2018 Baseball Roster

[I seen it dawg]

Might be 3 guys with a roster spot come July... self, Pilk, price......you other guys better show out in summer

[msstate7]

How many commits do we have right now?

[HoopsDawg]

Might be 3 guys with a roster spot come July... self, Pilk, price......you other guys better show out in summer

Have to think Stovall is safe. And Barlow. Edited to add maybe not Barlow.

Also I didn't realize Mangum is 7th on the team in average in SEC only games. He needs to return and work on pitch selection. Maybe add a little power too.

[msstate7]

As the board's Luke Alexander homer, I think he's more than safe. He's getting much better swings of late, has an above avg glove, and should make a gridley type jump offensively next year

[HoopsDawg]

As the board's Luke Alexander homer, I think he's more than safe. He's getting much better swings of late, has an above avg glove, and should make a gridley type jump offensively next year

He needs a good summer. .170 in SEC play. He has hit some ball hard the past few games.

[HoopsDawg]

How many commits do we have right now?

20. 19 have signed and we just got another good one today in Cole Marsh.

[Todd4State]

This fall and spring are going to be pretty interesting. We really need another catcher since Marrero won't be back and Lovelady will graduate. We will be down to two with Gilbert a JUCO catcher and Skelton.

There are going to be a lot of battles at a lot of positions. We're just going to have to wait and see what happens with the draft.

[msstate7]

This fall and spring are going to be pretty interesting. We really need another catcher since Marrero won't be back and Lovelady will graduate. We will be down to two with Gilbert a JUCO catcher and Skelton.

There are going to be a lot of battles at a lot of positions. We're just going to have to wait and see what happens with the draft.

How many of the 20 commits are serious draft risks?

[Todd4State]

How many of the 20 commits are serious draft risks?

I'm guessing about 4-6. About half of those are JUCO's.

[msstate7]

I'm guessing about 4-6. About half of those are JUCO's.

Good deal

[Ari Gold]

As the board's Luke Alexander homer, I think he's more than safe. He's getting much better swings of late, has an above avg glove, and should make a gridley type jump offensively next year

More than safe ??? if your barely hitting above .200 and have been an everyday player basically the whole season you aren't safe..
Grid hit close to .300 his soph season.
Stovall I can agree with but he is a walking Mash unit..
There are some guys on this team that just aren't SEC everyday players. Some better figure it out this summer Not a shot at them it is what it is..

[The Federalist Engineer]

You expect freshmen to make a big jump next year: Skelton, Ashcraft, McQuary, and Self

Alexander is a Sophomore but he did not play much last year due to injury, he should make a big jump next year.

[I seen it dawg]

Yes Stovall is safe...and I can live with Barlow...so that's 5

[msstate7]

More than safe ??? if your barely hitting above .200 and have been an everyday player basically the whole season you aren't safe..
Grid hit close to .300 his soph season.
Stovall I can agree with but he is a walking Mash unit..
There are some guys on this team that just aren't SEC everyday players. Some better figure it out this summer Not a shot at them it is what it is..

Gridley '15 = .284/.340/.345 ops = .685
ISO = .061

Alexander '16 = .238/.304/.378 ops = .682
ISO = .140

Alexander has played with a broken finger too.

What odds you laying that Alexander gets booted?

[Cary Hudson's little bro]

Ashcraft will be fine

[bulldogcountry1]

I'm very curious to see how all the TJ guys get handled. I don't think we can afford giving roster spots to anyone who isn't more than 12 months out when the season starts in '18. I'd probably push that to 14-16 months. Basically, I would assume now that anyone who had the surgery after fall '16 practice would be out for the '18 season. Maybe someone can help with the time tables, but I think that leaves us with Small, Padgett, Hughes, and James 15+ months out. We will also have to make a decision on Ford by this summer. I think it's safe to say that his recovery hasn't been as quick as hoped. Do we save a roster spot for him if he still can't hit 85mph?

As of now, here are the pitchers I would expect to be safe and healthy going into fall:

Pilk
Price
Self
McQuary
Rigby
Ashcraft
Barlow
Billingsley
Barton
Plumlee


That leaves a couple "healthy" guys in my mind with some work to do keep a roster spot.

[ZedFedder]

Mangum's issue lies more with his hand than anything.

[Todd4State]

I'm very curious to see how all the TJ guys get handled. I don't think we can afford giving roster spots to anyone who isn't more than 12 months out when the season starts in '18. I'd probably push that to 14-16 months. Basically, I would assume now that anyone who had the surgery after fall '16 practice would be out for the '18 season. Maybe someone can help with the time tables, but I think that leaves us with Small, Padgett, Hughes, and James 15+ months out. We will also have to make a decision on Ford by this summer. I think it's safe to say that his recovery hasn't been as quick as hoped. Do we save a roster spot for him if he still can't hit 85mph?

As of now, here are the pitchers I would expect to be safe and healthy going into fall:

Pilk
Price
Self
McQuary
Rigby
Ashcraft
Barlow
Billingsley
Barton
Plumlee


That leaves a couple "healthy" guys in my mind with some work to do keep a roster spot.

We just have to be reasonable with the Tommy John guys. By that I mean they get 18 months to recover. Before that I think it would be wrong to cut them. After 18 months we have to be real at that point.

[smootness]

Alexander is safe. Goodness, people, he's not going to be left off next year's roster.

[The Federalist Engineer]

We just have to be reasonable with the Tommy John guys. By that I mean they get 18 months to recover. Before that I think it would be wrong to cut them. After 18 months we have to be real at that point.

Ford needs a good summer cause he is at 19 months now. I see people down on Alexander, but he did not really get a freshman season and no summer ball. This is Alexander's de facto freshman season, he will hit and be a star in 2018

[Lumpy Chucklelips]

Mangum's issue lies more with his hand than anything.

More reason for him to be more selective at the plate. He can't get away with what he used to.

[Randolph Dupree]

Ford will more than likely be fine. He's basically where the staff thinks he should be. He's just trying to get consistent control back, and rebuild strength. Right now he's only good for a very limited number of pitches and you just don't know what you're going to get (e.g. the inning he pitched against USA vs the inning he pitched against Bama). He's set to be a starter in summer ball, and I think the staff wants to see him compete for a starting role next year.