Any guesses on baseball starting lineup?

[CadaverDawg]

Hope we get off to a good start

[CadaverDawg]

How has shortstop looked with Westburg?

[stalkingpoon]

Hope we get off to a good start

CF Jake Mangum
LF Rowdy Jordan
RF Elijah MacNamee
1B Tanner Allen
2B Gunner Halter
SS Westburg
3B Foscue
C Skelton/ But I expect Jones to get the backup spot

DH Jordan

FSP - Ethan Small
SaSP- JT Ginn
SunSP - ??

[I seen it dawg]

I can't believe it won't be some form of Rowdey, Jake, Mac, Allen, Westburg, and Foscue. From there I think it's a lot of really good players fighting for the other 2 spots in the lineup. The first month of the season will be real interesting in how it shakes out.

[msstate7]

We're gonna mash the ball this season

[I seen it dawg]

How has shortstop looked with Westburg?

I've loved that kid since I saw him at Mcneese pregame. Just hope he hasn't gotten too big to play SS bc he looks like he can play.

[I seen it dawg]

I also am really excited about our arms. Small and Keegan up front is gonna be huge and if Ginn is as advertised and adjusts to college then we are gonna be really hell on the wkds to score against. I know there are a ton of good arms in the West but getting picked 6th I just don't see it. It might have been the best thing for our team though.

[ShotgunDawg]

How has shortstop looked with Westburg?

I've heard good things from people that know what they are looking at with such things.

Had a birdie tell me the other day that he's poised for a huge year. Doesn't have a ton of range, but makes all the routine plays & has taken the next step at the plate.

I didn't think he could play SS due to body type, but someone who I really really trust disagrees & has said he looks like he's going to be solid.

[ShotgunDawg]

CF Jake Mangum
LF Rowdy Jordan
RF Elijah MacNamee
1B Tanner Allen
2B Gunner Halter
SS Westburg
3B Foscue
C Skelton/ But I expect Jones to get the backup spot

DH Jordan

FSP - Ethan Small
SaSP- JT Ginn
SunSP - ??

Look for Jordan to possibly start at 2B

[I seen it dawg]

I've heard good things from people that know what they are looking at with such things.

Had a birdie tell me the other day that he's poised for a huge year. Doesn't have a ton of range, but makes all the routine plays & has taken the next step at the plate.

I didn't think he could play SS due to body type, but someone who I really really trust disagrees & has said he looks like he's going to be solid.

I've thought the same from watching him the limited bit live I've been able to see him.

[AlSwearengen]

Look for Jordan to possibly start at 2B

If all things are equal defensively between Jordan and the juco kid, we may see Jordan at 2B and a lot of Hatcher, Ginn, etc. at DH. There is no way that Jordan isn’t in the lineup the way he hit in the fall.

[ShotgunDawg]

If all things are equal defensively between Jordan and the juco kid, we may see Jordan at 2B and a lot of Hatcher, Ginn, etc. at DH. There is no way that Jordan isn’t in the lineup the way he hit in the fall.

I've heard similar from those I trust

[BuckyIsAB****]

I've heard similar from those I trust

Gunner Halter cant hit? His JUCO #s were impressive

[Homedawg]

Gunner Halter cant hit? His JUCO #s were impressive

he's struggled in fall and spring inter squads

[I seen it dawg]

he's struggled in fall and spring inter squads

And that's the issue with expecting too much too soon from guys that are at this level for the first time. It takes some time for some to have it start to click. Hopefully we won't freak out too much early when guys struggle that have had outside expectations heaped on them that are on the too high side.

[ShotgunDawg]

Gunner Halter cant hit? His JUCO #s were impressive

The key word there is JUCO

[Rick Danko]

Hopefully we won't freak out too much early when guys struggle that have had outside expectations heaped on them that are on the too high side.

With this fan base, you are going to be sorely disappointed

ETA: in reply to ISID

[ShotgunDawg]

With this fan base, you are going to be sorely disappointed

ETA: in reply to ISID

Not disagreeing but what great program doesn't put expectations on players?

You sign to play at MSU because you want that.

[BuckyIsAB****]

The key word there is JUCO

Fair enough. He does have a cool name so theres that

[BuckyIsAB****]

he's struggled in fall and spring inter squads

So to sum it up we are looking for a 2B or SS

[Coursesuper]

So to sum it up we are looking for a 2B or SS

SS is settled, 2b is now a competition between Landon Jordan who has hit the baseball and continues to do so and Halter who is not swinging the bat as well.

[I seen it dawg]

Not disagreeing but what great program doesn't put expectations on players?

You sign to play at MSU because you want that.

Expectations are expected. But a lot of people don't realize how hard it is to adjust to the level we are. And ensuing melt rolls. It's just different than football and some can't handle the fandom difference.

[I seen it dawg]

SS is settled, 2b is now a competition between Landon Jordan who has hit the baseball and continues to do so and Halter who is not swinging the bat as well.

Great coach once said...you hit the ball we find a place for you

[BuckyIsAB****]

SS is settled, 2b is now a competition between Landon Jordan who has hit the baseball and continues to do so and Halter who is not swinging the bat as well.

I can handle a few errors if he hits around 300

[AlSwearengen]

I can handle a few errors if he hits around 300

I may be expecting too much from him but from reports during the fall, “around 300” will mean he cooled off. It seemed like he was 2 for 3 or 1 for 3 every scrimmage. People were talking about how he is just a “hitter”. I’m having visions of a .350 hitter at some point.

[BuckyIsAB****]

I may be expecting too much from him but from reports during the fall, “around 300” will mean he cooled off. It seemed like he was 2 for 3 or 1 for 3 every scrimmage. People were talking about how he is just a “hitter”. I’m having visions of a .350 hitter at some point.

Even better. He would be freshman of the year at that rate

[The Federalist Engineer]

The key word there is JUCO

He went to a JUCO that has produced more MLB and draft picks than many D1 schools. LSU seemed to always have a Seminole State player.

He went to the sane JUCO as his dad, who was a JUCO-to-MLB player.

[Todd4State]

Look for Jordan to possibly start at 2B

And if that happens I suspect we move Tanner Allen to LF and then start Hatcher at first base.


So to sum it up we are looking for a 2B or SS


SS is going to be Westburg. And I agree with those that say that he is poised to have a big year. I could see him potentially developing into a first round pick next year. 2B is more up in the air but it really essentially comes down to how quickly and if Halter adjusts to D-I pitching. I've certainly had my doubts and I think Halter does start on opening day. But I also think he gets beat out by Rowdey or someone else as well.



Our expectations are all over the place. One poll has us 9th in the country. Yet the coaches have us 10th in the SEC. I don't think we were a fluke last year. I think we were a young but talented team that started off slow because of coaching turmoil and playing a ton of road games and on top of that we were still recovering from our Tommy John epidemic with a pitching coach who all of a sudden had to also handle being a head coach as well. Once things stabilized off the field and we started playing some at home we started to gel and got hot at the right time. I think we will be better this year. At least during the regular season.


We have better pitching. And Foxhall is an upgrade at pitching coach.


Fri- Small who is a legit SEC ace
Sat- Ginn is a former first round pick. I'm thinking he just pitches this year. He could be an upgrade over Pilkington last year. Has more talent at the very least.
Sun- Probably Keegan James. That's a SEC veteran who wasn't 100% last year. He should match up well with most other SEC pitchers on Sundays.
Midweek- Not 100% sure what we do here but I like Tyler Spring. JUCO guy who started out at Alabama before having Tommy John. He's good enough to be a SEC rotation guy for some teams in the SEC. Eric Cerentola has a really high ceiling. If it clicks with him early he could possibly even knock James out of the Sunday spot. Christian MacLeoud is another potential SEC/midweek guy but we need LHP in the pen so I think that's where he starts out.

Our bullpen is better:

Closer- Cole Gordon. I think he has turned the corner
Riley Self- just has to stay healthy
Spencer Price- Recovering from Tommy John but has closer experience. Could be Blake Smith 2.0 next year.
Peyton Plumlee- Looks better than he did two years ago. I think we will see him a lot.
Colby White- Throws in the mid to upper 90's but has command issues. If he throws strikes he could surprise people.
Kale Breaux- May be starting to come around. And we need LHP.
Brandon Smith- He's a freshman that could pitch a lot for us. I think he could be our closer of the future and may even be a SEC weekend rotation guy one day.


Catching should be better and we actually have someone coaching that position for the first time since Polk II.


I think Skelton starts there. He should be much better- which means average. Which I will take at this point in time. Hayden Jones and Luke Hancock will push for reps at back-up and Marshall Gilbert still may play some at catcher although he has also been practicing at other positions as well. At the end of the day I think Jones wins the back-up spot.


As far as the INF- losing Stovall and LA hurts defensively. Tanner Allen should start at first but I can see him moving to the OF if needed. If and when that happens Josh Hatcher will start at first. Gunner Halter will probably start the season at second but f he struggles I think Rowdey moves here although they have been working Tanner Allen and Landon Jordan at second too. Foscue has third base locked down. And Westburg has SS locked down. Hopefully both have a break out year this year.


The outfield is settled and we probably have better depth than last year. Rowdey in LF, Jake in CF, and MacNamee in RF. I could see Jake hitting with a little more power this year. It's great to have two good senior leaders out there. As I said- Rowdey could move to second. If that happens we may see Allen move to LF. Brad Cumbest and Basiel Williams have been better than expected in camp. Both probably won't start because of what we have in the OF but they give us depth and set us up decently for next year. Cumbest could also pitch as well and may be a darkhorse at closer if he continues to dominate.


I think Landon Jordan is the DH. He needs to work on his defense and it would be really nice if he could learn to play second base by next year.


Keeping Gautreau was huge for us. I think we will see our hitters take a big step this year and build on last year. What he did with a bunch of freshmen was very impressive.


Lemonis I think will be a CEO type of coach. He's going to try to get really good assistants and let them do their job. I'm impressed with our coaching staff and while he may not be Schlossnagle or McDonnell I think he will be outstanding. He also has head coaching experience from the Big 10 so he shouldn't have a "learning curve". His recruiting is as advertised as well.


I think we host a regional this year and I don't think being a National Seed and going back to Omaha is out of the question either.

[BuckyIsAB****]

And if that happens I suspect we move Tanner Allen to LF and then start Hatcher at first base.




SS is going to be Westburg. And I agree with those that say that he is poised to have a big year. I could see him potentially developing into a first round pick next year. 2B is more up in the air but it really essentially comes down to how quickly and if Halter adjusts to D-I pitching. I've certainly had my doubts and I think Halter does start on opening day. But I also think he gets beat out by Rowdey or someone else as well.



Our expectations are all over the place. One poll has us 9th in the country. Yet the coaches have us 10th in the SEC. I don't think we were a fluke last year. I think we were a young but talented team that started off slow because of coaching turmoil and playing a ton of road games and on top of that we were still recovering from our Tommy John epidemic with a pitching coach who all of a sudden had to also handle being a head coach as well. Once things stabilized off the field and we started playing some at home we started to gel and got hot at the right time. I think we will be better this year. At least during the regular season.


We have better pitching. And Foxhall is an upgrade at pitching coach.


Fri- Small who is a legit SEC ace
Sat- Ginn is a former first round pick. I'm thinking he just pitches this year. He could be an upgrade over Pilkington last year. Has more talent at the very least.
Sun- Probably Keegan James. That's a SEC veteran who wasn't 100% last year. He should match up well with most other SEC pitchers on Sundays.
Midweek- Not 100% sure what we do here but I like Tyler Spring. JUCO guy who started out at Alabama before having Tommy John. He's good enough to be a SEC rotation guy for some teams in the SEC. Eric Cerentola has a really high ceiling. If it clicks with him early he could possibly even knock James out of the Sunday spot. Christian MacLeoud is another potential SEC/midweek guy but we need LHP in the pen so I think that's where he starts out.

Our bullpen is better:

Closer- Cole Gordon. I think he has turned the corner
Riley Self- just has to stay healthy
Spencer Price- Recovering from Tommy John but has closer experience. Could be Blake Smith 2.0 next year.
Peyton Plumlee- Looks better than he did two years ago. I think we will see him a lot.
Colby White- Throws in the mid to upper 90's but has command issues. If he throws strikes he could surprise people.
Kale Breaux- May be starting to come around. And we need LHP.
Brandon Smith- He's a freshman that could pitch a lot for us. I think he could be our closer of the future and may even be a SEC weekend rotation guy one day.


Catching should be better and we actually have someone coaching that position for the first time since Polk II.


I think Skelton starts there. He should be much better- which means average. Which I will take at this point in time. Hayden Jones and Luke Hancock will push for reps at back-up and Marshall Gilbert still may play some at catcher although he has also been practicing at other positions as well. At the end of the day I think Jones wins the back-up spot.


As far as the INF- losing Stovall and LA hurts defensively. Tanner Allen should start at first but I can see him moving to the OF if needed. If and when that happens Josh Hatcher will start at first. Gunner Halter will probably start the season at second but f he struggles I think Rowdey moves here although they have been working Tanner Allen and Landon Jordan at second too. Foscue has third base locked down. And Westburg has SS locked down. Hopefully both have a break out year this year.


The outfield is settled and we probably have better depth than last year. Rowdey in LF, Jake in CF, and MacNamee in RF. I could see Jake hitting with a little more power this year. It's great to have two good senior leaders out there. As I said- Rowdey could move to second. If that happens we may see Allen move to LF. Brad Cumbest and Basiel Williams have been better than expected in camp. Both probably won't start because of what we have in the OF but they give us depth and set us up decently for next year. Cumbest could also pitch as well and may be a darkhorse at closer if he continues to dominate.


I think Landon Jordan is the DH. He needs to work on his defense and it would be really nice if he could learn to play second base by next year.


Keeping Gautreau was huge for us. I think we will see our hitters take a big step this year and build on last year. What he did with a bunch of freshmen was very impressive.


Lemonis I think will be a CEO type of coach. He's going to try to get really good assistants and let them do their job. I'm impressed with our coaching staff and while he may not be Schlossnagle or McDonnell I think he will be outstanding. He also has head coaching experience from the Big 10 so he shouldn't have a "learning curve". His recruiting is as advertised as well.


I think we host a regional this year and I don't think being a National Seed and going back to Omaha is out of the question either.

Gautreau wont be here long we should enjoy it while we have him

[Todd4State]

Gautreau wont be here long we should enjoy it while we have him

That's just part of the business and why good coaches come to MSU- so that they can become head coaches one day. We just have to try to replace him as best we can when that day comes.

[PMDawg]

Is there somewhere to see stats on how our players did during fall/winter ball? I'm sure there's a thread on here somewhere, but I didn't use the right search terms apparently. Thanks.

[AlSwearengen]

Todd, I am assuming that the Jordan that he was talking about playing 2B was Landon Jordan (I could be misunderstanding though) which I would think opens the DH spot to Hatcher and others. Of course, I expect to see Hatcher get some time in the field, if for nothing else, experience.

[RiverCityDawg]

Todd, I am assuming that the Jordan that he was talking about playing 2B was Landon Jordan (I could be misunderstanding though) which I would think opens the DH spot to Hatcher and others. Of course, I expect to see Hatcher get some time in the field, if for nothing else, experience.

Yeah according to Lemonis the competition at 2nd this spring is between Halter and Landon Jordan with Tanner Allen getting some time there early in the fall, but not lately it seems. I haven't heard Rowdey getting time there at all this year, though I know there were thoughts of him being a 2nd baseman when we came in.

[ShotgunDawg]

He went to a JUCO that has produced more MLB and draft picks than many D1 schools. LSU seemed to always have a Seminole State player.

He went to the sane JUCO as his dad, who was a JUCO-to-MLB player.

Correct on Seminole St but those Big Leaguers like Eric Gagne, Adam Laroche, Ryan Franklin, etc came during the draft and follow days when MLB teams could draft a player, control his rights for a year, send the to JUCO and see how they develop. Way more talent in JUCO in those days than now.

[Scared_Hitless]

Excited for the season I wanna see what type of ball club Lemonis runs. We have a squad of gap style hitters and could really mash this season. I also really like the bullpen based on the end of last season.

If we can find a good Sat. and Sun. guy we may have a really nice season.

[Homedawg]

And that's the issue with expecting too much too soon from guys that are at this level for the first time. It takes some time for some to have it start to click. Hopefully we won't freak out too much early when guys struggle that have had outside expectations heaped on them that are on the too high side.

This^^^

[Homedawg]

So to sum it up we are looking for a 2B or SS

I think Westburg is locked in at SS. As mentioned before, he's not going to be spectacular in the field, just needs to be consistent and make the routine play. And i think we will let several play second before that's sorted out. I think, in the end it's going to be Jordan. He just needs more time there.

[Homedawg]

And if that happens I suspect we move Tanner Allen to LF and then start Hatcher at first base.




SS is going to be Westburg. And I agree with those that say that he is poised to have a big year. I could see him potentially developing into a first round pick next year. 2B is more up in the air but it really essentially comes down to how quickly and if Halter adjusts to D-I pitching. I've certainly had my doubts and I think Halter does start on opening day. But I also think he gets beat out by Rowdey or someone else as well.



Our expectations are all over the place. One poll has us 9th in the country. Yet the coaches have us 10th in the SEC. I don't think we were a fluke last year. I think we were a young but talented team that started off slow because of coaching turmoil and playing a ton of road games and on top of that we were still recovering from our Tommy John epidemic with a pitching coach who all of a sudden had to also handle being a head coach as well. Once things stabilized off the field and we started playing some at home we started to gel and got hot at the right time. I think we will be better this year. At least during the regular season.


We have better pitching. And Foxhall is an upgrade at pitching coach.


Fri- Small who is a legit SEC ace
Sat- Ginn is a former first round pick. I'm thinking he just pitches this year. He could be an upgrade over Pilkington last year. Has more talent at the very least.
Sun- Probably Keegan James. That's a SEC veteran who wasn't 100% last year. He should match up well with most other SEC pitchers on Sundays.
Midweek- Not 100% sure what we do here but I like Tyler Spring. JUCO guy who started out at Alabama before having Tommy John. He's good enough to be a SEC rotation guy for some teams in the SEC. Eric Cerentola has a really high ceiling. If it clicks with him early he could possibly even knock James out of the Sunday spot. Christian MacLeoud is another potential SEC/midweek guy but we need LHP in the pen so I think that's where he starts out.

Our bullpen is better:

Closer- Cole Gordon. I think he has turned the corner
Riley Self- just has to stay healthy
Spencer Price- Recovering from Tommy John but has closer experience. Could be Blake Smith 2.0 next year.
Peyton Plumlee- Looks better than he did two years ago. I think we will see him a lot.
Colby White- Throws in the mid to upper 90's but has command issues. If he throws strikes he could surprise people.
Kale Breaux- May be starting to come around. And we need LHP.
Brandon Smith- He's a freshman that could pitch a lot for us. I think he could be our closer of the future and may even be a SEC weekend rotation guy one day.


Catching should be better and we actually have someone coaching that position for the first time since Polk II.


I think Skelton starts there. He should be much better- which means average. Which I will take at this point in time. Hayden Jones and Luke Hancock will push for reps at back-up and Marshall Gilbert still may play some at catcher although he has also been practicing at other positions as well. At the end of the day I think Jones wins the back-up spot.


As far as the INF- losing Stovall and LA hurts defensively. Tanner Allen should start at first but I can see him moving to the OF if needed. If and when that happens Josh Hatcher will start at first. Gunner Halter will probably start the season at second but f he struggles I think Rowdey moves here although they have been working Tanner Allen and Landon Jordan at second too. Foscue has third base locked down. And Westburg has SS locked down. Hopefully both have a break out year this year.


The outfield is settled and we probably have better depth than last year. Rowdey in LF, Jake in CF, and MacNamee in RF. I could see Jake hitting with a little more power this year. It's great to have two good senior leaders out there. As I said- Rowdey could move to second. If that happens we may see Allen move to LF. Brad Cumbest and Basiel Williams have been better than expected in camp. Both probably won't start because of what we have in the OF but they give us depth and set us up decently for next year. Cumbest could also pitch as well and may be a darkhorse at closer if he continues to dominate.


I think Landon Jordan is the DH. He needs to work on his defense and it would be really nice if he could learn to play second base by next year.


Keeping Gautreau was huge for us. I think we will see our hitters take a big step this year and build on last year. What he did with a bunch of freshmen was very impressive.


Lemonis I think will be a CEO type of coach. He's going to try to get really good assistants and let them do their job. I'm impressed with our coaching staff and while he may not be Schlossnagle or McDonnell I think he will be outstanding. He also has head coaching experience from the Big 10 so he shouldn't have a "learning curve". His recruiting is as advertised as well.


I think we host a regional this year and I don't think being a National Seed and going back to Omaha is out of the question either.

He was talking about Landon Jordan, not Rowdey. Just for clarification.

[Saltydog]

team in the league this year. Arkansas and certainly LSU will put up some numbers as well.

[Coursesuper]

I think Westburg is locked in at SS. As mentioned before, he's not going to be spectacular in the field, just needs to be consistent and make the routine play. And i think we will let several play second before that's sorted out. I think, in the end it's going to be Jordan. He just needs more time there.

Landon is more of a natural on the other side of the diamond, he is a little raw in the field but the talent is definitely there. He is in a position now to receive the proper instruction and I fully expect him to excel and progress quickly at 2b he just needs reps. That said he is a hitter.