Quote Originally Posted by Todd4State View Post
This is a good point about the injuries. Humphreys missed all of a summer baseball last year and had some nagging injuries this year. This will actually be his first summer baseball action since arriving at MSU. Collins- we all know about his hand. A healthy Michael Smith would have made a huge difference for us as well- he could be our Jacob Robson next year. The guy that missed most of the year with injuries that might come back next year and hit well over .300 and steal a ton of bases for us. We've caught some glimpses of what he can do defensively. Gridley, Cody Brown, and Luke Reynolds all had very good years for us as well- and they could all take big steps for us. A lot of people forget that those three are still underclassmen.

But the biggest thing we need to improve and that we MUST have happen is for the five pitchers in the Cape to step up- or at least three of them. We can talk about hitting all we want- but the fact of the matter is we are only going to be as good as our pitching is. I feel pretty confident about Hudson, Sexton, Tatum, and Houston stepping up. I'm still a little skeptical about Daniel Brown- mostly because I question his toughness. And even though he is not in the Cape, I think Levi Mintz will be better next year. More than anything, I think he hit a wall the last half of the SEC season. He reminds me a lot of Caleb Reed- except he's ahead of where Caleb was at this time of his career.
There is a significant influx of talent relative to the pitching staff that is coming in as well. I feel pretty good about getting all of these guys on campus. It will be interesting to see if some of them end up sticking.

If you have Dakota Hudson, Austin Sexton, Vance Tatum, and Zac Houston as potential starters on the weekends with Daniel Brown and Levi Mintz definitely coming out of the pen, I think you will see Kale Breaux, Ethan Small, Gray Fenter, and Jared Padgett get some time as relievers during the weekend.

Then, if he comes back healthy, you have Jesse McCord from this past year's class. If healthy, he could make a push as a weekend guy as well. Coming back from a labral injury in a pitcher is tough though.