Todd4State
04-28-2019, 08:43 PM
What a great week for MSU baseball! We won the Governor's Cup for the fourth year in a row and then swept a top 5 RPI team in Starkville which puts us in great position for a National Seed. And then Mangum cemented his place as the best CF in MSU history by breaking the SEC hits record. It's hard to top that- like winning a National Championship is the only way to top that type of a week.
Peyton Plumlee has emerged as the true third starter and that's good because that has been a big weakness for us. His ERA against SEC teams (including the Governor's Cup) is now 2.55. He has actually been better against SEC teams than he has against non-conference teams. Small and Ginn are as good a one two punch in the league and they can match up against anyone. The only "problem" is those guys are all 6 IP guys meaning we have to use our bullpen a lot. We also need to find a fourth starter before Plumlee's arm falls off.
The bullpen does have some issues but I think the reason for it is most of our guys are just more effective in one inning outings than they are multiple innings. That wasn't really the case today I know- but I'm speaking more in general terms. How many times this year have we seen someone like Leibelt, Barlow, Gordon, Self, and etc. get out of a jam and look dominating only to lose command or get hit hard the next inning? It seems like it happens frequently. And it's never the same guy. It seems like Foxhall and Lemonis want someone to play the fireman role but we don't really have anyone that can do the Chad Girodo or Jacob Lindgren role on the team. But the good news is I think we have a lot of really good one inning guys. We really need Cole and Keegan James to step it up a little bit- and it was good to see Cole get out of the 8th inning jam today- and we need Self to get better in two weeks as he recovers from his broken hand. It is an issue and I won't gloss over it- but the good news is when we play in a regional we aren't going to be facing a SEC offense and that's going to help the staff out. In a SR or Omaha that may become more of an issue potentially. Although in Omaha you can spread your staff out because of the schedule at least some.
This team can hit- all of our starters except for two are hitting over .300. And one of those two is Rowdey who has been hot lately and probably will end up over .300 by the end of the year. The other one is whoever plays third base- and Gilbert and Halter are both hitting .288 and .287 respectively. We also have power and we have the ability to manufacture runs if necessary. Not very many teams routinely have a week where they hang 8, 17, 9, and 6 runs on top 25 opponents like we did. Dustin Skelton is easily our most improved player. He has gone from liability to key contributor and leader. Tanner Allen is now up over .300 and is smoking the ball. Foscue's bomb on Friday I thought was one of the big turning points in the series and he has become a doubles machine while winning the Governor's Cup MVP and stabilizing our infield defense. I have to give Gunner Halter props as well. He had four hits this weekend and is now close to hitting .300. I still like Gilbert better because of his power and defense but Halter has become a valuable player as well. Jordan Westburg quietly is second on the team in batting average and had a good weekend as well. I keep waiting for him to bust out like Foscue and I still think it could happen.
Jake is a special player. He is going to annihilate the SEC record book as far as hits go. Enjoy him while he is here. He is the leader of this team and plays the game the right way. He is hitting close to .400 now and has 20 stolen bases while playing gold glove defense. The best CF MSU has ever had no question about it. MacNamee had a tough weekend but he has been hurt. This is also the time of year when he typically heats up. Rowdey is coming on strong as well like he did last season. His home run in the Governor's Cup swung momentum in our favor and then he hit another big home run on Saturday. He also scored four runs on Friday while he is still making really good plays in the field.
DH is kind of a revolving door but it has been fun to see guys like Cumbest and former 8th grade recruit Luke Hancock have a big weekend at that spot. Hatcher is hitting .302 as probably the most regular DH we have.
We made a huge jump in RPI which is now 5 and with 13 wins and our resume' we're probably a lock for the regionals even if we tanked it. We probably have a good enough resume' where 15 SEC wins probably lock up a host spot for us but the committee may not be wild about giving a regional to a team that finished .500 in their conference so 16 SEC wins likely locks it up for us and I think honestly as few as 17 wins may be good enough to secure a National Seed or definitely puts us on the bubble because we have two road series against RPI top 25 teams and then a series at home against South Carolina and the Memphis game. Personally, IMO 18 SEC wins probably gets us a National Seed. If we beat Memphis in a week in a half we will not have any bad losses on our resume'. La Tech has been struggling and their RPI last time I checked was 55 which probably means we won't play them unless they improve some. Keep pulling for USM, Alabama, Samford, East Carolina, and South Alabama. Winning the SEC will be tough- and winning the SEC Tournament may be tough if we can't find a fourth starter- but getting a National Seed is really the most important thing for us. History has shown that the SEC teams that make it to the Finals are not necessarily the champion of the league. It's about getting hot at the right time and getting a good draw. Hopefully we get hot at the right time.
#HailState
Peyton Plumlee has emerged as the true third starter and that's good because that has been a big weakness for us. His ERA against SEC teams (including the Governor's Cup) is now 2.55. He has actually been better against SEC teams than he has against non-conference teams. Small and Ginn are as good a one two punch in the league and they can match up against anyone. The only "problem" is those guys are all 6 IP guys meaning we have to use our bullpen a lot. We also need to find a fourth starter before Plumlee's arm falls off.
The bullpen does have some issues but I think the reason for it is most of our guys are just more effective in one inning outings than they are multiple innings. That wasn't really the case today I know- but I'm speaking more in general terms. How many times this year have we seen someone like Leibelt, Barlow, Gordon, Self, and etc. get out of a jam and look dominating only to lose command or get hit hard the next inning? It seems like it happens frequently. And it's never the same guy. It seems like Foxhall and Lemonis want someone to play the fireman role but we don't really have anyone that can do the Chad Girodo or Jacob Lindgren role on the team. But the good news is I think we have a lot of really good one inning guys. We really need Cole and Keegan James to step it up a little bit- and it was good to see Cole get out of the 8th inning jam today- and we need Self to get better in two weeks as he recovers from his broken hand. It is an issue and I won't gloss over it- but the good news is when we play in a regional we aren't going to be facing a SEC offense and that's going to help the staff out. In a SR or Omaha that may become more of an issue potentially. Although in Omaha you can spread your staff out because of the schedule at least some.
This team can hit- all of our starters except for two are hitting over .300. And one of those two is Rowdey who has been hot lately and probably will end up over .300 by the end of the year. The other one is whoever plays third base- and Gilbert and Halter are both hitting .288 and .287 respectively. We also have power and we have the ability to manufacture runs if necessary. Not very many teams routinely have a week where they hang 8, 17, 9, and 6 runs on top 25 opponents like we did. Dustin Skelton is easily our most improved player. He has gone from liability to key contributor and leader. Tanner Allen is now up over .300 and is smoking the ball. Foscue's bomb on Friday I thought was one of the big turning points in the series and he has become a doubles machine while winning the Governor's Cup MVP and stabilizing our infield defense. I have to give Gunner Halter props as well. He had four hits this weekend and is now close to hitting .300. I still like Gilbert better because of his power and defense but Halter has become a valuable player as well. Jordan Westburg quietly is second on the team in batting average and had a good weekend as well. I keep waiting for him to bust out like Foscue and I still think it could happen.
Jake is a special player. He is going to annihilate the SEC record book as far as hits go. Enjoy him while he is here. He is the leader of this team and plays the game the right way. He is hitting close to .400 now and has 20 stolen bases while playing gold glove defense. The best CF MSU has ever had no question about it. MacNamee had a tough weekend but he has been hurt. This is also the time of year when he typically heats up. Rowdey is coming on strong as well like he did last season. His home run in the Governor's Cup swung momentum in our favor and then he hit another big home run on Saturday. He also scored four runs on Friday while he is still making really good plays in the field.
DH is kind of a revolving door but it has been fun to see guys like Cumbest and former 8th grade recruit Luke Hancock have a big weekend at that spot. Hatcher is hitting .302 as probably the most regular DH we have.
We made a huge jump in RPI which is now 5 and with 13 wins and our resume' we're probably a lock for the regionals even if we tanked it. We probably have a good enough resume' where 15 SEC wins probably lock up a host spot for us but the committee may not be wild about giving a regional to a team that finished .500 in their conference so 16 SEC wins likely locks it up for us and I think honestly as few as 17 wins may be good enough to secure a National Seed or definitely puts us on the bubble because we have two road series against RPI top 25 teams and then a series at home against South Carolina and the Memphis game. Personally, IMO 18 SEC wins probably gets us a National Seed. If we beat Memphis in a week in a half we will not have any bad losses on our resume'. La Tech has been struggling and their RPI last time I checked was 55 which probably means we won't play them unless they improve some. Keep pulling for USM, Alabama, Samford, East Carolina, and South Alabama. Winning the SEC will be tough- and winning the SEC Tournament may be tough if we can't find a fourth starter- but getting a National Seed is really the most important thing for us. History has shown that the SEC teams that make it to the Finals are not necessarily the champion of the league. It's about getting hot at the right time and getting a good draw. Hopefully we get hot at the right time.
#HailState