James Wood

[AlSwearengen]

Do ya?ll remember him? Big OF from Maryland, but played at IMG Academy that committed to us a few years ago. I remember we were hoping that he would go pro because he had a bad senior year, numbers wise. I just noticed that he is having a pretty good year in the majors at 22 yrs old.

[BeardoMSU]

[The Federalist Engineer]

He's a mauler as a pro.

We fans all wanted him of course, he was a 2nd rounder. Given his rapid development, he would have been a Golden Spikes All American type of collegiate. Been a top-5 pick in the draft in 2024. Woods, Dakota, and HH would have hit 75 home runs in 2024.

[Todd4State]

He's a mauler as a pro.

We fans all wanted him of course, he was a 2nd rounder. Given his rapid development, he would have been a Golden Spikes All American type of collegiate. Been a top-5 pick in the draft in 2024. Woods, Dakota, and HH would have hit 75 home runs in 2024.

I don't know. He was pretty raw in high school. I think he would have had a career arc more like Brent Rooker.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I don't know. He was pretty raw in high school. I think he would have had a career arc more like Brent Rooker.

He was bopping from Rookie Ball. He had no struggles in MilB. Woods had a better AAA than Dylan Crews. Woods would have hit 450 to 500 in college like Jac Caglione

[Todd4State]

He was bopping from Rookie Ball. He had no struggles in MilB. Woods had a better AAA than Dylan Crews. Woods would have hit 450 to 500 in college like Jac Caglione

I feel pretty confident in saying that SEC baseball is better than rookie ball. He was allowed to go at his own pace and develop which was beneficial to him. I do agree that by year three he would have been a star in college.

[smootness]

I feel pretty confident in saying that SEC baseball is better than rookie ball. He was allowed to go at his own pace and develop which was beneficial to him. I do agree that by year three he would have been a star in college.

Considering year 3 would have been last year, when he OPS’d 1.058 in AAA and .781 in the majors, I don’t think that’s a big limb you’re stepping out onto there.

His first year for us would have been the same year he was torching A ball and year 2 would have been the year he was lighting up A+ and performing well in AA.

He would have been a star here pretty darn quickly.

[The Federalist Engineer]

I feel pretty confident in saying that SEC baseball is better than rookie ball. He was allowed to go at his own pace and develop which was beneficial to him. I do agree that by year three he would have been a star in college.

All kinds of Collegiate stars and Solid Players don't make it past Single-A ball and many can't get past Rookie ball with decent numbers. Antoine Duplantis of LSU, all Sec player, Sec Freshman of the year, but could not break and take a AA promotion. Tommy Tanks, Chic Fil A spokesman, 224 hitter in A-Ball.

[Todd4State]

All kinds of Collegiate stars and Solid Players don't make it past Single-A ball and many can't get past Rookie ball with decent numbers. Antoine Duplantis of LSU, all Sec player, Sec Freshman of the year, but could not break and take a AA promotion. Tommy Tanks, Chic Fil A spokesman, 224 hitter in A-Ball.

That's because some of those players- I think it's too soon to call Tommy White a bust and I think MLB agrees with me since he got named to the Future's Game- peak in college and then hit their ceiling. And then when they get into pro ball they get passed up as the late bloomers catch up and in some cases pass them.

[Todd4State]

Considering year 3 would have been last year, when he OPS’d 1.058 in AAA and .781 in the majors, I don’t think that’s a big limb you’re stepping out onto there.

His first year for us would have been the same year he was torching A ball and year 2 would have been the year he was lighting up A+ and performing well in AA.

He would have been a star here pretty darn quickly.

Agree, Hunter Renfroe may have been a better comparison as far as career arc with obviously way better numbers with the livelier ball used in the SEC now and Woods having even more power.

[Commercecomet24]

James Wood is going to be a stud, with continued development and barring injury. Guy has all the tools! Been keeping up with him for awhile. He's been a great card investment for me so far!

[StarkVegasSteve]

You know we mention James Wood and I think it's obviously safe to say he made the correct decision. But I think another good topic would be what about the guys who haven't made it? Because for every James Wood there's a Quentin Holmes or Regi Grace.

I mean let's take our last 10 recruiting classes and look at how many we lost to the draft. How many of those guys made the incorrect decision? Obviously NIL wasn't a thing then so they took the money, but it wasn't like we were some hop along program that hadn't put a bunch of people in the MLB. My top ones that probably made the INCORRECT choice, in no particular order, would be:

1. Quentin Holmes- 2nd round pick in 2017 and was out of baseball by 2019.

2. Austin Kendrick-NIL was a thing and had Cohen not been our AD we probably could've put together a very attractive offer to keep him. He hasn't really done much in 5 seasons. Career BA barely above the Mendoza line with a career OBP under .300. This present year is by far his best year.

3. Regi Grace-This one still confuses me. He was an 10th Round pick and barely made it past high A. He's now in the Mexican league.

4. Carter Stewart- This is obviously the biggest what if because a 19 rotation of Small-Stewart-Ginn would've fed families and we would've won a national championship. He's been good in Japan but he's never lived up to the top 10 potential. He could've come here with Ginn, stayed two years, and probably still been a first round pick. Instead he's locked into a contract in Japan til I think 2027 while JT is already in the Majors.

5. Blaze Jordan- I debated adding this because I do think Blaze will be in the MLB soon but he seemed to kind of plateau and I just wonder had we gotten him for 2-3 years would he have been like Christian Moore and hit the ground running and been in the majors in a year. He's also another one that had we had an inkling of a clue what we were doing NIL wise, we could've gotten him to campus. I think COVID was a big reason he went ahead and signed with a team.

6. Maddux Bruns- I think this a pretty obvious one. Career ERA over 5 and never actually won a game. I know the minors give you time to work on things but he could've worked on the same thing at State and made money doing it.

7. Jared Johnson-Another obvious one, and I think one Commerce and I discussed a few months ago, but this kid should've come to college. 14th round pick that just blew up extremely late. I think he's out of baseball now but he got his money. He probably could've come here and been a great bullpen piece early that turned into a starter.



I didn't add kids like Dante Nori, Jett Williams, Colin Houck, Conrad Cason, or Aiden Smith because it is just too early to tell on those guys. Did I miss anyone over the years?

[BrunswickDawg]

You know we mention James Wood and I think it's obviously safe to say he made the correct decision. But I think another good topic would be what about the guys who haven't made it? Because for every James Wood there's a Quentin Holmes or Regi Grace.

I mean let's take our last 10 recruiting classes and look at how many we lost to the draft. How many of those guys made the incorrect decision? Obviously NIL wasn't a thing then so they took the money, but it wasn't like we were some hop along program that hadn't put a bunch of people in the MLB. My top ones that probably made the INCORRECT choice, in no particular order, would be:

1. Quentin Holmes- 2nd round pick in 2017 and was out of baseball by 2019.

2. Austin Kendrick-NIL was a thing and had Cohen not been our AD we probably could've put together a very attractive offer to keep him. He hasn't really done much in 5 seasons. Career BA barely above the Mendoza line with a career OBP under .300. This present year is by far his best year.

3. Regi Grace-This one still confuses me. He was an 10th Round pick and barely made it past high A. He's now in the Mexican league.

4. Carter Stewart- This is obviously the biggest what if because a 19 rotation of Small-Stewart-Ginn would've fed families and we would've won a national championship. He's been good in Japan but he's never lived up to the top 10 potential. He could've come here with Ginn, stayed two years, and probably still been a first round pick. Instead he's locked into a contract in Japan til I think 2027 while JT is already in the Majors.

5. Blaze Jordan- I debated adding this because I do think Blaze will be in the MLB soon but he seemed to kind of plateau and I just wonder had we gotten him for 2-3 years would he have been like Christian Moore and hit the ground running and been in the majors in a year. He's also another one that had we had an inkling of a clue what we were doing NIL wise, we could've gotten him to campus. I think COVID was a big reason he went ahead and signed with a team.

6. Maddux Bruns- I think this a pretty obvious one. Career ERA over 5 and never actually won a game. I know the minors give you time to work on things but he could've worked on the same thing at State and made money doing it.

7. Jared Johnson-Another obvious one, and I think one Commerce and I discussed a few months ago, but this kid should've come to college. 14th round pick that just blew up extremely late. I think he's out of baseball now but he got his money. He probably could've come here and been a great bullpen piece early that turned into a starter.



I didn't add kids like Dante Nori, Jett Williams, Colin Houck, Conrad Cason, or Aiden Smith because it is just too early to tell on those guys. Did I miss anyone over the years?

To me the biggest "what if" on draft players is Austin Riley. Put Riley on the '16, '17 & '18 teams. Riley hit .271 with 20 HR in A ball in 2016 - put him in our lineup at 3B instead of Gavin Collins in '16, Cody Brown in '17 and a great team and a good team get even better. I don't know what you do about '18 - sit Foscue? Move Westberg to 2nd over Stoval so Riley DH's?? I do know that there is Zero argument you can make against Riley being huge in CBB

[StarkVegasSteve]

To me the biggest "what if" on draft players is Austin Riley. Put Riley on the '16, '17 & '18 teams. Riley hit .271 with 20 HR in A ball in 2016 - put him in our lineup at 3B instead of Gavin Collins in '16, Cody Brown in '17 and a great team and a good team get even better. I don't know what you do about '18 - sit Foscue? Move Westberg to 2nd over Stoval so Riley DH's?? I do know that there is Zero argument you can make against Riley being huge in CBB

Well Riley made the right decision. I was talking about guys that hindsight being 20/20, or even we all thought it at the time, made the wrong decision. Everything was set up for Austin to come to State. His girlfriend, now wife, was already at State, he basically knew he'd be in the opening day lineup in 16, and he was ready and excited to come to Mississippi State. Then the Braves made him a hell of an offer and hit the number that no one, associated with Mississippi State at least, thought any team would come close to.