If you could hire a hitting coach at MSU, who would it be, and why?

[Thick]

Go!!!

[msstate7]

Kevin Seitzer... He's made a hell of a difference with the Braves. Ok, a realistic answer is the ull guy

[gravedigger]

Anyone in baseball history? Ted williams or tony gwynn

[TXDawg]

Ricketts from the softball team. She's made a heck of a difference on that squad!!

[tcdog70]

I heard John Cohen was an excellent Hitting Coach----****

[cheewgumm]

Dave Kingman

[chainedup_Dawg]

Kent Murphy

[hoopdawg92]

Jim Page...

[Ralph]

Raffy

[godlluB]

Polk **

[Thick]

I did not know we had so many comedians on ED.....really shitty ones too!

[Original48]

I did not know we had so many comedians on ED.....really shitty ones too!

Tom Emanski

[Todd4State]

Tony David- Samford. Team leads the nation in home runs again. Top 40 in batting average.

http://samfordsports.com/coaches.asp...&path=baseball

Kevin Schnall- Central Florida- fourth in the nation in home runs. Hitting .298 as a team. Connections in Florida.

http://www.ucfknights.com/sports/m-b...ll_804079.html


Also- I would hire Jarrod Parks as the volunteer assistant.

[Todd4State]

And for my sarcastic answer- Smitty.

[tcdog70]

Really, when we Hired JC, he was hyped as one of the best hitting coaches anywhere. If he could get some help from. Another hitting coach , then great. I think he will have us back on top next year.

[Todd4State]

Really, when we Hired JC, he was hyped as one of the best hitting coaches anywhere. If he could get some help from. Another hitting coach , then great. I think he will have us back on top next year.

Right now we are 9th in the SEC in batting average and seventh in OBP. We are also near the bottom in most power categories- 10th in doubles, 13th in triples, and home runs, and I believe we are last in slugging percentage as well. That really isn't too shocking when you consider the types of hitters that we have.

From my point of view, we're not awful as far as hitting goes- but there is certainly room for improvement. On the surface, looking at it the best thing we could do is bring in more power hitters- like Rooker, Cole Gordon, Humphreys, and hopefully we can steal a Riley or a Pickett. We just don't have that extra base threat that helps lead to big innings. A lot of that is recruiting.

I do think that Cohen is also stretched thin a little bit- and having someone that could help him out would be good for everyone. Ideally that would be someone that can teach hitting, and improve our base running while also being a really high end recruiter. I am all for making a Butch Thompson type hire at hitting coach- basically find the best one out there with the best track record of my above criteria and then pay him so much he won't leave.

For comparisons sake, our pitching is 13th in the SEC right now- only one tenth of a point out of dead last.

[ShotgunDawg]

I'd probably just hire the best recruiter in the country as my hitting coach, and then get the best pitching coach in the country, which is IMO, Wes Johnson from Dallas Baptist.

A great pitching coach can have far more effect on your pitchers than a great hitting coach can have on the hitters. The hitting coach needs to be an elite evaluator

[Todd4State]

I'd probably just hire the best recruiter in the country as my hitting coach, and then get the best pitching coach in the country, which is IMO, Wes Johnson from Dallas Baptist.

A great pitching coach can have far more effect on your pitchers than a great hitting coach can have on the hitters. The hitting coach needs to be an elite evaluator

Johnson recruited a lot of those pitchers on that Central Arkansas team that we played in a regional a couple of years ago that were really good. Even though Johnson wasn't with the team at that time when we played them, I imagine he made an impact on their careers.

[ShotgunDawg]

Johnson recruited a lot of those pitchers on that Central Arkansas team that we played in a regional a couple of years ago that were really good. Even though Johnson wasn't with the team at that time when we played them, I imagine he made an impact on their careers.

Wes Johnson is a mad man. He's from the Brent Strom/Ron Wolforth school of pitching that specializes in building bigger engines.

Most pitching coaches can be broken down into two different styles: 1. Teaching pitchers how to locate, change speeds, & throw multiple pitches for strikes. This is the style that most professional & college coaches take. 2. This group of pitching coaches build bigger engines & specialize in making the pitcher throw harder & building better, more powerful breaking balls. This group of coaches don't care as much about "pitching" as they do about building MLB prospects & stuff. Wes Johnson belongs to this group of pitching coaches & is the reason why Dallas Baptist consistently has harder throwing pitchers than most any team in America.

Personally, I prefer the second group because I think it produces higher end players and the cream rises higher. The risk of the first style is that the pitching coach focuses so much on command, control, & changing speeds, that the pitcher's stuff actually backs up over time, while the "stuff builders" have the ability to take guys and make them significantly better.

Lastly, the other beauty of the 2nd group of pitching coaches is that they are usually so in tune with bio-mechanics, flexibility, strength, twitch, etc.. that they are actually the best evaluators as well. Because of the in-depth research that they have at their disposal in order teach guys how to throw harder, they are also uniquely qualified to properly evaluate & recruit guys that have the ingredients to throw harder. Simply, they have a better idea of what they are looking for.

[Todd4State]

Wes Johnson is a mad man. He's from the Brent Strom/Ron Wolforth school of pitching that specializes in building bigger engines.

Most pitching coaches can be broken down into two different styles: 1. Teaching pitchers how to locate, change speeds, & throw multiple pitches for strikes. This is the style that most professional & college coaches take. 2. This group of pitching coaches build bigger engines & specialize in making the pitcher throw harder & building better, more powerful breaking balls. This group of coaches don't care as much about "pitching" as they do about building MLB prospects & stuff. Wes Johnson belongs to this group of pitching coaches & is the reason why Dallas Baptist consistently has harder throwing pitchers than most any team in America.

Personally, I prefer the second group because I think it produces higher end players and the cream rises higher. The risk of the first style is that the pitching coach focuses so much on command, control, & changing speeds, that the pitcher's stuff actually backs up over time, while the "stuff builders" have the ability to take guys and make them significantly better.

Lastly, the other beauty of the 2nd group of pitching coaches is that they are usually so in tune with bio-mechanics, flexibility, strength, twitch, etc.. that they are actually the best evaluators as well. Because of the in-depth research that they have at their disposal in order teach guys how to throw harder, they are also uniquely qualified to properly evaluate & recruit guys that have the ingredients to throw harder. Simply, they have a better idea of what they are looking for.

Give me number two as well. I think that's going to be the trend going forward with pitching as far as what's "in". With the Tommy John stuff being on the forefront of baseball right now, health (bio mechanics) is going to be a big part of that in terms of training pitchers how to stay as healthy as possible and not break down.