So, I decided to do something baseball guru-ish because I am the baseball guru, and because we all know what happens this week! That's right- baseball practice started yesterday!
So, without anymore fanfare, here is my MSU dream team that would go undefeated, win the SEC, the SEC Tournament, the Starkville Regional, the Starkville Super Regional, the National Championship, and most importantly, the Governor's Cup. Included are MSU players, and freiends of MSU baseball- that includes guys that committed, guys that are in the Bulldog Club even though they went pro, and those that didn't go to the camp and are the spawn of John Grisham. And before I get a comment on that being Pat McMahon's fault and not Ron Polk's- of course I knew that, I'm the freaking baseball guru.
So, get ready for a long *** post about MSU baseball!
And here they are:
Staff ace/Friday starter: Kirk Presley. If I only had a Delorean, I could turn it into a time machine and keep Presley away from his American Legion coach and the Mets. He was a first round pick, and I believe the highest pick of any MSU baseball/football recruit that I can recall. And that's the good thing about him- he saves me a scholarship because he plays football! Per Kirk's 1993 Topps baseball card, he went 15-0 with 5 saves and 161 K's in 97 innings and an ERA of 0.58 his senior year. And for his career, the man had SEVEN no-hitters, two of which were perfect games, and 9 one-hitters.
Saturday starter: Roy Oswalt. I don't know what's more amazing- the fact that this guy is single handedly responsible for Weir high school starting a baseball team, or the fact that he was drafted in the 23rd round by the Astros. He led the nation in strikeouts as a sophomore at Holmes Community College and then followed his father's wishes by committing to MSU. Roy, ONE season wouldn't have killed you, now would it? It's not like Russ McNickle was our pitching coach then.
Sunday starter: Jeff Brantley. Finally someone that actually PLAYED on MSU's team. And he made the most of it- he still holds the MSU career record for wins with 45 and the single season record for wins with 18 in 1985. He also had 136 K's and an ERA of 2.29 in 1985 as well. For his career, he had 364 K's, which is second on the MSU career list. And recently, he was named to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame after a great career with the Giants, the Rangers, Cardinals, Phillies, and Reds.
Midweek starter: Paul Maholm. Can you imagine having a first round pick start MIDWEEK? Oh yeah- we can. Remember Polk starting him aginast Middle Tennessee State in a regional? A 9-2 record as well as a 2.76 ERA and 101 K's his senior year is very impressive. Maholm also started the 2001 SEC Tournament Championship Game against LSU on short rest and help the Tigers down so that MSU could send Skip out on a down note. The man absolutely carved people up his entire MSU career.
Closer: Aaron Weatherford. With apologies to the other great MSU closers, Weatherford was the most dominate that I have ever seen. A 97 MPH fastball with a filthy slider, and great control. I will never forget the day that he outdueled Scott Bittle in the game that would never end in Oxford where he basically pitched a complete game in relief and won. His junior year, he went 3-1 with 7 saves on a team with a losing record, and had an ERA of 0.85- his only earned runs that year that he allowed were on the last day of the season when he was obviously worn out, and he chipped in 67 K's.
Right handed Set-up: Bobby Thigpen and Pete Young- I will get to them later.
Left handed Set-up: Jon Harden. The man's pitches would barely go fast enough to get a speeding ticket, but yet, no one could hit him. His senior year he had 8 saved to go along with an ERA of 1.96. He also appeared in 110 games during his MSU career. He was also the 1990 SEC Tournament
Submarine specialist: Van Johnson. It's nice having a guy who is the school's all-time save leader with 29 and single-season save leader with 13 in 1997 in the bullpen.
Catcher: Ed Easley. He's simply the best catcher I have ever seen at MSU. His junior year, he hit 12 home runs with 63 RBI's, and a .358 batting average. He also won the Johnny Bench Award as the top catcher in the country in 2007, as well as the Ferris Award. The man could completely shut down the other team's running game single handedly. And he could pick guys off of first as well. Just an absolute weapon behind the plate. And he drove in what would ultimately be the winning runs in the 2005 SEC Tournament Championship Game against Ole Miss.
Back-up catcher: Barry Winford. Again a great defensive catcher who can give Ed a day off every now and then. He had some pop in his bat, but what I think will surprise most people is that he actually led MSU in steals TWICE- in 1986 with 18 and 1988 with 11, and he had 40 in his career.
First base: Will Clark. He won the Golden Spikes Award in 1985, played on the 84 Olympic team, and was a first round pick by the Giants. He was a badass. He had 25 home runs, 77 RBI's, and hit .420 in 1985- and his home runs and RBI numbers were actually DOWN from the 28 and 93 in 1984. He finished with 61 home runs, 199 RBI's and a MSU record career batting average of .390. He was also an excellent defensive first baseman as well. His drinking stories are legendary as well.
Second base: Burke Masters. He only hit the most dramatic home run to send MSU to Omaha in 1990. And a grand slam no less. He was also a pretty good hitter who could steal some bases and played solid defense. He was the 1990 Boyd McWhorter Scholar Athlete of the year.
Third base: Pete Young. He hit 12 home runs, with 53 RBI's, and a very solid .338 average in 1988. He also chipped in 56 doubles for his MSU career, and had 6 triples in 1987, which is the second most for a single season in schoolo history. Also, as a closer, he led the team in saves three years in a row between 87-89 and had 19 for his career. His drinking stories are perhaps more legendary than Will Clark's as well, which is saying something.
Shortstop: Matthew Mansicalco. The man holds the MSU career record for fielding percentage with a .944 average, he had 20 stolen bases in 2003, to go along with 7 home runs, 42 RBI's, and a .338 batting average that year. He was the best defensive shortstop I have ever seen at MSU, and perhaps the best defensive infielder at MSU that I have ever seen.
Right field: Bobby Thigpen. A lot of people forget that he hit 15 home runs in 1985 and he hit a key grand slam in the regionals that year against Michigan. Of course, he was an excellent relief pitcher and picked up 7 saves in 1985 before setting the MLB single season record with the White Sox at 57, which has since been broken.
Center field: Jody Hurst. One of the best defensive center fielders I have ever seen at MSU with the range to cover from RF to LF and also one of the best lead-off hitters at MSU- he hit .371 in 1988 and he holds the MSU single season record for walks with 69.
Left field: Rafael Palmeiro. The man was the first triple crown winner in SEC history in 1984 with 29 home runs, which is also the MSU single season record, 94 RBI's, and a .415 batting average. He actually hit over .400 as a freshman. He also holds the MSU career record for home runs with 67, and has 239 for his career, as well as a .372 career average. And he was a first round pick by the Chicago Cubs and has an indoor practice facility named after him.
Designated hitter: Bruce Castoria. Also holds the MSU single season record along with Palmeiro with 29 home runs as well as the MSU single season record for RBI's with 98 helping MSU to the 1981 College World Series. As a sophomore he belted 15 home runs and ginished his career with 58. He also posts on the sixpack, so you know he's a badass.
Pinch hitter: Buck Showalter. Holds the MSU single season record with a .459 batting average with 4 home runs and 44 RBI's. He also built the current Yankee dynasty, meaning that Kurt Rambis is forever indebted to him. Also had the most awesome segment ever on Baseball Tonight about how to cork a bat, a skill that was no doubt taught to him by Book of Morman version of Ron Polk's book.
Pinch runner: Dan Van Cleve. He holds the MSU single season record for stolen bases with 38 in 1985, and he also is second in school history with 70 for his career. Sounds like a pretty good pinch running candidate to me. He is also an orthopaedic surgeon as well.
Utility man: Jon Shave. He can play just about any infield position, and the outfield as well. He also had 40 stolen bases in his career, and was a pretty good hitter in the clutch. And he played for a few years in MLB with the Rangers and Twins.
Wally Pipp: Chris Maloney. He was a pretty good player. Unfortuantely for him, we found out that Will Clark was a better player. Has spent a nice career as a manager in AAA in Memphis and can get pretty much any appliance he wants. So, it's not all bad.
First-Pitch Banquet Speaker and most awesome player ever: Jonathan Papelbon. He bedazzled us by openly talking about getting drunk, chasing sorority girls, questioned Ron Polk's sexuality, and made fun of his Polk's unit. He also dropped an 17 bomb on the David Letterman Show, and struck out Seth Smith to end the World Series.
Head coach: Ron Polk I (1976-1992). He took MSU baseball to the next level, wrote a book, coached Team USA, and frequently got kicked out of games. The man built the 1985 team, the best in school history, and made it to Omaha four times.
Pitching coach: Pat McMahon. It's not a coincidence that Polk's pitching and teams were better when he was around.
Hitting coach: John Cohen. Highly successful at Florida as a hitting coach, and has his own hitting DVD out. Also should be the recruiting coordinator of this crew.
So, there it is folks! And thanks for the badass board DS! Thank you VH for inviting me! And thank all of you for reading!
I leave you with my favorite MSU baseball video.
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ujbbN1t83_A?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="never" width="480" height="385" ></embed>
Sincerely yours,
Todd4State- the Sixpack Baseball Guru.
So, without anymore fanfare, here is my MSU dream team that would go undefeated, win the SEC, the SEC Tournament, the Starkville Regional, the Starkville Super Regional, the National Championship, and most importantly, the Governor's Cup. Included are MSU players, and freiends of MSU baseball- that includes guys that committed, guys that are in the Bulldog Club even though they went pro, and those that didn't go to the camp and are the spawn of John Grisham. And before I get a comment on that being Pat McMahon's fault and not Ron Polk's- of course I knew that, I'm the freaking baseball guru.
So, get ready for a long *** post about MSU baseball!
And here they are:
Staff ace/Friday starter: Kirk Presley. If I only had a Delorean, I could turn it into a time machine and keep Presley away from his American Legion coach and the Mets. He was a first round pick, and I believe the highest pick of any MSU baseball/football recruit that I can recall. And that's the good thing about him- he saves me a scholarship because he plays football! Per Kirk's 1993 Topps baseball card, he went 15-0 with 5 saves and 161 K's in 97 innings and an ERA of 0.58 his senior year. And for his career, the man had SEVEN no-hitters, two of which were perfect games, and 9 one-hitters.
Saturday starter: Roy Oswalt. I don't know what's more amazing- the fact that this guy is single handedly responsible for Weir high school starting a baseball team, or the fact that he was drafted in the 23rd round by the Astros. He led the nation in strikeouts as a sophomore at Holmes Community College and then followed his father's wishes by committing to MSU. Roy, ONE season wouldn't have killed you, now would it? It's not like Russ McNickle was our pitching coach then.
Sunday starter: Jeff Brantley. Finally someone that actually PLAYED on MSU's team. And he made the most of it- he still holds the MSU career record for wins with 45 and the single season record for wins with 18 in 1985. He also had 136 K's and an ERA of 2.29 in 1985 as well. For his career, he had 364 K's, which is second on the MSU career list. And recently, he was named to the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame after a great career with the Giants, the Rangers, Cardinals, Phillies, and Reds.
Midweek starter: Paul Maholm. Can you imagine having a first round pick start MIDWEEK? Oh yeah- we can. Remember Polk starting him aginast Middle Tennessee State in a regional? A 9-2 record as well as a 2.76 ERA and 101 K's his senior year is very impressive. Maholm also started the 2001 SEC Tournament Championship Game against LSU on short rest and help the Tigers down so that MSU could send Skip out on a down note. The man absolutely carved people up his entire MSU career.
Closer: Aaron Weatherford. With apologies to the other great MSU closers, Weatherford was the most dominate that I have ever seen. A 97 MPH fastball with a filthy slider, and great control. I will never forget the day that he outdueled Scott Bittle in the game that would never end in Oxford where he basically pitched a complete game in relief and won. His junior year, he went 3-1 with 7 saves on a team with a losing record, and had an ERA of 0.85- his only earned runs that year that he allowed were on the last day of the season when he was obviously worn out, and he chipped in 67 K's.
Right handed Set-up: Bobby Thigpen and Pete Young- I will get to them later.
Left handed Set-up: Jon Harden. The man's pitches would barely go fast enough to get a speeding ticket, but yet, no one could hit him. His senior year he had 8 saved to go along with an ERA of 1.96. He also appeared in 110 games during his MSU career. He was also the 1990 SEC Tournament
Submarine specialist: Van Johnson. It's nice having a guy who is the school's all-time save leader with 29 and single-season save leader with 13 in 1997 in the bullpen.
Catcher: Ed Easley. He's simply the best catcher I have ever seen at MSU. His junior year, he hit 12 home runs with 63 RBI's, and a .358 batting average. He also won the Johnny Bench Award as the top catcher in the country in 2007, as well as the Ferris Award. The man could completely shut down the other team's running game single handedly. And he could pick guys off of first as well. Just an absolute weapon behind the plate. And he drove in what would ultimately be the winning runs in the 2005 SEC Tournament Championship Game against Ole Miss.
Back-up catcher: Barry Winford. Again a great defensive catcher who can give Ed a day off every now and then. He had some pop in his bat, but what I think will surprise most people is that he actually led MSU in steals TWICE- in 1986 with 18 and 1988 with 11, and he had 40 in his career.
First base: Will Clark. He won the Golden Spikes Award in 1985, played on the 84 Olympic team, and was a first round pick by the Giants. He was a badass. He had 25 home runs, 77 RBI's, and hit .420 in 1985- and his home runs and RBI numbers were actually DOWN from the 28 and 93 in 1984. He finished with 61 home runs, 199 RBI's and a MSU record career batting average of .390. He was also an excellent defensive first baseman as well. His drinking stories are legendary as well.
Second base: Burke Masters. He only hit the most dramatic home run to send MSU to Omaha in 1990. And a grand slam no less. He was also a pretty good hitter who could steal some bases and played solid defense. He was the 1990 Boyd McWhorter Scholar Athlete of the year.
Third base: Pete Young. He hit 12 home runs, with 53 RBI's, and a very solid .338 average in 1988. He also chipped in 56 doubles for his MSU career, and had 6 triples in 1987, which is the second most for a single season in schoolo history. Also, as a closer, he led the team in saves three years in a row between 87-89 and had 19 for his career. His drinking stories are perhaps more legendary than Will Clark's as well, which is saying something.
Shortstop: Matthew Mansicalco. The man holds the MSU career record for fielding percentage with a .944 average, he had 20 stolen bases in 2003, to go along with 7 home runs, 42 RBI's, and a .338 batting average that year. He was the best defensive shortstop I have ever seen at MSU, and perhaps the best defensive infielder at MSU that I have ever seen.
Right field: Bobby Thigpen. A lot of people forget that he hit 15 home runs in 1985 and he hit a key grand slam in the regionals that year against Michigan. Of course, he was an excellent relief pitcher and picked up 7 saves in 1985 before setting the MLB single season record with the White Sox at 57, which has since been broken.
Center field: Jody Hurst. One of the best defensive center fielders I have ever seen at MSU with the range to cover from RF to LF and also one of the best lead-off hitters at MSU- he hit .371 in 1988 and he holds the MSU single season record for walks with 69.
Left field: Rafael Palmeiro. The man was the first triple crown winner in SEC history in 1984 with 29 home runs, which is also the MSU single season record, 94 RBI's, and a .415 batting average. He actually hit over .400 as a freshman. He also holds the MSU career record for home runs with 67, and has 239 for his career, as well as a .372 career average. And he was a first round pick by the Chicago Cubs and has an indoor practice facility named after him.
Designated hitter: Bruce Castoria. Also holds the MSU single season record along with Palmeiro with 29 home runs as well as the MSU single season record for RBI's with 98 helping MSU to the 1981 College World Series. As a sophomore he belted 15 home runs and ginished his career with 58. He also posts on the sixpack, so you know he's a badass.
Pinch hitter: Buck Showalter. Holds the MSU single season record with a .459 batting average with 4 home runs and 44 RBI's. He also built the current Yankee dynasty, meaning that Kurt Rambis is forever indebted to him. Also had the most awesome segment ever on Baseball Tonight about how to cork a bat, a skill that was no doubt taught to him by Book of Morman version of Ron Polk's book.
Pinch runner: Dan Van Cleve. He holds the MSU single season record for stolen bases with 38 in 1985, and he also is second in school history with 70 for his career. Sounds like a pretty good pinch running candidate to me. He is also an orthopaedic surgeon as well.
Utility man: Jon Shave. He can play just about any infield position, and the outfield as well. He also had 40 stolen bases in his career, and was a pretty good hitter in the clutch. And he played for a few years in MLB with the Rangers and Twins.
Wally Pipp: Chris Maloney. He was a pretty good player. Unfortuantely for him, we found out that Will Clark was a better player. Has spent a nice career as a manager in AAA in Memphis and can get pretty much any appliance he wants. So, it's not all bad.
First-Pitch Banquet Speaker and most awesome player ever: Jonathan Papelbon. He bedazzled us by openly talking about getting drunk, chasing sorority girls, questioned Ron Polk's sexuality, and made fun of his Polk's unit. He also dropped an 17 bomb on the David Letterman Show, and struck out Seth Smith to end the World Series.
Head coach: Ron Polk I (1976-1992). He took MSU baseball to the next level, wrote a book, coached Team USA, and frequently got kicked out of games. The man built the 1985 team, the best in school history, and made it to Omaha four times.
Pitching coach: Pat McMahon. It's not a coincidence that Polk's pitching and teams were better when he was around.
Hitting coach: John Cohen. Highly successful at Florida as a hitting coach, and has his own hitting DVD out. Also should be the recruiting coordinator of this crew.
So, there it is folks! And thanks for the badass board DS! Thank you VH for inviting me! And thank all of you for reading!
I leave you with my favorite MSU baseball video.
<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ujbbN1t83_A?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowScriptAccess="never" width="480" height="385" ></embed>
Sincerely yours,
Todd4State- the Sixpack Baseball Guru.