Those that follow baseball recruiting, MLB top players list.

[AlSwearengen]

I was browsing through the list and checking out where the high schoolers were committed too and of course it was Florida, lsu, and Vanderbilt heavy. There was also more committed to Texas A&M than i expected. USCe had a two or three. Can?t remember seeing many for Georgia. Surprisingly, I don?t remember Arkansas having any. I may have looked at the first 100 or so before quitting but I think the only commit we had too that point was Ethan Hearn.

1. Don?t we have a pitcher from georgia that was rated in the top 30 or so by perfect game or one of the other services? What is the story with him? I assumed he would never see campus.

2. It seemed like in last year?s class Cannizaro had several top players committed to us even though it was highly unlikely that they would make it to campus. Similar to what Florida,lsu, and Vandy seem to do every year. In my opinion, this is a good thing if only for perception?s sake. Nevermind the occasional player that doesn?t sign a contract b/c of some strange occurrence. What is our recruiting strategy going to be under Lemonis?

3. I know lsu has a trophy case going for them, but it is surprising to me that they still seem to be as hot of a destination as they are. Most of those trophies are from awhile ago now and it seems like Florida, Vandy, and arkansas have all done more lately. Manieri seems like he could single handedly cancel out their history with his personality.

4. What is our recruiting looking like? Is being in small town MS hurting us that much? I don?t think it can be argued that we and lsu have the market cornered when it comes to fan support, facilities, and atmosphere. What is it going to take to out recruit or at least match these other teams consistently?

[Todd4State]

I'll give it my best shot:

1. I'm guessing that you are talking about Landon Sims? His stock has dropped some because his fastball velocity is down a little bit. He could still go pro for the right amount but most people expect him to come to MSU. I'd say it's 80/20 that he comes to MSU and I think he could be drafted around 10-15 this year.


2. Yes- Carter Stewart, Cole Winn and Jeremiah Jackson. You do have to recruit those types of players to win National Championships. We were able to get JT Ginn and Eric Cerentola to campus and both were top 200 draft prospects last year. When you recruit those types of players you kind of hope to hit on 50% on them as far as getting them to school. Which is about what we did. We definitely have fewer players like that this year in this class as you can see. But I still think it's going to be a very high quality class especially with pitching. Our recruiting strategy is basically going to stay the same. Mississippi is one of the highest states per capita at producing MLB talent. That's a huge advantage for us. We've gotten a lot of good Mississippians that are now having success in pro baseball like Hunter Renfroe, Brandon Woodruff, and Jonathan Holder. That speaks well of us to the local high schools and JUCO's. Mississippi is always going to have that under the radar guy like a Renfroe or a Brad Cumbest or this year Jared Johnson and part of our strategy is to identify those players and get them to MSU. Unfortunately Mississippi is a small state so we do have to recruit out of state for players as well. Some of the high end guys that we take chances on are players like Ginn that have a connection to MSU or grew up a MSU fan. That's something that LSU does as well. We're both using our tradition to sell the program to those types of recruits. Sometimes it works like it did with Ginn and sometimes not like it did with Austin Riley. The meat of the class is going to be guys kind of in that next tier that are talented players but not necessarily high on MLB radars because of size, or lacking a tool, or whatever it may be like a Tanner Allen or guys that have a high upside but are very raw like Brent Rooker. We are going to use the JUCO's to fill roles in the bullpen and occasionally we'll find a Colby White or Peyton Plumlee that is a late bloomer. And I think Lemonis will do well in recruiting for us.


3. LSU has a strong baseball culture just like MSU. Kids in Louisiana want to play for them and while they may not have been alive for the 90's and Skip Bertman's heyday there is no question that they have heard about it just like young MSU fans have heard about Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro. They're also close to Houston and Texas which helps them out as well. LSU is really good at identifying Tanner Allen's to come and play for them who play hard and do things to win games for them. They've created a culture where winning the SEC, winning the SEC Tournament, and winning a National Title are all important and highly valued and they don't have an attitude of "well, it's OK that we didn't win this because we just want to host a regional and the SEC Tournament doesn't really matter." They don't tell their juniors and signees to take MLB money and run- they tell them to come play for LSU and become a hero and then go pro. MSU I think is starting to slowly change our culture in that direction but it's still a work in progress. If Ginn is successful it will help us immensely with getting high end players to MSU. And it's good to see a guy like Jake Mangum come back for his senior year because he loves MSU baseball. LSU has at least one guy like that every year. LSU also does produce a lot of MLB players and that is attractive to any prospect to go along with the stadium, the focus on baseball there, and a lot of the same things that we have going for us at MSU. Florida and Vanderbilt are successful because both have assistants with strong MLB/scouting connections that can identify more easily who is and isn't a draft risk. Which is why losing Cann was such a blow to our program. Both have that and a track record for producing MLB players- Vanderbilt moreso with pitchers than hitters. Florida is also in a very talent rich area and they rarely have to recruit out of state.


4. I think I answered most of your questions in 1-3. Except for the small town one. I don't think it hurts us at all. And with the world being more connected the world is getting "smaller". Starkville is only a couple of hours away from Jackson, Memphis, and Birmingham and an hour from Tupelo. You can also get to New Orleans, Atlanta, and Nashville within a few hours as well. Most recruits are looking for a place where they can get developed into pro baseball players first and foremost and the size of the town usually isn't a big deal for them. Or it's down the list anyway. And then with some of the players we recruit who are from small towns and like that Starkville actually may have an advantage.

[MarketingBully]

4. I think that ballpark and the amenities that come with it for player development and crowd support pretty much nullify anything Starkville is or isn’t.

[AlSwearengen]

Thanks Todd.

[MarketingBully]

Hey Todd, how good are the Desoto kids coming in next year? Could James challenge for the SS spot so we could move Westy to third? I think Westy would be a better third baseman and we could keep Foscue at second. I’d also love to move Hatcher to first and move Tanner Allen to right and put Cumbest in center. That would actually make us better defensively.

[Todd4State]

I think James is going to be a starter by the time he leaves. French has been hurt- but I think he's more of a Cody Brown type but maybe with less power. I'd be surprised if James beats out Westburg at SS. Westburg is going to the Cape and I think after a year of playing the position he will be much better defensively next year. I'm not sure that James will be ready as a hitter to start everyday either. I think Foscue stays at second regardless. I'm guessing we'll keep Tanner at first base probably. I think our OF next year is going to be Cumbest in RF, Rowdey in CF, and maybe Jake Randa in LF. I think Halter starts at third base next year.

[ZedFedder]

I think James is going to be a starter by the time he leaves. French has been hurt- but I think he's more of a Cody Brown type but maybe with less power. I'd be surprised if James beats out Westburg at SS. Westburg is going to the Cape and I think after a year of playing the position he will be much better defensively next year. I'm not sure that James will be ready as a hitter to start everyday either. I think Foscue stays at second regardless. I'm guessing we'll keep Tanner at first base probably. I think our OF next year is going to be Cumbest in RF, Rowdey in CF, and maybe Jake Randa in LF. I think Halter starts at third base next year.

No Hatcher starting next year?

[Todd4State]

No Hatcher starting next year?

I think he starts at DH. Unless his fielding improves a good bit.

[ZedFedder]

I think he starts at DH. Unless his fielding improves a good bit.

Perfect spot for him.

It’ll be interesting between Hancock and Jones for catcher.

[Todd4State]

Perfect spot for him.

It’ll be interesting between Hancock and Jones for catcher.

It will be. I think they share the position. Both are really good.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I think James is going to be a starter by the time he leaves. French has been hurt- but I think he's more of a Cody Brown type but maybe with less power. I'd be surprised if James beats out Westburg at SS. Westburg is going to the Cape and I think after a year of playing the position he will be much better defensively next year. I'm not sure that James will be ready as a hitter to start everyday either. I think Foscue stays at second regardless. I'm guessing we'll keep Tanner at first base probably. I think our OF next year is going to be Cumbest in RF, Rowdey in CF, and maybe Jake Randa in LF. I think Halter starts at third base next year.

What about Basiel Williams? Don't like that two big OF recruits like Williams and Anderson the year before never played as freshmen. We've been good these two years but seems we could have done something with these high end recruits

[Todd4State]

What about Basiel Williams? Don't like that two big OF recruits like Williams and Anderson the year before never played as freshmen. We've been good these two years but seems we could have done something with these high end recruits

Well Basiel is still just a freshman. We'll see how his career unfolds.

[timotheus]

Todd, will Childers be competing for the DH position only?

[The Federalist Engineer]

Todd, will Childers be competing for the DH position only?

Your asking Todd, but consider we are ridiculously deep at Catcher (with even more recruits coming) and we have an All-SEC 1b with decent depth with Hatcher backing up Allen.

[AlSwearengen]

Are we 100% that Allen will be back? I think he is draft eligible this year. He is a really good hitter, but I don’t know if he is going to be drafted top 5 or 10 rounds or what.

[Todd4State]

Todd, will Childers be competing for the DH position only?


Pretty much. I see him more as a pinch hit/role player type of guy that can catch and play first base.


Are we 100% that Allen will be back? I think he is draft eligible this year. He is a really good hitter, but I don’t know if he is going to be drafted top 5 or 10 rounds or what.

The odds of Allen coming back are very high. I'm hesitant to say 100% but I'd definitely feel comfortable saying 90%.

[timotheus]

Your asking Todd, but consider we are ridiculously deep at Catcher (with even more recruits coming) and we have an All-SEC 1b with decent depth with Hatcher backing up Allen.

And that is why I asked would he only be a DH candidate.

[Homedawg]

What about Basiel Williams? Don't like that two big OF recruits like Williams and Anderson the year before never played as freshmen. We've been good these two years but seems we could have done something with these high end recruits

Anderson was raw. He went to juco and didn't light it up there either.