MSU Baseball starts next week. Let's discuss a few things...

[CadaverDawg]

Even though it may not be a great year, I am still fired up about baseball starting next week. So what's the word on a potential starting lineup and pitching rotation? Lots of new contributing faces I would guess...and if most are like me we haven't seen or heard much about how the team is looking. Some of you guys give us a run down of who you think starts/contributes, pitching rotation vs bullpen, and what to expect differently from a Cannizaro club vs a Cohen club?

Baseball, crawfish, and cold beer....can't wait.

[shoeless joe]

I'm looking forward to it as well...your last sentence says it all

[Backwoodsdawg]

Been to a lot of scrimmages in the fall and spring and this is what I see playing out... but who knows for sure.

Opening day line-up & Batting order:
CF Jake Mangum
2nd Hunter Stovall
SS Ryan Gridley
RF Brent Rooker
1st Cole Gorden
DH Harrison Bragg
LF Tanner Poole
3rd Alexander/Skelton(can't make up my mind here)
C Lovelady/Marrero(to close to call today)
SP Conner Pilkington(Fri)
Price/Cyr(Saturday)
Self/Ashcraft(Sunday)

Only Sure about Pilkington Friday night but that's no brainer. Saturday and Sunday could be a number of guys as of today because no one has really separated themselves but those 4 have shown good stuff this spring.

They have been working hard at being real aggressive at the plate and on the bases. Base runners have been getting thrown out a lot at 2nd but I think that's a by product of the pitchers and catchers knowing they are stealing. The Pitchers are really quick to the plate as are the catchers to 2nd. When we get in a real game situation against somebody besides ourselves I think we will be better at getting there because the plays at 2nd are real close and they know we are stealing. On a good note though we have been real good at stealing 3rd. I think we will be better defensively as well. Our outfielders are fast and the infielders are quick and will get to a lot of balls most people won't, they will just have to finish the play when the get there which sometimes can be hard to get up and throw them out. Mangum, Poole, Rooker, Blaylock, Brown and Macnemee all can cover some ground in the outfield too!

Bullpen will be solid there are a lot of guys old and new that have had some real good outings and some not so good ones, so I would expect to see them run a bunch of them out early to see how they handle the pressure and weed down from there.

As I've said before I don't know anything but I go to practices and kinda pay attention to what is being said on the field so take it for what its worth.

[oldjoedawg]

Backwoods, good stuff and thanks for taking the time to post....

[msstate7]

Been to a lot of scrimmages in the fall and spring and this is what I see playing out... but who knows for sure.

Opening day line-up & Batting order:
CF Jake Mangum
2nd Hunter Stovall
SS Ryan Gridley
RF Brent Rooker
1st Cole Gorden
DH Harrison Bragg
LF Tanner Poole
3rd Alexander/Skelton(can't make up my mind here)
C Lovelady/Marrero(to close to call today)
SP Conner Pilkington(Fri)
Price/Cyr(Saturday)
Self/Ashcraft(Sunday)

Only Sure about Pilkington Friday night but that's no brainer. Saturday and Sunday could be a number of guys as of today because no one has really separated themselves but those 4 have shown good stuff this spring.

They have been working hard at being real aggressive at the plate and on the bases. Base runners have been getting thrown out a lot at 2nd but I think that's a by product of the pitchers and catchers knowing they are stealing. The Pitchers are really quick to the plate as are the catchers to 2nd. When we get in a real game situation against somebody besides ourselves I think we will be better at getting there because the plays at 2nd are real close and they know we are stealing. On a good note though we have been real good at stealing 3rd. I think we will be better defensively as well. Our outfielders are fast and the infielders are quick and will get to a lot of balls most people won't, they will just have to finish the play when the get there which sometimes can be hard to get up and throw them out. Mangum, Poole, Rooker, Blaylock, Brown and Macnemee all can cover some ground in the outfield too!

Bullpen will be solid there are a lot of guys old and new that have had some real good outings and some not so good ones, so I would expect to see them run a bunch of them out early to see how they handle the pressure and weed down from there.

As I've said before I don't know anything but I go to practices and kinda pay attention to what is being said on the field so take it for what its worth.

I love magnum, Stovall, and gridley, but I really hope that isn't the top 3 in our lineup. Seems that's 3 good hitters are pretty much all versions of themselves... single hitters with some 2-base potential. I want rooker in the 3 spot and another extra base guy at cleanup.

I admit I haven't watched any scrimmages and I'm basing this off last year

[CadaverDawg]

Been to a lot of scrimmages in the fall and spring and this is what I see playing out... but who knows for sure.

Opening day line-up & Batting order:
CF Jake Mangum
2nd Hunter Stovall
SS Ryan Gridley
RF Brent Rooker
1st Cole Gorden
DH Harrison Bragg
LF Tanner Poole
3rd Alexander/Skelton(can't make up my mind here)
C Lovelady/Marrero(to close to call today)
SP Conner Pilkington(Fri)
Price/Cyr(Saturday)
Self/Ashcraft(Sunday)

Only Sure about Pilkington Friday night but that's no brainer. Saturday and Sunday could be a number of guys as of today because no one has really separated themselves but those 4 have shown good stuff this spring.

They have been working hard at being real aggressive at the plate and on the bases. Base runners have been getting thrown out a lot at 2nd but I think that's a by product of the pitchers and catchers knowing they are stealing. The Pitchers are really quick to the plate as are the catchers to 2nd. When we get in a real game situation against somebody besides ourselves I think we will be better at getting there because the plays at 2nd are real close and they know we are stealing. On a good note though we have been real good at stealing 3rd. I think we will be better defensively as well. Our outfielders are fast and the infielders are quick and will get to a lot of balls most people won't, they will just have to finish the play when the get there which sometimes can be hard to get up and throw them out. Mangum, Poole, Rooker, Blaylock, Brown and Macnemee all can cover some ground in the outfield too!

Bullpen will be solid there are a lot of guys old and new that have had some real good outings and some not so good ones, so I would expect to see them run a bunch of them out early to see how they handle the pressure and weed down from there.

As I've said before I don't know anything but I go to practices and kinda pay attention to what is being said on the field so take it for what its worth.

Awesome stuff man. Thanks. What type of players are Bragg and Poole? I see them mentioned a lot, but I've never seen them play. Also, has Alexander's bat improved? I see you have him and Skelton battling it out, so is that saying Skelton doesn't have a great bat yet, or that LA has improved?

Oh, and rep given for the informative post.

[MStateDawg]

Brown and Macnemee all can cover some ground in the outfield too!

Don't be surprised to see Cody Brown playing 1st base with Cole DHing.

[msstate7]

Oh, and rep given for the informative post.

He's always great for info on fall ball and preseason scrimmages.

[bulldogcountry1]

Good information.

I like the aggressiveness aspect. By being exposed to it, our defense will be better. Hopefully, our pitchers will be better at defense than last year.

About Cody Brown at 3rd...That's a bit surprising. It only means that Cordon and Bragg aren't getting it done on the defensive side. Brown will have to step up his offensive game to pull that off.

[Steakonastick]

Cf mangum
Ss Gridley
Rf Rooker
Dh Bragg/macnamee
1b Gordon
Lf Poole
2b Stovall
C lovelady
3b Skelton

That's my best guess on opening day. The big question to me is at first. If Gordon struggles any you see Rooker slide here so macnamee goes into left.

Mangum, Rooker, Poole, Gridley, Stovall. Will all start.

Catcher is an ongoing battle between lovelady and Eli. marrero has been coming on lately. That gap has narrowed

3b- Skelton has been the biggest surprise for me of the freshmen. The dude just keeps barreling up balls.

Dh- I expect canny will give Bragg a longer leash then most. Ball makes a different sound when he connects. I could see him and Gordon splitting time here.

Now this would be my lineup

Rf mangum
2b Stovall
1b Rooker
Dh bragg
Lf macnamee
Cf Poole
3b Skelton
C marrero
Ss Gridley

Pitching rotation reminds me a lot of 2012. We will need pillkington to win almost every Friday series. The good news we avoid the big name Friday night guys besides lsu. I expect cyr to be the number 2 guy then pass it to rugby and smith.

I still have no clue who will win the Sunday spot.


Now for the bench- I see Alexander being the backup middle infielder. macnamee and Rooker will be the 3rd and 4th outfielder just depending on the lineup that day. Blaylock is the number 5 outfielder.

[Backwoodsdawg]

Mstate7 the reason for the first 3 batters where I have them is we all know Mangum is a high percentage guy to get on, Stovall is a very good contact hitter who seldom strikes out he has pop too surprisingly for a little guy, he has had about 5 doubles and a triple this spring and one if his doubles was a bounce over I saw about a foot to the left of the big green wall in center, Gridley this spring is killing the ball he has 2 home runs that I saw several doubles and a triple as well so I kinda just put him, there. One thing for sure is that top 4 are really hard guys to get out and from what I can tell Cannizaro likes that. They are interchangeable really so I guess we will see how it works out.

Mstatedog you are right about Cody Brown at 1st he has been there a good bit and is the best at digging balls out of the dirt that I've seen over there so I wouldn't be surprised if he is there some just to get his bat in the line up because we all know he has the ability to change a game real quick there.

Cadaver, Bragg is as good a looking player as I've seen when walks out of the dugout but he struggled tremendously in the fall with the bat, he has gotten better this spring however with a couple of bombs but still swings and misses way to much for me. He has a great arm but glove at 3rd is suspect but he gets reps at 1st and to me he is better there if his bat gets hot. Poole is a gamer he plays hard is fast and can really go get the ball in the outfield his bat is well above average and he is good on the bases too. Skelton's best asset is his bat..he can dang hit! He's somebody that will play a lot early and often I bet. LA is great defensively one of the best we have but his bat has been a little behind this spring but it looks like hes working on some stuff to me so I expect him to be good to go by time we start season.

[BorneDawg]

LA will be at 3rd instead of SS only because we dont have anyone else ready for 3rd right now. None have his glove and arm talent. We need a 3rd base so we can put LA at SS and Gridley at 2nd. 1st base is the question of the infield. dont think Gordon is the one. and LA's bat will be in form soon ... he has changed up some of his approach/stratagey at the plate.

Skelton may hit well but is not there yet with his glove

[The Federalist Engineer]

LA must play. He was productive in fall and he has legit power. Don't know who sits, but he is a must have. Switch hitter with power.

[msstate7]

I'm really surprised Alexander isn't locked into SS bc of his glove. With a lot of new faces on the pitching staff and coach Can a former SS, I thought for sure Alexander would be the clear choice for SS

[bulldogcountry1]

Gridley certainly isn't too far behind LA, defensively. I don't think he gets enough credit.

[Backwoodsdawg]

Gridley certainly isn't too far behind LA, defensively. I don't think he gets enough credit.

I tend to agree. Statistically speaking when you look at the official stats from last year Stovall is the best returning infielder then Gridley then LA. Gridley had more attempts than the other 2 with stovall having more than LA. LA's fielding % was .939 Gridley was .963 and Stovall's was .994. Having those 3 in he infield in some capacity at the same time will be great!

[Tbonewannabe]

I tend to agree. Statistically speaking when you look at the official stats from last year Stovall is the best returning infielder then Gridley then LA. Gridley had more attempts than the other 2 with stovall having more than LA. LA's fielding % was .939 Gridley was .963 and Stovall's was .994. Having those 3 in he infield in some capacity at the same time will be great!

Gridley just does a lot right. He is sure handed but LA gets to a lot of balls that no one else on the field could put leather to. That is where fielding % is overrated sometimes. It is a great problem to have. I haven't seen this much infield talent since probably 2000. The guy on the bench would have started at either 2nd, SS or 3rd most years in the last 20. We had Sam Frost starting a 2nd not too long ago.

[CadaverDawg]

Can we beat Texas Tech?i know they were good last year...do they return a lot? Any chance we can steal 1 or 2?

[msstate7]

Can we beat Texas Tech?i know they were good last year...do they return a lot? Any chance we can steal 1 or 2?

If pilk is as good as advertised, he can beat anyone

[Todd4State]

Great stuff scrimmage-goers. My two cents is this- we’re about a year away from being a NC contender. We’ve had too many injuries and things no go our way to do it this year. We’ll still be pretty good though and if a pitcher or two emerges- we could certainly go on a run.

I think the rotation will likely be Pilkington, Cyr, and then who knows but I’m staying with Riley Self for now. Price has emerged but I think he is more valuable to us out of the bullpen and he has been a relief guy going back to high school. We need him to step up and be a legit option with Blake Smith and Ryan Rigby. Next year our bullpen is going to be made up of guys coming off of Tommy John- and they could actually possibly be pretty solid. Ashcraft and Breaux might be the midweek guys. I think Breaux is about a year away and he could follow a similar career arc as Dakota Hudson and Chris Stratton. I think he’s getting closer to realizing his potential but he’s just not quite there yet. Jacob Barton will get a long look too.

I think we’ll ultimately platoon catchers between Marrero and Lovelady. I don’t believe the Marrero is leaving the team because of grades rumor because if they were true we wouldn’t have him on the team anymore. I think Skelton will catch some but I think he spends most of his time at third.

Gordon and Bragg need to get better defensively. I’m guessing we’ll see Gordon there and Cody Brown some if Gordon struggles defensively. I think Bragg is sort of like Breaux- close but in reality about a year away. If I were Can I would focus on making him a really good third baseman this year and then make him focus on that in the summer as well. I don’t want to overload him because the truth is his hitting is a work in progress as well- but it seems like his hitting is at least ahead of his defense so we’ll just let him DH for now. Because of that, I bet we see Skelton get the most reps at third base. He’s simply performing too well right now to not get an opportunity. LA will see some time there too. And the thing about our MIF is right now we have three really good MIF and only two spots. I think we will rotate between Stovall and Gridley at second and then LA and Gridley at SS with LA playing some third base on occasion.

In the OF, I think Tanner Poole is our next Rooker/Renfroe type of guy that comes to MSU raw and then we coach him up into an All-SEC type of guy. He has five tool potential so he could actually end up being better than Rooker but at the same time he doesn’t have Renfroe’s ceiling and freakish athleticism. Mangum has a chance to lead the league in hitting and he will help the bullpen out some- which will be much needed. Rooker has a chance to lead the SEC in home runs. Cody Brown and Vince MacNamee will see some playing time as well.

Another key for us next year is going to be getting some of our JUCO’s in past the draft- especially Troy Bacon, Reynaldo Riviera, and Pearson MacMahan.

[Steakonastick]

Yes Texas Tech is very good. They return two freshmen all Americans on the mound.

[Todd4State]

Can we beat Texas Tech?i know they were good last year...do they return a lot? Any chance we can steal 1 or 2?

We can. But if we don't I wouldn't put a lot of stock into it. See FAU last year.

Like last year- I think the Oregon series will tell us how good we are.

[BorneDawg]

Gridley just does a lot right. He is sure handed but LA gets to a lot of balls that no one else on the field could put leather to. That is where fielding % is overrated sometimes. It is a great problem to have. I haven't seen this much infield talent since probably 2000. The guy on the bench would have started at either 2nd, SS or 3rd most years in the last 20. We had Sam Frost starting a 2nd not too long ago.

Gridley is close with glove but has to play shallower because he doesn't have the range of Luke. That's why LA will probably have to play 3rd

[Todd4State]

Gridley is close with glove but has to play shallower because he doesn't have the range of Luke. That's why LA will probably have to play 3rd

That and let's be honest we don't really have a true third baseman. I think Gridley will be a second baseman in the pros.

[Choctaw Dawg]

Can we beat Texas Tech?i know they were good last year...do they return a lot? Any chance we can steal 1 or 2?

Meh, I'll be surprised if we do. 2-2 will be pretty solid coming out of the weekend, 3-1 would shock me.

[I seen it dawg]

This is a rebuild year. Lots of young talent but it's still young. Tons of pitching injuries to guys we were counting on. Having to replace important pieces in the offense. Oh and a first time head coach. Will be fun watching the young guys but got to understand this year will be challenging in a lot of ways.

[louisvilledawg]

Wait, someone told me they've been working Downtown C-Brown at first base?? What gives with that?

As much as I like Cody Brown, feel like we're in trouble if he is an every day player. Hope i'm wrong though, just always seen him as a platoon guy.

[Todd4State]

Wait, someone told me they've been working Downtown C-Brown at first base?? What gives with that?

As much as I like Cody Brown, feel like we're in trouble if he is an every day player. Hope i'm wrong though, just always seen him as a platoon guy.

Well, he's a fifth year senior and we have a lot of good outfield options and compared to our other first basemen he has been one of the better ones defensively. Other than Mangum Cody has had some of the most clutch hits on the team.

[maroonmania]

That and let's be honest we don't really have a true third baseman. I think Gridley will be a second baseman in the pros.

If LA has the overall better glove and range I guess I don't understand why he wouldn't be playing SS. SS and 2B normally require more range than 3B so it seems strange you would have the guy with the best range at 3B?

[Backwoodsdawg]

If LA has the overall better glove and range I guess I don't understand why he wouldn't be playing SS. SS and 2B normally require more range than 3B so it seems strange you would have the guy with the best range at 3B?

So I guess our coaches are crazy then and so am I because I've been to a ton of practices and I don't see the big range differences with LA over Gridley. But then again I'm not wearing glasses made in Belmont LOL! LA is a great infielder though and if the team is better with him at 3rd then I'm going to support people actually getting paid to make that decision!