Chris Lemonis discusses Diamond Dawgs' progress in fall ball

Mississippi State got back into postseason play on the baseball diamond last year for the first time since the 2021 national championship.

The challenge for the Diamond Dawgs now is finding a way to build on that despite losing some major players from a season ago. The journey to that first game in February has already begun this fall as head coach Chris Lemonis and his staff have started work with a new team.

The coach took time out of his practice schedule this week to meet with the media and break down what he’s seen from his team to this point.

Q: How pleased are you with your guys to this point?

CL: “I love the way they work. We have a good group. Our coaches did a great job recruiting, fighting through the draft and fighting through the portal. It ends up being a long summer. We’re a little bit later than normal (for fall ball). The recruiting calendar kind of changed on us so we’re still recruiting a lot right now so we’re kind of backed up that way. We’ve only been out there about a week and a half but I like it.

“When you scrimmage each other and the offense is pretty good then you’re worrying about pitching and vice versa. But I like what I see. I like how we’re working right now. I think the guys are getting after it right now.”

Q: How big is this part of the year for your team with the roster turnover?

CL: “I feel like the summer is a nightmare now. You finish the season and you just don’t have a day off. When it’s the first day of school and they’re in class and they’re not signing, you kind of take a deep breath. Us roster wise, we’re probably 50-50. 50 were here last year and 50% weren’t.

“We had somebody the other day say in the dugout, ‘hey that guy’s pretty good. What’s hit name?’ You’re in that world. We play UAB next week so we’re going to go over the night before. I’ve got seating assignments on the bus and I’ve got room assignments with seniors and freshmen. We’re going to play some Top Golf and break up our teams. It becomes a lot of team building, culture building.

“This day and age it’s more about building a great team year to year. Used to be about building a great program, but the transition is so big right now. Same thing with us in the draft because we had three guys that were sophomore eligible guys sign last year. That dynamic changes everything.”

Q: Did you have any surprises with the newcomers?

CL: “It’s kind of early. Jackson Owen is hitting about a home run in every other at bat of our scrimmages. He’s not a new one, but he’s had a really good start to fall ball. I think Ace Reese, one of our transfer portal kids at third base, has been pretty impressive offensively. Still got some work to go in other areas, but he’s been pretty good.

“Chase Hungate has been fun to watch as a pitcher and you can tell the maturity. A kid who’s done it, been at good programs and pitched at Omaha. He’s been impressive.”

Q: How pleased are you with the high school signing class?

CL: “The high school kids have been great. Charlie Foster threw yesterday and threw really well. Duke Stone has thrown well, Jack Gleason has thrown well, Braden Booth, Ryan McPherson threw for the first time yesterday as a Tommy John guy coming back. He’ll probably be a fan favorite; Lukas Buckner is probably smaller than (David) Mershon but he’s a really good player and knows how to play the game. I think the freshmen have been good and there’s too many to name.

“You have a freshman class, then we have our JUCO recruits and our portal recruits. It’s like three phases. Our JUCO guys have been really good too.”

Q: Chase Hungate and Jacob Pruitt are two guys that you brought in that have pitched in big games. What do you Invision for them?

CL: “They have big roles. They’re both very talented and have a lot of experience so we’ll count on them for some roles. It’s the first team meeting and I’m chewing the team’s ass about us being in Charlottesville number one and losing it and Chase is sitting there smiling. It’s a different world in a way but that was the message to the team to take care of business so you don’t have to go to Charlottesville.

“Those kids have been great and it’s the maturity about them. It’s a real maturity, probably more with Chase because he’s been there and done it for so long and is so calm and easy going. All of our portal guys are very talented but you’re getting a real mature demeanor. They’re guys that fit in really well.”

Q: What’s the catchers look like so far and how much better do you feel about them this year with the experience returning?

CL: “The day before we started, Ross (Highfill) pulled his hamstring, but he’s worked hard and he’s close. He’s probably going to catch here in a week or so and is probably on the backend of his throwing program so you won’t see him throw to second, but he’ll definitely catch and do. He’s worked with (Jake Gautreau) a lot on his swing and has a chance to be special there.

“Joe Powell’s better than he was this time last year. I think he’s comfortable, can really receive and is swinging it well. Then I think Jackson Owen is probably the most improved guy on the team right now. He took a lot of things personal and redshirted last year. A mature and tough kid from Starkville right here. I give Ethan Pulliam a hard time and he’s been able to jump out with us a little bit because he’s doing football, but the Starkville High School guys have been pretty good for us.”

“Steven Spalitta has improved a good bit and we have a JUCO guy in Ben Davis that does both. We’ve upgraded and have five guys in there. Ben will pitch for us, but he has the ability to catch.”

Q: You have some highly ranked recruiting classes but the rest of the SEC does as well. Is the conference even tougher this year?

CL: “I think it always (is). You could finish 11^th in recruiting and there’s eight SEC teams in front of you. They’re just all coming to our league. It’s about getting the right guy and the right fit. I look at this year’s class and the Charlie Fosters and Duke Stones and some guys that probably aren’t ranked super high and they’re really special players.

“Next year’s class might be the second highest ranking in the country and you can stick your chest out and be proud and the next thing you know the Yankees, Cardinals and Red Sox take them. You never know in our business right now.”

Q: Do you have a health report on some guys like Mikhai Grant, Stone Simmons and some others?

CL: “Mikhai is back and is breaking balls on the mound now, so he’ll probably pitch at the end of the fall in limited time. We’ll keep him cranked up even when the team segment finishes up but he’s right on track and feeling well. Stone is good. He went and pitched for coach (Ron) Polk this summer and had four starts and I’m surprised Polkie didn’t call to get him to pitch a fifth. I don’t think he gave up any runs this summer but he’s been good. He was up to 92-94 the other day.

“Cade (O’Leary) is working back into it and progressing. Dylan Cupp is fine. He had knee surgery as the season was over last year. He can take all of his ground balls, he just can’t take live reps so he hits in the scrimmage and doesn’t run. He’s progressing along nicely too. We have handful that we’re looking forward to getting back that missed last year.”

Q: Who are the guys that are going to be in contention for starting pitching?

CL: “I think one of the biggest ones is Karson Ligon. He was a two-year weekend starter for Miami and got here last year and was banged up a little bit. He spent a lot of time with (Justin) Parker getting back. Had a great summer in the Cape Cod League and has been upper 90s in his starts. He could have easily been drafted.

“Pico (Kohn) was called early in the draft and came back wanting to spend another year with Park and go that way. Jacob Pruitt is one, Stone Simmons, some of the young kids, Mikhai Grant is probably a starter guy. That big arm talent, you’d like to get as many innings out of them as you can. I think we have a really good group of potential starters.”

Q: When you were putting together a schedule, how much did last year’s missing out on hosting play into scheduling opponents?

CL: “Well one you do them a couple of years (prior). The reality is that if you win those games you’re supposed to win, the constructing of the schedule doesn’t matter. The fact that we lost to Central Arkansas here, Austin Peay twice and probably Air Force, that was the difference in our schedule.

“We’re going to go on the road for a trip in a good environment. I’ve tried to change out midweeks. We’re going home-and-home with Southern Miss, home-and-home with Memphis, I’ll play a couple of SWAC schools but with higher RPI. If you notice when we go play UAB, Samford and Memphis, we’re not playing in the pro parks anymore because you lose your RPI. Right now the strength of schedule in the SEC is so high.

“Georgia is one that took care of business all the way through and they put them ahead of ours because they didn’t lose those games early.”

Q: How much can a player improve from one year to the next?

CL: “I think it’s huge. You look at Connor Hujsak or Tyler Davis. The year that you come into the SEC can be tough for some. But spending that year and learning from that year and you learn the right way, you see kids making big jumps. You look across our league and you have to be really talented as a freshman to get in but that next year is when they make jumps.

“I look at our sophomore class and Nolan Stevens went out and had a great summer. That’s a guy that could be an upper draft pick type of guy. He’s got to step up and perform, but he had a really good summer in a really good league.”

Q: You mentioned that team meeting you had, what was the conversation like with your team?

CL: “It’s just your first meeting of the year and most of that meeting is team rules. But just at the end we talked about accountability and being consistent every day. When Mississippi State loses midweek games, most of those is because we didn’t show up. You’re not the underdog many times in those games. Baseball is a different game than football. Football you’ll plow through (non-conference games).

“We know that there are good arms and good teams on our schedule, but most of the time you’re the favorite. It’s having the right mentality. I think my first year that I was here, I don’t think we lost a midweek game. It’s that message to guys that it’s about being consistent and coming out with a consistent approach each day. You start that now with the way you practice.”

Q: What impact has Justin Parker made in one year?

CL: “I think he’s established now. That’s why the Picos and Karsons know what they’re getting now. Last fall it was such a big jump. We knew that Nate Dohm was really good. We knew that Jurrangelo (Cijntje) was really good. It may not look that way from the outside looking in, but we knew if we could just get our guys inhouse pitching well we could make a jump.

“I think now that Justin has had one year, all of those returners are just adding on to it each time. We’re developing a pitching staff with a real edge which I think is what you get from him a lot of times. It’s about pitching tough and he does a really good job of that.”