Governor's Cup- Lemonis Just isn't Cutting It
In baseball if you watch enough of it you can tell when a team is well coached and when a team isn't. And watching our team play it is painful to watch.
I don't think it's a talent issue. I think we are recruiting talent. I think we do Ok in the portal. The biggest criticism there is not landing a Paul Skenes type but that's a tough criticism.
I think the issue is lack of feel for the game and just simply not working hard enough at baseball non-negotiables. A baseball non-negotiable is defense and knowing what to do in fundamental situations. You can say things changed and the coaches got lazy after the NC. My theory is Lemonis never really had it to start with. Landon Sims can make a lot of people look like smart baseball managers. Add in the hottest pitcher in Omaha in Will Bednar and boom NC. Even in 2021 there was bullpen mismanagement and moments where people had major questions. See the SEC Tournament and defensive issues through most of that season plus Eric Cerentola's non development.
Pitching has been the most glaring issue. The same thing that is happening now happened with Foxhall. Pitchers being left in way too long. It seems like everyone in the stands can see the loss of command and the fatigue on the faces of the pitchers except the people making the decisions in the dugout. Maybe it's a coincidence that Parker and Foxhall had the same issue or is it the common denominator? Yes pitching coaches have say in who pitches and in a bullpen game they usually script who is going to pitch but my guess is Lemonis needs to be the adult in the room and steps up and says- hey take him out. And that can't happen after multiple runs are allowed. It just can't. He never errs on the side of caution ever. And keeps getting burned.
It just looks like defense isn't really practiced. Or at least it isn't practiced enough. Our catchers look like they are playing on rolling skates out there. Do we work on blocking balls? And then you have first basemen missing the bag, third basemen misplaying balls, guys not getting in front of balls- it's just an absolute mess.
Speaking of mess- our baserunning and situational hitting is a complete mess. I don't know what the hell Ross Highfill was doing trying to run back to second. Cheese has had issues this year although I didn't see any tonight. We did a poor job of getting bunts down. You had Hunter Hines playing hero ball and failing. And on and on and on.
What it comes down to is this is NOT Mississippi State baseball. It just isn't. There is a standard here and it hasn't been met over the course of four years.
So when we make a coaching change because I just think too much damage has been done we have to get it right. That means someone with head coaching experience. MSU needs to know what they're getting. We have to stop being a training ground for assistants - and that goes beyond baseball. We're not a Sun Belt school. And hell no we can't just promote Parker. I like Parker and I think he is a very good pitching coach. But the fact of the matter is he is part of this mess too. MSU should listen to Robbie Faulk- and then do the exact opposite of whatever he says to do.
Bluebloods don't hire assistants. LSU hired Laval, Manieri, and Johnson. All were head coaches somewhere else before LSU. Arkansas hired Van Horn from Nebraska. Texas hired Garrido, Pierce, and Schlossnagle and all were head coaches somewhere else. Same for MSU with the exception of Cann and we see how that turned out.
What would I do if I were Lemonis? I'd retire at the end of the year because he has pissed off the wrong people. And when that happens- it's over anyway.
