I won't post the link from the daily wiper but sounds like we may have everyone back.

[Saltydog]

? College baseball could be better than ever next year.

The NCAA announced earlier this week that all spring sports athletes will be granted an extra year of eligibility because of the experience they lost when their seasons were canceled as concerns about the coronavirus pandemic intensified.

The situation is still sticky for upperclassmen baseball players. For juniors, there is always the option of foregoing senior seasons to enter the MLB Draft. Current seniors are in the same boat. They could come back to campus for one more ride in the collegiate ranks, but they could also leave it all behind to turn pro.

Mississippi State pitching coach Scott Foxhall told the Clarion Ledger he expects most of Mississippi State's juniors and seniors to stay at school, which would give the Bulldogs back their most important pieces from a 2020 roster that was just rounding into form before the pandemic outbreak.



"I think the older guys, for the most part, it looks like we're going to get them back," Foxhall said. "The landscape of professional baseball is in such question right now. Are they going to play a season? What's the draft going to look like? How are they going to pay you from the draft?"

Foxhall added, "To trade Mississippi State baseball in for just a small, small chance of making it in professional baseball and to give up a season in front of those fans at The Dude, I think that the older guys are going to ask for a big commitment from a professional team in order to give this up. I just don?t know if that?s going to happen at this point in time with the way the baseball world is."


Mississippi State pitcher Houston Harding was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA because the baseball season was cut short due to coronavirus concerns. MSU pitching coach Scott Foxhall expects Harding and his upperclassmen teammates to return for the 2021 season.
Mississippi State pitcher Houston Harding was granted an extra year of eligibility by the NCAA because the baseball season was cut short due to coronavirus concerns. MSU pitching coach Scott Foxhall expects Harding and his upperclassmen teammates to return for the 2021 season. (Photo: Katy Knauss)


The MLB passed an agreement last week that could shorten the MLB Draft from 40 rounds to as few as five. Players who are drafted will be required to defer 90% of their signing bonuses the next two years, too.

Scott Boras, a well known baseball agent, told USA TODAY the agreement will force many college players who would have been drafted in later rounds to play another year of college ball. He said the financial upside has all but been eliminated for them.


Foxhall said that at this point in time, professional organizations are usually busy deciding which minor league players they are going to release from their rosters to make room for the players they will draft in June.

Fewer rounds in the draft means fewer players will be drafted, which means current players have a good chance of holding onto their roster spots. And, of course, that means current college players have less of a chance of finding a professional home.


Former Mississippi State pitcher Jared Liebelt, who is in the Arizona Diamondbacks organization, is one of those minor league players who could benefit in the short term by a smaller influx of players turning professional.

But there are still unanswered questions for him, too.

"Now that there aren't as many players coming in, there might not be any players going out," he said. "But what does that do to our chances of being promoted this year? Are we going to be stuck at our current level because there is not going to be enough guys coming in to take our spots where we were last year? We don't really know."

That last comment from Liebelt is an accurate emblem of the situation in general.

"There is a lot of uncertainty in professional baseball," Foxhall said. "I think right now is going to be one of the hardest times to get into professional baseball."

If that's the case, then consider this Christmas in April for Foxhall and many other college coaches around the country.

Graduate seniors Spencer Price, Carlisle Koestler and David Dunlavey are all expected to be on Mississippi State's 2021 roster. Juniors Houston Harding, Jaxen Forrester, Jared Shemper and Chase Patrick should be back too.

Those are a lot of veteran arms at Foxhall's disposal. Price didn't allow a run in 7 1/3 innings pitched this past season. Harding and Koestler both picked up wins over Texas Tech in the final two games Mississippi State played before the season was canceled.

Foxhall was especially giddy to hear that Price is eligible to return. He earned saves in each of those Texas Tech games by producing back-to-back "three up, three down" ninth innings.

"He was dynamite and has the right mentality at the end of games," he said. "We're really excited for that piece because that might be the most important thing in college baseball, is having a pitcher at the end of the game that you put in and your team knows it is going to win the game when you put him in. He was becoming that guy over his last few outings."

Dunlavey, Patrick, Forrester and Shemper were four of the most used Bulldog bullpen pitchers in 2020. They combined to pitch 23 innings. Dunlavey led that quartet with an ERA of 1.69.

"Over the next year, it looks like we should be in good hands with those guys," Foxhall said.

'It hit all of us': Why Christian MacLeod is prepared for uncertainties during coronavirus crisis

Foxhall obviously has a better grasp of what Mississippi State's upperclassmen pitchers will do than he does on hitters and fielders. That group includes some of the most important players on the team, including Rowdey Jordan, Justin Foscue, Tanner Allen, Jordan Westburg and Josh Hatcher.

Foxhall said every player on the roster has been reached by head coach Chris Lemonis since the NCAA's ruling on eligibility came out on Monday. He said the general consensus is that position players feel the same way pitchers do.

"I think they?re going to understand that their best option and what they want to do in their heart is to come back here and play for our fans and to try to win a national championship here," Foxhall said.

[KOdawg1]

Wouldn't get my hopes up Foscue and Westburg