Originally Posted by
Todd4State
I expect there to be a lot more competition in the fall. As far as our class I think we will lose anywhere between 4-7 guys out of it- but most of those are JUCO guys.
Pilkington will be our ace as long as he is healthy. I think he is starting to turn the corner from very good to dominant. If he pitches as expected, that's huge for us- see how we were with Stratton and Hudson and the seasons we had with them. He's projected to be a first round pick next year.
The other spots are up in the air because we have some of the Tommy John guys coming back who I think could be in the mix depending on where they are. As of now if I had to guess McQuary, Ashcraft, Riley Self, and Cole Gordon would be the leaders. If those are our rotation guys 2-4 we're probably going to have a really good season because I think all of them will improve after this summer. I think Parker Ford could be in the mix and he has looked better lately. Ethan Small and Noah Hughes could compete for spots as well. As far as the JUCO guys go if we get Pearson McMahan I think he will likely win a rotation spot. He was drafted by the Pirates out of high school but I don't think we will get him. We also signed a JUCO from Mississippi Delta named Cole Marsh that could be in the mix as well but I think he ends up in the bullpen most likely.
Our bullpen should be better and deeper as well. Blake Smith is going to come back next year. How healthy he will be- that remains to be seen. Apparently he had a partial tear of his UCL and the Tommy John surgery technique he had is a new one which only takes six months to recover from but it's very new. And it's only for partial tears. Ryan Rigby could be back as well- there were rumors on here that he may leave but that's also the only time I've heard them. Jared Padgett should be back from Tommy John surgery as well. Hopefully Spencer Price will return back better than before. As I said above I think Self will be in the mix for the rotation but my guess is he most likely returns to the bullpen for his senior year. Troy Bacon is a JUCO closer that signed with Florida out of high school but he's a draft risk but if we get him it could set us up to potentially have one of the best bullpens in the league with Price, Self, Rigby, and Smith if life is perfect which it never is at MSU. As I said above I expect Marsh to be in the bullpen and if I had to guess most of the Tommy John guys will start out in the bullpen. Plumlee will be back and will hopefully be better. Jolly, Barton, and Mahoney will be back but probably won't have to pitch as much. John Mason is a JUCO reliever that throws hard but has had injuries and honestly if I were Cann I would drop him. Cameron Voss is a JUCO reliever from New York and I don't know a lot about him which means he'll come in and break Holder's save record. We have a high school prospect named Chad Bryant that I think will pitch a little bit for us out of the bullpen potentially as well. Same with Bryce Hutchinson but I'm not sure if he will pitch, play first, or do both yet. My guess is he will pitch but he could be a darkhorse closer candidate if we get him past the draft which I think we will and he throws in the low/mid 90's.
Catcher is a concern of mine. Right now it's Skelton who I expect to start and the aforementioned Marshall Gilbert. My guess is Skelton will start and I think he will be better than Lovelady in some ways. I don't think Lovelady frames pitches very well and that's an issue with our current staff for obvious reasons and hopefully Skelton's bat will improve. Gilbert has put up some good numbers in a JUCO league where it hasn't usually translated well over to the SEC. I'm not as high on him as the coaches are but hopefully I'm wrong. We really need another catcher because otherwise right now our third guy is Stovall. Really could be a JUCO or high school guy.
Obviously we won't really replace Rooker. I think Owen Lovell would be the lead candidate in my opinion to replace him and he's a freshman. We flipped him from Alabama. Tyreque Reed is the new JUCO guy we got from Itawamba CC and he's a mild draft risk- I think he comes to school. I'm not sure why Cohen didn't recruit him out of high school- he would have been a good replacement for Pickett. I've seen a lot of ICC guys put up huge numbers there and then have trouble in the SEC. So, I'm kind of cautious about him. Alex Pener is a JUCO guy that I'm not all that high on. I think he most likely ends up like another Vansau/MacNamee type of player. He's also had some injuries in JUCO so that may have hurt his numbers some plus it's a wood bat league. Cole Gordon and Bryce Hutchinson could be candidates too but I think they stay on the mound. Rey Riviera is a JUCO player that I think would start at first base if we get him past the draft but most people don't expect that to happen. He was drafted by the Cubs out of high school.
Stovall should be the second baseman and I think he will have a big year again as long as he stays healthy. Tanner Allen I think is the second baseman of the future for us. We flipped him from LSU and I think he plays a lot regardless. I think we will get Gridley back. Cann loves him and I think he ends up as a second baseman in the pros and I can't see him playing a lot of other positions. I think he will have a big year for us- think Kramer Robertson with a slightly higher batting average. I think Cann will beg him to come back. We have some guys like LA that can play the MIF and yes, I do think that if Gridley leaves LA ends up at SS. We have a couple of other freshmen coming in- Rowdy Jordan who is scrappy and can steal a lot of bases, and Justin Foscue who has a little bit of power that I think will be back-ups/redshirt.
Third base could be a battle. Assuming Gridley comes back, LA will probably be the third baseman again. He needs to get healthy and be more patient at the plate and start taking outside pitches. Bragg will be in the mix if he comes back- I don't have anything concrete on this, but my gut feeling is he won't be back. Jordan Westburg could be a dark horse candidate for third base as a freshman and could even be in the MIF mix as well. I could see us playing Tanner Allen here depending on how things play out.
The outfield will have a lot of competition next year I think. I believe Mangum will be back and of course he will play CF. I think the other two spots are up for grabs. It's 50/50 but I think we have a good chance of getting Jordan Anderson in and he's a UA All-American. As someone else said, I could Lovell getting a spot here. I think Tanner Allen will get a spot here ultimately if things play out like I think they will. We flipped him from LSU and he's very versatile. I don't know where he ends up but I think he plays somewhere right away and he's likely coming to school. Tyreque Reed could possibly play in the OF as well. That said, I don't think that MacNamee and Vansau are totally out of it either. They have experience on their side. Certainly Vansau has to improve his defense. Both have had very good moments this year at times. I think MacNamee would be more likely to start than Vansau between the two. And it's good that we have some proven guys that will be back on campus next year because we do have to wait and see what the draft does with Anderson, Allen, Lovell, and Reed. I think we will get Josh Hatcher past the draft and he's a very good prospect as well. I don't foresee Tanner Poole playing a lot next year unless we get hit hard by the draft or he improves a lot. And I do not expect to get Quenton Holmes past the MLB draft.
