro and Alan Dunn did at LSU- and when Gary Henderson leaves MSU don?t be surprised if we get Dunn.

If Manieri leaves and they don?t want any of his input we may have to worry some then, but as long as Manieri is winning he?s probably going to have some say in the matter. There are also some other LSU alumni like Blake Dean who is the coach at New Orleans that might end up being a candidate as well depending on how his career progresses, and heck- Bianco still might even be a candidate as well considering that he has done everything he can at Ole Miss and he may want to go back home.

Cannizaro is more of a Tulane guy than a LSU guy and I could maybe even see him going back there like 20 years from now as a retirement job.

[Todd4State]

We turned the keys to the program to him and he is about to get to recruit to the best college baseball facility for the next 20 years. When he wins, pay the man and he will be here for a long long time.

Also in addition to that we have an AD that is going to be VERY baseball focused. We’ll see what kind of advantages come along with that. I think it will be more in the line of securing facilities and modern equipment as things go along. And also possibly helping get scholarship money for baseball recruits to help offset some of the “advantage” that other programs like LSU and Vanderbilt have. It’s too soon to know one way or the other.

With Cohen out as our baseball coach, I hope that securing the money to make Dudy-Noble Field fully operational is easier- although Cohen is still around so that may or may not be the case. Cohen leaving as baseball coach should unite our baseball fans even more as I know a few never did come around despite what he did. Everyone needs to bury the hatchet and move forward united in going for a National Title.

Cannizaro also has a pitching coach that coached for Team USA and has put a ton of pitchers in MLB. He also has a hitting coach who has a ton of ties to Mississippi kids. Cannizaro has scouting ties and national ties that we didn’t have before. If Coggin can get the top Mississippi kids and Cannizaro can fill in the blanks with National recruits, we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

[Noxdog]

Also in addition to that we have an AD that is going to be VERY baseball focused. We’ll see what kind of advantages come along with that. I think it will be more in the line of securing facilities and modern equipment as things go along. And also possibly helping get scholarship money for baseball recruits to help offset some of the “advantage” that other programs like LSU and Vanderbilt have. It’s too soon to know one way or the other.

With Cohen out as our baseball coach, I hope that securing the money to make Dudy-Noble Field fully operational is easier- although Cohen is still around so that may or may not be the case. Cohen leaving as baseball coach should unite our baseball fans even more as I know a few never did come around despite what he did. Everyone needs to bury the hatchet and move forward united in going for a National Title.

Cannizaro also has a pitching coach that coached for Team USA and has put a ton of pitchers in MLB. He also has a hitting coach who has a ton of ties to Mississippi kids. Cannizaro has scouting ties and national ties that we didn’t have before. If Coggin can get the top Mississippi kids and Cannizaro can fill in the blanks with National recruits, we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Glad you are on board. You worried me how you seemed to rail against his being a candidate.

[Commercecomet24]

Also in addition to that we have an AD that is going to be VERY baseball focused. We’ll see what kind of advantages come along with that. I think it will be more in the line of securing facilities and modern equipment as things go along. And also possibly helping get scholarship money for baseball recruits to help offset some of the “advantage” that other programs like LSU and Vanderbilt have. It’s too soon to know one way or the other.

With Cohen out as our baseball coach, I hope that securing the money to make Dudy-Noble Field fully operational is easier- although Cohen is still around so that may or may not be the case. Cohen leaving as baseball coach should unite our baseball fans even more as I know a few never did come around despite what he did. Everyone needs to bury the hatchet and move forward united in going for a National Title.

Cannizaro also has a pitching coach that coached for Team USA and has put a ton of pitchers in MLB. He also has a hitting coach who has a ton of ties to Mississippi kids. Cannizaro has scouting ties and national ties that we didn’t have before. If Coggin can get the top Mississippi kids and Cannizaro can fill in the blanks with National recruits, we are going to be a force to be reckoned with.

Bingo! Cannizzaro is extremely ambitious and he's a winner! He also loves the plans for our new stadium and playing and recruiting to it. He wants to preside over what will be the finest stadium in college baseball and fly a championship banner over it. This guy is a "statue" coach.

[Todd4State]

Glad you are on board. You worried me how you seemed to rail against his being a candidate.

I was always way more concerned- and still am to a degree- about Cohen being an inexperienced AD than I am about Cannizaro being our baseball coach. It’s a lot easier to fix the baseball program than it is the entire AD.

I still don’t like how that process worked or how the University handled it. Quite frankly we should all be concerned about that regardless of whether Cohen works out or not.

The only concern I have about Cannizaro is how he will manage in game because he doesn’t have any experience with that. That’s a small concern because baseball is baseball. The other concern I had was Tulane passing over him for Vanderbilt’s hitting coach. But the thing that a lot of people need to understand about Tulane and I did mention this at the time- is that I could see Tulane being worried about losing him to LSU which is a rival of theirs and would be like Ole Miss poaching one of our coaches. And the other thing to understand about Tulane baseball is they lost David Pierce to Texas after one year and if Cannizaro did well at Tulane which I have no doubt that he would have and made them into another Rice baseball program or better other schools like MSU would have potentially come calling for him and taken him away after one year with them which would have resulted in them going for their fourth head coach in four years had that played out that way.

And this is conspiracy theorish but it was pretty well known that Cannizaro was a candidate for the Tulane job and that Manieri wanted to keep him. It’s very possible that Manieri gave him a bad recommendation or did something from getting the job to keep him. That would also explain why Cohen and Cannizaro did things on the down low and why Manieri had no idea that he even had interviewed with us until the day that Cohen was announced as the AD and Cannizaro was on his way to Starkville. That would also explain why there is rumored to be some bad blood between Cannizaro and Manieri as well. No facts in that paragraph just speculation.

Also I know you don’t remember but I have always supported MSU baseball no matter who the coach was. I did not like Polk II as you probably do remember. Polk told my Dad in a private conversation in the 1990’s that he didn’t think that he could win a NC at MSU because he couldn’t do it with Clark and Palmeiro. That’s why I was so against his re-hire. We don’t need a coach with that attitude. But even then I still supported MSU baseball despite all of the problems I had with the program at that time from recruiting to coaching philosophy, and etc. I even gave credit and still do give credit to Polk for the 2005 SEC Baseball Tournament Championship and the CWS appearance in 2007. And honestly I’m pretty disappointed in the few fans that never got on Cohen’s side despite the three Super Regional appearances, the National Seed, the SEC Tournament Title, the SEC Title, hosting twice, and of course the Omaha appearance in 2013 where we went further than we ever have in school history. And then some of these people want to withhold funds to build the best baseball stadium in the country because Ron Polk didn’t pick the guy? That’s shameful.

But I do talk to some baseball people that I trust that are more connected than me in pro baseball and are honest with me and everything that they have said about Cannizaro has been very positive. But I do try to be fair- I know I’ve been called a homer sometimes about my comments about recruits, but the fact of the matter is those recruits that I was called out about a couple of years ago just won the SEC and a lot of them are off to good starts in pro baseball plus after our fans have seen guys like Mangum and Pilkington and what they can do I think most now see why I was so excited about them.

Sorry for the long post, but I’m going to leave this one thing that our fans need to understand about today’s college game. Vanderbilt is the model for college/SEC baseball programs right now. They had Derek Johnson as their pitching coach and he was a summer league coach but had a great relationship with scouts and that helped them land guys like David Price, Tyler Beede, Casey Weathers, Sonny Gray and etc. Johnson is now the pitching coach for the Milwaukee Brewers. That’s why LSU hired Cannizaro- because he had similar if not much better connections than Johnson had. LSU is trying to get the same type of guys that Vanderbilt is getting to go along with their top Louisiana guys. Cohen understands this is the way that the game is shifting at the college level as well and so he has hired a guy with those MLB/scouting connections to go along with our Mississippi guy in Will Coggin. And now we will hopefully start to get higher end talent to MSU to go along with our Mississippi guys who have talent and are blue collar. That’s a combination that can win a NC and keep us strong for years to come. It wasn’t a coincidence that Cohen tried to get Corbin to come to MSU and that’s why as well. I think we came out better getting Cannizaro at least in the long term IMO because there seems to be really good chemistry there plus Cannizaro is going to be pretty hungry to make his mark whereas Corbin has already accomplished everything.