Initial Thoughts on Baseball this year

[Uramoose]

All,
I went to quite a few of the scrimmages and here are my quick and dirty thoughts on the team this year.

Jake Mangum - has been steady at the plate. He hits balls that most kids would whiff on but also hits a lot of ground balls too. He will have a little transition period moving to center field.
Brent Rooker - has homerun swing with every hit - saying that, he will also hit a lot of long fly outs. I expect him to be around .300 but with more home runs this year.
Luke Alexandar - my pick for surprise of the year - He has quite a bit of pop in his bat this year. Seen him absolutely tattoo some balls. Solid infielder as well
Hunter Stovall - should start at 2nd for us. He has been a little up down hitting. I expect him to pick it up.
The Mullet - Will not dazzle you with power at the plate but he has hit a ton of extra base hits. I would be really surprised if he is not our starting 1st baseman
Harrison Bragg - The kid is huge - Pretty inconsistent at the plate right now. Has ++on the power scale. Playing him at 3rd and 1st so far. He is going to have to be a little more consistent to break the starting lineup
Josh Lovelady - Should be our starter on opening day. Not great at stopping wild pitches - not sure how much of that is just scrimmage mentality at this point
Ryan Gridley - No better/ no worse than what we have seen last year
Hunter Vansau - getting quite a bit of time at different positions - if I am guessing, he plays some time in the OF for us.
Cody Brown - Love the kid but he is getting squeezed out by other players. Hope he turns it on.
Elih Marrero - besides his haircolor (greenish blue) nothing has really stoodout. I hear he is lost to grades but is still practicing

Pitching - The kids who are most likely our middle relievers have been getting shelled. I am a little worried here. Our potential starters have been good and I am not sure we have settled in on a closer.
Coach - I love that he cares about the little things. One of our players in the scrimmage hit a pop fly to shallow short that is caught 99/100 times. The outfielder drops the ball and Coach Can chews up the kid that he did not run that play out to second instead of loafing down to first (had plenty of time to get there)

[Choctaw Dawg]

All,
I went to quite a few of the scrimmages and here are my quick and dirty thoughts on the team this year.

Jake Mangum - has been steady at the plate. He hits balls that most kids would whiff on but also hits a lot of ground balls too. He will have a little transition period moving to center field.
Brent Rooker - has homerun swing with every hit - saying that, he will also hit a lot of long fly outs. I expect him to be around .300 but with more home runs this year.
Luke Alexandar - my pick for surprise of the year - He has quite a bit of pop in his bat this year. Seen him absolutely tattoo some balls. Solid infielder as well
Hunter Stovall - should start at 2nd for us. He has been a little up down hitting. I expect him to pick it up.
The Mullet - Will not dazzle you with power at the plate but he has hit a ton of extra base hits. I would be really surprised if he is not our starting 1st baseman
Harrison Bragg - The kid is huge - Pretty inconsistent at the plate right now. Has ++on the power scale. Playing him at 3rd and 1st so far. He is going to have to be a little more consistent to break the starting lineup
Josh Lovelady - Should be our starter on opening day. Not great at stopping wild pitches - not sure how much of that is just scrimmage mentality at this point
Ryan Gridley - No better/ no worse than what we have seen last year
Hunter Vansau - getting quite a bit of time at different positions - if I am guessing, he plays some time in the OF for us.
Cody Brown - Love the kid but he is getting squeezed out by other players. Hope he turns it on.
Elih Marrero - besides his haircolor (greenish blue) nothing has really stoodout. I hear he is lost to grades but is still practicing

Pitching - The kids who are most likely our middle relievers have been getting shelled. I am a little worried here. Our potential starters have been good and I am not sure we have settled in on a closer.
Coach - I love that he cares about the little things. One of our players in the scrimmage hit a pop fly to shallow short that is caught 99/100 times. The outfielder drops the ball and Coach Can chews up the kid that he did not run that play out to second instead of loafing down to first (had plenty of time to get there)

I'd suspect a roller coaster year and us finishing middle of the pack in the conference.

[ScottH]

Thanks.

How has Tanner Poole looked?

[Uramoose]

Tanner has good speed and can run down some balls in the outfield. I think he is going to battle with Vansau and some others for the left fielder spot this year. Hitting has been ok but nothing that really stood out.

[smootness]

I think Alexander is a clear starter for us. His glove is just about good enough by itself to force him into the lineup, so if he hits as well, there's not going to be any way to keep him off the field.

[KB21]

I think Alexander is a clear starter for us. His glove is just about good enough by itself to force him into the lineup, so if he hits as well, there's not going to be any way to keep him off the field.

I think you could see Alexander, Gridley, and Stovall rotate in the MIF with Alexander and Skelton rotating at the hot corner.

[HSVDawg]

I think Alexander is a clear starter for us. His glove is just about good enough by itself to force him into the lineup, so if he hits as well, there's not going to be any way to keep him off the field.

Yeah, as long as he hits .250 he'll be out there every day.

[diamond_dawg24]

Tanner has good speed and can run down some balls in the outfield. I think he is going to battle with Vansau and some others for the left fielder spot this year. Hitting has been ok but nothing that really stood out.

Tanner Poole will start in either CF or LF. Too good of a player to keep off of the field. He is probably the best athlete on the team. He is an elite defender, exceptional speed (one of, if not the fastest on the team...6.3 in the 60) with a well above average bat that will only get better with reps. There is a reason the scouts are lining up weekly to see him. I think he is the breakout player of the year, from not only what I've seen at the scrimmages, but from the talk of the coaching staff.

[smootness]

Tanner Poole will start in either CF or LF. Too good of a player to keep off of the field. He is probably the best athlete on the team. He is an elite defender, exceptional speed (one of, if not the fastest on the team...6.3 in the 60) with a well above average bat that will only get better with reps. There is a reason the scouts are lining up weekly to see him. I think he is the breakout player of the year, from not only what I've seen at the scrimmages, but from the talk of the coaching staff.

You seem to be a tad biased here haha

Not that there's anything wrong with that. I hope you're dead right.

[smootness]

Are we overlooking Brant Blaylock? Perfect Game lists him as the #47 sophomore in the country and the #12 SEC prospect for the 2018 draft.

[diamond_dawg24]

I'm not biased, lol, just going on what I've seen and been told. I hope I'm right too! I've been watching MS baseball for a looooong time (yes, I'm old) and Poole is one of the better prospects I've seen in a while. I had the same feeling about Mangum last year. Hopefully, I'm 2 for 2. Although, I have thought this about other players and they ended up being total busts. I'm just ready to get the season started. Enough talking lol

[Powersaw]

I think you'll see a starting infield L-R of Alexander, Gridley, Stovall and Gordon. Not 100% sure on the OF spots other than Mangum, but defensively he, Poole and Blaylock can track down any ball that's hit. I think Rooker will move around a bit and play some OF/DH/1B. Cody Brown is solid, too, a 5th year senior and plays balls out all the time. Lovelady behind the plate. Harrison Bragg looks the part, but I came away from fall practice unimpressed. Unless he was 1000% better on the days that I wasn't there, he's strictly a DH. Vansau didn't really do much to catch my eye either. Skelton looks like a player, but I'm not sure how much time he gets this year.

I think Mangum comes back to Earth a bit, but even if he only hits .330 that's still huge. We should be extremely aggressive with him and Stovall hitting 1-2 and the big boys like Gordon and Rooker behind them. Do you guys see one of the true freshmen (Ashcraft/Self) being a weekend starter?

Any injuries other than James and Small that I am unaware of?

[Homedawg]

I think you'll see a starting infield L-R of Alexander, Gridley, Stovall and Gordon. Not 100% sure on the OF spots other than Mangum, but defensively he, Poole and Blaylock can track down any ball that's hit. I think Rooker will move around a bit and play some OF/DH/1B. Cody Brown is solid, too, a 5th year senior and plays balls out all the time. Lovelady behind the plate. Harrison Bragg looks the part, but I came away from fall practice unimpressed. Unless he was 1000% better on the days that I wasn't there, he's strictly a DH. Vansau didn't really do much to catch my eye either. Skelton looks like a player, but I'm not sure how much time he gets this year.

I think Mangum comes back to Earth a bit, but even if he only hits .330 that's still huge. We should be extremely aggressive with him and Stovall hitting 1-2 and the big boys like Gordon and Rooker behind them. Do you guys see one of the true freshmen (Ashcraft/Self) being a weekend starter?

Any injuries other than James and Small that I am unaware of?

James, small, Hughes and Padgett all out w tj.

[smootness]

I'm not biased, lol, just going on what I've seen and been told. I hope I'm right too! I've been watching MS baseball for a looooong time (yes, I'm old) and Poole is one of the better prospects I've seen in a while. I had the same feeling about Mangum last year. Hopefully, I'm 2 for 2. Although, I have thought this about other players and they ended up being total busts. I'm just ready to get the season started. Enough talking lol

Fair enough. You had 2 posts, and they were both glowing reports about Poole and him starting for us, 4 months apart.

[smootness]

The pitching injuries are huge. PG has James the #9 SEC prospect for 2018, Padgett #11, and Small #40. It means the ceiling for this year's team may be a bit lower, but it also means we could see a big jump in 2018 once at least a couple of them get healthy and make it back.

Pilkington is a stud, but we'll need at least one of the Ashcraft/McQuary/Self group to be pretty darn good pretty quickly.

[msstate7]

The pitching injuries are huge. PG has James the #9 SEC prospect for 2018, Padgett #11, and Small #40. It means the ceiling for this year's team may be a bit lower, but it also means we could see a big jump in 2018 once at least a couple of them get healthy and make it back.

Pilkington is a stud, but we'll need at least one of the Ashcraft/McQuary/Self group to be pretty darn good pretty quickly.

Is breaux knocking on bust status? Wasn't he very highly thought of coming into school? I've heard nothing about him entering the season

[smootness]

Is breaux knocking on bust status? Wasn't he very highly thought of coming into school? I've heard nothing about him entering the season

I don't think so. I'm just not sure he's going to be a major draft prospect because he's 5'11" and doesn't throw extremely hard. He proved last year he can strike people out at this level, just needs to work on his command.

[Backwoodsdawg]

Is breaux knocking on bust status? Wasn't he very highly thought of coming into school? I've heard nothing about him entering the season

I think Breaux will be ok I saw him throw the other day and he pitched 3 or 4 innings and didn't give up any hits but he hit 3 batters. His stuff was real good but his focus lapsed looked like so he has some spiders in his head that he's working out looks like but he was better than the fall.

[Tbonewannabe]

Tanner Poole will start in either CF or LF. Too good of a player to keep off of the field. He is probably the best athlete on the team. He is an elite defender, exceptional speed (one of, if not the fastest on the team...6.3 in the 60) with a well above average bat that will only get better with reps. There is a reason the scouts are lining up weekly to see him. I think he is the breakout player of the year, from not only what I've seen at the scrimmages, but from the talk of the coaching staff.

If he is faster than Mangum then put him in the 2 hole and watch the catcher get the jitters.

[HoopsDawg]

Tanner Poole will start in either CF or LF. Too good of a player to keep off of the field. He is probably the best athlete on the team. He is an elite defender, exceptional speed (one of, if not the fastest on the team...6.3 in the 60) with a well above average bat that will only get better with reps. There is a reason the scouts are lining up weekly to see him. I think he is the breakout player of the year, from not only what I've seen at the scrimmages, but from the talk of the coaching staff.

6.3 60? That is flying.

[HoopsDawg]

The pitching injuries are huge. PG has James the #9 SEC prospect for 2018, Padgett #11, and Small #40. It means the ceiling for this year's team may be a bit lower, but it also means we could see a big jump in 2018 once at least a couple of them get healthy and make it back.

Pilkington is a stud, but we'll need at least one of the Ashcraft/McQuary/Self group to be pretty darn good pretty quickly.

Damn, I almost forgot about Small. That's 3 huge injuries that would be devastating for most programs. Probably going to hold us back some this year.

[Tbonewannabe]

I don't think so. I'm just not sure he's going to be a major draft prospect because he's 5'11" and doesn't throw extremely hard. He proved last year he can strike people out at this level, just needs to work on his command.

He has a nasty curveball when it's working. He seemed to look dominant for a few batters then start giving up BP. Hopefully he figures it out.

[Tbonewannabe]

6.3 60? That is flying.

I have no clue about the times but is this close to Billy Hamilton speed?

[msstate7]

6.3 60? That is flying.

Yeah, Austin meadows (pirates minors) ran a 6.31 and was a 1st round pick

[smootness]

I have no clue about the times but is this close to Billy Hamilton speed?

It would be basically as fast as the fastest time in just about any draft class. It's elite of the elite speed.

Quentin Holmes, our 2017 signee who is essentially a certainty to be drafted 1st round, has true 80 speed and runs 6.2-6.3.

[Saltydog]

FAST........I knew last year Cohen said he was the fastest man on the team, including Robson.......

[Homedawg]

Is breaux knocking on bust status? Wasn't he very highly thought of coming into school? I've heard nothing about him entering the season

To say he struggled in the fall is an understatement. He lost command and his confidence, in turn hit the bottom. He's trying to battle through it. But the spring hasn't been a big jump up. I'm sure he'll get a shot, but he's going to have to make the most of it early because there won't be many chances based on how he has been throwing.

[HoopsDawg]

FAST........I knew last year Cohen said he was the fastest man on the team, including Robson.......

If true, I would have to think he's the center fielder.

[smootness]

FAST........I knew last year Cohen said he was the fastest man on the team, including Robson.......

Well then there you go, looks like the time may be legit.

[louisvilledawg]

delete

[louisvilledawg]

Tanner Poole will start in either CF or LF. Too good of a player to keep off of the field. He is probably the best athlete on the team. He is an elite defender, exceptional speed (one of, if not the fastest on the team...6.3 in the 60) with a well above average bat that will only get better with reps. There is a reason the scouts are lining up weekly to see him. I think he is the breakout player of the year, from not only what I've seen at the scrimmages, but from the talk of the coaching staff.

If he runs a 6.3, that would put him as one of the fastest players in all of college baseball. Trae Turner of the Nats ran a 6.2 and he's labeled as one of the fastest guys in MLB. For 2015, Perfect Game timed everyone at their combines/showcases, and the fastest time they had was Michael Smith at 6.48. In fact, from 2013-2015, they had only 6 guys go sub 6.4

I wanna see that dude if he's that fast. Color me skeptical.

[JETDAWG]

I know that Billy runs a 3.3 to first which is in the neighborhood of 6.1-6.0 sixty time. Ridiculous speed 6.3 is stupid fast though look forward to Tanner taking a few extra bases this year I think Robson was a 6.2 guy. We may miss his defense and Bat. He was just a gamer too.