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Updated projected 2016 lineup

1 - Jacob Robson, Junior RS
Returning CF starter. Having a great summer, expect another big year in 2016.
2 - Luke Reynolds, Junior
I am putting him at 3B. Started 10-20 games in 2015. Came on late offensively and having a great summer hitting too.
3 - Gavin Collins, Junior
Starting catcher. Was hurt most of 2015. Had another hand operation in June and is now healthy. Expect big 2016.
4 - Brent Rooker, Sophomore RS
Can play LF but I'm starting him at DH. Huge summer offensively. Fast and big.
5 - Cole Gordon, Freshman RS
I have changed my mind, Gordon needs to play 1B. He just keeps getting better. Will pitch an inning here and there.
6 - John Holland, Senior
Returning starting 2B. Having a nice summer in California.
7 - Reid Humphreys, Junior
I am putting Hump back in LF. He is struggling some this summer.
8 - Michael Smith, Senior
Starter in RF. Was hurt most of 2015 but expect huge 2016. He just needs to play everyday. Power and speed.
9 - Ryan Gridley, Sophomore
Returning starting SS. Very smooth fielder. Can really handle the bat. Only gets better.


Backups

1B
Right now I am putting JC transfer Nate Lowe.

MIF
Right now the back up spots will be true freshmen. This is up in the air until fall ball is over. Delvin Zinn, Hunter Stovall and Luke Alexander.

3B
Matt Spruill does return. JC transfer Jacob Barfield is new but may only bat.

C
Josh Lovelady is a superb backup. A great defender and quality hitter.

OF



Brent Rooker will be the 4th OF and play some in the field. Reid Humphreys can play LF if 1B doesn't work out. We have 3 new players, 1 JC and 2 Fr. Tanner Poole, Jake Mangum and Brant Blaylock. Swinarski isn't returning so we need 1 of the new players to step up and play.

Updated projected 2016 rotation

Friday Starter - RHP Dakota Hudson, Junior
He is very talented and its his time. He has greatly improved his pitching motion. Dominant this summer. His role to lose.

Saturday Starter - RHP Austin Sexton, Junior
He had several good SEC starts in 2015. Inning eater. When he is on, he is untouchable.

Sunday Starter - LHP Vance Tatum, Junior
He did very well in a few starts then not so well toward the end. I think he can go a whole year and be good.

Weekend Starter - RHP Zac Houston, Junior
I'm going to put him here because he wants the ball on the weekends and he's having a great summer.

This is what I would do. Start 3 of the 4 I listed above. If one of the them struggle then put the 4th guy in as a long starter. Do this the entire SEC season. I think we will win a lot of games. All four of these guys are pitching very well.

Did you notice one theme? These guys are all Juniors. It is their time to shine and I think they will.

Tuesday Starter - this should be occupied by the best freshman starting pitcher we have. Whoever that might be.

Bullpen

I think we need 4 guys who will consistently go out and get it done in the 7-9th innings. I am assuming the starters go 6. These 4 guys are very, very important to a great season. I think we have good enough starters to go 5-7 innings each time. In 2015, most of the time, we were ahead when the starter was pulled. Got to be better in 2016, I think these guys are the key.

LHP Daniel Brown, Junior
He went up to Cape Cod and has done really well. Has been a starter most of his college career and struggled out of the pen in 2015 but we need him in the pen. I think he is the long reliever/set up man - lefty.

RHP Jesse McCord, Freshman RS
I just thought of this. Brilliant. McCord is coming off arm surgery. He will toss some in the fall. He will pitch very slowly starting in the spring. I would think he wouldn't pitch but an inning here and there. He is perfect for the bullpen in 2016. He is a shut down pitcher. Just use him for an inning or two and then rest him until the next weekend. Then in 2017, he will be back at starter.

RHP Ryan Rigby, Sophomore
A JC newcomer but has been lights out in his first year of JC and during summer ball. He is a side armer that can throw 90 mph. His stats indicate no hitter can get a good lick on the ball. It has movement. I consider him the closer.

RHP Logan Elliot, Junior
I am putting Logan in the 4th spot. He came on late in the season and this summer his stats look terrific. He can get outs. He is another side armer.

Others

We need two other starters. The first month of the season we need 5 starters maybe more. The two spots can come from numerous guys. I won't speculate now. A few guys were operated on in the spring and are working their way back to full health. Fall ball will primarily be seeing what the new guys can do, where they fit in, starter or bullpen.

This pitching staff is the most talented in the Cohen era. Once the new guys get used to D1 play, they will be very good.

Summer Notes

More than half of the players in summer leagues are an all-star in their respective leagues. Several players are having outstanding summers.

Most of the freshman signees have been on campus since July 5. They are working out and getting used to college.

In a couple of weeks, the team will come together and get ready for fall ball.

I will be going to some scrimmages and report what I find out. I believe this team will play a lot better next spring.

I am now on Facebook. Search for Ms State Baseball Fan.

2016 commit Elliott Anderson

A writeup at the PG WWBA 17U tournament at Lakepoint.

Elliott Anderson (2016, Cartersville, Ga.) was not listed on the original East Cobb Astros Scout Team roster included in the program, but he had scouts and coaches scrambling to find out who was on the mound on Tuesday afternoon. Anderson, a Mississippi State commit, owns a 6-foot-3, 215-pound frame and he has broad shoulders and good build with present strength in his body. The southpaw has a pretty clean arm stroke and path through to his high three-quarters arm slot, and he consistently worked in the 87-89 mph range with his fastball over the course of his 5 2/3 innings pitched. Anderson also has some slight deception in his delivery which features a mild hip turn at the apex of his leg lift, and he has a later hand break. He did a pretty good job of repeating his delivery, although he started to labor a bit in the later innings. Despite a head snap at release and some spine tilt, Anderson was able to throw strikes with his fastball for much of the outing. He also showed some feel for spinning a curveball in the mid-70s. The offering had varied tilt, showing either 1-to-7 or 12-to-6 shape, but both varieites flashed solid bite and finish at or below the knees. Anderson also worked in a few changeups in the upper-70s, and while they were often thrown out of the strike zone, he showed developing feel for the offering with similar fastball arm speed.

2017 commits (updated rankings per PG)

College baseball is an ongoing recruiting process. Coaches see a HS or tournament team and they have 3 grades playing with each other. A sophomore could be better than a senior. So, guess what? Offer him a scholarship. Happens all the time. It happens to 8th and 9th graders too. You can tell when a player that young will be better than everyone else he is playing with.

With that in mind, let's look at the current 2017 commits. All 5 are from out of state.

22 -  LHP Hunter Milligan 6-4 200

This will be the 3rd year in a row we get a stud LHP that is 6-4 200 or better. It's what championship teams need. He is the 1# player in Arkansas in this class.

24 - OF Jacob Pearson 6-0 185 L/R

What we need every year! Pearson has climbed 200 spots because of his play lately. He hits well, steals bases, bats left throws right. And he is a big Ms State fan. From West Monroe, La.

96 - C Tyler Lasch 5-10 180 L/R

Another bat left throw right. His travel team played at Dudy during the summer and we jumped on him. He is from California.

108 - LHP Jack Owen  6-1 180

On the same team as Lasch from California. He really keeps hitters off stride. Of course, he is a lefty.

290 - RHP Chad Bryant 6-1 180

Hails from Alabama. He can already touch mid-90's with his fastball. Has played at Dudy before on travel team East Coast Baseball.

This class are the upcoming juniors in HS, so I expect a few more commits before Christmas. Remember, these rankings will fluctuate over the next 2 years.

Again, I expect to sign 15-20 and lose a couple to draft. Nature of the beast now.

Two newcomers with summer stats

RHP Ryan Rigby and OF Tanner Poole are playing with the Piedmont (SC) Pride of the Southern Collegiate League. Team is coached by Joe Hudak. Rigby is untouchable while Poole has nice stats.

Rigby

2-0 0.54 ERA

11 G 8 Saves

16.2 IP 16 K 9 W

3 hits given up, wow!

Poole

.333 Avg in 78 ABs

26 H 1 HR

His best stat..17 stolen bases!

2016 lineup/pitching rotation---(updated) summer edition

Just because. Based on summer ball.

1 - Jacob Robson         CF   L   Jr.R
2 - Luke Reynolds       3B    L   Jr.
3 - Gavin Collins          C     R   Jr.
4 - Reid Humphreys    1B    R   Jr.
5 - Brent Rooker         DH    R  So.R
6 - John Holland          2B    L   Sr.
7 - Michael Smith        RF   R   Sr.
8 - Ryan Gridley          SS    R   So.
9 - Cody Brown           LF    L   Jr.R

Friday - Dakota Hudson  RHP   Jr.
Saturday - Austin Sexton  RHP   Jr.
Sunday - Moonlight Tatum  LHP   Jr.


Long or 7th/8th inning - Daniel Brown  LHP   Jr.
Long or 7th/8th inning - Zac Houston  RHP   Jr.
Closer - Ryan Rigby  RHP   So.

I posted this and someone said but it's the same players as last year and we had a bad year. Yes, that is true. Remember this, most of these guys saw their first significant playing time in 2015. Reynolds, Holland, Smith and Gridley were brand new to the program. Gavin Collins and Cody Brown were really the only ones that had played a lot the year before.

All these players have immense talent. They lived and learned last year. I do know after all my years of being a fan of college baseball is players get better, they adjust.

ALL these guys are playing summer ball and doing pretty good. They are working on their game. They will come back in August and get after it in the weight room.

I like to be positive not negative. I believe these players will turn it around and we will get back to our winning ways in 2016.

I have listed above ONLY 15 of the 35 man roster. The other players will contribute and push for playing time too.

2016 commits (updated rankings by Perfect Game)

Right now we have 9 commits for the 2016 school year. We have 3 ranked in the top 100. PG will re-rank players in each class several more times up until MLB Draft of that year. For example, the 2015 class was ranked for the last time a couple of days prior to the draft this past June.

These individual rankings will fluctuate depending on how many events a player goes to and of course, how well they did at the event. Usually by late spring the Top 300 won't move that much. Austin Riley was last ranked at 61 and he was taken as the 41st pick of the draft.

Here are the rankings as of 6/30.

13 - RHP Alex Speas
50 - LHP/1B Walker Robbins
70 - LHP Mitchell Miller
222 - C Dustin Skelton
238 - RHP Riley Self
288 - LHP Elliot Anderson
388 - OF Hagan Severance
429 - LHP Cole Whitman
477 - MIF/OF Will Brooks

I really think we will sign at least 8 more players. I would like to see 2 more RHP's and 6 position players. I also think we have to over sign each year because we will take a hit on the draft every year. This is bad for our team but good too, it means we are signing elite talent.

This year we kept 1 of our Top 100 players in RHP Parker Ford. Two others, LHP Ethan Small and C Elih Marrero were ranked in the Top 100 for a few months but were dropped into the low 100's prior to the draft. We had 6 but ended up with 4 by draft day.  Riley, Fenter and Pickett were Top 100 but they signed professional contracts.

As for the 2016 class, it looks like Alex Speas will be a high draft pick. He is a tall RHP that throws mid to upper 90's fastball. No one knows what will happen next June, so we will have to wait and see. The high riser is Mississippian Walker Robbins. He is an excellent defender at 1B and swings a mean bat. He is also a good pitcher. He is Mitch Moreland esque. Georgian Mitchell Miller also made a jump in the rankings. He is 6-5 LHP and did well at the PG National event.

Over the last few years, we have been bitten by the draft much more so on position players than pitchers. So we need to keep position players. These guys are the very good hitters and we need those at this point.

Keep it here on my blog for more recruiting info. Players will be committing over the next few months leading up to the November signing day.

Thoughts on the 2016 SEC schedule

Only 1 word describes it: toughest.

It has to be the toughest in the SEC.  We play the usually tough West opponents plus the top 2 in the East. And by the way, those 2 were very close from playing for the National Championship against each other.

And we play both of them at their place, at Vanderbilt and at Florida.

LSU, Arkansas, Vanderbilt and Florida made the Omaha field in 2015 and Texas A & M was very, very close to going to Omaha.

In 2016, I expect LSU, Vanderbilt, Florida and TAMU to be highly ranked by the time we play them. Missouri and Georgia have been struggling lately. OM, Alabama and Auburn are usually competitive with us.

I can't wait to see the other West teams schedule but I dare say no one will be playing the top 2 teams from the East away.

I can't wait to see how the non-conference schedule shapes up. I still hope we play Oregon at home and go to Los Angeles to play in the Dodgertown Classic against UCLA and USC both teams expected to be ranked in the top 15 in 2016.

2016 SEC Schedule full release (Update)

As noted from twitter, Bob Carskadon tweeted out the home SEC schedule.

We play at home: Georgia, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Texas A & M and Missouri. LSU has already released their entire 2016 schedule and we play them at Baton Rouge in late April. This puts us going to Auburn and Alabama next year also. So that makes 8 of 10 series known.

Since it is very doubtful we play the same team away in back to back years, this will eliminate Kentucky and Tennessee.

So my best guess is the final two AWAY series is either to the following 3 teams: Florida, South Carolina or Vanderbilt. We played Florida and South Carolina at home in 2015.

I would also bet this years Super Bulldog Weekend opponent will be Texas A & M. Just a guess.

UPDATE: The rest of the schedule was released and we do play Florida and Vanderbilt. This schedule date wise anyway is tentative.

RECAP:

Home

March 25-27:   Georgia
April 1-3:   Ole Miss
April 15-17:   Texas A & M
May 6-8:   Missouri
May 19-21:   Arkansas

Away

March 18-20:   Vanderbilt
April 8-10:   Florida
April 22-24:   LSU
April 29-M1:   Alabama
May 12-14:   Auburn

2017 commit updates at PG National

Tyler Lasch - C - 2017 - Lake Forest, CA
Lasch showed solid defensive tools behind the plate throughout the weekend popping a 1.95 with a top throw of 75 mph down to second showing nice carry with projectable actions. A left-handed hitter, the Mississippi State commit showed nice strength and lift to his pull side with consistent feel for the barrel. 


Jack Owen - LHP - 2017 - Coto De Caza, CA
Jack Owen impressed during his time on the mound, pounding the strike zone with solid extension out front. Topping out at 85 mph, Owen showed a fast left arm while spotting his late fading changeup and solid 1-7 curveball with big depth throughout the zone. He showed solid actions in the outfield topping out at 91 mph with repeatable actions. 


Jacob Pearson - OF - 2017 - West Monroe, LA
Pearson is a strong and physically built outfielder who showed off high level athleticism. Running an impressive 6.58 60-yard dash, the Mississippi State commit is able to generate loud and hard line drive contact to all fields both during batting practice and while facing live pitching. 

Papelbon and Stratton

I do look for Jonathan Papelbon, current closer for the lowly Phillies, to be traded to a contender before August. Let's hope he finishes his career on a high note.

Chris Stratton, moved up to triple A not too long ago, has done exceptionally well there. He is primed to be moved up to San Francisco again before August. The Giants need fresh pitchers in their stretch run toward the playoffs.

MLB draft update

We have lost the top 3 draftees of the 2015 class. Austin Riley signed with the Braves, Greg Pickett signed with the Phillies and Gray Fenter signed with the Orioles. Riley and Fenter signed for 1 million dollars or more. Pickett signed for a lot less which apparently tells us he wanted to go pro in the first place.

Two of the three other drafted players have said they are going to college. Delvin Zinn and Jared Padgett have said publicly they are enrolling in college. Elih Marrero hasn't said anything but sources around him say he is going to college.

Losing Fenter really didn't hurt because we have plenty of pitching in this class. But Riley and Pickett are elite power hitters and that did hurt us. Plus Riley would have been a closer type of pitcher.

But losing 50 percent is not bad. It could have been worse is the way I look at it.

Now it is on to the 2016 class and wrapping up any roster moves or additions to the 2015 entering the fall.

Signee Austin Riley taken in 1st round

Riley was taken by the Braves at number 41 in the compensation round A. The slotted value is a little over 1.5 million dollars. 

Is this life changing money that Riley said he will take? 

If he signs it's a huge blow to our class. The Braves took him as a third baseman so he might not pitch anymore. But if he goes to college, he will do both for 3 more years. And he could improve his status and get drafted even higher in 3 years and at least double his signing bonus. What will he do? Stay tuned.

John Cohen's June 2nd Press Conference

I really was expecting more information than what John gave. His answers were very generalized. Again, one of my post season points was that he is too secretive to the fans. I am sure he has very good reasons for holding back certain information. I will try and glean what I thought he means.

Officially, we haven't been notified of roster players that have left the program. When asked about the numbers of roster players and signees combined (between 45-50, squad is supposed to be 35), he said we will know more next week. Next week is the MLB Draft. What I take from this is two fold. One, if we lose more than expected than current players on the bubble will have a chance to come back. Two, obviously, if we keep the signees, then those guys on the bubble won't be back. Those players he said are still being discussed.

Again, with being ultra secretive, he mentioned the injury situation was worse than we the fans thought. A few other players were battling through it. He said he didn't want the media to know or anyone outside the locker room. This is not right to me. If a kid (some may be fan favorites) that is out for an extended time or lost for the season than he needs to tell us. We are in the dark about our own players. I totally understand if you are not wanting to let the opponent know if a certain player is hurt, so that the opponent can prepare for them. I am talking about an extended period or lost for the year. Please inform our fan base.

I doubt any writer will be asking about the roster, etc after the Draft (they will be occupied with football) so now we are in the dark on the roster until the Fall roster is released in late September or early October. That's unbelievable to me (but this makes me popular!). LSU, for instance, releases their roster in late July (after the MLB signing period is expired, usually July 15). Even though this roster is not the final one, the LSU fan base is totally informed. I believe the schedule is released at the same time.

By not giving us fans any information or little, then we are here to speculate on basic information that ALL college baseball programs go through and that is kids leaving for whatever reason, the biggest being more playing time.

Several questions that most of us wanted to know the answer to, weren't asked.

1) Will the 2016 non-conference schedule have better teams and will we play more away games to enhance the RPI which helps bubble teams getting into the NCAA Regionals?

2) Several of you fans along with me, noticed how bad the infield grass looked this year. I know the tarp failed but last year it didn't look great either. You, the fans, informed me how other schools looked so good. We should be a lot better at this.

3) The offensive philosophy was touched on, some of this has to do with talent. The bat issue was discussed and that seems to be a non issue.

4) Cohen said the whole program was being looked at for change but again, why can't he give us specifics. Again, we are in the dark.

5) Lastly, I would have asked John about himself, how he has changed over the past year due to the season. Why? This was such a horrible season and turn of events. When you are the leader, the first thing you do is look at yourself and how you can change and get better.

I think that is all I had to say.

NCAA Regionals 2015

It is always sad not to see Ms State baseball in an NCAA Regional. It surely is like a death in the family. We look around dumb founded as to what to do now.

Good luck to those SEC teams in the postseason.

I just have this feeling we will have 3 SEC teams going to Omaha but I think a non SEC team will win the National Championship.

The 2015 Season - Part 9: The good stuff!

Junior college catcher Josh Lovelady played great. He was a nice pickup. He was solid, if not spectacular at times, throwing out runners. Once Gavin Collins came back his PT lessened. We needed Collins offense really bad. Those two returning will be the best one two punch in the SEC.

Freshman shortstop Ryan Gridley whose hero is Dustin Pedrioa won the job half way through the season. He might be small but he excelled at short. He had some big hits through out the season too.

Freshman pitcher Jesse McCord although he struggled when he pitched, I saw some great signs that he is an elite pitcher. Even Butch Thompson was calling him a preseason All-American. He can throw it low 90's with great movement. Hopefully, his surgery corrected what was wrong and he will be full speed next spring.

The 4 big sophomore pitchers: Dakota Hudson, Moonlight Tatum, Austin Sexton and Zac Houston each improved over their freshman seasons. Sexton really had some great starts but the bullpen couldn't hold the lead. Hudson and Houston out of the pen really flashed mid 90's fastballs. Tatum started and relieved and had spots where he was untouchable. All 4 will have significant roles in 2016.

The other sophomores: Jacob Robson, Reid Humphreys and Cody Brown each had solid years. All three were up and down sometimes. Robson started out on fire. Hump had a stretch where he was scorching the ball. Brown had some huge hits throughout the year. All 3 should be starters in 2016.

The other junior college players that made an impact besides Lovelady are Michael Smith, Luke Reynolds and John Holland. All three had up and down years, with injuries or slumps but these guys are solid and should have a good in 2016.

The 2015 Season - Part 8: more thoughts and concerns

1) Why was freshman 1B/RHP Cole Gordon redshirted? He had hit 2-3 HRs in the fall, then in preseason scrimmages, he was striking out guys. He is 6-6 240, throws right, bats left. I was expecting him to play. Turns out we really needed him. We needed his power bat and we needed another arm in the bullpen. Love to find out what happened to him.

2) OF Joey Swinarski came to us as a good hitter. He left HS early, reason he was RS last year. But this year he didn't play much at all. I know we had plenty of OF's but Joey is a good hitter and we needed that.

3) Did the new baseball really have that much affect on us? The pitchers we have couldn't throw it as good?

4) Confidence was a huge factor down the stretch. We just didn't have it. Like I alluded to earlier, once we started the downward spiral, we couldn't get out of it. Confidence was lost.

2016 Season: What do we have, pitching.

I got between 25-30 on my 2016 roster but that will be whittled down to around 20. This is the position with the most turnover. Lots of hard throwing premium arms (hopefully) coming to campus in July and August. This will push some to move on.

The age of throwing in the mid 80s is gone. We have got with the program and are bringing in guys who throw in low to mid 90's. This will be the norm in recruiting now.

I would think our rotation will have either have Dakota Hudson, Austin Sexton or Moonlight Tatum has two if not all 3 spots.

Of course, our star studded in coming class will push these guys. Way too early to tell right now.

Like I have said they past year, I think we have the best LHP class in the nation. These guys can bring it.

I will have more on the pitching as he summer progresses.

Recruiting: what do we have, what do we need

2015 Class: Loaded, any questions. The best LHP group in the nation, I think. Ranked 3rd by Perfect Game. We have 4 top 100 players. We have hard throwers, starters and relievers. We have big powerful hitters. We have middle infielders and a catcher. Three switch hitters. 22 total signees, 3 junior college. Nathan Lowe, a 1B, is big (6-3 230) and has hit over 14 HR's in JC ball. I will comment much more after the draft. I really hope we don't lose more than 2 to pro baseball.

2016 Class: 9 commits so far with 4 premium LHP's. BUT, we need hitters in a big way. This class must be 50/50 pitchers and hitters. Must get more premium hitters.

2017 Class: These guys will be juniors in 2015-16. Ripe for the picking. We have 5 so far, two hitters.

Like many people have said on twitter and on message boards, our roster needs to get better. Bigger and better players. Well, they 2015 class has that. As I have said before, we need elite players every year coming to Starkville. They make a huge difference.

The best way to keep up with commits is to see my blog. I keep up with it and put them on the list.

The 2016 Season: What do we have?

I am going to go ahead and give the lineup, etc, even though its way too early and we don't know who is coming back, etc.

Catcher-Gavin Collins, Jr. He will come back healthy and hungry. Huge year ahead.
1B-Reid Humphreys, Jr. My money is on Reid playing 1B. This is his draft year and he needs to play in the field. He just can't DH and get drafted.
2B-John Holland, Sr. I wish he would come back for his senior year. He was so steady at 2B. His offense really came around.
SS-Ryan Gridley, So. He had a great freshman season. Only will get better and better.
3B-Luke Reynolds, Jr. This may be a platoon position but Luke got better as the season went. He just needs to play summer ball at 3B and get better defensively.
LF-Brent Rooker, So.RS He is a big powerful kid that should play some in the field in 2016.
CF-Michael Smith, Sr. He is such a great player, I think. If he wouldn't have gotten hurt, he may have been drafted in June. Jacob Robson could factor in here but I think he will be drafted.
RF-Cody Brown, Jr.RS Such a great competitor and hustler. Had some huge hits in 2015.

This is my way too early lineup. I will update this as time goes by. MLB draft will have a say in this.

The 2016 Season: What needs to change

1) Non-conference schedule: yes sir. We are slated to play Oregon Ducks at home and go on the road to Los Angeles to play in the Dodgertown Classic and play USC, UCLA, etc. We better play these teams. Don't back out bc we had a bad season. We must play these teams. The thinking about the nc schedule needs to change. We need to play teams we know will have higher RPI's. We need to play away (like in Houston or Los Angeles). We need to stop playing Ms Valley, Alcorn St, etc, whose RPI is way over 200. It is embarrassing to have our 2015 RPI over 100 when all other SEC teams are under 100. We just didn't play a good non-conference schedule.

2) The grass. No not that grass... The infield turf needs new life. It looked like my back yard. I don't care if the tarp leaked and it messed up. It looked bad last year. Also, I would go back to dirt around home plate and leave it plastic around the field.

3) John Cohen: he needs to stop keeping secrets. We had two guys to have surgery and will miss the remainder of the year. He should have said it in his presser. But reporters saw the players and asked. Why not say? We heard two players got suspended. Why not let us know?

4) The offensive philosophy has got to change. We must be bashers and hit home runs and doubles. Singles and bunting is not going to work at all. This will change because it has to. And it will change, if the coaches can get bigger, stronger, heavy hitters.

5) Pitching is simple, to throw strikes. Here again, the pitchers must throw harder now. The pitcher that pitches to contact and hopes for a ground ball is gone. We need hard throwers that strike batters out.

6) John Cohen: lastly, he is the manager. He is the leader. His way needs to change also. If he is calling on bunts in the 4th inning, he has to change it. If he is solely responsible for the lineup, he needs to change his ways. I know he was trying to do anything to jolt the offense this year but a set lineup is the way to go. Leadoff hitters in the front, big burly guys in the middle.

The 2015 Season - Part 7: What now?

The players that will be with us in 2016 need to heal up if they are injured, if not, go to summer ball and let it fly. Get better in everything you think you need to. Come back in July and August and get ready to be winners.

The coaches after their meetings will hit the road recruiting. The 2015 class is pretty much in the can. We shall see after the draft. But the 2016 class needs a lot. Needs a lot of big hitters period.

June 4th is D Day. Draft Day. We have 22 signees and half might be drafted. Roughly 5 could very well be drafted high. I will do my best to keep you updated on this. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is where we do a lot better in 2016 or struggle again.

July 1 is another day to remember. It is the first day to offer a scholarship to the 2016 players. We better be getting some high profile hitters in July.

July 15 is the last day a draftee can sign with a MLB club.

July 5 (I think) is when signees can show up for workouts and summer school.

All the players and signees need to show up and work their tails off. Go out with beautiful women and enjoy football games. When they come back in January, it will be time to get it on again. No more losing like we did.

The 2015 Season - Part 6: The Reckoning

What is the fall out of such a horrendous year? In my view, if the teams doesn't win 35 its a bad year. John Cohen, as he does yearly, and every head coach for that matter, has to meet with the athletic director. The AD is the boss and Cohen has to explain this season to him. If Cohen stays, and I think he should, he will then deal with his coaches. Again, I don't think any of them leave. But I will say this, the way they do things must change. I will expound on that later.

Then the coaches will have exit interviews with the players. They will say goodbye to the seniors and wish them luck in pro ball or in life. The remaining roster is another question. Lots of speculation abounds of course in a bad year.

There have been reports of players suspended, players not showing up for workouts, pretending to be hurt and not working out. I don't know this for sure, just what I read.

The only way to find out if a player will be back in 2016 is when they report to a summer team and they say they play at Ms State. Unless they come out and say they won't be back. This is nothing new to them. Travel ball is reeked with players switching teams, dads don't like each other, etc. They know the drill. I will try to glean what I can and update my 2016 roster on my blog.

If a player decides to leave early for the draft, or moves on to a junior college or whatever, then good luck to them.

There is bound to be a pretty good change to the roster. John Cohen has said he wants players to compete. I think he means, players that battle in an at bat and pitchers that throw strikes and attack the hitters. We will see.

The 2015 Season - Part 5: Summation

1) By not playing in the Houston Texas Classic, this hurt our RPI, recruiting in my opinion. Both we need and needed.

2) Injuries: losing Gavin Collins and Michael Smith right off the bat hurt the offense when we needed a big hit against San Diego, Ark Pine Bluff, Alabama, Auburn. Paul Young and Jesse McCord never got untracked which hurt the pitching later in the year. McCord eventually got hurt and had surgery.

3) Bad Luck?: really, how many times can you hit into a DP or overrun a base or hit a ball so hard but its right at a defender or hit a ball in the middle of the huge CF fence and not score? We need to exorcise the demons before next year.

4) Coaching decisions: bunting is a bad decision now, especially to our fans. It doesn't work so stop it. It tells the hitter, well, I know you can't get a hit so move the runner instead. Juggling the lineup too much hurt the momentum according to many fans.

5) Murphy's Law: when we scored 7 runs, the pitching wasn't there; when we shut down the opposing batters, we couldn't score runs; when we had a great start by our starting pitcher, the bullpen blew it. Usually this stuff happens a couple of times a year this happened all year.

6) The Players: as the saying goes, put yourself in their shoes. They got punched in the gut weekend after weekend. They never quit. They got down on themselves, they felt so snake bit. I am sure it was tough to keep your head up after all that went wrong.

The 2015 Season - Part 4: Coaching decisions

Lets start way before the season started. I along with many fans were looking forward to playing in the Houston College Classic in Houston, Texas at the home of the Astros. It was decided in early 2014 I believe not to play in this highly competitive tournament. The field consists of 6 teams, Houston, Rice and Texas A & M are the usual hosts. Three other teams get invited and we were, I suspect, right after the CWS run in 2013.

First of all, there are tons of HS talent in the Houston area and I am sure they go see most of the games on a yearly basis. Just right for recruiting great talent.

Second, is the RPI issue. The Texas teams are always very competitive and have respectable RPI's. Plus the formula now is the RPI jumps when a visiting team wins on the road.

To play 3 games in a MLB stadium, in a huge city where HS baseball talent abounds, we have a huge alumni base that don't get to see some of our games, our RPI would have been better by playing these teams. I just don't understand why we didn't play in the tournament.

Now on to the season.

(My memory is so so). At the beginning of the season, two instances where we had a lead off double and the player was pumped to get a big hit. What did we do? Bunt him to 3rd or tried to. I think both instances, the next batter was left handed. He can't hit it to the right side to move him? This decision by the coaches is asinine! We can't get the offense rolling if we are bunting runners over in the 4th inning! That, I do not understand.

Rooker was up to bat with the bases loaded one time and he looked to the 3B coach and the coach was going through signals. Signals! What signal? Hit the ball hard, preferably to the OF. Don't hit into a DP. What does he need signals for? I don't get that either.

I kind of understand, moving the lineup to get the hot hitting players in, etc. But a leadoff type hitter does not bat cleanup. Reid Humphreys should have batted in every game, slump or no slump. He strikes fear into the pitcher. He was held out of some games. I don't get that.

Bunting period, prior to the 9th inning is a cardinal sin. Please make sure the coaches know this next year.

This is all I can think about at this moment. But not playing in Houston, bunting with no outs after a leadoff double, and having them bunt prior to the 9th inning sums it up.

The 2015 Season - Part 3: Bad Luck or what??

I really can't think of such a bad luck season. I know, I know. Don't blame this or that on bad luck. Take the first LSU game. Reid Humphreys hits the ball 415 feet.....off the middle of the center field fence.....CF grabs it, throws it in, our runner slips and falls past 3B and he gets tagged out. Hump hits it ANYWHERE else, he walked off the win.

We hit the ball just has hard as the other team but its right at a defender.

This type of stuff got in the head of our players and they couldn't shake it. Snake bit is a baseball term. These guys have been playing baseball 15 or so years, they have seen it all. They have seen balls drop when it wasn't supposed to and seen balls caught when they aren't supposed to.

We were Murphy's Law in 2015. We need to burn the bats, the baseballs, the uniforms, whatever we can to rid ourselves of bad luck.

This bad luck thing wasn't the whole story of 2015 but it had a little to do with it. I mean bad luck stuck out so bad that we didn't have any GOOD LUCK.

The 2015 Season - Part 2: The injury bug

I felt pretty good coming out of fall ball. I didn't see any injuries reported by anyone. Yes, a couple of players were coming off surgery and a couple banged up but no one had season ending stuff.

Then the first and biggest bomb dropped right before the season: Gavin Collins had surgery on his catching hand. He is our 3 hole hitter and starting catcher. He was out several weeks and really never had the strength to hit balls like he should. Josh Lovelady and Walker did really good job while he was out but they aren't the hitter Gavin is.

Michael Smith came on strong the latter part of fall. In one of John Cohen's preseason interviews he indicated that Smith would be a difference maker. His first AB of the spring he smoked a ball to the wall for a double but came up lame at second. I strongly believe Smith would have been an offensive and defensive spark plug all year long.

Paul Young was another who had surgery last spring and was getting back into shape. He was drafted in the 21st round out of JC. He had a lot of raw talent as a pitcher. The cold spring really prevented him from getting action pre-SEC which would have given him valuable experience.

Myles Gentry never pitched much because of soreness, etc. He would have given us another arm in the thin bullpen.

Jesse McCord was a highly ranked player coming out of HS. Butch Thompson had such high hopes for him. Once he went down, I knew we were going down hill. He is a difference maker.

Matthew Britton got banged up in the beginning of the season, had a great game at Kentucky then messed his knee up. The last few games he has been tearing it up. He would have solved out 3B woes! I know some of you don't believe in him but he has a lot of talent. I said before the season, if he can hit the ball consistently, he would be a fine player. Well, he did at the end.

I truly believe losing Collins and Smith early hurt our offense production. We couldn't overcome the lack of offense. Then the pitching started to give up runs and we needed premium arms. Young never got untracked and McCord had surgery half way through.

The 2015 Season - Part 1: The post CWS fail

Each year, Ms State must bring in freshmen different makers. Ryan Gridley is one of them. The failure of this season goes back to June of 2013. The coaches just stepped off the bus with a CWS appearance in hand. We came very close to winning the National Championship.

The 2013 recruiting class was 99% in the bag (Gavin Collins, Reid Humphreys). So we really needed to strike while the iron was hot and go after the 2014 class, the juniors in HS. After such an outstanding year, we needed to go after the most talented players. This is the first failure of the 2015 season.

We got 4 outstanding players in the 2014 class: RHP Jesse McCord, C Chase Vallot, IF Dale Burdick and IF Ryan Gridley. Another signee LHP Andrew Mahoney was secured but he had arm trouble so spring 2015 was up in the air for him.  Another guy 1B/RHP Cole Gordon wasn't highly rated by PG but I love this kid. Why we redshirted him is a big question to me.

Vallot and Burdick were very good offensive players. These guys would have helped our club tremendously. But both signed pro contracts, Vallot in the 1st Supplemental and Burdick was 40th.

This is my big gripe. We only signed 8 HS players who were entering their senior year in June of 2013. Hence, we had to sign 8 JC players, a few late, after Vallot and Burdick signed their contracts.

The coaches should have done a better job at getting the premium HS players right after the CWS appearance. I know players are committing earlier now and there may not have been that many left. But to me, this is the root cause for failing in 2015.

Why? Look at Gridley. How much of a difference he made in 2015. McCord has premium talent. A nagging injury took him out midway through the season.

We should have signed more premium HS talent in 2013, riding the high from the CWS but failed and we had to make up the class with JC players.

Now, with that being said, we did an outstanding job with the HS sophomores (upcoming juniors) in 2013. Our class is ranked 3rd per Perfect Game with 4 top 100 players. This is the group we will be very concerned about in 3 weeks.

New signee/commit rankings by Perfect Game and new commits

Check out 2015 and 2016 signees and commits. We are getting the best players!

Governor's Cup versus Ole Miss

Last nights game was bad. No way to sugar coat it. The players have been putting forth great effort but last night they fell short. Particularly the hitting side. These guys must have the attitude to kill the ball. They must be super aggressive. Do not look for walks.

This season is just plain bad. I had hopes before the season of at least getting to a regional but now we won't. With 4 wins we will barely make the SEC tournament.

Our slide this season goes back two years. I will have a full write up at the end of the year. College baseball recruiting starts in the 8th or 9th grade and we missed it two years ago.

I along with many rabid Ms State baseball fans will expect great changes before next season. We expect better players, we expect a better non conference schedule RPI wise, we expect a lot better offensive ball club. This is akin to Coach Croom having a lackluster offense in football. We need and want doubles and homeruns. It's the only way to win and win big in today's college baseball landscape.

Please see my full write up at the end of this disastrous season.

Arkansas thoughts

Under the circumstances of being quite thin in the pitching ranks, I thought we did quite well this weekend. We could have won 2 of 3. With the Governor's Cup on Tuesday, we had to hold back Ross Mitchell and he needs to go long, really long into that game. We are just so thin at pitching right now.

Zac Houston was tremendous all weekend long. He should be the closer in 2016.

Injury report

The biggest news is the loss of RHP Jesse McCord for the rest if the year. He had surgery. I was hoping he would give us quality innings down the stretch.

Reliever Myles Gentry is doubtful for the year too. Arm trouble

3B Matthew Britton twisted his knee at Kentucky and should be back soon.

Those are the major injuries that John Cohen went over this week. Thin at pitching now. Really need starters to pitch long in games from here on out.

Texas A and M thoughts

Friday night: all we needed was a hit with the bases loaded in the 9th and I believe we would have won. That would have been huge, obviously.
Sunday: had two opportunities to blow the game open with two more bases loaded opportunities only to score 1 or 2.

I knew Sunday would be an offensive day. We didn't get it done with the bases juiced. Simple as that.

Tremendous hustle and effort on the part of our club the whole weekend. Our defensive highlights are for SportsCenter top 10, we had several not just one. This in it self, shows the players love the game and are giving it their all.

The Sunday starter role now is up in the air. I wouldn't be surprised to have Jesse McCord start on Tuesday and move Austin Sexton back to Sunday. Moonlight Tatum should be moved to closer/setup role the rest of the year, which is a very good thing.

The lack of HR's in a homerun park is disconcerting. The wind constantly blows out at TAMU and you can tell by their numbers it is quite easy to hit one.

I still believe this team has a run in them. They can still get hot and we can still make a regional.

This past week we got 3 more commits from highly ranked players for the coming years. Look for many recruits this weekend at SBW.

South Carolina thoughts

When we put everything together, we can beat anyone on our schedule. I thought before the season, we would play more games like the first 2 South Carolina games.

The combo of getting Gavin Collins back from injury and John Holland swinging a hot bat is very big. Lots of great ABs this weekend from everyone.

We just don't have bullpen depth like we've had the last couple of years.  Hence, it is imperative the starters go deep in games.

You can tell the hitters are seeing it good and have confidence. I expect no more big slumps the rest of the season.

The rotation should be Laster, Preston Brown and Sexton for TAMU. Although Sexton needs to throw versus Memphis, a must win.

We have 21 games left. I think we will win 10 more SEC games and let's say 2 of 3 non conf games. That will leave us 33 wins. So we must win 2 to have a shot at an at-large bid for a regional. We have the highest RPI out of the SEC, no one else is over 100. That may hurt our chances. Of course, winning more than I think will really help or winning the SECT.

Sunday thoughts after Auburn

Following our home run bing this past Sunday at Kentucky, I was thinking we were getting hot at the plate. Then 3 games in a row of not even scoring! Rock bottom.

Today we scratched out a win. I certainly didn't see us at 3-6 at this point. I predicted 6-3.

These players have certainly had their downs this season, pitchers and hitters. Which begs me to think they will come out of this bad spell and really play well. These guys have learned a lot. They have plenty of talent to win many more games.

I think John Cohen may have settled on the infield. Seniors Wes Rea at 1B, Seth Heck at 3B, junior John Holland at 2B and freshman phenom Ryan Gridley at SS. Holland is starting to get hot at the plate which we really needed.

I really think JC transfer Michael Smith needs more PT. He is extremely talented. He, Cody Brown, Jacob Robson, and Jake Vickerson should be the OF the rest of the season.

We have finally getting quality starts from our pitchers.

A huge boost is having Gavin Collins back in the everyday lineup. He will only get better.

I truly believe we will get hot at the plate and everything will come together. Once we get into the SECT, RPI and record come into play. We can get an at large bid and play to get to Omaha.

Sunday at Kentucky

Finally, the bats did their job. And we still had more chances to score more.

Gavin Collins and Reid Humphreys are the power hitters, they must bat each game and not bunt! I still think the batting order could be better, Cody Brown is not cleanup. Hump is cleanup.

Robson, Heck, Collins, Hump, Rea is what the first 5 should be for a while.

Moonlight Tatum may have to move to Friday night starter. He's getting better each time out.

The batters got confident today. They made huge strides. Confidence is huge in life. They know they can hit the ball.

Still got guys injured or slumping: Michael Smith and John Holland, those two need to play more down the stretch.

This win should give us a boost for USM and Auburn. The players will continue to work hard.

The non conference games are even more important now. We need Lucas Laster to dominate each time.

The goal of 35-40 wins is still attainable of course. This win total will get us into SEC tournament and a regional. Then we need to get hot.

Kentucky first 2 games

What is wring with our beloved baseball team? What can go wrong has? Starting pitching does great, relief pitching flops, we lose. Pitching does great the whole game, we can't hit w RISP to win. We make errors, we make base running mistakes. What is up?

I'm pretty high on this team coming in to the season. The mix of veterans with JC players seemed good. The sophomores were highly ranked two years ago. We have a lot of college experience!

Preston Brown struggles Friday night, we have several chances to score runs but hit it right at someone, double plays. Saturdays game starts out bad and we fall behind 9-3 but score 4 in the 9th before losing.

One nagging problem might have been fixed, Gavin Collins played. He had 2 hits, he is a catalyst. If he can play every game the rest of the season!

The batting lineup. I know the coaches sit down and go over it but they need to settle on it. At least 7 spots in my mind are filled. Having Cody Brown bat cleanup and then try to bunt for a hit is not it. Cleanup hitter hits HRs.

1-Robson
2-Heck
3-Collins
4-Humphreys
5-Rea

This should be it for the time being. I wish speedy RF Michael Smith would get going. Rooker, Brown, Lovelady, Smith, Britton, Reynolds, Spruill all need to hit after these 5. Why? We need to bunch hits together! That is how lots of runs are scored!

Pitching. Most part the starters have done great. The bullpen is fluid. I have full confidence in Butch Thompson. He will get it done.

Confidence is a big issue, I think. How you instill it or get it, I don't know. John Cohen says we will get out of it with hard work. I think we will turn it around.

I didn't predict we would struggle this bad in all phases. If we do get rolling at the right time, we can make a run in the postseason. It all depends on the players attitude and how confident they can be in their abilities.

Interesting note about what the players said from the fall to the spring: several said they never been on a team with such great chemistry. Keep that in the back of your mind.

Eastern Illinois thoughts

Its always good to win in the midweek. Eastern Illinois losing record is deceptive. They have played Georgia, Arkansas, Austin Peay and Memphis.

Lucas Laster was terrific. Just what we needed. He has to pitch us to wins versus Ole Miss and Southern Miss when we play those two in Pearl. We need the wins and RPI.

RHP Paul Young did go to the bullpen and warmed up. Really need his arm. Let's hope he can get some innings soon and become a factor.

Defense again was outstanding. MIF combo of Seth Heck and John Holland only gets better as the season goes along.

The sore spot tonight was hitting. The answer is not bunting with no outs then leaving the runner stranded at 2B. We did hit several hard hit balls. No HRs.

I do think a change of scenery is good. Our first road game is a series at Kentucky. A hitters ballpark too. We have got to start pounding the ball.

Injured players Gavin Collins and Michael Smith didn't play tonight. Got to have them back soon.

1st SEC series thoughts - Alabama

That wasn't pretty. We are so used to better bullpen pitching. Hitting is not that good either. Coaches certainly play a role in both. Everyone needs to do some soul searching this week.

Starting Pitching:

All 3: Preston Brown, Austin Sexton and Moonlight Tatum did a fantastic job. All of them lasted past the 5th inning and were ahead or in the game when they left. Sexton had a complete game win. Tatum may have to be moved back to the bullpen. He is so effective in that role. If Lucas Laster or Jesse McCord can pitch on Sunday, move Tatum to closer.

Bullpen:

Ross Mitchell has done so much for our program on and off the field. But he is mired in the losses that we had. Maybe he has been figured out. Like the saying goes ,"all hands on deck". All pitchers besides the weekend starters are now in line for the bullpen. Whoever is effective will pitch, I think. Cole Gordon and Paul Young come to my mind. Young by what Cohen said a few weeks ago should be healthy and ready to contribute now, why he didn't pitch versus Bama, I don't know. Gordon did very well pitching in preseason scrimmages but has yet to see the field. Dakota Hudson definitely need to pitch a lot more, got to get him going.

Offense:

I just don't get the bunting. When the bases are loaded, there is no bunting. This must be a coaching philosophy that has to stop. We need to swing away and score multiple runs. A leadoff double, then the next guy who is 2-2 on the day, tries to bunt but strikes out. He needs to swing away. The momentum is killed when you bunt, I think. But the great news is we find a way to get runners on base. The hits will come for this club.

Intangibles:

The players have said what great chemistry they have together, well it will come in handy in times like this. Their attitude seems to be fine.

What's next:

Eastern Illinois then at Kentucky. Beat EI like a drum then head to hitter friendly Kentucky. Our first road games this weekend. It will be good to get away. Road trips help relax a team.

Line up:

We have got to get Gavin Collins back, Humphreys should never be taken out of batting order, Michael Smith must play a lot more he is good.

Passionate fans

We lost 3 games in one week and we as fans go off. We are now 14-3 and still ranked in all 6 polls. We are passionate about our team, our school. We want to win so bad. Don't you love it.

Fear not. Failure is learning. We learned something about our team. The players did as well. They will work just as hard now. The coaches also.

The SEC slate is about to start. First up is Alabama at home. The road to Hoover starts next Friday night. It will be 30 games of war. I am still very hopeful we can have a great year.

These players deserve our support. They want to win just as bad as we do.

Dandy Dozen 2015: Mississippi's best

The Clarion Ledger compiled their top 12 players in the state. Ms State signed 8 of those players.

Austin Riley---Desoto Central HS
Jake Mangum---Jackson Prep
Noah Hughes---Jackson Prep
Konnor Pilkington---East Central HS
Delvin Zinn---Pontotoc HS
Keegan James---Desoto Central HS
Brant Blaylock---Desoto Central HS
Luke Alexander---Belmont HS

These guys all represent themselves well. Watch for game is DeSoto is hosting Prep in April. Should be good.

Great job by our coaches to conquer the state!

Travis Chapman, former player

Travis is now the defensive coach with the Charleston RiverDogs of they Sally League. New York Yankees farm system. Here is the write up.

Chapman, a native of Jacksonville, Fla., begins his first season with Charleston and his third as a coach in the Yankees system. He made his managerial debut in 2014, leading the GCL Yankees to the best record in the Northwest Division (38-22). Chapman made his professional coaching debut in 2013 as a coach for the GCL Yankees, helping lead the club to a 36-24 (.600) record and a first-place finish in the Northeast Division. As a player, Chapman was originally selected by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 17th round of the 2000 First-Year Player Draft. He played in 506 combined minor league games over seven seasons with the Philadelphia (2000-03), Kansas City (2004), Cincinnati (2005) and Pittsburgh (2006) organizations and hit .286 (506-for-1,771) with 227 runs, 117 doubles, 41 home runs and 286 RBI, mostly at third base. He attended Mississippi State University from 1997-2000, where he set the school's career records for doubles (71), sacrifice flies (22) and hit-by-pitches (44), as well as the single-season hit-by-pitches record (19).

Opening Weekend Thoughts

I knew by the end of fall, the batting lineup was shaping up to have talented and experienced hitters 1 through 9. We missed Gavin Collins the whole weekend and Michael Smith most of it. We reeled off a few innings where the other team struggled to get 3 outs. Our batters took close pitches and walked. Then sat back and hit the fast ball because the pitchers couldn't throw any other pitch for a strike.

Preston Brown is the Friday night starter, no doubt. If he can stay healthy and stay in the Friday role, we will be a very good club. The other starters struggled some. Two of the 4 starters were true freshmen and they were nervous. We hope they are over it. Lucas Laster struggled but generally he was very good in the fall and early spring. He will bounce back.

The bullpen was outstanding. I do believe Moonlight Tatum might be a starter now. Daniel Brown was lights out and should replace Tatum as the heir apparent to the Jacob Lindgren role. A lefty closer. All we need is to keep running them out there and play games.

It looks like Matt Spruill and Luke Reynolds will share the 3B duties while Matthew Britton will come off the bench for his superb defensive skill.

True freshman sensation Ryan Gridley looked like a veteran. He smoothly scooped up grounders and he was not over matched at the plate. He got three hits. He will play a lot.

JC transfer Michael Smith in his only AB, smashed it over the LF head and pulled into 2B with a muscle strain. I look for great things from him. Awesome player.

The MIF defense, as I said in preseason, is superb. Seth Heck and John Holland are quick to the ball, quick release and their footwork is terrific. Expect many more double plays.

I was disappointed true freshman Cole Gordon didn't play. I suspect he would have been the starting pitcher on Tuesday but the game was cancelled. I expect Cole to play a lot this year.

Wes Rea did not play on Sunday after taking one off the knee on Saturday. His status for this weekend is questionable. He had a great weekend. I hope he continues to hit the ball.

Jacob Robson just went off. He so much wanted to prove he is a good player. He showed it.

I think this lineup is better than any lineup we had in 2013, 1 through 9. We are deeper at all spots.

Heck  SS
Holland  2B
Collins  C
Hump  LF
Robson  CF
Rea  1B
Smith  RF
Reynolds  DH
Spruill  3B

My first weekend lineup

Michael Smith: RF/bats right
Seth Heck: SS/bats right
John Holland: 2B/bats left
Reid Humphreys: LF/bats right
Wes Rea: 1B/bats right
Luke Reynolds: DH/bats left
Matthew Britton: 3B/bats left
Josh Lovelady: C/bats right
Jacob Robson: CF/bats left

But lots of players will get PT. Pitchers won't play very long. Doubtful any will go over 70 pitches.

Last weekend scrimmage 2/8

What this weekend showed:

Preston Brown, Lucas Laster and Ross Mitchell are your weekend rotation as of now. That could change during the season.

The pitchers know the hitters and vice versa, time to play someone else. They know what's coming.

Rumor has it that Gavin Collins is banged up. He didn't play all weekend. I am sure we will know more before Friday.

Brent Rooker and Cole Gordon hit HRs today. They both figure in the DH/pinch hitting scenario.

The IF/OF depth is very good. Look for lots of switching the first couple of weeks.

Again, Trevor Fitts and Moonlight Tatum come in and shut down the other team. The end of the game should be safe.

If Collins can't go for a few weeks, Josh Lovelady and Cody Walker have to be good.

A few pitchers are still developing. We have the luxury of letting them develop.

I think our hitting will be very good. We have talented hitters from both sides of the plate.

Tuesday scrimmage 2/3

RHP/1B Cole Gordon is a beast. He is 6-6 240 true freshman and continues to show he can pitch against the big boys. He didn't pitch his senior year because of arm surgery so after months of laying off he has impressed me. His strength is coming back a little at a time. I see him pitching for us a lot this season and some time as a pinch hitter batting left. He has a lot of upside.

LHP Paxton Stover 5-11 195 another true freshman, has also done well on the mound. He started against Cole tonight. I think he will pitch in relief this year. He will only get better.

Sophomore big man RHP Dakota Hudson struggled a little tonight but still is trying to work out his new delivery. Great things ahead for him.

Closing duo Trevor Fitts and Moonlight Tatum dominated again tonight.

Not many hitting stars on this cold night. We need to play someone else!

Sunday Scrimmage 2\1

I think the 5 starters at the beginning of the season are Preston Brown, Ross Mitchell, Lucas Laster, Jesse McCord and Austin Sexton.
The first 3 weekends are 5 game sets. Four on the weekend followed by a game on Tuesday. Brown, Laster and Mitchell seem to be in the lead for SEC weekend starters. Of course, that will change as the season wears on.

The closer combo of Trevor Fitts and Moonlight Tatum have been outstanding. Bridging the gap between starters and closers will answered by several others as the season goes along. Lots of mix and match.

The offense has shown spurts of power but I think by now the pitchers know our hitters too well. We need to play someone we don't know! You will be surprised by how many runs we will score.

Defense will be one of the best in the nation. Fast outfielders and slick fielding infielders coupled with strong arm catchers and athletic pitchers.

Still no sign of big arm Paul Young. But I think he is fine. I can't wait to see him pitch.

Saturday scrimmage

LHP's Lucas Laster and Ross Mitchell both seniors did well in their starts today. When we need to start a lefty against a heavy left handed team, these guys will start.

Another excellent relief work done by Trevor Fitts and Vance Tatum, these guys will hold the end of the game for us. Both can strike out a hitter when needed.

RHP's (both 6-5 in height) super sophomores, Dakota Hudson and Zac Houston brought the heat today and pitched good in relief. They just need reps and experience. Hudson has a new delivery he is working on. He needs to pitch 2-3 times a week.

Hitter of the day is Jr. transfer John Holland. He was 4 for 4. He is the 2 hole hitter in my mind. OF Michael Smith is the leadoff hitter, I think. Those two, then super sophomores Gavin Collins and Reid Humphreys right behind them should produce runs in bunches and make the other team sweat. Batting order 1-4 is settled in my mind.

Let's hope they can get the game in tomorrow. Maybe they will switch the time to miss the rain.

Pitchers so far

Well, I have been real encouraged by what the pitchers have done. We have no shortage of starters. It appears senior Trevor Fitts and sophomore Vance Tatum will excel at the closing role.

Junior Preston Brown and senior Lucas Laster have been tremendous as starters. They continue to build their endurance. Sophomore Austin Sexton and freshman Jesse McCord struggled their first time out. This Sunday is big for them. So encouraging is sophomore Dakota Hudson with his new delivery. He has pitched twice in relief. Sexton, McCord and Hudson appear to be in the lead for the third weekend spot.

Two true freshman appear to be ready to contribute. Cole Gordon and
Paxton Stover have done well so far.

And we haven't even talked about steady senior Ross Mitchell!

The key is this. Starters pitch into the 6th or later innings. If we have them consistently reach this mark, we will have plenty of pitching.

Every year, a pitcher who barely pitches early in the season, seems to come on late and gives us a boost. Who will this year?

Why I am so excited for the 2015 season? And recruiting is the key.

We will look back upon the 2015 season, I predict, and really show appreciation for what John Cohen has built. He went out and recruited specific players to help this team win.

Returning infield starters: we return the starting catcher (Gavin Collins) who is all conference material, we return the starting first baseman (Wes Rea) who was the starter the past 3 years, we return the starting short stop (Seth Heck) who made only 4 errors last year and we return the starting third baseman (Matthew Britton) who found a home at third and excelled defensively for most of the 2014 season. That is 4 of the 5 infielders we have returning starters. Cohen recruited a JC player to fill the spot at second base after Bret Pirtle graduated. The JC player (John Holland) started a few games his freshman season at Florida State (College World Series participant that year), then transferred to a junior college and played two years. Holland's last year he was Player of the Year for his conference! What a pickup!

Infield backups: we return a former JC player (Cody Walker) and recruited another JC player (Josh Lovelady) to compete for the backup catchers role (believe me, the catcher needs a backup), we recruited another JC player for first base (Trent Waddell) along with a very talented freshman (Cole Gordon) to bolster that position, at second base we have another JC transfer (Matt Spruill) and ultra talented freshman (Ryan Gridley), short stop Holland can slide over or Gridley can play it, then third base we have yet another JC transfer (Luke Reynolds) who bats left and has wowed with his glove diving for balls.

We have 4 of 5 starters that returned, the 5th is a talented JC player. The backups are also mostly JC players who bring the experience factor.

The outfield is wired differently. We have 3 returnees that have started some over the past two years (Jake Vickerson, Jacob Robson and Cody Brown) then in order to get his huge bat in the lineup ultra talented (Reid Humphreys) was moved to LF from the infield. Two other very talented prospects redshirted last year (Brent Rooker and Joey Swinarski). Then we recruited a super fast recruit JC transfer (Michael Smith) that has had such an impact, he must start somewhere. These three positions is the mix and match portion of the lineup. But as of this writing, I would have to go with Humphreys in LF, Robson in CF and Smith in RF.

The OF does not have any first year college players. That experience is so important.

Pitching

The two starting pitchers that are leading the way right now are Lucas Laster and Preston Brown. Both started several games last year. Both have shown the ability to shut the other team down. We have over 15 pitchers on the staff. If we get these two starters to average 6 innings per start we will have a great year. The trickle down effect is the bullpen will be rested and the inexperienced guys will have time to develop. The biggest recruit to the pitching staff is freshman sensation (Jesse McCord) who has impressed our hitters to the point that they give him all kinds of nicknames. He is an impact pitcher. I could go into great detail about the pitchers but I will do that later.

To recap: the defense will be outstanding, the infield and outfield have tons of experience, the hitting is there. I think most people will be surprised at how good we will be.

My lineup as of today:

1  Michael Smith  RF
2  John Holland  2B
3  Gavin Collins  C
4  Reid Humphreys  LF
5  Wes Rea  1B
6  Seth Heck  SS
7  Luke Reynolds  DH
8  Matthew Britton  3B
9  Jacob Robson  CF

2015 Season: Intangibles

The middle of the field defense is outstanding. Catcher, shortstop, second baseman and center fielders are all great defenders. We have vast experience at 1B and 3B.

We have as much depth as anyone in the country. Barring major injury, this will be a major positive as the season progresses.

We have some quality pre-SEC opponents who won't drag us down RPI wise when it comes to picking regional hosts.

The toughest SEC opponents are at home. LSU, Alabama, Florida and South Carolina. That is a huge advantage.

We have quality hitters coming off the bench. When we need a big hit, we have the talent now to get it done. Pinch hitting won't be a problem this year.

Losing the first game of 2014 set the tone. We were unsettled. We lost too many non-conference games. Plus we were not settled at catcher or shortstop, two key positions. This year we are settled at those two and by what I have read, the players mean business this year.

John Cohen did a great job building the 2015 team. He recruited JC players to plug holes and build depth. He got talented freshman players to bolster the lineup. Now it is almost time to stop talking and start playing. I think the fire in the belly of the players is back. Maybe last year they thought, we just going to show up and win. I don't know.

I do know we are primed for a great year. Time to play.

What it will take to be at the top and stay there?

Good question. I get asked this on occasion. First of all, it takes elite players. We have plenty coming in August of 2015. Let's hope the MLB Draft don't kill us. The 2016 season is really big in my opinion. We lose 8 seniors off the 2015 club and I don't foresee any draft eligible player leaving (maybe John Holland if he has a great year). The 2016 may be young in spots but the talent level on it will be tremendous. Reid Humphreys, Dakota Hudson, Gavin Collins and others will be juniors. These guys will be great players in 2016. Couple this with the immense talent of the 2015 class and it is recipe for a top 5 club.

The 2016 class already has 8 commits and all of those are rated by Perfect Game as top 500 in the nation.

We just need to keep getting these elite players and keeping them.

Then in the near future, the brand new ballpark will be built and you will see our program take off like a rocket. We should get elite players knocking down our door.

The future is indeed very bright.

2015 Season: Prediction

I predicted in 2014 that we will go to a Super regional. Once you get to this level, then it depends on being hot at the right time. Pitchers and hitters being at the top of their game, like in 2013. Well, we ended up 1 game shy of a Super.

This year, I am going with the same prediction. I think we can make it to a Super. Again, I can't predict injuries or how hot a team will be. I do predict this team to improve. Of course, if there aren't any major injuries too.

Within the conference, I see our record as winning more than 17. We can win 20 non-conference games. 17-13 and 20-6 equals to 37 wins. That prediction is right now. Once the season starts, I will probably change my prediction. I have a feeling we can be better than what I'm predicting.

The development of young players is the key to each season. With this, players who have struggled or injured the season before and have them perform well is another. 

I see the infield defense as superb, the outfield as deep, starting pitchers as we have never had in Cohen's years. 

Bottom line is, I see us in the postseason for the 5th consecutive year. Can we go to Omaha? Sure, we can. It all has to come together though.

2015 Season: Left Handed Pitchers

Starting off with the man, who else? Senior redshirt Ross Mitchell, 6-1 165 from Tennessee. He has gotten us out of more jams. Even though he did well as a starter, I think they will move him back to a long reliever. A starter, who usually throws harder than Ross, falters they will bring Ross in throwing in the low 80's. This has worked numerous times in the past, why not again in 2015? We want him to duplicate the 2013 season. Another senior is Lucas Laster, 5-11 178. He was a JC transfer last year and came on late to really dominate other teams. He should be a weekend starter. He will throw in the upper 80's but with deception. He is one of those leftys that don't give up hits, hence little or no runs. Junior Trent Waddell, 6-3 210 a JC transfer might get some innings as a reliever. He has a history of getting hurt. But he is also a backup at first base. Sophomore Vance Tatum, 6-4 210 is highly competitive. He will man one of the closer roles. He has swing and miss capabilities. He is a star in the making. Sophomore JC transfer Daniel Brown, 5-10 183 came to Ms State after an All-American campaign at a Texas JC. As of this writing, he still has a chance to start some games but he will probably be a stellar reliever this year. The coaches did a great job to find him. The last two guys are true freshmen. Paxton Stover, 5-11 195 is from Tennessee. He did very well in the fall. He still is in the hunt for a starting role. Another great find by pitching coach Butch Thompson. I think this kid will have a great career here. Alabamian Andrew Mahoney, 6-2 210 did not pitch his senior year due to Tommy John surgery. He was highly rated by Perfect Game before the injury. He only pitched 3 innings in the fall. He could be a candidate for a redshirt. But in 2016, I see him as an impact pitcher.

Baseball is a game of statistics. Half of SEC hitters bat from the left side, so you need quality LH pitchers to counteract them. I do see this group to have a huge impact. Just like any position, we need to stay healthy. 

2015 Season: Middle Infielders

Shortstop

Senior Seth Heck, 5-11 170 returns after only committing 4 errors all of last year. What you want in a shortstop...makes all the routine plays. Bats right. He is a solid hitter, not flashy but puts the ball in play. A tremendous find by the coaches. He hails from Washington state.

Second Base

Junior John Holland, 5-11 185 is the starter. He is in his first year at Ms State but played one year at Florida State before going to junior college. He has the experience you want. He also bats left and is very fast on the bases. He really is the total package. If Heck wasn't at short then Holland would start there. He will be the leadoff or 2 hole hitter. Another great job by the staff to recruit him here. Britton and Spruill can play here also. True freshman phenom Ryan Gridley, 5-9 180 is a backup to both MIF spots. He had a great fall. Really good player in all phases. Should get some playing time to get ready for 2016. Gridley is a star in the making.

This MIF could go down as one of the best we have ever had at Ms State.

2015 Season: New Impact Players

From an everyday standpoint, John Holland was a great get by the coaches. He bats left, leadoff and a great defender in the middle of the field.

Right behind him is CF Michael Smith. He is super fast. He will run down balls where ever he plays. He can pressure the defense when he runs the bases.

True freshman RHP Jesse McCord will start and pitch us in a lot of games. He has the ability to get people out. A highly rated player coming out of HS.

You can't forget about a backup catcher. This one position is a grind. JC transfer Josh Lovelady really impressed in the fall. A tough kid who blocks pitches. Had a pretty good offensive fall too.

I think Luke Reynolds will get even better by the end of the season and will have many big hits along the way.

2015 Season: Right Handed Pitchers

This group is led by the bearded wonder. Senior Trevor Fitts, 6-2 223 will hold down the closers role in 2015. Vast experience from Fitts. He is a tremendous leader also. Junior redshirt Preston Brown had a great fall. Expect him to be an SEC starter on the weekends. Let's hope he is injury free in 2015. Junior Myles Gentry, 6-0 190, a side arm reliever will come out of the pen and put any fires out. Great movement on his pitches. Redshirt sophomore Paul Young, 6-2 205 is the ace in the hole this year. He is coming off surgery from last spring. Drafted by the Indians coming out of junior college, I had hoped he would pitch last year and be dominating. I hope he starts slow to get in game shape and comes on late in May and June and give us that mid-90's heater we need out of the bullpen. I see him being a major contributor in 2016. A trio of superb true sophomores will pitch a lot in 2015. Austin Sexton, 6-2 180 from Alabama, is still in the hunt for a weekend spot. He had a nice summer and fall. Big and tall, Dakota Hudson, 6-5, 207 has tons of ability. A non-arm injury set him back in the fall. I would love for him to dominate and take the Friday night starter role. We shall see what the early spring holds for him. Another huge player is Zac Houston, 6-6 234 from Mississippi. He is slated for reliever duty in 2015. Maybe a set up role for him. He throws in the mid-90's. JC transfer sophomore Logan Elliot, 6-1 175, another side armer, will vie for relief duty. Freshmen redshirts, Jacob Billingsley, 6-1 178 and Levi Mintz, 6-3 190 are still competing for reliever roles. A trio of true freshmen, led by phenom Jesse McCord, 6-2 185 who by all accounts will be a major contributor to the staff. He may be a weekend starter as a freshman. No one can hit his pitches will regularity. Aaron Dominguez, 6-1 190 from California is set to compete for reliever duty. A very tough kid on the mound. Dual player, Cole Gordon, 6-6 240 may get a few innings in relief. He had surgery in the last few months so it might be 2016 before he will make a pitching impact.

2015 Season: Designated Hitter

Right

Reid Humphreys: when he is not playing outfield, I see him being the starter here. Once he gets experience, he will be a force.

Brent Rooker: a fantastic athlete. When Humphreys is in the OF and we need a right handed DH, I think he is the guy. Again, he just need some experience.

Joey Swinarski: he will be more of a pinch hitter than a DH this year, I think. Still has tons of potential as a hitter (not a bad throwing arm either).

Left

Luke Reynolds: he is known as a good hitter. He is yet another new player that needs experience. I expect him to really be good at the end of the season.

Cole Gordon: big power hitter. When he turns on a pitch, it will be hit hard. But he is a true freshman and needs experience. I see him as a pinch hitter also from the left side.

2015 Season: Outfielders

Center

This should be a two headed monster. Both players are in there 3rd year of college baseball. Sophomore redshirt Jacob Robson, 5-10 175 from Canada. He started slow in 2014 then got hurt and was redshirted. He played well in the summer league and continued that surge in the fall. Bats left. He really put the ball in play and pressured the defense, on the base paths too during fall scrimmages. Junior Michael Smith, 5-10 170 comes from a JC in Tennessee. He is really fast. He bats right. Did not make an error in the OF during his JC career and stole over 20 bases each year. Both these guys are real fast. I can see a platoon situation here.

Corner

These two positions will a mix and match situation. Who bats left or right? Who will bat DH when not in the OF? Sophomore phenom Reid Humphreys, 6-2 210 played his first OF duty in the fall and did well. Coaches have to find a spot for him to bat. So for a lot of the games he will be playing in left. He bats right and will hit in the middle of the lineup, probably at clean up. Sophomore redshirt Cody Brown, 5-10 185 will probably play more in right. He is a gamer. He bats left. Senior Jake Vickerson, 5-9 184 is another one to put in either spot. John Cohen redshirted two freshmen last year that will have an offensive impact this year. Super athlete Brent Rooker, 6-4 210 can really run and hit. He bats right and I see him as a DH also. The youngest of the bunch is Floridian Joey Swinarski, 6-2 190. He skipped his senior year in HS last year, so in essence he is a true freshman. He came on late in the fall offensively. He will only get better.

We have 7 OF's and three bat left and 4 bat right. You will see platoon situations among them including the DH spot. This now has become a bright spot and a deep position.

2015 Season: Catcher

The starter is sophomore phenom Gavin Collins, 6-0 200. He was thrown to the fire because we were searching for a catcher last year and by the end of the season he was good. He garnered All-SEC freshman honors. He is a middle of the order hitter who can throw out runners. He is from California. He should be even better this year. Junior Josh Lovelady, 6-0 190 backs him up. He is a JC transfer from Alabama. He is a very tough kid who swings a good bat. He really came on in the fall. Senior Cody Walker, 5-10 204 continues to battle for the back up role. He was a JC transfer last year.

2015 Season: Corner Infielders

First Base

I am going to start with a 5 year senior and a captain and a leader. Wes Rea, 6-5 270 has been the starting first baseman going on 4 years. He had shoulder surgery is true freshman campaign and was redshirted. Really from the start of last year, he struggled at the plate offensively. Pitchers would throw inside on him, still had some big hits in spots. We all cheered for him in the SEC tournament. He worked hard over the summer and fall to correct this. By all indications, he has greatly improved. He should start every 2015 game. Behind him are 2 newcomers to the program. Jr college transfer, Trent Waddell, 6-3 210 is battling true freshman Cole Gordon, 6-6 240 for the back up role. Both bat from the left side and both can pitch, Waddell is a lefty while Gordon is a righty. Waddell is a grinder and a tough kid. Gordon has a huge frame and has a lot of potential as a two way player. Both should get playing time at both positions in order to get ready for expanded 2016 duties.

Third Base

Senior Matthew Britton, 6-1 195 while injured most of the fall should be the favorite to man the hot corner. He has vast experience over the 2 newcomers. Britton also bats left. He has struggled to find a consistent offensive stroke in the preceding years. He found a home at 3B last year and made dazzling play after play. He has the strongest arm on the infield too. If he could make strides offensively, he would surely be drafted in June. Again, like 1B, there are two brand new newcomers behind Britton but they are both JC transfers who bring college experience to the team. Junior Matt Spruill,6-1 190 hails from Virgina but played JC ball in Texas. His older brother pitches in the Major Leagues. Sophomore Luke Reynolds, 6-2 180 is from Mississippi. Spruill bats right while Reynolds bats left. Reynolds really impressed the coaches with his dirt bag play at third and strong throwing arm. He came to State as a good hitter. I do foresee both these guys getting playing time at other infield positions too. Reynolds because he bats left has a real good chance to be the left handed DH. Reynolds when he gets some experience might turn out to be a really good player.

Getting there-January 12th

The holidays are behind us and now we focus on the upcoming baseball season. Collegiate Baseball has released their preseason poll and we start the year 20th. Perfect Game will release college related articles over the next several weeks and I will glean anything from those and post.

Other than that, no really big news since the end of fall practice. I know the players have worked hard in the weight room, etc. Practice will start at the end of January.