Quote Originally Posted by Todd4State View Post
Great post. Not a lot I would add.

We learned some things about our team and at the same time we have some question marks. What we learned was our team will scrap and fight and find ways to win. The question mark is what does our pitching staff really look like because not having Bednar and Cerentola as well several others out- we pitched some guys that may not pitch a lot for us during the year. Having Landon Sims and Brandon Smith is a luxury because it means we don't necessarily have to have a quality start every time out and because we have two quality arms that can go multiple innings we don't have to burn out Sims.

Spencer Price is a veteran closer who has been there and done that and can do a good job. Having Sims and Smith means we don't have to stretch him out beyond one inning.

Lovett and Hunt impressed me. Lovett looks like a legit set-up guy- and probably a future closer for us.

I'm guessing that we go Harding and Koestler midweek as kind of a two pitcher tandem and then pitch Fristoe or one of the other freshmen will pitch the second game if we have two midweek games.

One thing no one is talking about is we are missing Brayland Skinner. I think he would add another speed dimension to the lineup. Who knows how he is going to be when he comes back because wrist injuries are really tough for baseball players to come back from. It would be ideal if he can come back 100% and perform well but I'm not counting on it because of the injury he had.

I agree with everyone that wants to move Dubrule up and James down.

I'm pretty excited because of how we performed despite the short handed pitching staff and because of the quality of the opponents. I think Texas is going to be bad/below average. TCU and Texas Tech will probably be pretty solid teams. I'm curious to see how we do against Tulane because Cerentola and Bednar both should be back at that point. I think we'll have a lot better idea what our staff will actually look like this time next week. I hope we kick Jackson State's ass because they have that ungrateful asshole of a coach who got on ESPN and called us out because we donated some equipment to them to use after they lost a bunch of their's in a fire and said it was "the wrong color". The thing about playing a SWAC team is a lot of times their pitchers are wild and the key is to be patient at the plate and force them to throw meat. And be OK taking walks. Usually when a SEC team loses to a SWAC team it's because they're swinging at trash out of the zone and it results in weakly hit balls.

I think Logan Tanner is going to replace Ed Easley as the best catcher in MSU history. Guy is a special talent that is going to control the running game. That could especially be big if we have to play a team like Vanderbilt that likes to run.

Luke Hancock is going to be one of those guys that is a leader and probably a really good four year guy for us. He can play and you need guys like that on a college team. Rowdey and TA are the same types of players. Dubrule looks like an impact pick up as hoped. McGowan surprised me and he may end up winning the job outright if Skinner can't make it back.

We don't have Will Clark, Palmeiro, Rooker, etc on this team but I think we have enough offense. LHP looks like it could give us trouble- although I also think the guy TCU threw was a legit dude and not some average LHP. Hopefully we have enough pitching to where we can win our share against LHP.

I agree with other's assessment that we should be a SR team with a legit chance at Omaha. I think we have a really good chance to host a regional as well.
Your first sentence and then you wrote a book lol - I'm jacking with you