College Baseball Season

[rebmus]

A MSU coworker asked me yesterday who I thought would win, I told them the team that didn't make mistakes- and I'd bet on MSU. 

A lot of deserved talk has been about Bednar and Sims. 

IMO, not enough talk about the MSU defense behind the pitchers. 

MSU had ZERO errors in the CWS, ZERO (if I'm not mistaken?). That's the most impressive stat from the series to me. 

[Bulldogs4]

The defense has been talked about a lot by the media (or at least last night). 
 

From what I can gather, no team has played 7 games at the CWS without an error. An incredible performance all the way around. Of course getting a lot strike outs certainly helps too. 
 

I agree that it was a huge key to us winning the CWS. Jim Ellis on STM this afternoon said he thought the defense turned the corner the last third of the season. 

[MSTSatchmo]

And Vandy was just the opposite defensively.   I think they committed 20 errors during their CWS games.  

[Dawg83]

Vandy had one of the stranger CWS runs I can ever remember. Just did not show up at all offensively for the whole tournament and somehow found themselves up 1-0 in the championship series. And then State just destroyed them the next two games. Rocker and Leiter carried that team as far as they possibly could have. Frankly those two guys just didn’t get enough help from the rest of their team.

 

State’s management of their pitching in the regular season became a big point of separation in Omaha. How else do you explain Will Bednar being elite on three days rest and Kumar Rocker falling apart on four days rest? One pitching staff was managed very conservatively until June, the other staff had their aces throwing over 100 pitches in February and March.

 

 

Edited July 2, 2021 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

The conservative approach by Lemonis this year was very effective with our pitching staff. It paid dividends at the end of the year because our pitchers were fresh.

 

One thing I find interesting is that in the first 100 years of baseball, three days was the normal rest for a starting pitcher in the big leagues. College was probably similar. Pitchers were very durable. 
 

In 1971, the Baltimore Orioles had four 20 game winners on their staff.

Mike Cuellar, Dave McNally, Pat Dobson and Jim Palmer. Each starter had about 37-38 starts during the year. 4 man rotation and they pitched every 4 days. 
 

In 1985, Jeff Brantley threw 145 innings and Gene Morgan 134 innings for State. 
 

This year, Bednar threw 92 innings and McLeod 82 innings to top State for innings thrown. 
 

Obviously, today there is a different mindset with regard to pitchers. But it struck me that the media made such a big deal about Bednar throwing on three days when just a short time ago that was the norm for an entire season. 
 

83, you are right though that Rocker and Leiter carried Vandy this year but they paid a price at the end of the season because they had thrown so many innings. 

[Dawg83]

The draft seemed to go well for both State and Ole Miss.

 

State should get James and Hancock back plus Harding if he doesn’t sign a FA deal. Had four signees expected to be drafted early and they’ll get one of them to campus in Andrew Walling, Hard throwing JUCO lefty that was formerly at Oregon State and is likely a weekend starter next year.

 

Ole Miss will get Elko and Graham back, that’s going to be a very formidable offensive team next year. There are some BIG shoes to fill on the mound so I’m curious how that goes.

 

Both should be preseason Top 5-10 teams, State may actually be No. 1 in some polls given that they return a lot from a championship team.

Edited July 13, 2021 by Dawg83

[MSTSatchmo]

I guess there’s no chance we see McCants vs McCants next year when State and OM play.   

[pancho]

looks doubtful

Edited July 13, 2021 by pancho

[MSTSatchmo]

8 hours ago, Dawg83 said:

The draft seemed to go well for both State and Ole Miss.

 

State should get James and Hancock back plus Harding if he doesn’t sign a FA deal. Had four signees expected to be drafted early and they’ll get one of them to campus in Andrew Walling, Hard throwing JUCO lefty that was formerly at Oregon State and is likely a weekend starter next year.

 

Ole Miss will get Elko and Graham back, that’s going to be a very formidable offensive team next year. There are some BIG shoes to fill on the mound so I’m curious how that goes.

 

Both should be preseason Top 5-10 teams, State may actually be No. 1 in some polls given that they return a lot from a championship team.

Can RowdyJordan return?  I thought I saw he was listed as a senior with junior eligibility.   

[pancho]

Jordan can  return but was taken by the Mets.

[Bulldogs4]

Would not think Jordan would return. Nothing left to prove and I am sure wants to give the Bigs a shot. He is capable of making it. 

[MSTSatchmo]

2 hours ago, Bulldogs4 said:

Would not think Jordan would return. Nothing left to prove and I am sure wants to give the Bigs a shot. He is capable of making it. 

If he isn’t offered much, which would probably be the case, he could play another year, possibly raise his draft status, actually have a chance to make close to what the minor leagues would pay, plus play in a stadium bigger and with more fans than most minor league stadiums.  Possibly be on the level as Mangum when he leaves.  
 

Of course leaving after winning the NC is as good as it gets.  

[pancho]

Each team in the Sec and particularly the SEC west better prepare to LSU to be a major player since the new hire.  The transfers plus better fundamental coaching will reap benefits.  The new coach will have them hitting like the old days instead of the fast slap system.

[Dawg83]

All of the guys that got drafted from State will be gone. Only three signees drafted and I am almost certain all three will go pro.

 

The SEC is going to be a bit of a strange league next year. Several teams return a ton of offense (Arkansas, LSU, Ole Miss, Vandy) but simultaneously lose a ton of their pitching from this year. State’s situation is a little more balanced, TA and Rowdey will be tough to replace and Dubrule is out of eligibility, but everyone else is back. Bednar and MacLeod are gone but every other key contributor on the mound is back, including the best returning pitcher in the league in Landon Sims.

Edited July 14, 2021 by Dawg83

[Bulldogs4]

LSU will be improved but I know this is cliche to say; usually a coach struggles some in their first season (Lemonis was an exception but he also had Jake Mangum leading the team which was huge). Not sure LSU has a Mangum type that will take a team in his shoulders. 
I do think they will be a force again soon but most likely it will be 2023 and beyond for them. 
 

The SEC is still going to be loaded in baseball across the board with the exception of Missouri who I don’t think will ever be competitive in baseball in the conference. They are just facing a huge uphill battle. Otherwise everyone else is going to be good. Auburn should be much improved in 2022. 
 

Glad to see Tim Elko come back for Ole Miss. He is a tremendous player and I hope he stays injury free next year. I appreciate good players around the conference and what he did after the injury was amazing. 

[MSTSatchmo]

The Mets and Kumar Rocker fail to reach an agreement because of concerns over his elbow.   That means Rocker could return to Vandy for his senior season.  

Edited August 2, 2021 by MSTSatchmo

[Dawg83]

14 hours ago, MSTSatchmo said:

The Mets and Kumar Rocker fail to reach an agreement because of concerns over his elbow.   That means Rocker could return to Vandy for his senior season.  

Indications are he’s not going back to Vandy. But strange deal regardless.

[MSTSatchmo]

I saw that.  He’ll join an Independent league or play overseas and enter the draft again next year.   They apparently agreed on $6m, but his physical was concerning so they renegotiated.
 

I’m pretty sure that’s how he ended up at Vandy as a freshman.   He couldn’t agree on a contract after being drafted high.