Looking at the CL All-State baseball selections

[No BS Dawg]

and it is VERY heavy with USM signees. They cleaned up on a large portion of our state talent. They will lose a few to draft more than likely, but still an impressive haul. I don't know if we didn't go after them, go after them as hard, not close enoughto home,or they just liked USM better, but it is a little unsettling that we didn't have more. A few of our guys made 2nd team, one being Woodruff. He had control issues in the 1-3A all star game yesterday and took the loss for the north. Pitched an inning and gave up 5 ER's. Hope that was a blip. Anyone, thoughts and feelings on this? Todd,you keep up with all this better than most, what is your take?

First Team All State Breakdown

USM- 6 commits (Mason Robbins, George Co., Mr. Baseball 2011), (Luke Lowery, Connor Barron, Sumrall), (Cody Livingston, NWR), (Nick Johnson, Ridgeland), and (Ryan Ellis, Columbia)

UM-2 commits (Chase Reeves, Hamilton) and (Josh Laxer, Madison Central)

MSU- 1 commit (Scott Lindgren, St. Stanislaus)

Meridian CC- 1 commit (Austin Knight, Sumrall)

2 Juniors made all state- (Matt Denny, JA) and (Anthony Alford, Petal)

 

[Goat 4 Eva]

namely Woodruff, Cox, and Holder......NOT good enough to be on the All-State team? Who was on the Dandy Dozen??? <div>
</div><div>And yes, VERY impressive group for Southern.</div>

 

[DawgNsuds]

Another case of scholarship numbers and how many you have available. There are a couple in that list that would have signed with us had their been scholarship money to offer.

 

[Todd4State]

I disagree with the Clarion-Ledger. Brandon Woodruff is possibly the top draft prospect in the state. He hit .618 this year with 3 home runs- and teams were intentionally walking him left and right. His team also played something like 15 games all year. He can throw in the low 90's and tops out around 94-95. But he plays for Wheeler. If he plays for Madison Central, he is Metro player of the year, if not player of the year for the whole state.

Jonathan Holder went 2 for 4 last night, had the game winning hit in the All-Star game and also picked up the save and had at least 2 K's- I didn't keep any stats other than my memory. He is a better player than Ryan Ellis- if for no other reason than Holder can pitch as well. Plus, Holder plays in 6A, and Ellis plays in 4A. Holder is 6'3" and Ellis is only about 5'11"- which is too short for a SEC first baseman, and Ellis is also overweight.

Will Cox pitched very well last night- he actually earned the North team MVP. He throws in the high 80's, but is very projectable. He has a real chance to be a SEC starter in a couple of years.

Most of those guys for USM- Livingston, Lowery, and Johnson- are all guys that throw in the high 80's, but none of them are nearly as projectable as Cox. I think they will be good C-USA pitchers, but I'm not sure that they are more than middle relief guys for a SEC team- Lowery would be the exeption. Livingston got hit some last night. Johnson did OK for an inning or so- he has to learn to control his curveball better.

Mason Robbins and Conner Barron both belong on the team for sure. They will both be drafted.

I'm actually surprised that they got Lindgren on there after they left him off of the Dandy-Dozen list. I guess that's a make-up call.

 

[Bob Sacamano.sixpack]

Todd, I guess we can assume that Chase Domino is a committment. Steve has a picture of him on GP with a MS baseball logo necklace on.

 

[Todd4State]

I would be very surprised if he didn't come to MSU. I think he will officially commit in July once he gets an official offer.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Why is Cox considered to be more projectable than Livingston, Lowery, and Johnson?

Just curious.

 

[hotdigitydog]

both play multiple times and if Reeves made it, Cox damn sure should've made it.......If it's based on stats as someone has suggested, then there's no way in hell Cox shouldn't have been on the first team.....He was a Dandy Dozen player beginning the season and put up awesome numbers against pretty good competition.......

 

[Todd4State]

and he has the body type where he can put on muscle- and he needs to get into a weight lifting program, as well as Holder for that matter. He has a lot of baby fat on him.

I could very easily see him throwing his fastball in the low 90's by the time he is a junior- he has already done that some in high school this year. His pitches also have a LOT more movement on them with a lot of sink than the three USM guys. Will needs to devleop a change up as well. Cox's control and his slider are much more developed at this point than Johnson and Livingston's control and breaking balls. Will also has much better mechanics, than them, and he hides the ball very well.

I think Lowery is going to be a crafty left handed pitcher- I think he will be a starting pitcher at USM. But I don't think he will be a guy that can throw anything other than in the mid/upper 80's. He would be a good situational left handed relief pitcher for us- we had zero chance of getting him because he has always wanted to follow in his brother's foot steps and go to USM. Lowery is better than Johnson and Livingston.

Let me put it this way- and I wish I had video like they do for all the other recruiting sports for baseball- but if you saw all of those guys pitch, it would be very obvious that Cox is better. Well, unless you are the Clarion-Ledger.

 

[jakldawg]

is that there's only one guy from north MS on the list. Are the south MS teams that much better in baseball? (and if they are, it might explain why USM can rack up in recruiting)

 

[Todd4State]

Woodruff got screwed even worse- his average was higher than anyone that made the team.

If I had made the list, I would have put Woodruff in over Reeves, and Cox in over Livingston. Heck, Livingston missed about 3-4 weeks of the season this year.

Reid Humphries is a better player than Livingston right now for whatever it's worth.

Also, Alvin Franklin should have been on the list as well- he got screwed too. That dude can fly- and he's aggressive. He needs to go to JUCO, though- he needs to play and get some at bats against some good competition to develop.

 

[Todd4State]

I think the south won all six State Championships. I think they won a majority this year as well.

Hattiesburg has some strong teams- Petal, Sumrall, and Oak Grove. Several good teams in that area as well- like Columbia. The coast has some strong teams.

The Jackson Metro area also has some pretty strong programs- some of those schools play in the South. The best programs are in the North, though- MC, Ridgeland, and NWR.

In the North, you have Tupelo, Oxford, and New Hope that are usually pretty good. There are some small schools in the Northeast corner of the state that are pretty good, but they are small- Mooreville, Hamilton, Alcorn Central, and Amory.

Memphis area has gone down on the Mississippi side- I think what happened was they opened all of those new schools up there and it thinned out the talent for some of those teams. The Delta is almost non-existent as far as baseball is concerned.

 

[StarkContrast]

The kid is amazing and was a no question for the first team

 

[Todd4State]

he will be a Dandy Dozen. I think his brother is or was a snapper for Ole Miss.

Zach Irwin, Collin Carroll, Trae Bain, Anthony Alford, Bubba Keene, Myles Gentry, Anthony from Vicksburg- his first name escapes me at this moment-, and Hunter DeVall are probably the leading candidates for Dandy Dozen- or at least they should be.

I could also see Blake McMullen, Zach Bird, Cody Brown, Cort Brinson, and Jay King getting serious consideration as well, but they're not locks.

 

[shoeless joe]

for example, the johnson kid is a very good player. i've seen him play a few times and seen numerous scouting reports on him. it's always the same, hittable fastball and can't locate the curve. i don't see him being dominant at the next level on the mound. in fact he impressed me WAY more as a shortstop than as a pitcher or a hitter.

and to some of the questions about north and south: in 5A particularly 90% of the good baseball in the north is played in one district. new hope, oxford, west point (yes west point) and saltillo, these along with ridgeland easily make up the best baseball in the north half. saltillo missed the playoffs but woulda been a 1 or 2 seed in every other district. ridgeland had to go through that entire district to make it to state and they did but even their stats are decieving since their league is weak.

good thing the championships are handled on the field because if the CL was in charge of rankings no one outside of hinds, madison, or rankin county would ever get a look.

 

[independencebowlmainstay]

Here is a fact.....Southern has outrecruited both of us the last two years. Not only in-state kids, but Southern signed some out of state kids that are very good players. Berry and crew are doing a fabulous job there.

 

[olddawgfan]

the jokes who pick this team do it based on stats reported to their paper. If you don't call it in then they don't know about it. The only time they see a game is if it's near Jackson or if the teams makes it to the state tournament where they can sit in an air conditioned booth and report on the game. Rod is a homer and a joke as far as I am concerned.

I agree with Todd on Woodruff. Playing for a different team he probably would have been player of the year. He's going to be a good one for sure.