Luke Holman hit the portal. Friday night starter. One would think we will make a play. *

[Shmuley]

nm

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Bama had their best year in forever and now their best players are hitting the portal. Colby Shelton announced he’s transferring to Florida today.

 

[WilCoDawg]

Bama had their best year in forever and now their best players are hitting the portal. Colby Shelton announced he’s transferring to Florida today.

At least it ain’t LSwho

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

Bama had their best year in forever and now their best players are hitting the portal. Colby Shelton announced he’s transferring to Florida today.

Bama’s more worried about their NIL money securing a 3rd string right tackle. I suspect their top pitcher is headed to LSU or Florida. Those are the biggest baseball NIL free spenders in the SEC. They are absolutely raiding the top talent amongst the ACC and the SEC teams that aren’t prioritizing baseball.

 

[dickiedawg]

Bama’s more worried about their NIL money securing a 3rd string right tackle. I suspect their top pitcher is headed to LSU or Florida. Those are the biggest baseball NIL free spenders in the SEC. They are absolutely raiding the top talent amongst the ACC and the SEC teams that aren’t prioritizing baseball.

Sounds like Jay Johnson was openly bragging about it in last nights press conference.

"If you're one of the best players in the transfer portal, we're the place to play," -- @LSUbaseball head coach Jay Johnson as he looked down at Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurd and Tommy White in the presser (all three were obviously transfers).
@kendallrogers

 

[WilCoDawg]

Sounds like Jay Johnson was openly bragging about it in last nights press conference.

"If you're one of the best players in the transfer portal, we're the place to play," -- @LSUbaseball head coach Jay Johnson as he looked down at Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurd and Tommy White in the presser (all three were obviously transfers).
@kendallrogers

"If you're one of the best players in the transfer portal, we're the place to play, pay,”-- @LSUbaseball head coach Jay Johnson

Kendall misheard JJ. I fixed it though.

 

[rynodawg]

Bama’s more worried about their NIL money securing a 3rd string right tackle. I suspect their top pitcher is headed to LSU or Florida. Those are the biggest baseball NIL free spenders in the SEC. They are absolutely raiding the top talent amongst the ACC and the SEC teams that aren’t prioritizing baseball.

I hate that both made the finals the very first year of high dollar transfers. There’s going to be rich alums that know they personally bought a NC this year, and will probably just double down now.

 

[The Cooterpoot]

Holman already has a destination. Probably announced by Monday.

 

[ronpolk]

Holman already has a destination. Probably announced by Monday.

I’m guessing it’s not state?

You seem to be fairly connected to the program. What’s the deal with our lack of activity in the portal so far? Are we getting told no or are we just not active in the portal?

 

[8dog]

Sounds like Jay Johnson was openly bragging about it in last nights press conference.

"If you're one of the best players in the transfer portal, we're the place to play," -- @LSUbaseball head coach Jay Johnson as he looked down at Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurd and Tommy White in the presser (all three were obviously transfers).
@kendallrogers

Thats called taking advantage of momentum. Well done.

 

[Seinfeld]

I’m guessing it’s not state?

You seem to be fairly connected to the program. What’s the deal with our lack of activity in the portal so far? Are we getting told no or are we just not active in the portal?

I know that these portal situations are incredibly dynamic, so it’s hard to make a blanket statement one way or another this early in the off-season. That said, Hadad did say earlier this week on T&L that his top baseball source said to not expect an incredible portal haul from Lemonis.

As far as the why, who knows, but it does make me question what we’re even doing here. There is simply no way for this team to even be competitive next year without an above average portal class.

If Lemonis starts landing guys like Holman, I’ll gradually change my tune, but as of right now… MS baseball feels like it’s just wasting everyone’s time

 

[KentuckyDawg13]

How involved are our former baseball player$/major leaguers involved with our baseball NIL situation? Seems with the talent we had and their continual connections with MSU, that we would have plenty of purchasing power (that's what it is) via NIL.

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

I’m guessing it’s not state?

You seem to be fairly connected to the program. What’s the deal with our lack of activity in the portal so far? Are we getting told no or are we just not active in the portal?

We will get some guys in the portal who can help us. But you just have to know what to expect. We are not going to be players for the elite guys. The Tommy Tanks, Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurds, Hurston Waldron’s, of the world aren’t coming our way. If your reaction to someone in the portal is, “Wow, I can’t believe they are available!” then they’re probably out of our price range. Expect the caliber we got last year. Ledbetter, Larry, Nixon, Dohm, Gartman, etc. And we need guys like that. We go 2-28 in the SEC this year without that transfer class. So no doubt we get some real help.

But the facts are LSU and Florida are all in on NIL for baseball. They are in a class by themselves. If they want someone, then they aren’t coming to us. Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Tennessee are probably in the next tier of free agency. And then we are probably in the third tier with Ole Miss and South Carolina. Vandy is the mystery to me. They have recruited well with their scholarship advantage, but it’s hard to make out what they are doing in the portal and if they’ll pony up the NIL dollars it takes to keep their talent or if there’s just a big value players place on the Vandy degree and development you get there.

 

[Seinfeld]

We will get some guys in the portal who can help us. But you just have to know what to expect. We are not going to be players for the elite guys. The Tommy Tanks, Paul Skenes, Thatcher Hurds, Hurston Waldron’s, of the world aren’t coming our way. If your reaction to someone in the portal is, “Wow, I can’t believe they are available!” then they’re probably out of our price range. Expect the caliber we got last year. Ledbetter, Larry, Nixon, Dohm, Gartman, etc. And we need guys like that. We go 2-28 in the SEC this year without that transfer class. So no doubt we get some real help.

But the facts are LSU and Florida are all in on NIL for baseball. They are in a class by themselves. If they want someone, then they aren’t coming to us. Texas A&M, Arkansas, and Tennessee are probably in the next tier of free agency. And then we are probably in the third tier with Ole Miss and South Carolina. Vandy is the mystery to me. They have recruited well with their scholarship advantage, but it’s hard to make out what they are doing in the portal and if they’ll pony up the NIL dollars it takes to keep their talent or if there’s just a big value players place on the Vandy degree and development you get there.

Which just re-emphasizes the importance of HS talent evaluation and development for us. Something that has been subpar for us lately to put it mildly

 

[Tall Dawg]

We need to start getting some elite transfers.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

Which just re-emphasizes the importance of HS talent evaluation and development for us. Something that has been subpar for us lately to put it mildly

You have laid out the NIL situation perfectly. Thanks.

I didn't think we would see the death of amateurism in college baseball so quickly. The NIL has made it happen fast. The CWS won't get as many viewers in the future. They will tire of seeing the same top-10 transfer schools a.k.a. the top-10 NIL schools.

 

[ezsoil]

We need to start getting some elite transfers.

We need to start getting some elite fans who can afford NIL donations

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

We need to start getting some elite transfers.

Here’s your chance for an All American pitcher. Chase Burns to the portal is imminent. You’ll have to outbid LSU. Best of luck. They have deep pockets.