Kopps wins golden spikes.

[Dawgsfanalongtime77]

I mean major props because he had an incredible season but I am a statistics nerd basically. He was 12 1. 11 saves. 131 ks walked 18. Era.0.90. Yes incredible but in 30 innings less thrown. Sims 5 0 13 saves. 100 ks 15 walks. Same competition. I mean I?m not just blowing smoke but sims was more dominant in 30 innings behind. . Only reason era was inflated was the sec tournament

[Hambone]

I understand what you’re saying but Kopps basically threw 3 complete games and a inning more than Sims.

That is stupid dumb impressive.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Kopps deserved the Golden Spikes. He was completely dominant and the sole reason Arkansas made it as far in the tournament as they did. He threw 23.1 innings and gave up three runs and they were all in one game. He gave up the same amt. of ER as Landon and pitched 30 more innings in the regular season. What Landon did was amazing, but what Kopps did was otherworldly.

[State82]

What Landon did was amazing, but what Kopps did was otherworldly.

Yep. He was definitely the most deserving for that award. I love Sims. He is our guy. But I have not seen anything like what Kopps pulled off this year.

[Johnson85]

I mean major props because he had an incredible season but I am a statistics nerd basically. He was 12 1. 11 saves. 131 ks walked 18. Era.0.90. Yes incredible but in 30 innings less thrown. Sims 5 0 13 saves. 100 ks 15 walks. Same competition. I mean I?m not just blowing smoke but sims was more dominant in 30 innings behind. . Only reason era was inflated was the sec tournament

I think if we had used Sims the same way we used Kopps, it might have been impossible to choose between them. But Arkansas rode Kopps in a way that we did not ride Sims, and as a result, he deserved it more based on his cumulative performance. I don't have a problem with that.

[Lord McBuckethead]

I think if we had used Sims the same way we used Kopps, it might have been impossible to choose between them. But Arkansas rode Kopps in a way that we did not ride Sims, and as a result, he deserved it more based on his cumulative performance. I don't have a problem with that.

Kopps deserved it. He gets that, Sims (who our staff handled better throughout the season) gets the national championship ring. I bet Kopps would trade.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I do have some player hate about this but I blame Todd-4-State for my hate of 24-year-olds with a big, outlier senior season. The Luke Reynolds argument, that is not a good argument against Kopps.

The three finalists were Kopps, Leiter, and Rocker.

(1) If you don't make Omaha, then you should not be a golden spike finalist, for the most part
(2) There is a reason Cy Young awards go overwhelmingly to starters versus relievers, it's not the same job and the statistics are different
(3) If you don't do something huge like win a triple crown in the SEC like Rooker, then you should not be a finalist
(4) National Champion Tanner Allen should be on the finalist list, his freak stat was his batting average versus the SEC, 411...this is UNREAL ... this prolly matches Will Clark* in 1985 for SEC only.

http://a.espncdn.com/sec/baseball/2021/seconly.pdf

Will Clark won the Golden Spikes with a 420 BA and 25 HRs in 1985, I don't know his SEC only stats.

[msstate7]

I do have some player hate about this but I blame Todd-4-State for my hate of 24-year-olds with a big, outlier senior season. The Luke Reynolds argument, that is not a good argument against Kopps.

The three finalists were Kopps, Leiter, and Rocker.

(1) If you don't make Omaha, then you should not be a golden spike finalist, for the most part
(2) There is a reason Cy Young awards go overwhelmingly to starters versus relievers, it's not the same job and the statistics are different
(3) If you don't do something huge like win a triple crown in the SEC like Rooker, then you should not be a finalist
(4) National Champion Tanner Allen should be on the finalist list, his freak stat was his batting average versus the SEC, 411...this is UNREAL ... this prolly matches Will Clark* in 1985 for SEC only.

http://a.espncdn.com/sec/baseball/2021/seconly.pdf

Will Clark won the Golden Spikes with a 420 BA and 25 HRs in 1985, I don't know his SEC only stats.

Bednar only threw 3 more innings than kopps and kopps wasn't in Omaha. Kopps deserves it

[StarkVegasSteve]

I do have some player hate about this but I blame Todd-4-State for my hate of 24-year-olds with a big, outlier senior season. The Luke Reynolds argument, that is not a good argument against Kopps.

The three finalists were Kopps, Leiter, and Rocker.

(1) If you don't make Omaha, then you should not be a golden spike finalist, for the most part
(2) There is a reason Cy Young awards go overwhelmingly to starters versus relievers, it's not the same job and the statistics are different
(3) If you don't do something huge like win a triple crown in the SEC like Rooker, then you should not be a finalist
(4) National Champion Tanner Allen should be on the finalist list, his freak stat was his batting average versus the SEC, 411...this is UNREAL ... this prolly matches Will Clark* in 1985 for SEC only.

http://a.espncdn.com/sec/baseball/2021/seconly.pdf

Will Clark won the Golden Spikes with a 420 BA and 25 HRs in 1985, I don't know his SEC only stats.

Slight hijack, but how the heck did Raffy not win the Golden Spikes in 84?? .415 avg. with 29 HRs and 94 RBIs. Heck Will was 28 HRs and 93 RBIs the same year with a .386 avg.

Some who are older than me can answer this, but were we better in 84 than we were in 85?

[Tbonewannabe]

Slight hijack, but how the heck did Raffy not win the Golden Spikes in 84?? .415 avg. with 29 HRs and 94 RBIs. Heck Will was 28 HRs and 93 RBIs the same year with a .386 avg.

Some who are older than me can answer this, but were we better in 84 than we were in 85?

Basically, our Bednar in 1985 (Gene Morgan) went down in the CWS and so did our season. We were the best team that year.

In 1984, Oddibe McDowell from Arizona St won the Golden Spikes award.

.405 avg with 23 HRs, 74 RBIs, and 36 Stolen Bases. ASU was 55-20 and was 4th at the CWS.

In 1984, we didn't make it to the CWS which could have been the deciding factor. Raffy's stats are definitely better.

[WPS]

(1) If you don't make Omaha, then you should not be a golden spike finalist, for the most part


I always hate it when people judge individual success on what a team does. You can be a great NFL QB without any Super Bowl rings and a mediocre one that has one when everything goes right. The Heisman has become a popularity contest for the most part where you have to have double digit wins to win it.

No one will ever be able to convince me that Troy Smith deserved a Heisman over Darren McFadden lol. If you put Patrick Mahomes back in college right now on South Carolina he's clearly the best player in the country but wouldn't win it because they'd probably go 8-4.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Bednar only threw 3 more innings than kopps and kopps wasn't in Omaha. Kopps deserves it

It's a hard prize to win, it cool that the politics is quiet.

Kopps has legendary company as a winner...Ben McDonald, Will Clark, Jim Abbott, Mark Prior, David Price, Buster Posey, Bryce Harper (JUCO)

I did not mention Bednar, he was shelled at Home quite a bit this year. DNF was a tough pitcher stadium this year. I'm not a MSU homer for the GS prize, I rather like the NC over any GS prize.

I would have gone with Leiter, myself, from the choice of 3 finalists. But I would have placed Tanner Allen in the finalists. The actual 3 finalists are all fine ball players that anybody would want.

[StarkVegasSteve]

It's a hard prize to win, it cool that the politics is quiet.

Kopps has legendary company as a winner...Ben McDonald, Will Clark, Jim Abbott, Mark Prior, David Price, Buster Posey, Bryce Harper (JUCO)

I did not mention Bednar, he was shelled at Home quite a bit this year. DNF was a tough pitcher stadium this year. I'm not a MSU homer for the GS prize, I rather like the NC over any GS prize.

I would have gone with Leiter, myself, from the choice of 3 finalists. But I would have placed Tanner Allen in the finalists. The actual 3 finalists are all fine ball players that anybody would want.

Yea I thought TA probably deserved to be a finalist, but I don't really know who you take out and replace. Because the finalists are announced before Omaha.

[msstate7]

It's a hard prize to win, it cool that the politics is quiet.

Kopps has legendary company as a winner...Ben McDonald, Will Clark, Jim Abbott, Mark Prior, David Price, Buster Posey, Bryce Harper (JUCO)

I did not mention Bednar, he was shelled at Home quite a bit this year. DNF was a tough pitcher stadium this year. I'm not a MSU homer for the GS prize, I rather like the NC over any GS prize.

I would have gone with Leiter, myself, from the choice of 3 finalists. But I would have placed Tanner Allen in the finalists. The actual 3 finalists are all fine ball players that anybody would want.

The point of mentioning bednar was to show kopps pitched starter innings. He was hardly a normal reliever.

[Johnson85]

Kopps deserved it. He gets that, Sims (who our staff handled better throughout the season) gets the national championship ring. I bet Kopps would trade.

I don't know that we handled Sims better. Kopps was a 6th year senior. He has had way more time for his body to mature and has less to protect than Sims. So they rode him pretty hard and I don't think it hurt them at all, unless you think pitching Kopps less would have allowed them to develop more bull pen depth. But in the super regional, he pitched two scoreless innings in game 2 and then in game 3, gave up 3 runs in 8 innings. Sounds like they got what they needed out of him and their offense just let them down.

[StarkVegasSteve]

I don't know that we handled Sims better. Kopps was a 6th year senior. He has had way more time for his body to mature and has less to protect than Sims. So they rode him pretty hard and I don't think it hurt them at all, unless you think pitching Kopps less would have allowed them to develop more bull pen depth. But in the super regional, he pitched two scoreless innings in game 2 and then in game 3, gave up 3 runs in 8 innings. Sounds like they got what they needed out of him and their offense just let them down.

This was my thinking. I don't believe they mishandled how Kopps was used down the stretch. I think they mishandled how he was used in the regular season. He was the only arm they could count on late because they never had put any of their other arms in those high leverage situations. Compare that to us and folks like Stinnett, Brandon Smith, Preston, Hootie, Chase Patrick, and Cam Tullar had all pitched in high leverage situations late in games during the regular season.....and it benefitted us greatly once we got to the tournament.

[WPS]

This was my thinking. I don't believe they mishandled how Kopps was used down the stretch. I think they mishandled how he was used in the regular season. He was the only arm they could count on late because they never had put any of their other arms in those high leverage situations. Compare that to us and folks like Stinnett, Brandon Smith, Preston, Hootie, Chase Patrick, and Cam Tullar had all pitched in high leverage situations late in games during the regular season.....and it benefitted us greatly once we got to the tournament.

The rest of Arkansas' relievers had a combined average ERA of about 5.50. Most of them were either inconsistent or just flat out bad. Several times this year a guy like Caden Monke or Ryan Costeiu (the two most used relievers other than Kopps) would be solid in one outing for a short stint and then get shelled the next...Kopps on the other hand you could bring out twice in a weekend and he'd be dominant both times.

The hope for next season is that the pitching staff will be deeper as a whole even though no one will be as dominant as Kopps was, so that there are more than 2-3 pitchers to rely on for an entire weekend.

[Rayburn8]

I mean major props because he had an incredible season but I am a statistics nerd basically. He was 12 1. 11 saves. 131 ks walked 18. Era.0.90. Yes incredible but in 30 innings less thrown. Sims 5 0 13 saves. 100 ks 15 walks. Same competition. I mean I?m not just blowing smoke but sims was more dominant in 30 innings behind. . Only reason era was inflated was the sec tournament

Going into the post-season, Arkansas had a losing record when Kopps didnt pitch.

No one was more valuable than Kopps was.

[Lord McBuckethead]

I hope Kamren James and Clark go for .415, 29hrs, and 94 RBIs along with .386, 28HRs, and 93 RBIs.

[R2Dawg]

I do have some player hate about this but I blame Todd-4-State for my hate of 24-year-olds with a big, outlier senior season. The Luke Reynolds argument, that is not a good argument against Kopps.

The three finalists were Kopps, Leiter, and Rocker.

(1) If you don't make Omaha, then you should not be a golden spike finalist, for the most part
(2) There is a reason Cy Young awards go overwhelmingly to starters versus relievers, it's not the same job and the statistics are different
(3) If you don't do something huge like win a triple crown in the SEC like Rooker, then you should not be a finalist
(4) National Champion Tanner Allen should be on the finalist list, his freak stat was his batting average versus the SEC, 411...this is UNREAL ... this prolly matches Will Clark* in 1985 for SEC only.

http://a.espncdn.com/sec/baseball/2021/seconly.pdf

Will Clark won the Golden Spikes with a 420 BA and 25 HRs in 1985, I don't know his SEC only stats.

You make some good points; not saying Kopps didn't deserve but like the heisman which is best player on best team typically, what is golden spike? These awards are meaningless because there is no standard and bias abounds. TA should have been on the list.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Going into the post-season, Arkansas had a losing record when Kopps didnt pitch.

No one was more valuable than Kopps was.

Well that's a self fulfilling stat, because when Arky i down they don't put Kops in. When the game is close or they have a slight lead, the do put him in.

The telling stat would be: W-L record in close when Kopps came in, vs W-L record in games that were close after 5 where Kopps didn't pitch. That would tell you more about how the bullpen would have done without him.

I know they'll have a great O, but honestly it's kinda hard to be scared of Arky last year. They lose their dominant starter and most valuable reliever I've ever seen, and return nobody that's shown they can fill either of those shoes

[The Federalist Engineer]

Well that's a self fulfilling stat, because when Arky i down they don't put Kops in. When the game is close or they have a slight lead, the do put him in.

The telling stat would be: W-L record in close when Kopps came in, vs W-L record in games that were close after 5 where Kopps didn't pitch. That would tell you more about how the bullpen would have done without him.

I know they'll have a great O, but honestly it's kinda hard to be scared of Arky last year. They lose their dominant starter and most valuable reliever I've ever seen, and return nobody that's shown they can fill either of those shoes

Arkansas is going to be awesome and so are we.

Hogs have a Vanderbilt level crooting class. Players better than Woods that told MLB they wanted to be Hogs, so not drafted but the quality is amazing.

Also the hogs have a history of great Aces and they develop them. The next great one is Wiggins. But even if Wiggins is not awesome, they have other prospects.

[Todd4State]

I do have some player hate about this but I blame Todd-4-State for my hate of 24-year-olds with a big, outlier senior season. The Luke Reynolds argument, that is not a good argument against Kopps.

The three finalists were Kopps, Leiter, and Rocker.

(1) If you don't make Omaha, then you should not be a golden spike finalist, for the most part
(2) There is a reason Cy Young awards go overwhelmingly to starters versus relievers, it's not the same job and the statistics are different
(3) If you don't do something huge like win a triple crown in the SEC like Rooker, then you should not be a finalist
(4) National Champion Tanner Allen should be on the finalist list, his freak stat was his batting average versus the SEC, 411...this is UNREAL ... this prolly matches Will Clark* in 1985 for SEC only.

http://a.espncdn.com/sec/baseball/2021/seconly.pdf

Will Clark won the Golden Spikes with a 420 BA and 25 HRs in 1985, I don't know his SEC only stats.

Sorry!

I could have kicked the ant hill on what the difference was between Luke Reynolds leaving and Landon Jordan leaving but I never have until now!**


You make some good points; not saying Kopps didn't deserve but like the heisman which is best player on best team typically, what is golden spike? These awards are meaningless because there is no standard and bias abounds. TA should have been on the list.

Yes- the Golden Spikes is essentially the Heisman Trophy of college baseball. Will Clark won it for us and that's a pretty big deal. Tanner Allen absolutely should have been a candidate along with Landon Sims.

There are other awards for best performance that are more position specific for college baseball- Roger Clemens Award for pitchers, Johnny Bench for best catcher- Ed Easley won this for us and Logan Tanner will be a candidate next year, and the Bobby Bragan award for best slugger which is named after a former MSU player. There are also gold glove awards as well for college.