NCAA Baseball Transfer Portal

[Coach34]

Frankly we need a top 3 portal class to hit our goals next year.

No 3B. Need a bat in the OF or it'll probably be Hujsak with his .227 average.

I've broken down the pitchers before, it's something like 10 SEC innings of pitching we return and that's being generous. We need 3 starting pitchers (and it's unreasonable to expect any of Loo/Loftin/Holcombe to make that big of a jump, let alone 2 or 3 of them). We need relievers. Realistically it's about 6 innings of SEC serviceable pitching and 6 innings of well above average SEC pitching we need from the Portal.

Hahahahahaha

I’m gonna call it now that Hugesak is a starter and at least 2/3 of our starting SEC rotation is Loftin/Holcombe/Loo

[CaptainObvious]

I know this is a Portal discussion thread, but is there and chance Covid Senior and TJ recovering Stone Simmons returns for 24? And isn?t Auger supposed to be 100% in 24 following his TJ surgery in 22?

Those guys seemed to be pretty good at the start of 22 before their injuries started the team swoon.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Hahahahahaha

I’m gonna call it now that Hugesak is a starter and at least 2/3 of our starting SEC rotation is Loftin/Holcombe/Loo

Because we can't get a good transfers at OF or pitcher? Yes. I agree that seems to be the situation so far thus guys on the roster will technically be the starters.

But if you're saying Hujesak will hit .300, and the pitchers you name will have SEC ERAs under 4.5? I doubt it. Hope you're right, but this is why I say we need transfers. Hujsak has talent but hasn't put it together any season of college. The pitchers you mention have talent but we rarely see such huge jumps in 1 offseason. All 3 are basically true Fr as far as coaching goes since Fox was so useless.

Now one thing I will admit is that I have not assumed any Fr can contribute at a high SEC level outside of Cupp. There's usually a pitcher that can, and we may get lucky and have a stud OF/3B emerge. I don't follow baseball recruiting very close

[Coach34]

Any decent PC can get Loftin/Loo/Holcombe ready to get SEC hitters out. Too much talent there. Not to mention every other school has pitchers that contribute as Freshmen and then become weekend starters as Sophomores. Also good to see Siary and Forsythe having good summers on the mound

Hugesak is also having a good summer- hitting over .400 and showing his pop.

[Cooterpoot]

I know this is a Portal discussion thread, but is there and chance Covid Senior and TJ recovering Stone Simmons returns for 24? And isn?t Auger supposed to be 100% in 24 following his TJ surgery in 22?

Those guys seemed to be pretty good at the start of 22 before their injuries started the team swoon.

Last I heard, he's expected back.

[Cooterpoot]

Any decent PC can get Loftin/Loo/Holcombe ready to get SEC hitters out. Too much talent there. Not to mention every other school has pitchers that contribute as Freshmen and then become weekend starters as Sophomores. Also good to see Siary and Forsythe having good summers on the mound

Hugesak is also having a good summer- hitting over .400 and showing his pop.

2 of those 3 pitchers just need to work primarily on their mental approach. Not that can't improve their stuff as well, but their larger problem is their mental approach. HugeSack has always been able to hit. It's his defense that's got to be better. Especially his throwing. He's going to be in the lineup IMO. TBD where/how they use him.

[Johnson85]

Frankly we need a top 3 portal class to hit our goals next year.

No 3B. Need a bat in the OF or it'll probably be Hujsak with his .227 average.

I've broken down the pitchers before, it's something like 10 SEC innings of pitching we return and that's being generous. We need 3 starting pitchers (and it's unreasonable to expect any of Loo/Loftin/Holcombe to make that big of a jump, let alone 2 or 3 of them). We need relievers. Realistically it's about 6 innings of SEC serviceable pitching and 6 innings of well above average SEC pitching we need from the Portal.

I think you need to prepare yourself that we're not hitting whatever goals you have in mind. Realistically, we need to not suck next year. We need to be a 2 seed. Long term, the goal should be host every year, occasional down years balanced out by occasional national seed years. But we're not realistically going to get from where we are now to where we want to be in one year with the NIL money we have now.

[Cooterpoot]

We aren't going to have a better portal haul than LSU, FL, & probably TCU. If we hit on our guys, we'll be up there though. The wait and see makes more sense with what we're trying to do. Winning a bidding war with LSU is impossible. Outside of that, it's our coaching situation. We probably have to pay more than usual for a top guy or two.

[The Federalist Engineer]

Yes but with one top arm you have guaranteed win almost every Friday. That being said, as you bring up, he could also throw his arm out and all that money is wasted. On the other end you can get a hit line Skeens and he gets you to the CWS. If we do have a good staff then go get a top dawg and let the rest battle.

Internet Germans and Russians are saying that Burns is TCU bound....

Just talking smack here, the Skenes deal at LSU worked for a Championship because (1) Skenes was uniquely awesome. That is why we were hoping that he would be a Dog and he created a stir when he tweeted about Aaron Nixon joining MSU. (2) LSU had other arms and great players to complement Skenes.

Heading to 2024, MSU has a really bad pitching staff overall and the bullpen is an atrocity. A super transfer (like Skenes) would help, but Chase Burns is not Skenes. He could become that good, but you can't say that Chase Burns is going to win 90% of his Fridays and go 8 innings like Skenes. Burns had a losing record and bad ERA as a starter. Does not mean that Burns is not going to get better and dominate 2024, but he does not guarantee a solution.

The best option (if we really had an option with Burns) would be to improve the overall pitching talent with 5-or-so solid players to help Parker succeed. That alone would win 7-to-9 more SEC games. You are then hosting regionals with quality depth and could easily be a 2024 Omaha team.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

Yall act like its so easy to just "add arms" or "develop" the players. There a reason that every year about 13/14 SEC teams loose games due to lack of depth in the pen. There's a reason very few SEC teams even have a Sunday starter that can go 5. There's a reason top Portal guys get bid up and courted by multiple teams.

It is hard to throw 95+, have other pitches, and be able to consistently command all of them. EVERY SEC team has guys that throw 95+ but doesn't see the field and transfer to a small school as Jr's or Srs. Look at LSU's Floyd- guy throws 97, sits 95, has a slider and a good changeup. Had an SEC ERA of over 5 and never went deep into games due to lack of command. It wasn't till the postseason he started locating all his pitches. And that's a guy with far more college coaching than our guys will have had come the spring.

I think we see a guy throw fast and we think about it in 2013 terms where 97 was insane. It's not anymore. You have to locate and have good secondary stuff because everyone throws it fast enough to have a high ceiling.

[Saltydog]

Last I heard, he's expected back.

Simmons or Auger or both?

[TNDawg35]

Simmons or Auger or both?

Both

[BigDawg81]

The 2 transfers that are committed are not going to announce until after Team USA is done playing which is the 14th of July I believe. One assumes it is Montgomery and Holman.

[the_real_MSU_is_us]

The 2 transfers that are committed are not going to announce until after Team USA is done playing which is the 14th of July I believe. One assumes it is Montgomery and Holman.

I'll happily eat crow if true. Those would be MASSIVE gets and we'd just need a 3B, probably a couple more inning of relief but those 2 are massive gets

[Saltydog]

The 2 transfers that are committed are not going to announce until after Team USA is done playing which is the 14th of July I believe. One assumes it is Montgomery and Holman.

Here's the roster:

Ben Abeldt; LHP; McKinney, Texas; TCU
Matt Ager; RHP; Pleasanton, Calif.; UC Santa Barbara
Drew Beam; RHP; Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Tennessee
Jac Caglianone; LHP/1B; Tampa, Fla.; Florida
Charlie Condon; 1B/OF; Marietta, Ga.; Georgia
Christian Coppola; RHP; Galloway, N.J.; Rutgers
Kaelen Culpepper; INF; Memphis, Tenn.; Kansas State
Duce Gourson; INF; San Diego, Calif.; UCLA
Rodney Green, Jr.; OF; Richmond, Calif.; Cal
Luke Holman; RHP; Sinking Spring, Pa.
*Carter Holton; LHP; Guyton, Ga.; Vanderbilt
Ryan Johnson; RHP; Red Oak, Texas; Dallas Baptist
Seaver King; INF; Athena, Ga.; Wake Forest
Jace LaViolette; OF; Katy, Texas; Texas A&M
Michael Massey; RHP; Suwanee, Ga.; Wake Forest
Xavier Meachem; RHP; Winterville, N.C.; NC A&T
Omar Melendez; LHP; Cayey, P.R.; Alabama State
Braden Montgomery; OF/RHP; Madison, Miss.; Stanford
^Malcolm Moore; C; Sacramento, Calif.; Stanford
^Christian Moore; INF; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Tennessee
Brandon Neely; RHP; Seville, Fla.; Florida
Tyson Neighbors; RHP; Royse City, Texas; Kansas State
Griff O'Ferrall; INF; Richmond, Va.; Virginia
Fran Oschell III; RHP; Phoenixville, Pa.; Duke
Kyle Robinson; RHP; Vienna, Va.; Texas Tech
Hagen Smith; LHP; Bullard, Texas; Arkansas
Ryan Stafford; C; Folsom, Calif.; Cal Poly
JJ Wetherholt; INF; Mars, Pa.; West Virginia
Nicholas Wilson; RHP; Carrollton, Texas; Southern
Jay Woolfolk; RHP; Chesterfield, Va.; Virginia
Trey Yesavage; RHP; Boyertown, Pa.; East Carolina

*denotes national team alum
^denotes National Team Development Program (NTDP) participant

Just looking at it from a purely geographical standpoint the only other one I could possibly see would be the kid from KSU that is from Memphis. Of course, most suspect Kulp will be the SS. The kid from Alabama State had good numbers, albeit against vastly inferior competition. They're both sophomores so I'm not sure of their draft eligibility.

[The Federalist Engineer]

325 hitting at KSU is ok, 950 fielding is better than Forskin at his best. But Team USA certainly is impressive. Somebody has to play 3B. Mershon is not totally a locked super-star, sub 900 fielding percentage. Midgets better be good fielders. We should consider 3B, SS, and 2B as winnable positions for the best player.

[The Federalist Engineer]

The Alabama state pitcher is probably a Parker kid if he is on the radar.

Parker has been a U18 Team USA coach. He could have scouted this player closely.

I think any team Team USA player is worth getting. Confirmation Bias. Guilty as Charged.

[Coach34]

How many games did Mershon play at 2B this past season to affect that fielding percentage? Because that is where he will be starting this Spring

Hines will be at 1st
Mershon at 2B
Highfill likely catching because nobody wants to transfer unless they are all but promised the job
Jordan and Hugesak in the OF.

We have to figure out who the SS will be, and find a 3B and another OF'er. Plus the DH

[Todd4State]

In a perfect world we would get Holman and Montgomery and then we could maybe get the 3B that played at Memphis last year and be OK.

We're probably getting the guy from Sacred Heart as well.

[The Federalist Engineer]

In a perfect world we would get Holman and Montgomery and then we could maybe get the 3B that played at Memphis last year and be OK.

We're probably getting the guy from Sacred Heart as well.

Sacred Heart? Would this be Sam Mongelli the 400 hitting SS with 20 HRs? I like these North East Players, in NY/Jersey they generally consider going south as barbaric like Mississippi kids don't want to move to Guatemala.