Baseball season

[GTHOM]

It'll be here before we know it baseball folk, what should we expect this year? Final record? Best players besides Rooker and Mangum? How deep in the tourney do we go?

[Todd4State]

I think we will be a two seed somewhere if I had to guess which is probably about 34 wins or so. Best player besides Rooker and Mangum- I'm going to go with Pilkington on that. The tournament always depends on the draw but I'll be optimistic and hope for a SR appearance.


It will be interesting to see how Cannizaro coaches.

[bulldogcountry1]

-Defense will be great.

-Alexander, Stovall, and Gridley are healthy and should make a jump on the offensive side.

-Gordon has made improvements at the plate. Hit 3 HRs in the fall.

-Bragg is the wild card. He looks the part, but had a pretty rough fall at the plate. He was showing signs of figuring it out towards the end, though. If he can be effective, he's capable of 10+ HRs.

-Lovelady is an elite defender, and he looked good at the plate in the fall. His leadership will really help the young pitching staff.

-I really didn't see a closer emerge in the fall. We know what we have with Blake Smith and Rigby, but I would like to have them available as a setup guys. If either ends up being our closer, that ain't bad.

-The biggest concern is starting pitching. After Pilk, we just don't have experience. The talent is there, but will they be ready by SEC play?



We are at the point now where a regional is the minimum expectation. Normally, I would have low expectations after losing 1/3rd of the roster to the draft, but we should be above that now. We have talent top to bottom. I've always said you have to have at least a couple true freshmen be major contributors ever year. It's typically a sign that you are recruiting well. It's a waste if you have to redshirt a lot of guys because it either means they aren't that good or you are only going to get two years out of them before they get drafted. We can expect to see some freshmen play a big role this year, and that is really the key to our success. Of course, they will hit a wall at some point. Do we have enough depth to step in and help what that happens? We will see.

I am also curious to see how Cannizaro coaches and manages the game. It still feels a bit weird to have an "outsider" running the program, especially after expecting Cohen to be here another 10 years. I think we are in good hands, though.

[Todd4State]

Great write up Bulldog Country. My guess is Keegan and Cyr will be the other two starters. Billingsley will hopefully help the bullpen out some as well but be missed the fall with a broken foot. Riley Self I think will help us out a lot too. I could see him likely relieving and maybe being a wild card to start.

[Political Hack]

I'm anticipating a better hitting team, which is always trouble for opposing coaches. It's hard as hell to beat a team that consistently hits, especially when you're talking about 3-game series. If Canny brings his thunder stick with him from LSU to Starkvegas, we should be pretty damn good at the plate. Great defense and good hitting can take you a long way. Hopefully that'll carry the pitching some.

[smootness]

So you guys tell me if I'm wrong, but is this roughly how the lineup looks to shake out right now?

C - Lovelady
1B - Gordon
2B - Gridley/Stovall
SS - Alexander/Gridley
3B - Bragg/Alexander
RF - Rooker
CF - Mangum
LF - Brown
DH - Marrero

It seems like we don't have as much depth this year as we've had beyond the guys I listed unless some young guys can step up in a hurry.

[BB30]

I think we will be a two seed somewhere if I had to guess which is probably about 34 wins or so. Best player besides Rooker and Mangum- I'm going to go with Pilkington on that. The tournament always depends on the draw but I'll be optimistic and hope for a SR appearance.


It will be interesting to see how Cannizaro coaches.

34 wins and a 2 seed will be a win for this group. I would be perfectly happy with that finish with as much as we lost and losing 2/3 of a rotation that had 1 elite talent and one very very solid arm. If we can find a couple of guys to step up in those roles we will be alright.

[louisvilledawg]

Where does Marrero stand? I want him to be the guy, but don't think his hitting is even average

[BB30]

Where does Marrero stand? I want him to be the guy, but don't think his hitting is even average

Eh Todd could probably tell you more but we are pretty solid at catcher. He will definitely get some innings.The great thing about Marrero is he is really really fundamentally solid behind the plate. I have always been one to sacrifice a little bit offensively at C as long as the kid is extremely solid behind the plate and he is. He has shown the ability to have decent ABs at times but just has not been able to put it all together. Doubt he is our every day guy but will definitely get some innings.

[bulldogcountry1]

So you guys tell me if I'm wrong, but is this roughly how the lineup looks to shake out right now?

C - Lovelady
1B - Gordon
2B - Gridley/Stovall
SS - Alexander/Gridley
3B - Bragg/Alexander
RF - Rooker
CF - Mangum
LF - Brown
DH - Marrero

It seems like we don't have as much depth this year as we've had beyond the guys I listed unless some young guys can step up in a hurry.


I don't see Cody Brown as an everyday starter. He's a gamer, and I've always liked the way he plays, but he's about plateaued. Look for Tanner Poole to play outfield a lot, probably CF.

Dustin Skelton had a great fall. He might earn some time at DH.


My lineup today would be:

LF- Mangum
SS- Gridley
RF- Rooker
1B- Gordon
DH- Bragg/Skelton
3B- Alexander
CF- Poole
C- Lovelady/Skelton
2B- Stovall

[bulldogcountry1]

Where does Marrero stand? I want him to be the guy, but don't think his hitting is even average

I think he ended the fall in the dog house (suspended). There were rumors of him transferring last summer. He's just not hitting near well enough to be an everyday SEC catcher.

I don't have any inside information, but I will be really surprised if he's still in the team in the spring.

[Todd4State]

So you guys tell me if I'm wrong, but is this roughly how the lineup looks to shake out right now?

C - Lovelady
1B - Gordon
2B - Gridley/Stovall
SS - Alexander/Gridley
3B - Bragg/Alexander
RF - Rooker
CF - Mangum
LF - Brown
DH - Marrero

It seems like we don't have as much depth this year as we've had beyond the guys I listed unless some young guys can step up in a hurry.

I think you are pretty close. I would replace Brown with Tanner Poole and I'm not sure if Marrero will be back but I have a feeling he will have a sophomore slump of he does come back. I would guess someone like Dustin Skelton or Cody Brown will be the DH but it could be a number of guys competing for that spot.

[Todd4State]

34 wins and a 2 seed will be a win for this group. I would be perfectly happy with that finish with as much as we lost and losing 2/3 of a rotation that had 1 elite talent and one very very solid arm. If we can find a couple of guys to step up in those roles we will be alright.

Totally agree. Our SEC schedule is not the worst and we do have some talent. I hope that carries us.

[smootness]

I don't see Cody Brown as an everyday starter. He's a gamer, and I've always liked the way he plays, but he's about plateaued. Look for Tanner Poole to play outfield a lot, probably CF.

Dustin Skelton had a great fall. He might earn some time at DH.


My lineup today would be:

LF- Mangum
SS- Gridley
RF- Rooker
1B- Gordon
DH- Bragg/Skelton
3B- Alexander
CF- Poole
C- Lovelady/Skelton
2B- Stovall

Cannizaro has talked about what having a guy like Mangum in CF means, so I'd guess that's where he'll be.

[Dawg-gone-dawgs]

I think Gordon will have a break-out year!!!

[msstate7]

Cannizaro has talked about what having a guy like Mangum in CF means, so I'd guess that's where he'll be.

Surely magnum's high draft stock is with the idea he's a CF. I don't see him being a high pick as a corner outfielder

[HSVDawg]

-Defense will be great.

-Alexander, Stovall, and Gridley are healthy and should make a jump on the offensive side.

-Gordon has made improvements at the plate. Hit 3 HRs in the fall.

-Bragg is the wild card. He looks the part, but had a pretty rough fall at the plate. He was showing signs of figuring it out towards the end, though. If he can be effective, he's capable of 10+ HRs.

-Lovelady is an elite defender, and he looked good at the plate in the fall. His leadership will really help the young pitching staff.

-I really didn't see a closer emerge in the fall. We know what we have with Blake Smith and Rigby, but I would like to have them available as a setup guys. If either ends up being our closer, that ain't bad.

-The biggest concern is starting pitching. After Pilk, we just don't have experience. The talent is there, but will they be ready by SEC play?



We are at the point now where a regional is the minimum expectation. Normally, I would have low expectations after losing 1/3rd of the roster to the draft, but we should be above that now. We have talent top to bottom. I've always said you have to have at least a couple true freshmen be major contributors ever year. It's typically a sign that you are recruiting well. It's a waste if you have to redshirt a lot of guys because it either means they aren't that good or you are only going to get two years out of them before they get drafted. We can expect to see some freshmen play a big role this year, and that is really the key to our success. Of course, they will hit a wall at some point. Do we have enough depth to step in and help what that happens? We will see.

I am also curious to see how Cannizaro coaches and manages the game. It still feels a bit weird to have an "outsider" running the program, especially after expecting Cohen to be here another 10 years. I think we are in good hands, though.

Good post and I agree with most all of your points. However, I think the bolded portion above requires some more thought. Under normal circumstances, I'd certainly agree that our program expectation should be a regional every year. But this past year has been an extraordinary alignment of 3 different anomolies that I think make this a very unrealistic expectation for this season. Those are an extraordinarily large number of early departures in the draft, complete turnover of our coaching staff (including a head coaching change after fall camp), and a ton of injuries to our best arms. That's not even to mention that our new coach has never been a head coach and only has two years experience coaching as an assistant, so there will definitely be a learning curve there.

Expecting a team to absorb that much change over a 6 month period and still compete for a regional in the toughest conference and division in college baseball just isn't realistic. It just isn't. I'm not saying we definitely won't make a regional, but a lot of folks are setting Cannizaro up for failure. A lot of these people talking about being a 2 seed, etc. sound like those that expected Howland to make us a bubble team this year due to all the 4 star and 5 star talent, when in reality we probably aren't even going to sniff the NIT. Sometimes you have to be patient to get the results you want.

[Steakonastick]

The question is who is gonna step up at first and dh. If nobody does you will see Rooker playing at first. From what I saw in the fall.

Guaranteed to start

Poole
Mangum
Rooker
Gridley
Alexander
Stovall

My best guess on a lineup

Rf mangum
3b Stovall
1b Rooker
Cf Poole (more athletic then renfroe was)
Dh- Gordon/Bragg
Lf-macnamee
Ss Alexander
C- lovelady (hopefully marrero gets his head on straight because he needs to be here)
2b- Gridley

[louisvilledawg]

Eh Todd could probably tell you more but we are pretty solid at catcher. He will definitely get some innings.The great thing about Marrero is he is really really fundamentally solid behind the plate. I have always been one to sacrifice a little bit offensively at C as long as the kid is extremely solid behind the plate and he is. He has shown the ability to have decent ABs at times but just has not been able to put it all together. Doubt he is our every day guy but will definitely get some innings.

Completely agree about giving up a little offense to have a stud defensive catcher. Also agree he has shown the ability to throw in some decent at bats (think he got really hot at one point early in the season last year.) I just see his stroke as being choppy and a left center-right center type of hitter which just screams GIDP

[GTHOM]

We will find out pretty quick because TTU is good. I expect us to be in a regional at least. Its all about the baseball gods at that point anyway so we'll see what happens. Cant wait to go to the Dude I do know that

[Todd4State]

Surely magnum's high draft stock is with the idea he's a CF. I don't see him being a high pick as a corner outfielder

Poole played CF a lot in the scrimmages this fall and I think that's where his opinion is coming from but I think Mangum will start in CF for us.

[InTheIttaBenaHotSun]

What about speed? I know we don't have anyone that comes close to JRobson but do we have any runners on this team?

[Bothrops]

More aggressive at the plate, maybe right away. I think our program is about to move away from the boring approach to baseball.

[MarketingBully]

Question, didn't we have more question marks last year then this year? Think about this. We knew Sexton was going to be a solid starter but there were still some question marks regarding how great Dakota Hudson was going to be. Also, we had a lot of JUCO talent that was high level talent but was still unproven. We also lost Butch Thompson in the fall of last year that made the pitching staff even more of a question mark. Now I'm not saying that we will win the SEC again but I think Todd's prediction of a 2 Seed somewhere and possibly making a SR seems reasonable. Remember, Arizona was a 2 seed with a first year head coach and got hot at the right moment. I think this team could be a lot of fun to watch then when these sophomores are juniors we make a huge run in 2018.

[Todd4State]

What about speed? I know we don't have anyone that comes close to JRobson but do we have any runners on this team?

Mangum and Poole come to mind immediately. LA, Stovall, and Gridley can run but have had to deal with injuries over the years so I'm not sure how much we will run.

[Todd4State]

More aggressive at the plate, maybe right away. I think our program is about to move away from the boring approach to baseball.

I think the main difference we will see is more stolen bases. That's assuming we are disastrous at stealing bases early in the year and don't go away from it.

[Dawgsfanalongtime77]

Gonna see a lot of new faces but i think there will be enough there for a possible postseason run. Rooker and magnum are the obvious picks for best overall talent at this point. I believe marrero will be behind the dish

[bulldogcountry1]

Question, didn't we have more question marks last year then this year? Think about this. We knew Sexton was going to be a solid starter but there were still some question marks regarding how great Dakota Hudson was going to be. Also, we had a lot of JUCO talent that was high level talent but was still unproven. We also lost Butch Thompson in the fall of last year that made the pitching staff even more of a question mark. Now I'm not saying that we will win the SEC again but I think Todd's prediction of a 2 Seed somewhere and possibly making a SR seems reasonable. Remember, Arizona was a 2 seed with a first year head coach and got hot at the right moment. I think this team could be a lot of fun to watch then when these sophomores are juniors we make a huge run in 2018.


This time last year, I felt really good about the pitching staff and didn't really know much about our hitting. I believe I said that Robson was the only position I could lock in to my lineup. I couldn't even make up something for message board discussion. Mangum wasn't even on the radar, and I didn't know what were going to get from Kruger and Lowe. That was really the key to putting us over the hump - having new players come in and be productive against SEC pitching.

Last year felt like the first time Cohen had something to close to a real SEC pitching rotation, with Brown, Houston, and Pilk all fighting for the Sunday job. This year? You know someone will step up, but how many lumps will we have to take before that happens?

[State82]

Good analysis in this thread bulldogcountry1. Good stuff.

[sandjunky]

I think Blaylock might make a push for pt