Meanwhile, at the baseball scrimmage,

[messageboardsuperhero]

Dakota Hudson is throwing darts. He's struck out 5 of the 6 batters he's faced and is showing a mid-90s fastball.

Hudson probably has the best stuff of any pitcher Cohen has signed to date.

[CadaverDawg]

#TeamDak

[Will James]

5 of the 8 batters faced. 5 of 6 outs recorded.

Agreed he looks great

[Coach34]

we need to recruit more Dakota's to play for our teams

[messageboardsuperhero]

Jake Vickerson is making a case for an outfield spot. He's got great speed, gets on base, and has a little bit of pop.

[AlSwearengen]

Dakota Hudson is throwing darts. He's struck out 5 of the 6 batters he's faced and is showing a mid-90s fastball.

Hudson probably has the best stuff of any pitcher Cohen has signed to date.

I listened to an interview with Cohen on a radio show that I won't mention (the only show of their's that I've ever listened to) and he mentioned Hudson and the pitcher from alabama whose name escapes me right now as freshman pitchers that have stood out. He said that Hudson touched 97 on the gun. My question is, how the hell did this kid with his size and velocity not get selected in the first couple of rounds of the draft?

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

Reid Humphreys will play third base this year. He already looks better than Detz at 3B and he's swinging the bat well, especially considering this is his first intersquad weekend

[messageboardsuperhero]

I listened to an interview with Cohen on a radio show that I won't mention (the only show of their's that I've ever listened to) and he mentioned Hudson and the pitcher from alabama whose name escapes me right now as freshman pitchers that have stood out. He said that Hudson touched 97 on the gun. My question is, how the hell did this kid with his size and velocity not get selected in the first couple of rounds of the draft?

Signability was an issue. I think Hudson really wanted to come to college, plus he's still pretty raw. He should benefit from three years at State.

[messageboardsuperhero]

Reid Humphreys will play third base this year. He already looks better than Detz at 3B and he's swinging the bat well, especially considering this is his first intersquad weekend

Detz's bat will probably be in the lineup one way or the other. He gets on base better than anyone else on the team.

Humphreys has looked great defensively, and his swing is as advertised. There are just so many really good options for us this year all over the field, I can't see us having a whole lot of trouble scoring runs.

[Todd4State]

I listened to an interview with Cohen on a radio show that I won't mention (the only show of their's that I've ever listened to) and he mentioned Hudson and the pitcher from alabama whose name escapes me right now as freshman pitchers that have stood out. He said that Hudson touched 97 on the gun. My question is, how the hell did this kid with his size and velocity not get selected in the first couple of rounds of the draft?

Cohen is talking about Austin Sexton when he is referring to the kid from Alabama.

I'm telling you people that the MLB draft culture has changed. And this is a good example. 15 years ago, Dakota would be at some spring training complex in Florida or Arizona. MLB could throw as much money as they wanted at you in the past- even if you were drafted in the 50th round. Around the late 90's, teams started to realize that this was wasteful- and believe me teams don't want to waste millions on some player that has a less than 10% chance of even playing an inning in MLB. They also realized that most of their American players that were actually making it were from college. The really talented guys in college were moving very quickly through the minors. So, what started to happen is MLB started to pay college players more- and then high school players started to realize what was going on and started to go to college.

You can come play in the SEC and make it to MLB in about a year- and make more money. Plus, if you are a baseball player- you can get three years at least of your education and possibly even your degree if you push it a little bit all the while potentially making it to MLB more quickly than if you had signed out of high school.

Just this past season we saw Michael Roth, Mike Zunino, Paco Rodriguez, and I'll even throw in Michael Wacha as guys that played at SEC schools and made it up to MLB very quickly. The SEC reputation helps us out immensely with baseball recruiting- and it's why we can take a chance on guys like Dakota Hudson and Touki Touissant.

And as far as Mississippi kids- you add in the fact that we have a great tradition that people want to be a part of, and it really helps with getting elite in state talent in here. See Reid Humphries.

People talk about Ron Polk and the camp- but Polk not realizing how recruiting is changing and passing over guys like Stephen Head because they were a draftable player killed us as much as anything. Especially since everyone else was getting these elite players.

[Todd4State]

Signability was an issue. I think Hudson really wanted to come to college, plus he's still pretty raw. He should benefit from three years at State.

If it were me, I would use him like Ole Miss used Drew Pomeranz his freshman year. Bring him Dakota out of the bullpen in the 5-7th inning or so and just let him mow people down. I love power arms!

It wouldn't shock me at all if we start him or use him as one of the piggybacks that Butch likes to do- which is fine with me. Based on the info we've been gathering, I guess our rotation will look something like this:

Friday- Woodruff/Hudson
Saturday- Bracewell/Lindgren
Sunday- CT/Fitts

Paul Young will be in there if his elbow is OK.

[Todd4State]

Detz's bat will probably be in the lineup one way or the other. He gets on base better than anyone else on the team.

Humphreys has looked great defensively, and his swing is as advertised. There are just so many really good options for us this year all over the field, I can't see us having a whole lot of trouble scoring runs.

Detz's bat will definitely be in the lineup. Back to CT, and if that info is true- I suspect we will see Detz DH on Friday and then play third on Saturday and Sunday when CT DH's. And then we will play Reid at third on Friday and move him to right field on Saturday and Sunday.

And I guess the outfield will look something maybe like:

Friday- RF- Demarcus/Armstrong/Vickerson CF- CT LF- Robson/Demarcus/Armstrong

Saturday- RF- Reid CF- Robson LF- Demarcus/Vickerson/Armstrong

Sunday- Same as Saturday.

Honestly, I would much prefer CT just play CF and then keep Reid at third and Detz at DH. CT has had some injury issues throughout his career though- and that may be why they want to do what they are doing.

[messageboardsuperhero]

If it were me, I would use him like Ole Miss used Drew Pomeranz his freshman year. Bring him Dakota out of the bullpen in the 5-7th inning or so and just let him mow people down. I love power arms!

It wouldn't shock me at all if we start him or use him as one of the piggybacks that Butch likes to do- which is fine with me. Based on the info we've been gathering, I guess our rotation will look something like this:

Friday- Woodruff/Hudson
Saturday- Bracewell/Lindgren
Sunday- CT/Fitts

Paul Young will be in there if his elbow is OK.

I may be in the minority, but I just don't see CT as a pitcher for more than one inning. Maybe I'm missing something, but he's just never been overly impressive to me, especially against right handed hitters. CT might just need more work with Butch. It's got to be tough splitting time like that, trying to be a pitcher and a position player, especially if the coaches are trying to make him into a starter.

And yes, I'd love to see Humphreys work a little bit in the outfield this fall.

[CadaverDawg]

You guys are going to force me to go grab a set of shears. ThickWool.

What about Robson? Haven't heard his named mentioned over the last few days. Is he doing anything?

[messageboardsuperhero]

You guys are going to force me to go grab a set of shears. ThickWool.

What about Robson? Haven't heard his named mentioned over the last few days. Is he doing anything?

I think he might be one of the guys with the flu.

[Will James]

I may be in the minority, but I just don't see CT as a pitcher for more than one inning. Maybe I'm missing something, but he's just never been overly impressive to me

Bingo my thoughts exactly.

[MsStateBaseball]

I told you guys our offense will be better and more talented. Armstrong, Henderson, Robson who has the flu and Bradford is fast, one heck of an outfield. Humphreys, Garner, Heck just finds a way to get on base, lots of options. Just wait to May 1st when young guys get better and it gets warmer and rolls are clearly defined. I would think ranked in top 10 the whole year. This recruiting class is just the boost we needed. And Paul Young has yet to pitch and he throws like Hudson.

[CadaverDawg]

I think he might be one of the guys with the flu.

Gotcha.

What about depth at 1st base. Do we have anybody that can provide us a solid first base defensively if Wes needs a break or gets dinged up?

[messageboardsuperhero]

Gotcha.

What about depth at 1st base. Do we have anybody that can provide us a solid first base defensively if Wes needs a break or gets dinged up?

Dylan Ingram and Brent Rooker have both looked good for freshmen, although I like Rooker a lot in the OF.

Of course, we can always move Detz over there too. He was pretty solid defensively last year while Rea was out.

[Todd4State]

I may be in the minority, but I just don't see CT as a pitcher for more than one inning. Maybe I'm missing something, but he's just never been overly impressive to me, especially against right handed hitters. CT might just need more work with Butch. It's got to be tough splitting time like that, trying to be a pitcher and a position player, especially if the coaches are trying to make him into a starter.

And yes, I'd love to see Humphreys work a little bit in the outfield this fall.

I feel the same way about CT pitching as you and Will. And his outing yesterday didn't do anything to change that feeling either. Butch has always liked him as a pitcher though. If we are going to pitch him, IMO we need to use him like we did last year with the CT shuffle against LH batters.