Butch Thompson speaks about next years rotation

[bulldawg225]

<div id="TixyyLink" style="BORDER-RIGHT: medium none; BORDER-TOP: medium none; OVERFLOW: hidden; BORDER-LEFT: medium none; COLOR: #000000; BORDER-BOTTOM: medium none; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; TEXT-ALIGN: left; TEXT-DECORATION: none"><div class="story_item_headline">Wrapping Up MSU Baseball</div><div class="story_item_info"><div class="story_item_author">by bradlocke</div><div class="story_item_parent">Inside Mississippi State Sports</div><div class="signature_line">North MS Daily Journal</div></div><div class="story_item_content"><div style="FLOAT: left"><div class="story_item_images"><div class="newline"></div></div></div>

By his third year at Kentucky, coach John Cohen won an <span class="caps">SEC</span> title. He does not appear to be on quite the same track at <span class="caps">MSU</span>, but in my <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">season wrap-up</span> in today’s Daily Journal, I take a look at what’s different and what’s the same between Cohen’s first two years at UK and his first two in Starkville.</p>

So is <span class="caps">MSU</span> closer to a turnaround than it appears? It bears noting that in his second season at Lexington, the Wildcats won just seven <span class="caps">SEC</span> games. <span class="caps">MSU</span> went 6-24 in league play this year.</p>

“He came into a situation up here where we were hungry to get better, and we were fortunate,” said Kentucky Athletics Director Mitch Barnhart. “We had some players who bought into his system, and absolutely made us better in a short period of time.”</p>

A lengthy, well-done story by the Kentucky Kernel newspaper a while back talked of Cohen having to <span style="TEXT-DECORATION: underline">change the culture</span> in that program, teaching players to take the game more seriously. He didn’t have to overhaul things quite so much at <span class="caps">MSU</span>, which was in the College World Series as recently as 2007, but there was a noticeable change from the Ron Polk regime.</p>

“If anything I had to toughen up a little bit,” said senior pitcher Tyler Whitney. “I had to compete at a level I wasn’t used to competing at. That’s not to say the old way was terrible by any means. .. It was a different regime, it was a lot more energetic, so I had to make adjustments like that.”</p>

Whichever way you look at it, it all comes back to pitching for State. More than half the Bulldogs’ innings were tossed by true freshmen this season, and how rapidly the program rises depends almost entirely on how quickly those young arms develop.</p>

“From what you see, it would definitely lend you to the question of it not being on schedule,” pitching coach Butch Thompson said of the turnaround. “But I think with the year’s experience and all these guys getting feet underneath them and getting their back built up strong again, I think they’re gonna be better prepared, and they’ve got a chance to be here for multiple years.”</p>

Stability was an issue this season, with freshman Chris Stratton the only pitcher to start all 10 <span class="caps">SEC</span> weekends, and he was the most consistent pitcher by far. So Thompson is hoping to have roles more settled next year, and a healthy Nick Routt would help in that regard.</p>

“I think I know if Routt’s back and Stratton hangs in there, I feel good about (Stratton),” said Thompson, “because he’s kind of the same every day of the calendar year mentally. He kind of communicates the same. He’s a very steady person. That’s two-thirds of our rotation there.”</p>

If those two are healthy and on their game, perhaps this rebuilding project will be right on schedule.</p></div>

Read more: NEMS360.com - entry Wrapping Up MSU Baseball
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[Todd4State]

If he doesn't mess up Routt, this season is much different. And that's the bottom line.

If Routt is healthy and himself, and you can say that Routt struggled early but let's face it, again that was in part Butch's fault for messing with him forcing him to adjust to a different style, that allows these freshmen to be put into roles that they would have been better suited at. I'm really thinking more about Luke Bole more than anyone else when I type this- he should not have been our Sunday starter as a freshmen. I do think he will be good in time- possibly even a solid weekend starter, or more than likely a good relief pitcher for us because of what we have coming in and what we have already. A healthy Routt allows us to have a rotation of Stratton, Routt, and then maybe Tyler Whitney or Devin Jones in some form or fashion. When Routt went down, it also weakened the bullpen a little bit because it forced us to move someone from the bullpen to the rotation. Having to start Caleb Reed probably contributed greatly to him being worn out at the end of the season.

Right now, I think Routt is a huge key to the season because if he is hurt or not 100%, I don't think we have enough to overcome him going down. Same for Stratton. Can Daryl Norris step up and be a weekend starter? Maybe, but I'm not really counting on it either. I think he is better suited for the bullpen for us in the short term. I think we need Devin Jones to step up as a starting pitcher. He has great stuff, but he was not effective as a closer or a relief pitcher in general. If he can be a five inning Sunday guy for us, that would be very helpful. And I will also say this- you can not assume injuries either. If we stay healthy, and honestly odds are that we will, we will probably be OK. I also want to see the schedule to see how difficult it is, because I think that will play a big factor into our success as well.

Basically, he needs to treat Routt with kid gloves if he wants to keep his job.

I do think that Locke hit on something that I do think will be helpful- and that's the overall attitude of the team being better suited to Cohen's style. I think Whitney's comments bear that out. And no, I'm not criticizing Polk, his players, or blaming anyone when I type that. I'm just saying that Cohen is more intense, and players that are more intense in general are likely to perform better for him. You notice the guys that he has recruited in general are guys that are either- A. considered hard nosed players like Chase Luwallen and CT Bradford, or B. Are guys that played football like Wes Rea, Daryl Norris, and DeMarcus Henderson that are used to coaches being in their face and yelling at them. I think that those players will respond to Cohen much better than the previous ones.

I do not think that we will win the SEC next year just because it is Cohen's third season here. I will not complain if I am wrong about that. I think I am like most people on this board that just really want to see some progress, and simply making the SEC Tournament or a Regional would suffice.

 

[patdog]

that Thompson is talking about next year's rotation instead of getting his resume out?

 

[DirtyLopez]

sent you an IM.

 

[Optimus Prime 4]

[No message]

 

[DowntownDawg]

Nm

 

[AceLeroy]

that Thompson is talking about next year's rotation instead of getting his resume out?

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

But then again , it could quicken the end of this ****** run of MSu baseball.

 

[patdog]

Ever since we heard last Monday or Tuesday about which 3 players wouldn't be back next year, but heard nothing about Thompson not being back.

 

[jackstefano]

and doesn't take any ********. If that's the case, and if he keeps Thompson, then you've got to assume that Thompson is not the problem. Cohen knows he's fighting for his job next year and the next. No way he keeps someone like that on staff if he truly sucks as bad as the SPS braintrust thinks. More likely than not, MSU's issues last year on the mound were a combination of youth and unfortunate injuries. If Cohen has any sense, he will recruit players who can: 1) hit; and, 2) field. Because he has pitchers are on the roster.

 

[Todd4State]

and doesn't take any ********. If that's the case, and if he keeps Thompson, then you've got to assume that Thompson is not the problem. Cohen knows he's fighting for his job next year and the next. No way he keeps someone like that on staff if he truly sucks as bad as the SPS braintrust thinks. More likely than not, MSU's issues last year on the mound were a combination of youth and unfortunate injuries. If Cohen has any sense, he will recruit players who can: 1) hit; and, 2) field. Because he has pitchers are on the roster.

Knows that he will get two more years regardless, and that Stricklin was at UK when he was coaching there. My point is, if the staff caves in again, he can play the scapegoat card on Butch.

I think it would take something like a 15 win season for Cohen to be fired next year. Not that that's out of the realm of possibility when it comes to MSU sports.

I think Cohen is playing his cards that:

1. The staff will improve because of experience.
2. The staff will hopefully be more healthy and be better in part because of that.
3. The staff will have better numbers possibly because of an easier schedule. I say possibly because I have not seen the schedule.
4. The pitching staff will have a better defense behind them, and that will help.

If you think about it for a minute, the odds are in Butch's favor for improvement. And that's not an endorsement of Butch, but just how I see it.

 

[jcdawgman18]

I think it would take something like a 15 win season for Cohen to be fired next year. Not that that's out of the realm of possibility when it comes to MSU sports.

If he doesn't win 20, he should fired and chased out of town with pitchforks and torches. If he doesn't win 25, he should be fired and allowed to leave sans pitchforks and torches. Honestly, if we don't make Hoover I want him gone. I don't care how bad the situation was, finishing 8th within 3 years of taking over isn't asking much.

 

[KurtRambis4]

saying Butch is the next Leo but our pitching sucked last year mainly because of the fact that we used so many freshmen. You just can't expect a team to do that well if they have to rely on freshmen so much.

 

[DowntownDawg]

....and our SEC ERA could jump 2 runs and the only team we'd pass would be Georgia. Our pitching was beyond horrible this year.

Besides that, while Butch has had staffs improve over the course of his career (and some have regressed), they haven't improved in large chunks like that. Looking at it realistically, with the offense we lose, we'd probably need to be a team with an ERA in the top half of the league to make a run at Hoover. There's no way Butch does that.

It's a big mistake, in my opinion. I don't think Cohen gets how pissed people are right now. I expect our pitching staff to improve but our offense to digress and I expect we'll have similar results in 2011 as we did in 2010. At that point, Cohen will be squarely on the hotseat, he'll jettison Thompson, and then who is going to want to come be a pitching coach in that situation? The guy is gonna look at it and realize that Cohen is probably a lame duck without big results and it might be a one year stopover. It makes the job infinitely less attractive. It would be like had Croom been allowed to get rid of McCorvey after the 45-0 game. Who wants that one year OC job?

As I've said before, I like Cohen as much as I've ever liked any MSU coach. But his inability to see a problem with Butch at this point and make a move cause me not to feel sorry for him next year when our record is the same or similar. And by then, it's gonna be too late.

 

[patdog]

But we did. I don't care how many injuries you had and how many freshmen you had to pitch, there's no excuse to be THAT bad.

 

[DowntownDawg]

nm

 

[alabamadog]

but I doubt it.