Preston Johnson to get start Saturday

[Coach34]

I like it.

[BeardoMSU]

I like it.

Was coming here to post the same update, lol. Beat me to it.

I like it too.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FMZBt7bWUAcPJj-?format=jpg&name=large

[basedog]

Our 3 best pitchers IMO.

[Commercecomet24]

I have no doubt Preston Johnson will be very good for us as a starter but I'm gonna dang sure miss him coming out of the pen and putting out fires. Dude has some big stones. This does gives us 3 excellent starters.

[BeardoMSU]

but I'm gonna dang sure miss him coming out of the pen and putting out fires.

I have a rotation solution for this..

Friday: Sims pitches 7, Preston closes it out
Saturday: Preston Pitches 7, Sims closes it out
Sunday: Cade either pitches a complete game, or Sims and Preston combine to close it out.

We ensure our 3 best pitchers see as much action as possible.***

https://media2.giphy.com/media/3o85xwxr06YNoFdSbm/giphy.gif

[Coach34]

If it works out and we roll this way thru the season- we gonna be especially tough to beat on Sundays.

[Commercecomet24]

I have a rotation solution for this..

Friday: Sims pitches 7, Preston closes it out
Saturday: Preston Pitches 7, Sims closes it out
Sunday: Cade either pitches a complete game, or Sims and Preston combine to close it out.

We ensure our 3 best pitchers see as much action as possible.***

https://media2.giphy.com/media/3o85xwxr06YNoFdSbm/giphy.gif

That would be awesome! As long as their arms don't fall off lol!

[Commercecomet24]

If it works out and we roll this way thru the season- we gonna be especially tough to beat on Sundays.

Agreed. Cade is head and shoulders above just about anyone that teams will run out there on sundays. As you said though if it all works out.

[redstickdawg]

Only concern and it is minor, we don't have lefty starting on the weekend to break up the opposing line up. I think that these are our best 2 at this point.

[MaroonFlounder]

I still say Preston is too valuable to come out of the pen in 5th, 6th or 7th inning....and in a lot of cases, he's able to go ahead and finish it out...which is huge.

If Fristoe figures out things for real. He should be weekend starter.

[BeardoMSU]

If it works out and we roll this way thru the season- we gonna be especially tough to beat on Sundays.

Word.

[HoopsDawg]

Our 3 best pitchers IMO.

Yep. No-brainer move. Lemonis has a lot of commons sense and I love it.

Hopefully, Hunt can thrive coming out of the pen. And I still have high hopes for Stinnett and Stone Simmons.

[smootness]

I think it's definitely the right move for right now, though my only concern is that I love PJ out of the pen and he will pitch well in any role, so it will be very tough to ever take him out of the rotation moving forward, especially since the competition he'll face over the next few weekends isn't that tough.

I think ideally, we have someone like Fristoe step up and enter the rotation and PJ comes out of the pen, but since we've made the move I think this is likely to be our rotation going forward. Someone will have to light it up to bump one of those 3 out.

[KOdawg1]

I like it. All three of these guys pound the zone and it's usually 93+.

Now we've got to have some guys step up in the bullpen.

[BeardoMSU]

I think it's definitely the right move for right now, though my only concern is that I love PJ out of the pen and he will pitch well in any role, so it will be very tough to ever take him out of the rotation moving forward, especially since the competition he'll face over the next few weekends isn't that tough.

I think ideally, we have someone like Fristoe step up and enter the rotation and PJ comes out of the pen, but since we've made the move I think this is likely to be our rotation going forward. Someone will have to light it up to bump one of those 3 out.

Could always move Sims back to the pen.**

[The Federalist Engineer]

I have a rotation solution for this..

Friday: Sims pitches 7, Preston closes it out
Saturday: Preston Pitches 7, Sims closes it out
Sunday: Cade either pitches a complete game, or Sims and Preston combine to close it out.

We ensure our 3 best pitchers see as much action as possible.***

https://media2.giphy.com/media/3o85xwxr06YNoFdSbm/giphy.gif

It's amazing how deep pitching looks before the season, then you see people pitch. The boys on D1 baseball are good at hyping people.

Eric Cerantola was Pre-Season all American, then in the season, he needs a therapist and a comfort animal.

https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/fastfoodfoto.jpg

[BeardoMSU]

https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/fastfoodfoto.jpg

This is one of the best and most successful metaphors I've seen here, lol. Well done, sir.

[Commercecomet24]

It's amazing how deep pitching looks before the season, then you see people pitch. The boys on D1 baseball are good at hyping people.

Eric Cerantola was Pre-Season all American, then in the season, he needs a therapist and a comfort animal.

https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/fastfoodfoto.jpg

Exactly and it's why you need so many quality arms because some of em ain't gonna pan out. No matter how much pitching you think you have you can always have more. No one ever lost a series because they didn't have enough left fielders lol

[Coach34]

At the end of the day its about getting quality starts out of your SP's. Those 3 guys can give us that.

Sims on Friday- could likely go 7-3 on Fridays
Johnson on Saturday- give us quality starts. 5-5 would be good but 6-4 on Sat would be nice
Cade on Sunday- quality starts and good hitting could have us 8-2 on Sundays.

That would be 21-9 in the SEC and another national seed. Roll thru the Regional, and battle like hell in the Super to get back to Omaha. From there- make the magic happen.

[662dawg]

Maybe Auger or Stone Simmons will step into his role with success. I don?t have much faith in Tullar or Stinnett at the moment.

[Todd4State]

I still think that at some point we'll end up seeing Fristoe back in the rotation.

Where we're at right now is Sims and Smith are surefire weekend guys. I think Smith will move to Saturday at some point.

What I think we may be doing with Preston is showing scouts that he can start and seeing if he is a legit option. I think we may be sort of piggy backing him with Hunt which makes the pitching decisions on last Saturday make a little more sense although we still may have overthought things with Tullar. I'm guessing that they hope that Hunt can be more of a multiple inning relief ace (or Preston).

I do think Fristoe will move back to Sunday's at some point too. I think he is basically being rebuilt right now and is focusing a lot more on command than anything else and will the velocity back as the season goes on. I suspect he'll start against USM and definitely will start a game against Texas Tech so he'll have some quality experience this year.

If and when that happens that could mean Pico Kohn will be the midweek guy.

Closer I think will be between Hunt, Simmons, Auger, and Tepper.

The biggest thing that helps us is Sims and Smith can go deep into games. If we're consistently getting 6-7 innings out of those guys come SEC play we'll have a lot of flexibility throughout the year.

[Leroy Jenkins]

It's amazing how deep pitching looks before the season, then you see people pitch. The boys on D1 baseball are good at hyping people.

Eric Cerantola was Pre-Season all American, then in the season, he needs a therapist and a comfort animal.

https://s3files.core77.com/blog/images/fastfoodfoto.jpg


It works both ways. There are also guys who exceed expectations every season. No one knew Sims or Bednar would be what they was last year.

[confucius say]

That leaves no proven guys in your pen. So better get Simmons, hunt, Kahn, Fristoe, stinnett, auger to come along.

[Coach34]

That leaves no proven guys in your pen. So better get Simmons, hunt, Kahn, Fristoe, stinnett, auger to come along.

Who was proven last year in February out of our pen?

[Homedawg]

I still think that at some point we'll end up seeing Fristoe back in the rotation.

Where we're at right now is Sims and Smith are surefire weekend guys. I think Smith will move to Saturday at some point.

What I think we may be doing with Preston is showing scouts that he can start and seeing if he is a legit option. I think we may be sort of piggy backing him with Hunt which makes the pitching decisions on last Saturday make a little more sense although we still may have overthought things with Tullar. I'm guessing that they hope that Hunt can be more of a multiple inning relief ace (or Preston).

I do think Fristoe will move back to Sunday's at some point too. I think he is basically being rebuilt right now and is focusing a lot more on command than anything else and will the velocity back as the season goes on. I suspect he'll start against USM and definitely will start a game against Texas Tech so he'll have some quality experience this year.

If and when that happens that could mean Pico Kohn will be the midweek guy.

Closer I think will be between Hunt, Simmons, Auger, and Tepper.

The biggest thing that helps us is Sims and Smith can go deep into games. If we're consistently getting 6-7 innings out of those guys come SEC play we'll have a lot of flexibility throughout the year.

All possible. Tepper would be the guy as closer if he had been healthy to start the spring. He's got legit stuff. As for Kohn, he could be the weekend starter, however, with our lack of lhp he's gonna be needed on the weekends. That could be what keeps him out of that spot.

[smootness]

I think Simmons is a guy who could fall into that closer role because I think he's going to be a strike-thrower and seems to be mentally tough. More than pure stuff, I want somebody in that role who wants the ball and attacks hitters, and I think he can do that.

[Commercecomet24]

All possible. Tepper would be the guy as closer if he had been healthy to start the spring. He's got legit stuff. As for Kohn, he could be the weekend starter, however, with our lack of lhp he's gonna be needed on the weekends. That could be what keeps him out of that spot.

I love Teppers stuff, it's electric. If he can stay healthy and command it he could be huge for us and make himself some money in the future.

[FISHDAWG]

Has Todays line-up been announced ?

[raymonddawg]

I'm not pro scout but IMO the Waling kid from OSU doesn't have much to offer past his potential.

[confucius say]

Who was proven last year in February out of our pen?

Not sure your point? We had multiple guys we felt great about. Foxhall called it his best pen ever in February. And it was. It was the strength of our team. Our starting pitching was meh and we hit .277.

None of that talk this year. Stinnet and tullar ain't it.

[Pancho]

Preston needs to give us 6 good innings today.

[Coach34]

Not sure your point? We had multiple guys we felt great about. Foxhall called it his best pen ever in February. And it was. It was the strength of our team. Our starting pitching was meh and we hit .277.

None of that talk this year. Stinnet and tullar ain't it.

We didnt have anybody "proven" heading into last season. Also- we only lost 3 pitchers off last years team- one finished with an ERA of 5.23. Our problem has been "who" has relieved "when" more than anything so far. We'll get there. We are 5 games into a 60 game season.

[Commercecomet24]

We didnt have anybody "proven" heading into last season. Also- we only lost 3 pitchers off last years team- one finished with an ERA of 5.23. Our problem has been "who" has relieved "when" more than anything so far. We'll get there. We are 5 games into a 60 game season.

Yes, this absolutely!

[Saltydog]

I'd rather see Simmons starting to be honest........

[confucius say]

We didnt have anybody "proven" heading into last season. Also- we only lost 3 pitchers off last years team- one finished with an ERA of 5.23. Our problem has been "who" has relieved "when" more than anything so far. We'll get there. We are 5 games into a 60 game season.

I agree we will get better. But this won't be last years pen.

It's going to be a grind this year. Offensively too. Still have a shot to host, but we've got to better fast.

[Homedawg]

I agree we will get better. But this won't be last years pen.

It's going to be a grind this year. Offensively too. Still have a shot to host, but we've got to better fast.

It can't be, we don't have sims in it.... and honestly I prefer Preston in it too over starting. And I'm not saying he can't start. Just that I like him more in the pen.

[StarkVegasSteve]

It can't be, we don't have sims in it.... and honestly I prefer Preston in it too over starting. And I'm not saying he can't start. Just that I like him more in the pen.

I really think Preston is kind of in case of emergency at this point. I think the plan will be let Fristoe start against USM and one of the Texas Tech games and if you like what you see then you slide him into Sunday, move Cade up to Saturday, and bump Preston back to the pen. I think Preston and Kohn, while either could start for us, are much more valuable AT THIS POINT coming out of the pen.

[State82]

It can't be, we don't have sims in it.... and honestly I prefer Preston in it too over starting. And I'm not saying he can't start. Just that I like him more in the pen.

I do too.

[HoopsDawg]

It can't be, we don't have sims in it.... and honestly I prefer Preston in it too over starting. And I'm not saying he can't start. Just that I like him more in the pen.

I don't have confidence in anyone else starting right now. Fristoe would have to have at least 2-3 more quality starts before you could move him back to weekends.

[Homedawg]

I don't have confidence in anyone else starting right now. Fristoe would have to have at least 2-3 more quality starts before you could move him back to weekends.

It's a valid point. And certainly won't argue w that logic. Fristoe scares me at present. But we have to have 3 of them. So I agree w you. But I like him, Preston, more in the pen. He has balls of stone.

[Commercecomet24]

It can't be, we don't have sims in it.... and honestly I prefer Preston in it too over starting. And I'm not saying he can't start. Just that I like him more in the pen.

I agree with you on Preston. I like him more in the pen because he's got big stones and he can put out fires. I trust the staff to put them in the right positions though.

[Todd4State]

I agree with you on Preston. I like him more in the pen because he's got big stones and he can put out fires. I trust the staff to put them in the right positions though.

The good news is IF Sims struggles as a starter we have someone that can fill in that role.

Preston proved he can start today. The thing is I think Cade Smith should be the Saturday guy. I'm fine with a rotation of Sims, Preston, Cade, and then Fristoe midweek. And it looks like Simmons has emerged in the bullpen. I want to see how Hunt does his next outing. That probably means Kohn in the bullpen as well.

[MetEdDawg]

I said after Preston's appearance last week that he needed to get a look at starter and I'm glad Lemonis went with him.

He's got good stuff and an arsenal of pitches that change eye level up and down and left to right effectively. He needs to start and he needs to stay a starter.

Simmons is our closer likely now. If you have watched his body language this year, he's confident and has the stuff to play in the SEC. I really like his capability.