Ok I'll ask...

[Jarius]

He's keeping the ball up, falling behind in counts and is very average from his goofy stretch. It all flows from keeping the ball up, which could be a minor mechanics issue or a tired arm. I'm concerned.

PS I hate mid-season "awards". They are almost always a harbinger of late season setbacks.

Giving up a bunch of ground balls isn't from keeping the ball up, and that's almost exclusively what he gave up Last night.

[msstate7]

Giving up a bunch of ground balls isn't from keeping the ball up.

Normally I'd love a ground ball pitcher, but we're really weak defensively on the infield right now. Collins is awful. Gridley is a 2b playing short. Stovall is pretty solid at 2b. Lowe doesn't have any range.

[Jarius]

Normally I'd love a ground ball pitcher, but we're really weak defensively on the infield right now. Collins is awful. Gridley is a 2b playing short. Stovall is pretty solid at 2b. Lowe doesn't have any range.

That's what I'm trying to get at. Our problem is our infield is very mediocre at times, and last night they cost us 4 runs when Hudson was in the game.

[msstate7]

That's what I'm trying to get at. Our problem is our infield is very mediocre at times, and last night they cost us 4 runs when Hudson was in the game.

Alexander to SS and Gridley to 2b could go a long way helping Hudson and all our pitchers. Not sure what to do about 3b

[State82]

Not sure what to do about 3b

You're not alone. Neither does Cohen.

[War Machine Dawg]

Alexander to SS and Gridley to 2b could go a long way helping Hudson and all our pitchers. Not sure what to do about 3b

You're not alone. Neither does Cohen.

I keep saying that I'd give Stovall a shot. Yeah, we might lose Collins or Kruger's bat, but I'll trade it for good D at the hot corner. And didn't Stovall play some 3B during fall ball? Can't be much worse than playing E5 every day.

ETA: Thought just occurred to me, could Holland play 3B? He's a former SS, suggesting he has the athleticism and arm to make the transition.

[basedog]

Well it may not seem like we are all that good fielding but take a look:


Fielding pct
------------
1. Florida............. .985
2. Texas A&M........... .980
3. South Carolina...... .980
4. Mississippi State... .976
5. LSU................. .976
6. Arkansas............ .975
7. Vanderbilt.......... .974
8. Ole Miss............ .972
9. Alabama............. .972
10.Kentucky............ .969
11.Tennessee........... .968
12.Georgia............. .967
13.Auburn.............. .961
14.Missouri............ .959

I just looked at all of the stats for Sec teams, we are ranked very high in most of the overall stats. Florida may have the best talent but the Aggies are much better especially in the offensive stats, we are right up there as well.

[msstate7]

Well it may not seem like we are all that good fielding but take a look:


Fielding pct
------------
1. Florida............. .985
2. Texas A&M........... .980
3. South Carolina...... .980
4. Mississippi State... .976
5. LSU................. .976
6. Arkansas............ .975
7. Vanderbilt.......... .974
8. Ole Miss............ .972
9. Alabama............. .972
10.Kentucky............ .969
11.Tennessee........... .968
12.Georgia............. .967
13.Auburn.............. .961
14.Missouri............ .959

I just looked at all of the stats for Sec teams, we are ranked very high in most of the overall stats. Florida may have the best talent but the Aggies are much better especially in the offensive stats, we are right up there as well.

Fielding % doesn't take into consideration things like Collins should've made that play last night, Stovall/Gridley not turning 2 dp's, and range. Range is a huge fault of fielding %. Nick Markakis was 1.000% for a couple of years in rf... Do you think he was a better rf than Jason heyward?

[basedog]

Fielding % doesn't take into consideration things like Collins should've made that play last night, Stovall/Gridley not turning 2 dp's, and range. Range is a huge fault of fielding %. Nick Markakis was 1.000% for a couple of years in rf... Do you think he was a better rf than Jason heyward?

Hey, I'm just saying our defensive stats are right at the top, seems other Sec teams have way more problems. As for as Lowe and you being a little down of him because of his range, he has made one error this year, he's pretty good!
I could care less about some ML fielding %, what does that have to do with Msu?
Collins is the one concern, catching was iffy earlier, Gridley is ok at ss, it's not like he is killing us with his glove.

Look ahead and I wish there was more talk about what the good is than crying over the past errors, we are getting better on defense and the stats say we are. Errors, walks and hit batters are part of the game, you want to avoid those but we are overcoming some of our flaws with timely hitting which we are damn good!

I like our "It". Like Big Ben stated last night, "Miss State is for real"!