This baseball team is just fine.

[GhostOfJackie]

This is the same baseball program that doubled up on trips to Omaha while dealing with 4 different coaches in 4 years. Everybody on the planet (except Fighting Irish and Dawg61) knows that this team will be right in the mix at the end of the season competing for a national seed, and playing well when it matters. That's the culture of this program and always has been. If nothing else, this weekend shows us the gap between us and the best team in the nation. (which is what our fans expect us to be). We are still a top 10 team.

Do we have all the pieces of a "midseason national champion"? No, but the eventual national champion rarely does. We need to be peaking at the right time, and that time has not come yet.

There are plenty of issues we need to clean up and nothing shines a light on those problems like a good ole midseason *** kicking at our house by the best team in the nation. I'm still wooly on these guys and you should be too.

 

[Russ Wheeler]

I tend to agree. I think the coaches will end up going with the upperclassmen and find ways to manufacture runs. Because guess what? Guess who is #1 in the SEC in the least amount of strikeouts? That would be your Mississippi State Bulldogs. That's overall and conference only. We are putting the ball in play, and eventually good things happen for teams who do that.

 

[Drebin]

Definitely no need to overreact from a series sweep in March. But it's what we do. Ole Miss will melt down when we sweep them.

There is definitely some warranted concern over our offense though. This isn't something that just reared its ugly head against Arkansas. We've been struggling all year, particularly at the top of the lineup. We have great pitching, but as you saw this weekend, when we step into SEC play, hitters are going to work our pitchers and score runs. We have to be able to answer.

 

[PooPopsBaldHead]

I'm actually a little concerned about the pitching after this weekend. Way to many big innings. The staff had meltdown innings and that's not going to play well in this league... Especially when we have a scrappy at best offense.

Arkansas scored 21 runs in 7 innings over the weekend. Only 4 runs in the other 20 innings. Defense and pitching is going to be what carries this team and that was a big letdown. 33 runs given up in the last 4 SEC games. Our offense is not going to win many games in those situations. Not many will.

 

[johnson86-1]

This is the same baseball program that doubled up on trips to Omaha while dealing with 4 different coaches in 4 years. Everybody on the planet (except Fighting Irish and Dawg61) knows that this team will be right in the mix at the end of the season competing for a national seed, and playing well when it matters. That's the culture of this program and always has been. If nothing else, this weekend shows us the gap between us and the best team in the nation. (which is what our fans expect us to be). We are still a top 10 team.

Do we have all the pieces of a "midseason national champion"? No, but the eventual national champion rarely does. We need to be peaking at the right time, and that time has not come yet.

There are plenty of issues we need to clean up and nothing shines a light on those problems like a good ole midseason *** kicking at our house by the best team in the nation. I'm still wooly on these guys and you should be too.

Certainly it's fine. I think people are just disappointed because it doesn't look like we have the team we thought we had. We have a lot of very good pitching, but we thought we were going to have dominant pitching and we need dominant pitching with our offensive production. This weekend probably has people questioning whether our pitching is even very good, but I think (or at least hope) this was just an off weekend.

We were already questioning our offense and it's been worse than expected because of Rowdy and Hatcher being bad and basically no one really providing an upside surprise. You would think we would have had one or two guys make a surprise jump and that hasn't happened.

We could round into form, but right now, other than Rowdy hopefully returning to form, there's not a lot of offensive improvement that we can just expect to happen. It looks like we're a good team. It's just that with the way the SEC is loaded this year because of COVID, that's possibly going to put us at second tier in a year we thought we could compete for an SEC championship.

 

[Cooterpoot]

This team lacks talent except in the pitching staff. Anyone can see that. Lemonis better recruit better.

 

[missouridawg]

I agree and disagree all at the same time.

We are fine. We are a really good team and we will be hosting a Regional for sure and maybe even a Super Regional, but....

I don't think we have a shot to beat Arkansas, nor Vanderbilt, in a best 2 out of 3. I'm a little worried we can't do it to OM either. Only time will tell. And I don't think playing another 2 months of baseball will change my mind on this, although I hope to be proven wrong in late June.

Arkansas was better than us at every facet of the game this weekend. And it was pretty disappointing to watch it unfold like that.

 

[bulldogcountry1]

How many of these players did Lemonis recruit?

 

[PirateDawg]

Huge overreaction! We have some very talented players on this team. Just because they were beaten by a better team doesn't give you the right to call them no talents!

This team lacks talent except in the pitching staff. Anyone can see that. Lemonis better recruit better.

 

[Cooterpoot]

Huge overreaction! We have some very talented players on this team. Just because they were beaten by a better team doesn't give you the right to call them no talents!

This program should be a top 5 program. It's not top 5 talent. If your expectations are a middle of the pack finish and a regional, that's fine. Personally, I want to see a run at the whole thing. This team will not do that. There's nothing wrong with high expectations for this program.

 

[IBleedMaroonDawg]

I'm actually a little concerned about the pitching after this weekend. Way to many big innings. The staff had meltdown innings and that's not going to play well in this league... Especially when we have a scrappy at best offense.

Arkansas scored 21 runs in 7 innings over the weekend. Only 4 runs in the other 20 innings. Defense and pitching is going to be what carries this team and that was a big letdown. 33 runs given up in the last 4 SEC games. Our offense is not going to win many games in those situations. Not many will.

I'm concerned about the pitching too.

View attachment 19874

 

[The Peeper]

 

[johnson86-1]

Huge overreaction! We have some very talented players on this team. Just because they were beaten by a better team doesn't give you the right to call them no talents!

It's not that we have no talent, it's that we don't have high end talent outside of pitching. We appear to have a lot of solid pieces and are just lacking a player or two to drive the bus. It's a little concerning that we are playing an upperclassman at first base that is neither a good defender nor a good hitter. We should have an underclassman that is good at one or the other there.

 

[randystewart]

I've been watching MSU baseball since I was old enough to remember so at least 35 seasons and I'm going to agree and disagree here. Are we a "good" team? Yes, absolutely. Have we had worse hitting teams? Yes, absolutely. However, we've never made a run with a team that was this poor at hitting. We can keep saying they are going to come around, but we are a good ways into the season and getting worse not better. You need at least 4 people in your lineup that are cause for concern for the other pitching staff on a regular basis and we have arguably 2 (TA, and Kamren). You also need at least 1 guy that is a threat to leave the yard every time up and we have zero of those.

Just from a simple mathematical standpoint we are in BIG trouble with this group. The teams we are playing need 6 hits to score 6 runs and we're averaging needing 10-14 hits to score 6 runs. Putting the ball in play is nice and I do like our strikeout numbers but it takes a lot of ground ball singles to score runs

 

[Cooterpoot]

Here's why people believe we should be better:

12th in the SEC in fielding
11th in hitting
13th in slugging
13th in scoring
1st in DPs grounded into
9th in ERA
9th in runs allowed
8th in walks allowed
Worst in HRs allowed

We don't do anything great.

 

[Choctaw Dawg]

I agree and disagree all at the same time.

We are fine. We are a really good team and we will be hosting a Regional for sure and maybe even a Super Regional, but....

I don't think we have a shot to beat Arkansas, nor Vanderbilt, in a best 2 out of 3. I'm a little worried we can't do it to OM either. Only time will tell. And I don't think playing another 2 months of baseball will change my mind on this, although I hope to be proven wrong in late June.

Arkansas was better than us at every facet of the game this weekend. And it was pretty disappointing to watch it unfold like that.

Ole Miss will be brought down to earth at some point. Their two SEC opponents they've faced are a combined 1-11 in conference play right now, they will get smacked in the mouth at some point

 

[GhostOfJackie]

Definitely no need to overreact from a series sweep in March. But it's what we do. Ole Miss will melt down when we sweep them.

There is definitely some warranted concern over our offense though. This isn't something that just reared its ugly head against Arkansas. We've been struggling all year, particularly at the top of the lineup. We have great pitching, but as you saw this weekend, when we step into SEC play, hitters are going to work our pitchers and score runs. We have to be able to answer.

Agreed. We will find a way into a super regional either way. It's what we do.

As for Ole Miss, I'd be happy with just winning the series. Which we ALL know will happen.

 

[missouridawg]

Ole Miss will be brought down to earth at some point. Their two SEC opponents they've faced are a combined 1-11 in conference play right now, they will get smacked in the mouth at some point

This is a fair point. They’ve needed some miracle 9th innings to win a few of these SEC games too (similar to our first few weeks).

 

[MSUDC11]

Here's why people believe we should be better:

12th in the SEC in fielding
11th in hitting
13th in slugging
13th in scoring
1st in DPs grounded into
9th in ERA
9th in runs allowed
8th in walks allowed
Worst in HRs allowed

We don't do anything great.

One weekend is badly skewing the pitching stats. I’d be shocked if we don’t end up having one of the best pitching staffs in the league.

 

[PirateDawg]

First, thanks for posting the stats! The best way to support your opinion is to supply statistics to back it up. I don't think there is a debate about our hitting. Everyone on here agrees that if our hitting doesn't improve this team won't even make it to Hoover. Until the Sunday game against LSU our pitching had been pretty solid. Arkansas came in and exploited the weakness in our pitching. I think they did a phenomenal job of scouting us. It was almost like they knew what pitches we were going to throw. A good scout can find the weakness or tendencies for pitchers. The knew coming in we were anemic at the plate so scoring a few runs insured victory. I still believe our pitching is better than the stats based on the whole body of work leading into this past weekend (ie the first weekend of the season).

I wonder if our pitching has become too routine with each pitcher? Have we fallen into a pattern that other coaches can predict it?

Here's why people believe we should be better:

12th in the SEC in fielding
11th in hitting
13th in slugging
13th in scoring
1st in DPs grounded into
9th in ERA
9th in runs allowed
8th in walks allowed
Worst in HRs allowed

We don't do anything great.

 

[onewoof]

Happy in March doesn't equal happy in June. Just ask Vandy when we beat them in Nashville to go to the CWS

 

[Russ Wheeler]

Happy in March doesn't equal happy in June. Just ask Vandy when we beat them in Nashville to go to the CWS

And then they turned around and beat us IN the following CWS. Vandy wasn't even that great in 2018, they were exactly like us, got hot at the end.

The more apt comparison is when we beat them in 2014 (like 18-1 in one of the games). While we were making SEC Network puff pieces during all of that, Vandy was winning the national title.

 

[maroonmania]

Maybe we come around and become a great team, but if I'm just grading this team against the Mississippi State baseball standard (or what should be the standard) through the first 24 games I would go:

Pitching - A -- No question here we are way above our normal average even with the bad weekend. I expect this part of the team to continue to be very strong.

Offense - D+ -- We were not very good offensively in the non-conference and have now scored 23 runs in 6 conference games which is less than 4 runs/game. That is really bad even against good competition. All of our hitting stats fall in the bottom third of the conference. Heck, Arkansas just put up 25 runs in 3 games against our 'elite' pitching staff. Just not going to cut it if we want to be a true national seed type team.

Defense - C -- I may even be a little generous here if "C" is average because this team fields a little below how most MSU teams field IMO. We are very shaky in the OF (TA is a makeshift RF out there and Rowdey would be better served as a LF or RF rather than CF, LF is a revolving door) and our infield is decent up the middle with Forsythe and Dubrule but James and Hatcher are both a bit shaky. We are certainly solid at Catcher with LT.

So overall this team is a B- maybe. If the hitting and fielding come around and improve we could become an elite team but we are nowhere near there right now. I never thought we would be a great fielding team this year but I don't understand how our hitting has dropped off so much? And a lot of our problems in the lineup are veteran guys. This is one of the weakest MSU offensive teams I can remember in quite a while. Normally we have one or two guys that step up big even when others are struggling, not so with this team.

 

[The Peeper]

Have we fallen into a pattern that other coaches can predict it?

Most anybody will be able to see also that we will swing at a low pitch like swinging at a golf ball w/ a wedge leading to multiple ground outs a game. Look for us to get a steady diet of low again this weekend especially when an umps zone is as low as it was this weekend. Also a pattern most anybody can predict is an error or two a game that will lead to 2-4 runs.

 

[bully12]

First, get rid of the jorts and start looking like a baseball team, respect the game and quit looking like a bunch of clowns. Then concentrate on playing the game and improving.

 

[MSUDC11]

I agree and disagree all at the same time.

We are fine. We are a really good team and we will be hosting a Regional for sure and maybe even a Super Regional, but....

I don't think we have a shot to beat Arkansas, nor Vanderbilt, in a best 2 out of 3. I'm a little worried we can't do it to OM either. Only time will tell. And I don't think playing another 2 months of baseball will change my mind on this, although I hope to be proven wrong in late June.

Arkansas was better than us at every facet of the game this weekend. And it was pretty disappointing to watch it unfold like that.

I do think Arkansas and Vandy are better than us, don’t think it’s impossible that we could beat them down the road. Or it could be a 2013 situation where I didn’t think we had a prayer if we ran into Vandy but someone else took them out for us.

 

[CochiseCowbell]

First, get rid of the jorts and start looking like a baseball team, respect the game and quit looking like a bunch of clowns. Then concentrate on playing the game and improving.

While I'm not a fan of the shorts look either, I'm pretty sure they should concentrate on improving first. Just win, baby.

 

[maroonmania]

Huge overreaction! We have some very talented players on this team. Just because they were beaten by a better team doesn't give you the right to call them no talents!

Yea, we obviously have a good team, it just doesn't look like we have a team that can challenge for it all in Omaha which is what we all want. I think we have a Top 20 caliber team but you can't hit the ball like we do (i.e., not hit it well) and then be suspect in the field and somehow think you have an elite team. We just aren't there right now. Maybe we can improve over the season and get there, we will see.

 

[maroonmania]

First, get rid of the jorts and start looking like a baseball team, respect the game and quit looking like a bunch of clowns. Then concentrate on playing the game and improving.

Yep, the basketball shorts and multiple gold chains need to be gone yesterday. Look like a team and not a bunch of guys 'expressing' themselves.

 

[Cooterpoot]

One weekend is badly skewing the pitching stats. I’d be shocked if we don’t end up having one of the best pitching staffs in the league.

One weekend doesn't change much. AL did better than us vs AR. TN better than us vs LSU. Our OOC schedule is terrible outside of the first weekend. We've been fortunate to win some of those games. We're 24th in RPI and have the 33rd SOS.

 

[boatsandhoes]

Sometimes a good thrashing will wake a team up. Your average play isn’t good enough.

I wouldn’t worry yet, it’s one series.

 

[MSUDC11]

One weekend doesn't change much. AL did better than us vs AR. TN better than us vs LSU. Our OOC schedule is terrible outside of the first weekend. We've been fortunate to win some of those games. We're 24th in RPI and have the 33rd SOS.

It’s still too early to pay any real attention to RPI and SOS. Look at the Top 5 in the RPI right now and you’ll see why. Fairfield, Rider, Quinnipiac, all have played 6 or fewer games and all are in the Top 5.

Tulane and Kent State have been disappointing but otherwise our SOS is fine and very comparable with other teams in our league like Vandy and OM. And you can’t get hung up on the comparison game too much. Tennessee did sweep LSU, but two of those wins were one run extra inning games, and the other game was 3-1. So that easily could’ve gone the other way and doesn’t at all mean Tennessee is better then us. Same for Bama, yeah they took a game from Arkansas and we didn’t, but they also have losses to Charleston and UT Martin and have lost six in a row.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

it just doesn't look like we have a team that can challenge for it all in Omaha which is what we all want.

See I disagree with that. We do have a team that can get hot at the right time and win it all. So do about 30 other teams. Out of every college sport that I follow, baseball is the most unpredictable and you can have a team that was not considered "national championship material" win the whole thing.

Sometimes the team everybody thinks will win it all actually does (that would be Vandy or Arkansas this year), but most of the time those teams are eliminated somewhere down the road and the team that is on fire at that moment gets through. Go look back at the Omaha brackets over the past 15-20 years and take a look at all the teams that shouldn't have been there, but found a way. Our program seems to always find a way to compete with the best and we will do the same thing this season. We have the talent and the pieces of a championship team. We just need to do three things:

1. Win enough games in the regular season to secure a host spot/maybe a national seed.
2. Get hot at the right time
3. Catch a little luck along the way.

With that said, we could also run up against a team like Tennessee Tech and drop the regional. ahem....

 

[oxfordrebel22]

Ole Miss will be brought down to earth at some point. Their two SEC opponents they've faced are a combined 1-11 in conference play right now, they will get smacked in the mouth at some point

There's no denying our opening two weekend opponents have been below average in terms of SEC opponents. And, there is also no denying that we are going to get smacked in the mouth at some point. Possibly very soon, considering our next 3 series are @ Florida, Arkansas and @ MSU (for SBW). You ain't going to make it through an SEC schedule without being humbled at some point. I'm hopeful that us taking care of business in those opening two weekends will provide us with enough of a cushion to absorb that smacking. As far as our opponents being 1-11.. well, when you're 6-0, they're obviously going to have a poorer record. Auburn just isn't very good, but Alabama also opened at Arkansas, so I think their record is slightly misleading. They've got some dudes that can really hit. They'll win some SEC games, especially when they get their ace back healthy. We were fortunate to get them early, I imagine.

 

[johnson86-1]

See I disagree with that. We do have a team that can get hot at the right time and win it all. So do about 30 other teams. Out of every college sport that I follow, baseball is the most unpredictable and you can have a team that was not considered "national championship material" win the whole thing.

Sometimes the team everybody thinks will win it all actually does (that would be Vandy or Arkansas this year), but most of the time those teams are eliminated somewhere down the road and the team that is on fire at that moment gets through. Go look back at the Omaha brackets over the past 15-20 years and take a look at all the teams that shouldn't have been there, but found a way. Our program seems to always find a way to compete with the best and we will do the same thing this season. We have the talent and the pieces of a championship team. We just need to do three things:

1. Win enough games in the regular season to secure a host spot/maybe a national seed.
2. Get hot at the right time
3. Catch a little luck along the way.

With that said, we could also run up against a team like Tennessee Tech and drop the regional. ahem....

Obviously we could get hot, but I think everybody had their hopes up that we'd be a top 8 team. Doesn't look like that's what we are as of now.

And worse, our offense is mediocre enough that it's not going to take much going wrong for us to get upset in a regional. We're still fine and this is still looking like it's going to be a good year. We just got our hopes up for something better. And we still have a chance for hitters to figure it out. We've got several players in Dubrule, Rowdy, and Hatcher that you'd think would be better than they have shown so far. If all three of them start hitting like we expected, our team is elite.

 

[maroonmania]

See I disagree with that. We do have a team that can get hot at the right time and win it all. So do about 30 other teams. Out of every college sport that I follow, baseball is the most unpredictable and you can have a team that was not considered "national championship material" win the whole thing.

Sometimes the team everybody thinks will win it all actually does (that would be Vandy or Arkansas this year), but most of the time those teams are eliminated somewhere down the road and the team that is on fire at that moment gets through. Go look back at the Omaha brackets over the past 15-20 years and take a look at all the teams that shouldn't have been there, but found a way. Our program seems to always find a way to compete with the best and we will do the same thing this season. We have the talent and the pieces of a championship team. We just need to do three things:

1. Win enough games in the regular season to secure a host spot/maybe a national seed.
2. Get hot at the right time
3. Catch a little luck along the way.

With that said, we could also run up against a team like Tennessee Tech and drop the regional. ahem....

Sure, this team could improve or 'get hot' and become good enough to make a run in Omaha, but right now the only data we have is the first 24 games. And based on the team we've been over these 24 games, we are not good enough to win in Omaha. I reserve the right to change my opinion with additional performances from this team.

 

[GhostOfJackie]

I posted this last year at the midpoint when we had just been swept by Arkansas. It still applies to this year. We will get it figured out.

 

[Smoked Toag]

I posted this last year at the midpoint when we had just been swept by Arkansas. It still applies to this year. We will get it figured out.

Outstanding.

 

[jdbulldog]

We need Luke in the lineup. That is all.

It's not that we have no talent, it's that we don't have high end talent outside of pitching. We appear to have a lot of solid pieces and are just lacking a player or two to drive the bus. It's a little concerning that we are playing an upperclassman at first base that is neither a good defender nor a good hitter. We should have an underclassman that is good at one or the other there.

 

[The Peeper]

If we aren't striking out we are grounding out or flying out because we aren't hitting:
(Stats from ESPN)

-Batting avg 13th of 14
-Slugging % 13th of 14
-On base % 9th of 14
-Runs Scored 9th of 14
-Hits 11th of 14
-RBI's 9th of 14
-Doubles 14th of 14
-Triples Tied 14th
-HR's 5th of 14 (thanks to Cumbest)
-Total Bases 11th of 14
-ERA 13th of 14
-Team Batting Avg 13th of 14
-4th of 14 Strikeouts (ESPN disputes your claim)
-Stolen Bases 9th of 14
-11th of 14 Hits allowed

Only 3 teams have given up more hits than us
Only 1 team has given up more runs
Only 1 team has given up more walks
Worst overall record in the SEC
Only 1 team has given up more doubles
Only 3 teams have given up more HR