Cohen HAS to go.

[BankerDog]

As I sat and talked to several member of the family today about this situation my stance has changed. Cohen needs to figure this stuff out and he needs to figure it out quick. Look if the guy wants to change swings in guys, do it in the off season not mid season. It hurts the team and player.

Now for my rant on Butch. For the all these years we have heard how elite he has been. When is the last time we have had a pitcher contribute for three years? Holder? I'm sitting here during this discussion today and I'm thinking of only one, and it's Holder. You had Stratton his sophmore year on the bench as we are playing Florida State in that regional and we're afraid to pitch him. Lingo's freshman year he is tearing it up and gets hurt. He comes back and his confidence is messed up. We go to the CWS and Lingo doesn't pitch one time.

This brings me to the point of Pollerena and Laster. Every year they would start Pollerena out of the bullpen and then they realize hey we need this guy in the starting rotation. Same thing happened to Laster this year. How does that even happen? Two guys who have proven they are starters always starting in the bullpen each year after they proven. Ridiculous.

Now let me talk about the personnel. I'm sitting here looking at Trent Waddell wondering how in the hell did this guy get on a SEC team. You know why? He's a dual threat guy that Thompson begged to keep and to be honest he just isn't that good. And now he's trying to do that exact thing with Cole Gordon who should have been playing this year because the kid can flat out rope it, and I have seen that personally. Jesse McCord? Hit .488 with 18 HRs. That type of production should be tried in the field. But no, we're trying to make him a pitcher and he looks lost out there. Give the guys a chance to be productive here. We are missing on evaluations and that will not cut it missing on a lot of evaluations.

Back to Cohen. Cohen needs to learn to just let the players hit. Ball players HIT. When you mess with their swings they think instead of hitting. I could tell the next year after we went to the CWS these guys thought they were entitled to things and let me tell you something, not ONE SEC team fears these guys. They are a bunch of self entitled PG All-Stars.

Next year should be interesting.

C: Marrero/Collins/Lovelady. I wouldn't mind seeing Lovelady start behind the dish. I think Collins future is in the outfield. Marrero if he can handle the staff and hit could provide some competition

1B: Gordon/Lowe/Rooker/Hump. I think we have some guys here who can rope. We need to find away to get some quality ABs and production from these 4.

2B/SS: Gridley, Alexander, Stovall, Holland, and Delvin Zinn. From what I can tell Stovall can hit and be clutch for his team. Gridley needs to execute better and be more consistent. Holland is pretty good defensively, we need more production out of him at the plate. Alexander has been hyped a lot and I hope we haven't overhyped him like we did Holland and several others. I don't know much about Zinn.

3B: Reynolds/Riley/McCord I didn't include Spurill because I hope he isn't back next year. He isn't a SEC player. Reynolds with the way he has hit lately has earned some PT. If we get Riley it could get interesting. If we don't screw with his swing or approach and he can adjust to college ACEs then I would like to see him on the field. If McCord's career doesn't work out as a pitcher I want to see him at 3rd for a little bit. The boy can hit or at least he did in high school.

OF: Robson/Hump/Smith/Brown/Collins/Pickett/Rooker/Blaylock. You know Robson is going to play because Cohen loves his favorites and he is plus in the OF. Hump needs to play but needs to learn the ins and outs of the OF. Smith looked good yesterday. Another instance of a guy getting hurt and not being allowed to come back into the lineup(Lingo his freshman year). Cody Brown has been a dirt bagger his whole career here. I don't know what he did but he has earned his time. Collins has a strong enough arm to play out here but it will depend on his catching situation. I really like Rooker's swing. It'll be his 3rd year here we need production now. We all know about Pickett so I would like to get him to campus. I don't know much about Blaylock.

Ps: P Brown/Sexton/Hudson/Houston/Billingsly/McCord/Mintz/Tatum. I included these guys because they are proven. Preston Brown better be our midweek guy because I just don't think he is a Friday night starter. I like the potential of the other guys, but the light needs to come on and they need to nut up and become aggressive, dominant pitchers. I'm not going to hype up this pitching class until I see them in practice and play a few games. We have a tendency as Mississippi State fans to over hype freshman and players in general that just aren't ready to be hyped up.

Bottom line, Cohen/Thompson need to get their stuff figured out. They need to earn the respect of their players again and get back to the basics. Get rid of the egos, including theirs. This is Mississippi State baseball and I realize it isn't the 1980s again but it's time we are feared again and we also, as fans, can talk about our fan support but guys I go to a lot of games because I am student. And our grandstands don't fill up compared to the LSUs and Ole Miss. I get it our stadium is old, but filling it up only once or twice a year is pitiful. That's gonna look kinda bad in this brand new stadium. We need to be feared as a place to play again and make it intimidating. Our players need to realize how much pride is in Mississippi State. Stop being fancy and worrying about how you look and be a baseball player.