Fall Baseball

I took in some scrimmage this week, so I am now a certified expert.

-Hudson is a beast.

-We led off an inning with a single and proceeded to bunt him over, so, evidently, that's not going away.

-Zinn looks like he's going to be a good player. When we signed him, I recall his resume not being that impressive.

-Looks like we are in good shape at catcher. Morerro looks like a guy who's been around a while, Kruger seems to have a good bat, and Lovelady gives good depth.

-Notice I didn't mention Collins there? Cohen says he's still going to catch. He's still nursing that hand injury, so it's not like he's been working on his defense for the last 9 months. I just don't see a scenario where he would beat out all the guys above. Maybe he still projects as a catcher in the pros, and Cohen wants to help his draft potential.

-Humpreys pitched yesterday. I really don't know what to think of that. I struggle to find a reason how that would be goog for us.

-I haven't seen cumulative stats, but it seems as if our projected starters did well and our offense was able to do well enough at times against the lower half of the pitching staff. I guess that's about best case for scrimmages.

I went out there Saturday. I don't take anything from it except the actual plays, because we all know Cohen is gonna Cohen. But yes, like you, the biggest takeaway I saw is that we have definitely found a catcher. Dude almost hosed Robson and the call could have gone either way.

Humphreys was a good pitcher in HS before he had TJ, so don't rule him out. We really need to find a closer.

We won't know the rotation until SEC play starts. It's damn near impossible to predict a starting line up or rotation with Cohen as HC.

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Originally Posted by Political Hack

We won't know the rotation until SEC play starts. It's damn near impossible to predict a starting line up or rotation with Cohen as HC.

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There is no real starting lineup with Cohen out there changing it with every breath he takes.

If Humphreys and Rooker aren't batting 3-4 for the entire season in the lineup I give up. Its about as easy as it gets at those 2 spots.

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Originally Posted by CarolinaDawgs

There is no real starting lineup with Cohen out there changing it with every breath he takes.

If Humphreys and Rooker aren't batting 3-4 for the entire season in the lineup I give up. Its about as easy as it gets at those 2 spots.

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I want Humphreys batting lower in the lineup personally. Let Collins and Rooker hit 3 and 4. Maybe Lowe.

No update on bats?? #comeonman

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Originally Posted by Todd4State

I want Humphreys batting lower in the lineup personally. Let Collins and Rooker hit 3 and 4. Maybe Lowe.

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So he can see more fastballs? Collins at 5 will do just fine.

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Originally Posted by CarolinaDawgs

There is no real starting lineup with Cohen out there changing it with every breath he takes.

If Humphreys and Rooker aren't batting 3-4 for the entire season in the lineup I give up. Its about as easy as it gets at those 2 spots.

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Until hump shows me he can hit, he doesn't need to be anywhere near the top of the order. Maybe he makes a huge jump. But. Up to this point he's a platoon player at best for me. And only a dh at that.

The bats definitely sounded more lively. The wind was blowing in from left, but Marrero and Zinn managed to rope deep doubles into the teeth of it. That's about all that really stood out to me, offensively.

This is really the year where Cohen HAS to show us some offense. We've got livelier balls and livelier bats (the fall HR numbers support that). We've got bigger guys that are capable, so it's time to start seeing results. If the season starts, and we have eight 5'10' 165 pound punching Judys in the lineup, then we have big problems.

Oh, and what's with the stripes in the outfield? I'm sure it's some way for Cohen to over-complicate things.

No way Hump needs to bat higher than 6th or 7th- and should probably platoon

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Originally Posted by Homedawg

Until hump shows me he can hit, he doesn't need to be anywhere near the top of the order. Maybe he makes a huge jump. But. Up to this point he's a platoon player at best for me. And only a dh at that.

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Agreed. He manages to run into one from time to time, and that's about it. I've seen nothing from him in his time here that tells me he should be an everyday player. Heck, he's a junior and I don't even know where he plays. He didn't have a good summer and hasn't had a good fall. Cohen still seems to have a lot of confidence in him. I guess that's all that matters in the end.

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Originally Posted by Homedawg

Until hump shows me he can hit, he doesn't need to be anywhere near the top of the order. Maybe he makes a huge jump. But. Up to this point he's a platoon player at best for me. And only a dh at that.

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Yes. I really hope it clicks for him in the spring but right now I'm not convinced either.

I dunno why people are concerned about tinkering right now. Let's be real -- Robson is the only position player we have that's locked into a starting spot. There are battles that, if the "best guy wins" could go either way everywhere else on the field...

Interesting to hear that about zinn. I saw him play last yr and was thoroughly unimpressed. He obviously had the tools but didn't jump out like one would think an SEC caliber player would. Then again, he may be a guy who's motivation is only as high as the talent around him...happens a lot in baseball...so I hope he steps up and surprises me.

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Originally Posted by shoeless joe

Interesting to hear that about zinn. I saw him play last yr and was thoroughly unimpressed. He obviously had the tools but didn't jump out like one would think an SEC caliber player would. Then again, he may be a guy who's motivation is only as high as the talent around him...happens a lot in baseball...so I hope he steps up and surprises me.

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Zinn was a headscratcher to me considering the rest of the class on paper.

However I got the story on Zinn from a scout sitting next to me at a scrimmage.

He was apparently a great athlete in high school that played but never focused on baseball. He is for the first time concentrating on baseball. He is only going to get better and better. Will end up being a steal.

The stripes indicate what zone the hit is in for stats tracking.

My post fall batting lineup regarding Hump is:

3rd: Collins C/3B
4th: Rooker RF/DH
5th: Kruger DH/C
6th: Hump LF/DH
7th: Lowe 1B

As you can see Hump won't be worried with him being the only HR guy. I think he gets lots of pitches to hit. Kruger should be the every day bat. When Collins plays 3B Reynolds is in LF, Kruger at C, Hump at DH.

Lots of scenarios but the gist of it is, he won't feel the pressure to be the big bat like last year.

I'm doing my post fall write up at the end of the week.

Also, a dozen or so player have plain maroon hats with no logo. Someone had said a while back that players had to earn it. That's fair enough, but I found it interesting who had them and who didn't. Many of your true freshmen already had theirs, but Zach Houston didn't. Is he in the doghouse or something?

It's prob not based solely on play, workout, lifting weights and grades may factor in.

I think Gordon is ahead of Lowe at 1B at this point. Maybe not. Lowe has hit pretty well.

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Originally Posted by MsStateBaseball

The stripes indicate what zone the hit is in for stats tracking.

My post fall batting lineup regarding Hump is:

3rd: Collins C/3B
4th: Rooker RF/DH
5th: Kruger DH/C
6th: Hump LF/DH
7th: Lowe 1B

As you can see Hump won't be worried with him being the only HR guy. I think he gets lots of pitches to hit. Kruger should be the every day bat. When Collins plays 3B Reynolds is in LF, Kruger at C, Hump at DH.

Lots of scenarios but the gist of it is, he won't feel the pressure to be the big bat like last year.

I'm doing my post fall write up at the end of the week.

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Who is Kruger?