Chris Lemonis details opening weekend, pitching rotation

Mississippi State baseball head coach Chris Lemonis spoke to the media on Wednesday about his squad’s preparation for opening weekend and decisions about the pitching rotation.

Opening Statement: Opening week, I guess everybody is fired up. It’s a nice weekend, beautiful weather all week. We’ve actually had a pretty good spring training after we got through the ice days. (We) had three good weeks with our ball club, so we’ve learned a lot. We’re trying to figure out, you know, that first week ends up being eight games in 10 days, so after the next 10 days, we’ll probably know a lot about our ball club. And we’ve got a lot of things to figure out over time. I like where we’re at. We’ve got some nicks and maybe an arm or two where maybe the volume is a little down right now. We’d like them to be a little higher, so they may not throw as much early on as normal, but (it’s) nothing to really worry about. As we go through these next eight games, like I said, you’ll see a lot of different guys out there.

Q: Why was Nate Dohm the right call for Friday night?

Lemonis: That was really hard. All three of them, and actually, I’ve got one or two who are pissed right now that they weren’t in the weekend (rotation), which I like. Nate’s been the most consistent all year, and I think that it’s deserved, a little bit, but you know, all three of them on the weekend right now, we’ve got a chance (to win with.) Jurrangelo, going a little bit later, you can watch him a little bit more with his lefts and rights and all that type of stuff. You kind of figure it out a little bit more, but Jurrangelo has been really good in our scrimmages, but so has Nate, so has Khal (Stephen), so has Colby Holcombe, and then (Bradley) Loftin and (Karson) Ligon are kind of on their way up, trying to build up some volume, so we feel like we’ve got some good candidates there.

Q: What’s Nate’s process been like this offseason in trying to transition to being the Friday night guy?

Lemonis: It’s the development of all his pitches. You know, this time last year, he was a big fastball (pitcher), and it was an average slider and it was nothing else, and it kind of caught up with him about halfway through the SEC play. You know, you go through the non-SEC schedule, and there’s just a difference. He’s added a really good changeup, he’s added a curveball and you got a slider in there. The slider is a lot better now, too, and he’s worked on some real mechanical things. Him and coach Parker spent a lot of time and effort, and Nate’s a worker, so I think building himself as a whole pitcher instead of just getting out of the reliever, two pitch type of guy.

Q: What do you think the biggest thing was for Jurrangelo this season to prepare him for his sophomore season?

Lemonis: You know, Jurrangelo hasn’t pitched as much as most guys, and then all of a sudden he gets thrown in this world. There was a lot of maturity last year just from pure experience, and figuring out how to train himself as an ambidextrous pitcher. I think the biggest thing with Jurrangelo has been that it was a really high ration last year when he flipped right to left and left to right, it didn’t matter. You know, he’d be 1-0 on almost every body, and when you get down here, and he’s been out there throwing in the pen today, when he’s right handed in the pen he throws a ton of strikes. When he’s left handed in the pen, he throws a ton of strikes. He has to be really good…when he flips back and forth. I think that’s been one of his biggest areas. And then it’s just been the maturity of everything, just being able to compete and handle the moments and that type of stuff.

Q: Do you ever think about having Jurrangelo just throw righty or lefty?

Lemonis: We’ve had talks about it, and he wants to throw both. Like he told me coming here, he said ‘coach, I picked here because y’all said I would have that opportunity.’ I do think you’ll see him throw a little more right handed than left handed, but this time last year, he hadn’t practiced or done it a lot in real games. I don’t know if you’ll remember, but it was a game in the middle of the season, and he just did right handed, but he really had problems. He’s past that piece. I think we do enough in our practice, enough in our bullpens, but there is conversation. And there’s some team probably in the major leagues that may make him (pick a side), and then some may not. So it just depends on the organization. I think he was up to 96 right handed last week and was up to 93 left handed, so he kind of has been able to do both. I do think you’ll see a little more right handed than you did last year.

Q: How would you assess the ongoing situation at catcher with Joe Powell, Ross Highfill and Johnny Long?

Lemonis: Yeah, that was a nice pickup. We were able to add Joe there over the Holidays. Johnny Long has been a nice pickup. Obviously we have Ross. Ross is about a week or two behind. He’s just coming back off some stuff from the catching side, so those two guys will catch the majority of the weekend – Joe Powell and Johnny Long. I think they can really catch and throw, and I think that’s an area we’ve really improved in over last year. We’ve spent a lot of time on the run game. Our pitchers have done a better job, but that’s kind of their strength, Johnny and Joe. They’re probably a little more defensive than they are offensive, even though they’ve been doing a really nice job offensively in our scrimmages, and in the past they’ve been decent offensive players, but they’re defensive first type of guys. And Ross will be in the mix. Ross can play this weekend, but we’re just trying to work him back a little bit.

Q: Do you anticipate Ross being able to hit? And do you have an update on David Mershon?

Lemonis: Yeah, Ross will be available to hit this weekend. Mershon’s day to day right now. It wasn’t big. Last year, on the same day in one of my scrimmages, he did a really bad one. He’s actually out on the field doing some stuff right now. I’ve just got to be really careful. I don’t need it to happen again. So with our depth there in the middle, hopefully we can make sure he’s 100% ready to go when he comes back, but you know, he heals up pretty quick, and it wasn’t the drastic-ness of last year, so this one’s not going to be so bad.

Q: What does Logan Kohler bring to your club?

Lemonis: He’s a mature kid. He’s older. He’s been around and he’s played. He’s a really good defender, which I like, and there’s some real offense in there. I think him and coach Gautreau really click together. I think you’re going to see a kid who can do some special things, and he’s just a very well rounded, older, mature player. I think that’s what you get out of the portal right now with some of those guys. You’ve got some guys that have been around and done it. They get to a place like this, they’re excited every day to come and play, because when you walk out here at The Dude, how are you not excited to play?

Q: What excites you the most about this group with opening day coming up?

Lemonis: I think it’s the unknown, a little bit. I think our guys are walking around with a bit of a chip on their shoulder. You know, there’s not a lot of love, which we don’t deserve any love. We have to earn everything. I think that’s been the funnest part with this group is that they’re all a little pissy, a little pissed off, and they just feel like they have something to prove. I mean, I think we have a lot of talent in that ball club, but we haven’t played well, and we don’t deserve anything right now. I mean, whatever we get, whatever we do, it has to be earned, and I think that’s what you’ll see with this group right now.

Q: How has Hunter Hines developed over at first base?

Lemonis: He’s been great. You know, he’s a super athletic kid, he just was behind some guys earlier in his career, but a lot more reps. The challenge is that I don’t want to look out there and see him taking practice swings in the middle of the innings on defense. He loves to hit, and I joked with his parents this weekend at the fan day, he’s in such a good mood when he gets a couple of hits. He loves to hit, so transitioning and just saying ‘hey, I put my helmet down, I put my bat down, I’ve got to go out and play defense.’ It’s not a skill set. He can play, he’s a very talented player in that way. He could play in the outfield. He’s an athletic kid. He just, you know, if he has a bad at bat, I worry that he’s taking it out there into the field, but that’s where it comes from.

Q: What have you seen from Air Force? What do you expect from them this weekend?

Lemonis: Well, we scheduled them a couple of years ago when they came out and went to that Texas regional and played so well. I got to know Kaz (Michael Kazlausky) over time. I’m obviously a military school kid. I’m an Air Force (kid), I was born in Keesler, so I’ve actually enjoyed spending time with Kaz over the years, so knowing how hard their teams play, I think you’re going to get a group in here that has five or six position players back. So we’re going to get a lot of their lineup. (They have) two All-Americans in that lineup, and I think you’re going to get a team that plays really, really hard. Trying to figure out what they are pitching wise, I can imagine playing in Colorado Springs your ERA is a little higher than it should be, and your slugging percentage may be a little higher just because the ball jumps, so I don’t know. You get a little bit of both there, but they’ve been really good. They play really tough schedules. I think they played in their championship game last year. They won it the year before and went to a regional, so it’s a regional quality team, and we have to show up and play really good baseball.

Q: We’ve talked a lot about the starters, what have you seen out of the bullpen?

Lemonis: It’s the same names, for the most part. You know, Schulke is back there. He’s had a good spring training. I think Brooks Auger has had a good spring training. I think, the lefties, that’s one area that we’ve really a chance to be pretty good in. Tyler Davis, Cole Cheatham, Luke Dotson, the two freshmen have had a really good (spring). I’ve just got to pick the right spots to get them and Nolan Stevens out there. You know, from the left hand side, and Pico is coming. Every week he gets a little bit closer. I think that’s where Pico will start at, that bullpen side, which he could be a really, really special guy. Stone Simmons is probably about a week away, so we’re working with him. He’s starting to build up volume. We just don’t want to press and push too much. Loftin and Ligon, the two other starting-type of candidates could be important, and then Evan Siary may be our best guy. I forgot what league he was in, but he won pitcher of the year in that league and throws a ton of strikes and had some really big moments for us last year, so there’s a real depth to that. We just don’t have the Landon Sims right now.