Baseball Hot Board

[cheewgumm]

Some of you refuse to look thru the eyes of a 20 year old. Of course how you see things at 40/50/60 is different

Then why are we ranked so high in recruiting?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Tuscaloosa is a shit hole.

But they have more than 4 bars. Like we all love Starkville, but it's because we're Mississippi State fans. Would you like it if you were a 18-22 year old who had no attachment to Starkville? That's what Mississippi State has to figure out. And not just athletically, we have to figure that out as a University. How do we expand our reach to get people to campus? How do we expand our footprint to Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, etc.? Because that's how you start changing the perception. And that's what we need. A national perception change. Ole Miss has been able to do that and is capitalizing off of it.

[Coach34]

We also sent more players to the draft than anyone.

So ?

1) we are one of the top 5 recruiters on the country (this is also while we are sucking)

2) we sent more players to the draft last year than anyone.

Yet, nobody wants to come here because we don?t pay enough. The facts say otherwise.

What am I misunderstanding?

Recruiting HS and recruiting portal are 2 different animals.

[cheewgumm]

Some of you refuse to look thru the eyes of a 20 year old. Of course how you see things at 40/50/60 is different

But they have more than 4 bars. Like we all love Starkville, but it's because we're Mississippi State fans. Would you like it if you were a 18-22 year old who had no attachment to Starkville? That's what Mississippi State has to figure out. And not just athletically, we have to figure that out as a University. How do we expand our reach to get people to campus? How do we expand our footprint to Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, etc.? Because that's how you start changing the perception. And that's what we need. A national perception change. Ole Miss has been able to do that and is capitalizing off of it.

Then why are we ranked so high in recruiting?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Then why are we ranked so high in recruiting?

Well Harmon and the Parker brothers being ranked so high and all from MS definitely helped us this cycle. Also, Mershon's brother being ranked high helped. I mean that 4 of our top 6 or 7 that had a prior connection to MS and State. And that the end of the day, we're in the SEC. You're going to get some players solely based on that.

[cheewgumm]

Some of you refuse to look thru the eyes of a 20 year old. Of course how you see things at 40/50/60 is different

But they have more than 4 bars. Like we all love Starkville, but it's because we're Mississippi State fans. Would you like it if you were a 18-22 year old who had no attachment to Starkville? That's what Mississippi State has to figure out. And not just athletically, we have to figure that out as a University. How do we expand our reach to get people to campus? How do we expand our footprint to Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, etc.? Because that's how you start changing the perception. And that's what we need. A national perception change. Ole Miss has been able to do that and is capitalizing off of it.

Recruiting HS and recruiting portal are 2 different animals.

Well Harmon and the Parker brothers being ranked so high and all from MS definitely helped us this cycle. Also, Mershon's brother being ranked high helped. I mean that 4 of our top 6 or 7 that had a prior connection to MS and State.

Have we historically been high or is it just this year that we have connections?

[StarkVegasSteve]

Have we historically been high or is it just this year that we have connections?

Under Lemonis we have not been this high. And still may not in the final rankings. Some of those kids could bypass and go to the draft.

Like for example, we were ranked really high with Austin Riley in his class and Blaze Jordan in his. Once they opted for the draft, the ranking fell. Same when we had Austin Hendrick and James Wood committed. And those guys never even took an official to campus. They committed at a camp.

[sandjunky]

Then why are we ranked so high in recruiting?

Perfect Game rankings are metric and how much you spend on your kid going to their showcases

I saw a kid go from a perfect game 7.5 to perfect game 9.5 in 15 months with nearly the same metrics but had attend 8 showcases

That?s been the thing that has gotten Lemonis the most / recruiting too many 5 o?clock players and not enough 7 o?clock guys (dirtbags)

[cheewgumm]

Perfect Game rankings are metric and how much you spend on your kid going to their showcases

I saw a kid go from a perfect game 7.5 to perfect game 9.5 in 15 months with nearly the same metrics but had attend 8 showcases

That?s been the thing that has gotten Lemonis the most / recruiting too many 5 o?clock players and not enough 7 o?clock guys (dirtbags)

If there is another ranking you?d rather use I?m open to it.

I?m just trying to judge this accurately.

I think once we get rid of Lemonis and start winning again, we will recruit even better.

[Coach34]

I think once we get rid of Lemonis and start winning again, we will recruit even better.

and I'm of the mind that I dont think it's a coincidence that State and Mississippi started struggling once NIL permeated college sports. We can still put together good teams- but it's harder now than it was

[HoopsDawg]

Some of you refuse to look thru the eyes of a 20 year old. Of course how you see things at 40/50/60 is different

This is just such a bad take/excuse.

A kid from Miami may not want to live in Starkville but there are plenty of country boys that can play ball that would crawl on glass to play in Starkville. Hell, the best catcher in California just signed with MSU.

I'm sorry you didn't have in friends in Starkville when you were in school and had to drive to Delta State to get laid. And I'm sorry that Starkvegasdawg hates Starkville. But y'all are spewing true BS.

[Coach34]

This is just such a bad take/excuse.

A kid from Miami may not want to live in Starkville but there are plenty of country boys that can play ball that would crawl on glass to play in Starkville. Hell, the best catcher in California just signed with MSU.

I'm sorry you didn't have in friends in Starkville when you were in school and had to drive to Delta State to get laid. And I'm sorry that Starkvegasdawg hates Starkville. But y'all are spewing true BS.

Hilarious. I had many friends at State with quite a few of them on this board- that didnt make Starkville any more fun. Drinking beer and watching BJ Wallace throw darts has its moments- but it's just not what I would call an awesome time. Or sitting around talking drinking beer at a townhouse party with Freebird playing. Or shooting pool and drinking beer at The Landing. Thats just not exciting for alot of college age people. Having to drive to Columbus for a decent time sucked. Starkville is what it is

[KB21]

Baseball America also ranks Mississippi State high. They have Mississippi State 6th in 2025 and currently 9th in 2026.

[HoopsDawg]

Hilarious. I had many friends at State with quite a few of them on this board- that didnt make Starkville any more fun. Drinking beer and watching BJ Wallace throw darts has its moments- but it's just not what I would call an awesome time. Or sitting around talking drinking beer at a townhouse party with Freebird playing. Or shooting pool and drinking beer at The Landing. Thats just not exciting for alot of college age people. Having to drive to Columbus for a decent time sucked. Starkville is what it is

Starkville has changed a lot since the early 90s. But I have to admit, all those things you mentioned sound pretty damn good to me. Especially when you throw in some of the best looking women at any college in the country.

[Santiago]

Big difference between saying players won't come here to play in Starkville, and watching each season base running mistakes and everything else that can be ironed out.

Let's host some regionals, how about it?

[State82]

REALISTICALLY IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

1. Skylar Meade-Troy

2. Jordan Bischel-Cincinnati

3. Chris Pollard-Duke

4. Will Coggin-UGA Hitting Coach

5. Josh Elander-Tennessee Hitting Coach

Those seem reasonable and realistic. I think I would lean a little more toward Bischel but would probably be ok with any of them. Whatever it takes to get a change implemented. And as far as Godwin, I would not give him the opportunity.

[HoopsDawg]

Big difference between saying players won't come here to play in Starkville, and watching each season base running mistakes and everything else that can be ironed out.

Let's host some regionals, how about it?

Yep. We are dead last in the SEC in fielding. Base running is a good barometer of a well coached team. And not having roles set by now is atrocious. He's using SEC games as auditions. These things should have been settled weeks ago. And no excuse not to grab a legit starter out of the portal.

[KB21]

Yep. We are dead last in the SEC in fielding. Base running is a good barometer of a well coached team. And not having roles set by now is atrocious. He's using SEC games as auditions. These things should have been settled weeks ago. And no excuse not to grab a legit starter out of the portal.

All of this. When you are losing games on the margins like Mississippi State has this season, all of these aspects play a role. Fielding. Base running. Strategic decisions. When you keep losing close games like they have this season, you have to look at what you are doing on the margins. Because it isn't a talent issue. Saturday's LSU game is the only noncompetitive game this team has played this year. All of the other losses are by 4 runs or less, and the first 7 losses were by a combined 15 runs.

Players will have bad days from time to time. A player like Dylan Cupp will unexpectedly boot a ball or make a bad throw every once in a while. It's the nature of the game. A player may make a base running mistake by being overly aggressive from time to time. However, when it becomes a trend that continues to get you beat, you have to look at coaching and what they are focusing on in practice. When you see things like a pitcher not covering first on a ground ball that is hit between first and second, it makes you wonder what they are doing in PFP practice. We have the types of bats a team needs in the lineup. We have at least 6 hitters, if not 7, who should hit double digit HRs this year and have high slugs. So, when these hitters are consistently getting fooled by spin, it really makes me wonder what we are doing in practice to improve pitch and spin recognition. Are we setting the juggs machine to 95 plus and just hitting fastballs all the time?

[KB21]

Those seem reasonable and realistic. I think I would lean a little more toward Bischel but would probably be ok with any of them. Whatever it takes to get a change implemented. And as far as Godwin, I would not give him the opportunity.

My concern with Bischel is that he seems to rely too much on playing small ball, and I don't think that style has a chance in hell of working in the SEC against teams like Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama who are coaching their hitters to mash the ball.

[StarkVegasSteve]

Starkville has changed a lot since the early 90s. But I have to admit, all those things you mentioned sound pretty damn good to me. Especially when you throw in some of the best looking women at any college in the country.

And that's what I'm trying to get at with my point since I think you called me out for hating Starkville, even though I give a good amount to NIL and have a damn condo in Starkville so I'm paying those wonderful property taxes. For us, that does sound fun. And it sounded fun when we were 18 as well. What I'm saying is that we knew about Starkville. We're from Mississippi. Our expectations were set. If you were like me, by the time you were a Freshman at Mississippi State you had been on campus and in Starkville, give or take, 100 times.

What I'm saying is that we have to grow our brand. We can't keep counting on people from Clarksdale to come to Mississippi State, go back home to Clarksdale after graduation, and spread the message of Mississippi State far and wide. We have to start recruiting kids from Dallas, Atlanta, Nashville, Charleston, etc. and have them go back after graduation to spread the message. Starkville's problem is one thing PERCEPTION. Is it going to be the greatest college town? Absolutely not. Space wise we are limited with how many spots we can have in the Cotton District unless some of the apartment complexes are torn down. But it can be looked at in more of an Oxford light if you spread the message. We have never attempted to do that. We're too worried about in state students. Ole Miss has a better brand than us because they embraced out of state. Not because Oxford is just that much better than Starkville.