Bored at work thoughts...

[TNDawg35]

Some thoughts I had while sitting at work not doing shit.

- Why isn?t Kellum getting a chance at 1st or 3rd. Someone made a comment it doesn?t help the situation. How does it not? It frees up the DH spot for either Hancock or Kam and may very plug a hole in the defense. The kid was gonna be a good draft pick until he started telling scouts he was coming to State. He can?t be any worse than what?s playing there now.

- I don?t know what is wrong with the bullpen and walks, but damn we have got to quit walking people. That is literally costing us games.

- I HATE the damn shift...

- Fristoe looked good tonight seeing as he was pitching in a dang wind/rain storm.

- LT looked pretty dang good at 1st. I wouldn?t be against giving him the wknd off from catching and letting him rest. Hancock can handle it for a wknd.

- Forsyth is still a freshman. He will be a damn good player for us or he will move on. One of the two. We have damn good talent coming in. The more talented player will play. If Leggett could hit the broadside of a barn, he would be playing.

- No way I throw Mac or Bednar game 1 of the regional. Throw either Harding or Fristoe. Hell even Cade Smith wouldn?t be a bad choice. Then that sets up Mac and Bednar for winners bracket games.

- We all know if we cut out the errors and walks, we can hang with anyone. We have all seen it. It?s getting close to putting up or shutting up time.

- Last wknd was horrible. I was madder than hell all wknd. My wife knew it and my girls knew it. If I?m TA or Rowdy, I would be plum embarrassed. We literally controlled our own destiny with an SEC title on the line and we said 17 it, we don?t want it...

- One thing I believe it was Thursday?s game on TV, the camera showed our dugout at one point between innings. We were dancing and joking around, and we were loosing. If your loosing to a team like that, someone has to step up and cut that shit out. You can joke around and dancing all you want when your winning the damn game. Not pissing away an SEC title. THAT bothered me.

- I don?t know what the hell is wrong with Kam, but lord help someone get him a Jobu statue cause he can?t hit a damn curve either...

[Todd4State]

Some thoughts I had while sitting at work not doing shit.

- Why isn?t Kellum getting a chance at 1st or 3rd. Someone made a comment it doesn?t help the situation. How does it not? It frees up the DH spot for either Hancock or Kam and may very plug a hole in the defense. The kid was gonna be a good draft pick until he started telling scouts he was coming to State. He can?t be any worse than what?s playing there now. I would look at him at first but I'm sure the coaches have too in practice. Ultimately I'm not really sure where he ends up postion wise at MSU because we are loading up on corner INF/OF types in this class.

- I don?t know what is wrong with the bullpen and walks, but damn we have got to quit walking people. That is literally costing us games. Stinnett is effectively wild and probably pretty lucky. We didn't pitch our A-listers tonight- Sims, Preston Johnson, and Brandon Smith. I guess you could add Harding to that group too maybe. Good to see Spencer Price do well and get out of a jam. Maybe someone like Cerentola emerges in the SEC Tournament.

- I HATE the damn shift... I think we shift too much and should use it mostly with LH hitters.

- Fristoe looked good tonight seeing as he was pitching in a dang wind/rain storm. Yeah. I think he may start Saturday. The rest probably did him some good.

- LT looked pretty dang good at 1st. I wouldn?t be against giving him the wknd off from catching and letting him rest. Hancock can handle it for a wknd. No because Tanner is elite defensively and can shut down another teams running game. He has more value behind the plate than Hancock. And we need a really good catcher if we're going to walk people and make errors.

- Forsyth is still a freshman. He will be a damn good player for us or he will move on. One of the two. We have damn good talent coming in. The more talented player will play. If Leggett could hit the broadside of a barn, he would be playing. But McCants and Ince are the only MIF prospects we are bringing in along with Meche. And it sounds like McCants isn't coming to school. So Forsythe will be our SS for the foreseeable future as Meche and Ince are more second base types.

- No way I throw Mac or Bednar game 1 of the regional. Throw either Harding or Fristoe. Hell even Cade Smith wouldn?t be a bad choice. Then that sets up Mac and Bednar for winners bracket games. I suspect we'll go with Fristoe. No way to know until we know who the opponent is though.

- We all know if we cut out the errors and walks, we can hang with anyone. We have all seen it. It?s getting close to putting up or shutting up time. This team is what it is.

- Last wknd was horrible. I was madder than hell all wknd. My wife knew it and my girls knew it. If I?m TA or Rowdy, I would be plum embarrassed. We literally controlled our own destiny with an SEC title on the line and we said 17 it, we don?t want it...

- One thing I believe it was Thursday?s game on TV, the camera showed our dugout at one point between innings. We were dancing and joking around, and we were loosing. If your loosing to a team like that, someone has to step up and cut that shit out. You can joke around and dancing all you want when your winning the damn game. Not pissing away an SEC title. THAT bothered me. The focus just wasn't there. I'm more upset about the errors.

- I don?t know what the hell is wrong with Kam, but lord help someone get him a Jobu statue cause he can?t hit a damn curve either...

He's basically a freshman and we need to find a position for him. If I had to guess he'll probably move to the OF next year. He also has to make some adjustments at the plate. Long term he will be fine and I think he will be an All-SEC type player for us. I think he is going to the Cape where he will probably be tried at several spots.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I suspect that some of these boys dont want to win SEC titles or a National Title near as bad as the fans

I am skeptical right now, if they mail in the Alabama series, then we know they quit on Lemonis

[TNDawg35]

He's basically a freshman and we need to find a position for him. If I had to guess he'll probably move to the OF next year. He also has to make some adjustments at the plate. Long term he will be fine and I think he will be an All-SEC type player for us. I think he is going to the Cape where he will probably be tried at several spots.

Everything wasn’t talking about about the hame tonight. Especially the comment about the walks from the bullpen. They have been hit or Miss seems like besides Sims.

I was also talking about LT for just this wknd or a game or so this wknd. Let him get his legs back under him and be fresh for the regionals. Didn’t mean take him out period. I think he could be a legit 1st rounder next year if he can become more consistent with the bat.

I also think Forsyth can be damn good. He is pressing now to me just like Kam. It’s gotten in his head. He needs to relax and play the game. When he does, he makes some damn nice plays like the one running toward 3rd and throwing the guy out at 1st. When he doesn’t, he boots easy balls.

[BrunswickDawg]

I suspect that some of these boys dont want to win SEC titles or a National Title near as bad as the fans

I am skeptical right now, if they mail in the Alabama series, then we know they quit on Lemonis

I think that's a BS statement. You don't come to MSU to play baseball and not want those things.

Now, I do think it is possible that the majority of the team has no clue as to what it takes from a work and commitment standpoint to achieve those goals.
There are only 10 guys on the team from 2019 - and 2 of those were Red Shirting that year. So, we have 8 guys who have been thru the grind. 2 of the 8 (Self and Price) are buried deep in the pen; 1 has effectively been benched (Hatcher); and one has gone Rick Ankiel (Cerantola). None are starting Pitchers. That is where COVID wiping out last season and summer ball hurts us - I think we probably have a lot of young guys who looked at how relatively easily they performed pre-COVID last year, and had no clue what they were in for with the grind of the SEC schedule.

[Johnson85]

I suspect that some of these boys dont want to win SEC titles or a National Title near as bad as the fans

I am skeptical right now, if they mail in the Alabama series, then we know they quit on Lemonis

Holy shite. How many fans are even giving significant amounts of money to the school? Much less trading in a normal college experience and their summers to work out and practice baseball?

You must think they're extremely talented if they have managed to be more or less lock up a national seed while not wanting to win.

They lost focus and played like shit. It happens to pretty much every baseball team over the course of a season. We really haven't had a problem with it this year so we were due.

[basedog]

Actually we are having a very good year. Yes we have some problems but nothing beats winning no matter how we do it. I'm sorta surprised how well we have done up to this point, never thought of us even being in the top 10 but right now we are so I ain't complaining. You just have to take it one game at a time and keep winning, regardless of errors, wild pitches, walks and not clutch hitting. LOL but true.

[HoopsDawg]

considering our roster makeup and the adversity we have faced with some guys not performing as hoped, this team has over-acheived. Gotta give a lot of credit to the coaches and guys like TA, Rowdey, and Logan Tanner.

[BrunswickDawg]

Actually we are having a very good year. Yes we have some problems but nothing beats winning no matter how we do it. I'm sorta surprised how well we have done up to this point, never thought of us even being in the top 10 but right now we are so I ain't complaining. You just have to take it one game at a time and keep winning, regardless of errors, wild pitches, walks and not clutch hitting. LOL but true.

This what I think people have lost sight of this because we do have 2 real upperclassmen studs in the every day line up - Jordan, Allen. And, we had a lot of names we know, but haven't had a ton of PT - especially in SEC games - like Hancock who played in 9 SEC games and 3 SEC Tourney games.

But, when it comes to SEC experience, our team is really lacking. Our 3 primary starters are a COVID Freshman (Bednar), A COVID RS Freshman (Mac), and a Freshman (Fristoe) - not a single SEC inning between them before this season. LoTan is a stud, but is a COVID freshman who hadn't faced SEC pitching. The majority of the playing time currently in the field is going to a Grad Transfer from an Atlantic Sun team (Dubrule); a COVID Freshman in James, a JUCO transfer in Leggett; a True Freshman Forsyth; and a football player - the only one of the bunch to have played in SEC games. Our SR. 1st baseman has lost his job to a 2 catchers. In the bullpen,. Koestler, Cerantola, Self, Price, and Brandon Smith are the only guys with SEc experience while the other 16 guys who have pitched have zero.

On paper - I'd tell you that we would be lucky to go 15-15 in SEC play with that.

[OLJWales]

I suspect that some of these boys dont want to win SEC titles or a National Title near as bad as the fans

I am skeptical right now, if they mail in the Alabama series, then we know they quit on Lemonis

WTF?

[basedog]

This what I think people have lost sight of this because we do have 2 real upperclassmen studs in the every day line up - Jordan, Allen. And, we had a lot of names we know, but haven't had a ton of PT - especially in SEC games - like Hancock who played in 9 SEC games and 3 SEC Tourney games.

But, when it comes to SEC experience, our team is really lacking. Our 3 primary starters are a COVID Freshman (Bednar), A COVID RS Freshman (Mac), and a Freshman (Fristoe) - not a single SEC inning between them before this season. LoTan is a stud, but is a COVID freshman who hadn't faced SEC pitching. The majority of the playing time currently in the field is going to a Grad Transfer from an Atlantic Sun team (Dubrule); a COVID Freshman in James, a JUCO transfer in Leggett; a True Freshman Forsyth; and a football player - the only one of the bunch to have played in SEC games. Our SR. 1st baseman has lost his job to a 2 catchers. In the bullpen,. Koestler, Cerantola, Self, Price, and Brandon Smith are the only guys with SEc experience while the other 16 guys who have pitched have zero.

On paper - I'd tell you that we would be lucky to go 15-15 in SEC play with that.

Totally agree, message board folks including me and all others sometimes forget how young many players are and we all have “I know what we should do attitude”.

Let’s win this series against a decent Bama team and get hot going into Sec and Regional play.

Can’t wait to be at the Dudy for Regional play. It will be electric always has and always will!

[Turfdawg67]

WTF?

I know this isn't news but, we have some of the worst fans...

[StarkVegasSteve]

This what I think people have lost sight of this because we do have 2 real upperclassmen studs in the every day line up - Jordan, Allen. And, we had a lot of names we know, but haven't had a ton of PT - especially in SEC games - like Hancock who played in 9 SEC games and 3 SEC Tourney games.

But, when it comes to SEC experience, our team is really lacking. Our 3 primary starters are a COVID Freshman (Bednar), A COVID RS Freshman (Mac), and a Freshman (Fristoe) - not a single SEC inning between them before this season. LoTan is a stud, but is a COVID freshman who hadn't faced SEC pitching. The majority of the playing time currently in the field is going to a Grad Transfer from an Atlantic Sun team (Dubrule); a COVID Freshman in James, a JUCO transfer in Leggett; a True Freshman Forsyth; and a football player - the only one of the bunch to have played in SEC games. Our SR. 1st baseman has lost his job to a 2 catchers. In the bullpen,. Koestler, Cerantola, Self, Price, and Brandon Smith are the only guys with SEc experience while the other 16 guys who have pitched have zero.

On paper - I'd tell you that we would be lucky to go 15-15 in SEC play with that.

Without Tanner and Rowdey we'd be lucky to go 15-15. They mask A LOT of our problems with their ability to get on base and get people home, although Rowdey's RBI opportunities are few and far between because our lineup is a black hole 7-9.

[Johnson85]

This what I think people have lost sight of this because we do have 2 real upperclassmen studs in the every day line up - Jordan, Allen. And, we had a lot of names we know, but haven't had a ton of PT - especially in SEC games - like Hancock who played in 9 SEC games and 3 SEC Tourney games.

But, when it comes to SEC experience, our team is really lacking. Our 3 primary starters are a COVID Freshman (Bednar), A COVID RS Freshman (Mac), and a Freshman (Fristoe) - not a single SEC inning between them before this season. LoTan is a stud, but is a COVID freshman who hadn't faced SEC pitching. The majority of the playing time currently in the field is going to a Grad Transfer from an Atlantic Sun team (Dubrule); a COVID Freshman in James, a JUCO transfer in Leggett; a True Freshman Forsyth; and a football player - the only one of the bunch to have played in SEC games. Our SR. 1st baseman has lost his job to a 2 catchers. In the bullpen,. Koestler, Cerantola, Self, Price, and Brandon Smith are the only guys with SEc experience while the other 16 guys who have pitched have zero.

On paper - I'd tell you that we would be lucky to go 15-15 in SEC play with that.

Well, not that I disagree with the conclusion, but you're applying a lot of hindsight. Coming into the season, we thought we had two upperclassmen studs in ROwdy and Allen and a good upper classman in Hatcher. Then we thought we had a true ace in McLeod (granted based on limited, OOC experience but had been hearing about how good he was even when he was redshirting) and we had Cerantola that was a question mark but has the physical tools to be special. We felt pretty good we had a stud catcher (although again, based on limited play, but this turned out to be right). We had the active career hits leader (or is he second?) transferring in that was granted coming from a lower conference, but it's not like good hitters from lower conference teams are completely lost when they play us.

So yes, when you look at how almost all of our question marks coming into the season have turned out to be on the worse side of reasonable expectations and having what appeared to be a solid upper classman piece just inexplicably regress to worse than he was as a freshman, yea, it's pretty incredible that we have managed to win the way we have. But if you look at what we had on paper coming into the season, there was every reason to think we'd be where we are or better.

[Turfdawg67]

Without Tanner and Rowdey we'd be lucky to go 15-15. They mask A LOT of our problems with their ability to get on base and get people home, although Rowdey's RBI opportunities are few and far between because our lineup is a black hole 7-9.

A bunch on here wanted Rowdy benched. Lolz

[The Federalist Engineer]

I know this isn't news but, we have some of the worst fans...

We do have the worst fans, National Title or nothing. I can own that.

If we were Kentucky, this is a great season. If we were Texas A&M, this is a very promising season. Do you feel like a title is on the way?

[The Federalist Engineer]

A bunch on here wanted Rowdy benched. Lolz

I would say...Allen, Rowdey, and Sims are the clear MVPs of this season. If they were less stellar, we would be in a significantly different place.

[Turfdawg67]

We do have the worst fans, National Title or nothing. I can own that.

If we were Kentucky, this is a great season. If we were Texas A&M, this is a very promising season. Do you feel like a title is on the way?

So... and I'm trying to weave thru the inner-workings of your mind... You are saying that because we are "Mississippi State Baseball" and we had a rough weekend, our players are "tanking it" for some reason?

[HoopsDawg]

A bunch on here wanted Rowdy benched. Lolz

Don't do that. That's not true. There were several people that wanted him moved down the order. But maybe 2 out of a 1000 posters wanted him benched for a game.

[The Federalist Engineer]

So... and I'm trying to weave thru the inner-workings of your mind... You are saying that because we are "Mississippi State Baseball" and we had a rough weekend, our players are "tanking it" for some reason?

If Turfdawg is happy with the season, in his mind, is that not the only thing that matters to Turfdawg, in his mind. That is none of my business. You can have your own standards.

I have my perspective on great MSU teams, many seasons watched, the Missouri loses were dire. We did not face any All American's doing their best thing like Kumar Rocker in Omaha. We did not face a team on a war path to a NC like Georgia 1990, that mauled us. I really cannot recall something similar to Missouri on a team that was ultimately great.

To me, Jay Powell on the radio, and probably Lemonis it looked like low motivation and low energy. But how can you not be motivated and supremely invigorated to chase a conference title? Does it make it better to accept if you argue that Missouri was just supposed to quit and lose? To me that is almost worse.