What will happen in 2014?

Very good question. We still have a nucleus of experienced players. Cohen has said repeatedly that experience is the key. Well, in 2014 we wil be young in spots. We won't have any SEC game experience at catcher, a real big position. The infield will be fine. The outfield will be fine. All those guys have experience.

We will have several new pitchers. They will pitch a lot in the fall and the early season. They should know their roles by SEC season.

What concerns me is the catching position and the lack of experience. And the loss of all those HR's and hits by Renfroe and Frazier. We will have to have more guys across the board to make up for those.

In the batting order, we will lose the best lead off hitter we have had in a long time (Frazier). Renfroe is gone with his 16 HR's.

But bc of our recruiting we are bringing in guys who can hit and pitchers who throw hard.

It is always hard to say what we will do bc getting to Omaha means you have to be hot at a certain time. See Vanderbilt in 2013 for not being hot. But we will be in the SEC tournament for the 4th straight year and we will be in a Regional 4th straight year. Hosting one? Again, this process has changed, politics is included, hard to tell until you get to May.

A part of the 2013 team is gone and you have to replace it with new faces. These new faces have to get better in the fall and most of all, mesh with the returning players. They have to know their new roles. We only had 1 major injury in 2013 (Brandon Woodruff) and it hurt us. So it goes without saying we can't have any major injuries in 2014 if we want to go far in the postseason.

Each year, there are only 2 goals (IMO). To win the SEC Regular Season and to win the National Championship. That's it. Nothing else matters. Winning the SECT don't matter at all to me.

Season starts on February 14th!

2013 Year in Review

Starting off 17-0 didn't really surprise me. Losing to Central Arkansas twice did. But all those teams were good teams in their own right. Some games were very competitive.

If there is one big disappointment in March and April is losing close SEC games. Usually it was leaving runners in scoring position bc our pitching was great. I hate losing to LSU. Now that they comments they made about losing to them for 7 years? straight really makes me sick. We have got to start winning series in SEC play against the better teams.

The first turning point was winning a series versus Florida. Then we swept Texas A and M. This is when Pirtle started doing better, started at 2B and started batting cleanup.

Again, we needed to win one versus Vanderbilt at Nashville and couldn't do it.

The last big disappointment was losing 2 to Ole Miss. But we came back in the 3rd game and that gave us a lift that carried for a while.

Winning the series versus South Carolina solidified our hosting a regional. We needed at least one more series win to be a National Seed.

In the postseason, we played in 5 tournaments, the most anyone can play in. John Cohen stated that the 2012 SECT prepared this team for 2013. It's all about playing in tournaments.

I thought we did great in the SECT. Vanderbilts bats just came alive but I was glad not to play anymore. We didn't need to get worn down.

I would love to find out the reasoning about the teams in our regional. Every major writer said we have the toughest one. But by now, we are a hardened group and we survived.

We could smell Omaha at this point and in the first game versus Virginia we took it to them. Smashed them in the mouth. Seemed like we were there an eternity with all the rain....

The next tournament was the CWS. We played our brand of ball, had enough rest time in between and won all three. What came back to haunt us was Graveman pitching on Friday and not getting any rest to pitch in the championship series.

The last tournament was the National Championship Series which is seperate for the CWS if you didn't know. It said the CWS lasted until the 22nd. NCS started on the 24th. Losing the first game was it. We couldn't recover.

The best season we ever had. I really think that sentence won't last long. In the next few years, we will be saying that again.

2014 Schedule

These are a listing of teams we play before the SEC season starts. Of course, this is what I read somewhere and from what I know they haven't signed a contract which means they can change.

We play Hofstra, Holy Cross, Michigan State and Eastern Illinois at home. The big one coming at spring break, we play at Arizona, 2012 National Champs. This is no big shock as our former AD Greg Byrne is now at Arizona. They will come to Dudy Noble in 2015.

I don't know this but I assume we would continue to play South Alabama, Memphis and of course, Southern Miss and Ole Miss in Pearl. They are building a minor league stadium in Biloxi so I am sure we will play there sometime in the future. We could play USM or South Alabama there.

I would think we would be playing Alcorn State or Ms Valley State too at home.

You would have to think a lot of teams want to play us now they we made a big splash in the CWS.

The SEC schedule is better in 2014. We start out at Georgia but I would think they would be better, they have a new coach. Vanderbilt and Arkansas at home, then on the road to LSU. Ole Miss at home, Missouri on the road, A and M at home, Auburn on the road, Tennessee at home then Alabama on the road. We don't play Florida, South Carolina or Kentucky.

CWS thoughts

First of all, I was giddy that LSU went 0-2. They are the only SEC team I don't pull for in postseason. They and their fans are way too arrogant. I guess you get that way when you win championships, even though they did it with 30 scholarships while everyone else used 11.7. And don't forget they are our biggest baseball rival, so anytime they do bad is good for us. We compete with them for recruits too.

Lots of folks complained about lack of HR's, etc, well they didn't think of that when they built TD? Who built it facing they way the wind blows?

People around America are now aware of what we MissState baseball fans have known for years. We love baseball and we travel very well to see them. Not news to me. And it was great that people thought we had more fans than LSU did when they were winning in Omaha. The worm has turned.

The way our players embraced Omaha and played very loose will be on the ESPN highlight reel for years. You will see it played over and over next year.

To me, the first game was the key. When we lost the first game, we lost the series. The two key plays were not getting down the bunt and hitting a line shot that was caught with the bases loaded. And I think they biggest key is not having Graveman available for the first 2 games. That hurt.

And finally, I believe we are a national team again. We were back in the 80's. The whole world of college baseball knows us and knows we can win. The baseball writers will now respect us more.

Roster changes in 2014?

Let's look what the numbers are:

Losing 4 pitchers: Graveman, E Mitchell (prob sign pro), Pollo, Girodo

Signed 9 pitchers, maybe more.

So you can see the pitching position is getting a major injection of talent.

Infielders losing 4: Norris (I guess he will sign pro), Flair (tranferring), Frost, Frazier (pro)

Signed 3 infielders, maybe more.

Losing 2 catchers.

Signed 2 catchers.

Losing 1 outfielder, Renfroe (pro)

So we are losing 12 (if all the drafted players sign) players.

We have signed 16 but maybe will sign 1 or 2 more. Restocking the pitching staff is the most important aspect.  See my page of signees/commits for listing.

2014 Roster-A look ahead

Disclaimer: I haven't seen any of the signees play, so until fall ball and I go see them, I am only giving educated guesses. The coaches haven't had their exit interviews. A player may decide to transfer, you never know. I will continually redo the 2014, like when the fall roster comes out.

Relief Pitchers:

Jonathan Holder Jr.: closer, 1st Team AA
Ross Mitchell Jr.RS: long reliever, Mobb leader
Myles Gentry So.: long reliever, side armer
John Marc Shelly So.: future closer?
Preston Brown SoRS: short reliever
Will Cox Jr.: showed really good side arm action last night

These are the main holdovers from 2013. I put Cox in there bc it looks like he changed arm angles and will be a reliever. Again, fall ball will determine more.

Ben Hudspeth Jr JC: great stats in JC, RH
Lucas Laster Jr JC: can he replace Girodo? LH
Wes Stokes Jr RS: redshirted RH
Anthony Anello Fr RS: redshirted side armer RH
Alex Deise Fr RS: redshirted LH
Austin Sexton Fr HS: hard thrower RH
Dakota Hudson Fr HS: drafted by MLB RH
Avery Geyer Fr HS: his HS team finished 1# RH
Zach Houston Fr HS: big tall lanky throws hard RH
Jacob Billingsly Fr HS: hard thrower RH
Levi Mintz Fr HS: RH
Vance Tatum Fr HS: top lefty in MS, LH
Glenn Irby Fr HS: bro played in college LH

I put all the new guys into the relief pitcher category bc I don't know them. I will have to see fall ball. But you can bet 1 or 2 will be a starter at some point in 2014. The lefties (as usual) will get a better chance of playing a lot bc we need LH pitching. I bet Butch Thompson can't wait to get these guys in and start working with them.

Starting Pitchers:

Ben Bracewell SrRS: his time to shine. RH
Trevor Fitts Jr: big man on campus, dude. RH
Brandon Woodruff Jr: has to be a rotation guy RH
Jacob Lindgren Jr: has to come back strong LH

Paul Young So: what a great late sign. Potential is unlimited. Just started pitching and has excelled. A few MLB starting pitchers did this so this is not new.

These guys are your leading candidates for SEC rotation right now. Again, got to go through fall ball. I expect Woodruff to have a fantastic year. He will be well rested and ready. Can't wait to see him in the fall.

First Base:

Wes Rea Jr.RS: Captain, leader.
Dylan Ingram Fr HS: power hitter
Brent Rooker Fr HS: great athlete

I expect Rea to have a great year and get drafted by MLB, why he didn't in 2013 is beyond me. You will see a Fr spell him from time to time to get him expereince. Don't know who it is, fall ball.

Middle Infield:

Brett Pirtle Sr: returning starter at 2B
Alex Detz Sr: returning starter at 3B
Matthew Britton Jr: can Britton break out and become starter?
Kyle Hann So: tons of potential
Reid Humphreys Fr HS: Ms player of the year

Pirtle will start but where? SS or 2B? Detz at 2B or 3B? Hann at 2B or 3B? Humphreys will play, period. Will it be 3B or SS? I wouldn't be shocked if we signed another MIF before school starts. Detz will start every game but at different positions.

Third Base:

Same question? Detz, Hann and Humphreys?

Catcher:

Zach Randolph Jr RS: redshirted, good defender
Cody Walker Jr JC: outstanding defender
Daniel Garner Fr RS: outstanding hitter
Gavin Collins Fr HS: great hitter and defender

Here is the big question mark? Most important to your defense/pitching. Big battle in the fall. Walker is great defender and thrower from what I hear. Garner can really hit, defend? Collins I have heard has the total package. I heard Jacob Shempert might come back, haven't confirmed it. Some of these players can play 3B/OF too. Biggest battle of the fall.

Outfield:

CT Bradford Sr: Captain, leader
Demarcus Henderson Sr: battler at the plate
Derrick Armstrong Sr: speed demon
Tyler Fullerton Jr: ?
Jake Vickerson Jr JC: bats left, you know his big brother..
Jacob Robson So: star in the making
Cody Brown Fr RS: redshirted, bats left

Most established position on the team. Can't go wrong w Bradford, Henderson Armstrong, Robson combo.

Championship

The goal of each year is a championship. Starting w the SEC regular season championship then if you fall out of the race, the next goal is Omaha and the national championship. We are 2 wins away. This team wants it bad. They are so focused on this. I will have much more after the season is over.

Wow-The CWS

Someone needs to ask Jonathan Holder, why do you like to make us worry?? Anyway, the formula seems to be working so far. This Friday is another huge game in the history of Miss State Baseball. Let's hope for the sake of the players nerves, it isn't sold out at 2 in the afternoon and they can relax better. Should be a lot of State fans there though.

And to think what this does in the recruiting of our program is tremendous. Lots of kids are watching the TV wanting to play for Miss State.

Omaha

That one word says it all in College Baseball. Omaha. It means you are in the Final 8, playing for a National Championship. Like a lot of you, my first one was 1979. I listened to Jim Ellis intently. Both 1979 and 1981, we played West teams that barely beat us by 1 run.

It was certainly destiny that we made it to Omaha. The players felt it in the fall. They talked about it, wrote about it. The Dream has come true for a lot of us. Now, the next level.

We only won 2 games once in Omaha. Other times we won only once. We are now in a new era, therefore, we need to do better. We need to make a good run at the championship. What it takes is no mistakes. No big errors to hurt you, no getting thrown out on a bad play, etc. You pretty much have to play perfect.

I think we can win the whole thing but it has to all come together like never before. A key, since the pitching staff has done a great job all year, is to grind those AB's. Offense has to play very, very consistant.

I will have a huge writeup after the season, to talk lots of issues and of course next year.

Another step and Draft Day

Well, they did it. What a season so far. The most wins in the regular season since 1997 and with 2 more wins, the most overall wins since 1990, John Cohen's senior year. I beleive indeed We Are Back. And all this without a dominating starting pitcher (s) like we have had in the past. And without Brandon Woodruff who is arguably the most talented pitcher we have on the roster. As of now, I don't worry too much about the pitching staff as I am the defense and timely hitting. Like I tweeted out, if we can score more than 5 runs we are mostly to win.

Playing in Virginia should be really good for us. There is no pressure to win. We just played in two really tough tournament atmospheres, so we are ready. All it takes is 2 wins. All it takes is a starter to carry into the 5th or better for one of those games and we will have plenty of good pitching to compete. It is the offense that needs to carry us in crucial situations.

I am thinking one reason Hunter Renfroe was pressing so much lately is professional draft coming up this Thursday. He will be picked in the 1st Round, likely 11-15th pick. With this behind him, maybe he can relax more and let it rip. Let's hope so. He will be a rich man by the middle of July, so that should relas anybody....

I should have lots of info on Draft Day (s) this week. Draftees have until July 15th to sign a pro contract. I am hoping all the signees will come to school. I do beleive Renfroe and Frazier will sign and they should. I also think a handful of seniors will too. Football signee Cord Sandberg will get drafted high and sign, I have said this for a year. He wants to play baseball I believe.