MSU baseball

I know the Ole Miss response is the flavor of the week, but I'm still fired up about MSU baseball. I keep seeing & hearing people talk about our arms lost to TJ, but that got me wondering what all arms did we lose TOTAL since the last game of 2016, that were not due to the player being a Senior. Below is a list of those arms. I gained even more appreciation for this team & coaching staff when I saw this.

Reid Humphreys (would be a Senior)
Paul Young (Would be a Senior)
Keegan James (Sophomore)
Jared Padgett (Freshman)
Austin Sexton (Would be a Senior)
Dakota Hudson (Would be a Senior)
Ryan Cyr (Would be a Soph)
Ryan Rigby (Junior)
Vance Tatum (Would be a Senior)
Parker Ford (Freshman, not 100% yet)
Kale Breaux (Sophomore)
Zac Houston (Would be a Senior)
Blake Smith (Senior)
Ethan Small (Sophomore)
Myles Gentry (Would be a Senior)
Daniel Brown (Would be a Senior)
Noah Hughes (Sophomore)
Graham Ashcraft (Freshman)
Jake Mangum (Soph, hand injury)

And we lost Price for a while, and he still hasn't returned to form.

That is a list of pitchers that we have lost due to draft, getting kicked off, or injury, that all would have at least one remaining year of eligibility.

That's insane, how the hell do the coaches remember everyone's names let alone patch together a SR team with half the boat missing and it's still floating

I'll agree I'm still fired up for the season. I haven't been getting on the board as much this week because there really isn't much baseball talk, which is surprising considering we have a super regional this weekend against a division rival who we just happened to hire our coach from.

Also throw in the fact that we have almost zero bench for the infield or outfield. Cody Brown has started about everywhere but catcher, SS, and centerfield. Wasn't he practicing at SS for if Gridley had to go to the wedding?

Baseball talk much preferred over rebel response. This team is a paradox to me. I hate the way we are forced to go about winning but love the grit and toughness that every single coach and player displays. This team will def go down in bulldog lore...

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Originally Posted by Dawg61

That's insane, how the hell do the coaches remember everyone's names let alone patch together a SR team with half the boat missing and it's still floating

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It truly is a special story

Writer for A's SB Nation is making a push for the A's to draft Rooker as the #6 overall player in the 1st round.

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2017/...elcome-oakland

Add these guys to the line up
- Nate Lowe (would be a Sr)
- Jack Kruger (would be a Sr)
- Jacob Robson (would be a Sr)

and we would be looking at a Natty level squad.

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Originally Posted by CadaverDawg

It truly is a special story

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So you're not questioning if we made the right hire anymore like you were doing Friday?

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

So you're not questioning if we made the right hire anymore like you were doing Friday?

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What a drama queen...I never questioned him being the right hire. Good grief. I said maybe we were a little premature crowning him king of baseball, but I was wrong, and it was a game thread where off the cuff comments are always made.

Now back to the topic at hand....

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Originally Posted by HoopsDawg

So you're not questioning if we made the right hire anymore like you were doing Friday?

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Originally Posted by CadaverDawg

What a drama queen...I never questioned him being the right hire. Good grief. I said maybe we were a little premature crowning him king of baseball, but I was wrong, and it was a game thread where off the cuff comments are always made.

Now back to the topic at hand....

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https://media.tenor.co/images/19bba5...1943/tenor.gif

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Originally Posted by CadaverDawg

What a drama queen...I never questioned him being the right hire. Good grief. I said maybe we were a little premature crowning him king of baseball, but I was wrong, and it was a game thread where off the cuff comments are always made.

Now back to the topic at hand....

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I'm a firm believer that what happens in a game thread stays in the game thread.

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Originally Posted by State82

I'm a firm believer that what happens in a game thread stays in the game thread.

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You're exactly right. I thought that was an unwritten rule on ED. Maybe it's time for a set of board rules to be created....

Rule #1. What happens in the Game Thread, stays in the Game Thread

All in favor, say "GTHOM"

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"Wake Up The Bats", selling t-shirts now at College Corner.

If I knew how to post a picture I would.

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Originally Posted by basedog

"Wake Up The Bats", selling t-shirts now at College Corner.

If I knew how to post a picture I would.

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Where's the "Eat Moo Cheesecake" t-shirts??

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Originally Posted by basedog

"Wake Up The Bats", selling t-shirts now at College Corner.

If I knew how to post a picture I would.

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Very nice! Gotta have one of those

Special team, special year! Players and coaches have worked their butts and done something I don't think any of us thought possible at the beginning of the year. Credit to character and heart of all involved. This truly is a TEAM!

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Originally Posted by Dawg61

Writer for A's SB Nation is making a push for the A's to draft Rooker as the #6 overall player in the 1st round.

http://www.athleticsnation.com/2017/...elcome-oakland

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I am hearing the phillies really want him for their 2nd round pick also.

I'm pumped too. I'm glad Cohen didn't leave us a complete dumpster fire to have to rebuild over a period of five years just to have a year like we're having now in year one. Without taking away any credit from anyone on our team- we would probably be National Seed caliber with a healthy pitching staff. Cohen has also left Cann the foundation of top 10 classes going forward for the next 2-3 years which Cann will now get to complete. I expect the 2018 class to be roughly 50% Cann and 50% Cohen. After that it will be mostly Cann.

Our players deserve a lot of credit because there have been a lot of unusual circumstances that they have had to battle through this year mainly in the form of injuries, a new staff, and overcoming a slow start. Now that Cann knows our players and will get a full fall with them- we could be just as good if not even better than we are this year. I think the road heavy schedule may do us in as far as hosting and I haven't seen what our SEC schedule looks like- but I could still see us having a comparable year because we should be healthier.

Cannizaro has exceeded my expectations thus far. He would have gotten a pass this year and even next year from me no matter what. To have us in a SR and in contention for the SEC up until the last week of the season is impressive. I like his offensive style and I think it will only get better as he brings in better baserunners and has time to work with our players on that aspect- which I think will be a major emphasis in the fall along with throwing strikes for the pitchers and getting more walks for the hitters. If you had to ask me what has held us back from winning a NC or winning more I would say it would be the lack of retention of draftable juniors. I think Cannizaro will help with that along with helping us to get better players through better recruiting and having better insight into what players will go pro or not from the high school ranks. That should also help us devise better contingency plans in case something happens like what happened with Austin Riley who was set on going to school until the spring. Having that kind of information is a huge advantage for a college team in baseball recruiting and that's something we have never really had. Cann also has a lot of pro baseball credibility and I think he has an awesome personality that's different than Polk who was very set in his ways and Cohen who was super intense and needed that kind of a player to succeed under him. That's going to help us land players on a national level as well as local level which we have to do because Mississippi does not produce enough talent to stock a National Championship caliber team every year. At the same time, it's very important to recruit Mississippi players because there is some really good talent and we need guys that love MSU baseball and dream about playing at MSU because they add pride to the elite talent and that makes a good mix.

So, I think we are about to enter a new era of MSU baseball that could be our best era yet. Right now we are a team that at a minimum level expects to be a 2 seed and a SR. We need to raise that to where we expect to host and Omaha as a minimum standard- like LSU. We have the best college stadium in America on the horizon and we have an AD that values baseball that will help us- and already has as far as helping to push the Left Field Lofts through. The good thing about Cohen is he appears to be hands off and letting Cann do his thing which I was mildly concerned about. And like I said- I think this SR is going to help reignite the MSU/LSU baseball rivalry and that's going to be good for both programs and the SEC as well. Hopefully we'll find a way to come out on top of it.

I also think between Cann and Cohen's players we're going to see more and more Bulldogs in MLB- Woodruff should be called up by the end of the year and I think Dakota Hudson, Brent Rooker, and Konnor Pilkington among others have an outstanding chance of adding to that in the future. And I also wouldn't put it past several former players as well like Jacob Robson, Austin Sexton, Zac Houston, and Nate Lowe but we'll see how they progress.

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Originally Posted by BrunswickDawg

Add these guys to the line up
- Nate Lowe (would be a Sr)
- Jack Kruger (would be a Sr)
- Jacob Robson (would be a Sr)

and we would be looking at a Natty level squad.

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Robson was drafted in round 8 and Lowe in round 12. I can't say that I would have expected them to come back.

I would say Sexton, Houston, and Tatum coming back would have helped us out immensely. Kruger would be really the only one on offense for me. Gavin Collins was on the border as he was drafted in round 13.

To me, it's not the juniors you lose in rounds 1-12 that hurt you. You do want some of those on the team because you need elite talent to win. It's the juniors that you lose after rounds 12 that really hurt and we have to do a better job of keeping them in school because they provide both talent and leadership.