Just got through discussing a little baseball with a former diamond dawg. He is expecting us to be really, really good this year. He stated if our some ofouryoung guys on thepitching staff can just be average then we should suprise alot of people. Whitney and Routt will be Friday and Saturday guys, but look for Stratton to be our Sunday guy. I saw the Stratton kid play in high school and I fully expect him to be a stud for us. His velocity will be there and he throws a real heavy ball that moves inon righties, so look for alot of ground balls. He'll continue to get stronger and hopefully be somebody we can rely forsolid W everytime he steps on the bump. Run support will be there with Cohen's aggressive style ofmanufacturing runs.
Baseball post.
- Thread starter msu21
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Just got through discussing a little baseball with a former diamond dawg. He is expecting us to be really, really good this year. He stated if our some ofouryoung guys on thepitching staff can just be average then we should suprise alot of people. Whitney and Routt will be Friday and Saturday guys, but look for Stratton to be our Sunday guy. I saw the Stratton kid play in high school and I fully expect him to be a stud for us. His velocity will be there and he throws a real heavy ball that moves inon righties, so look for alot of ground balls. He'll continue to get stronger and hopefully be somebody we can rely forsolid W everytime he steps on the bump. Run support will be there with Cohen's aggressive style ofmanufacturing runs.
But I do know that I haven't seen the guy pitch in almost a year and alot can change for a college pitcher ina years time. He could drastically improve his strength, endurance, location, or even his arm slot to make him more effective. I'm not saying Thompson is a miracle worker nor am I Whitney's dad trying to sell hisplace in the weekend rotation, but alot can happen. I will be interested to see how it plays out just like most of you.
Appeared to me he had picked up some velocity on hisfast ballin thefall. Then again, I could have just been imagining things.
from one of the state's smaller colleges (a MSU guy) and he thought we were going to be really improved this year. He thought Cohen had done well recruiting (especially pitching) and he intimated that the other DIV I programs in the state knew that MSU was back on top as far as recruiting saying that essentially we will get whomever we want in the future. He led me to believe that this knowledge had a lot to do with Palmer's recent retirement at USM. He did agree with Cohen's comments however that we still may be a year away from where we want to be, but overall he was very optimistic about our team's future success on a national level.
Why can't he do the same this season? Yeah, he doesn't have ace stuff. No one is arguing that. But the guy battles and pitches his *** off. Other than a couple of times where he got rocked, which every pitcher has over the course of a season, we were in the game when he left the mound. Or need I remind you just how big a gas can our bullpen was last season? They were so bad that Cohen damn near threw Whitney's arm off stretching him out beyond when he was done because he was so afraid of the pen. I have no problem at all with Whitney as a weekend guy.
msu21 said:
This may be a really good move on Cohen's part, because to me looking at the team on paper, our biggest weakness appears to be the bullpen. Or really the fact that we have so much youth in the bullpen. The talent is there, but the maturity isn't, and probably won't be until midseason. That means that we could be very inconsistent with the bullpen at times. But, if Devin Jones can be the closer, and Routt and Whitney can eat innings, I think we will be OK.
The only issue to me with making Jones the closer is it means that we will also be starting a freshman midweek. I know that there are some Alcorn State's on the schedule, but I would hate to lose a lot of games to a bunch of UAB's- I know it's certianly possible whoever we pitch- from time to time. Although, like I said last week, we were probably going the freshmen a good bit of work midweek anyway.
The fact that I'm only really worried about midweek pitching is an improvement though.
he throws strikes and eats up innings. He was going to be a candidate for the weekend rotation regardless of what Cohen did with Devin Jones.
in time is going to be his curveball. He had times controlling it in high school- most high school pitchers do- but when he refines it, and I think Butch will help him do this, he will be very good. He also has a great mound prescence and poise along with a nice easy delivery. I think he will be a good one for MSU.
The guy I want to see step up is CC Watson. He was drafted by the Rangers and is a LH pitcher who can throw in the low 90's with a good curveball as well.
The guy I want to see step up is CC Watson. He was drafted by the Rangers and is a LH pitcher who can throw in the low 90's with a good curveball as well.