Anyone think our #2 ranking may be a bit high? I feel like our offense may struggle without Frazier and Renfroe. They were our 2 main guys in the lineup. Also I'm a little scared of our weekend rotation in SEC play. Maybe I'm being a typical wait for something bad to happen MSU fan.
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- Thread starter 1941dawg
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I watched every fall scrimmage and I can tell you, we have more people hitting with consistent power throughout the lineup. Renfroe, Frazier, and Rea were the only power guys last year. This year, Bradford, Armstrong, Rea, Pirtle, they have all been hitting the warning track. Our weekend SEC rotation will be solid. Between Hudson, Fitts, Woodruff, Lindgren, Houston...those are all guys that can sling it and have looked very, very good in the fall. I think #2 is about where we should be considering the class we had coming into this year plus the guys expected to come back strong from injury.
As long as Butch Thompson is coaching for State, pitching will not be an issue. I do understand the concern of losing Frazier and Renfroe, but Pirtle and Rea can be our main guys this year IMO. Reid Humphreys is a STUD and hopefully he can come in and immediately show his stuff. And we'll have one of, if not the fastest OF in the SEC
Frazier was a very good college hitter and we will miss him no doubt but in no way would he be considered a power hitter. I'm not even sure he had a single HR last season.
We have some guys that need to step up (weekend rotation), but at least they've been on campus for a couple years. In college athletics, I think that's about all you can ask.
I think 2014 MSU baseball will be more about speed and pressure than 2013. I'm expecting big things from Jacob Robson.
I think 2014 MSU baseball will be more about speed and pressure than 2013. I'm expecting big things from Jacob Robson.
I've been looking forward to this year in baseball more than any other msu sport in a long time, if ever. There's nothing I'd rather do than go fishing and listen to a msu ball game on a Saturday or Sunday.
If I remember correctly he never hit a HR in college. Had a load of triples though.
I get that we lose Frazier and Renfroe, but everyone I've talked to says we should be better 1-9 as an overall lineup- there will be no weak spots, like we had at catcher or DH (when Detz was at 3B) last year. And we will always be a good pitching team as long as Butch Thompson is here. I think Woodruff will have a Stratton-like year, and with our bullpen, all we really need from the other starters is five solid innings.
I think #2 is probably a little high for us too, but we're definitely a top 5-10 team.
That's the thing... We bring back basically as much as anyone in the country and more than almost anyone in the SEC. It's just blind pessimism to say "I think we're rated too high" without looking at the rest of the top 10 to see what they lost as well. The crazy thing about how deep we went last year is that we did it almost 100% without our two best MLB arm talents and with only one real starting pitcher.
I think we're better in all facets of the game than we were last year. We'll be a better starting pitching team, the bullpen will be roughly the same, and the offense will cumulatively be better than last year. Just no dead weight anymore. I expect us to have a real shot at winning the regular season SEC crown for the first time since 89 -- and depending on how RPI shakes out(I think we've got to go 20-10 in the SEC and do very well in the nonconference given a weak SOS for RPI purposes) have a legit shot at a high national seed. What happens in the postseason is always too volatile to predict -- but I like this group more than I liked last year's group at this point in time.
Not really. We thought it would be -- but we ended up playing 6 top 50 RPI games in the nonconference last year. And our SEC SOS was MUCH HIGHER last year than it will be this year. That's a 9-game strength of schedule swing in-and-of itself. Our overall SOS finished @ #2 last year. We will be lucky if it's top 30 this year. Which means we've got to win more games -- particularly on the road.
What difference does it make?......
Its a preseason ranking not a crystal ball. Just enjoy the accolades and don't worry about it. Vandy was ranked #2 in the preseason and backed it up with their record but didn't make it out of the regional. Doesn't mean they didn't deserve the ranking.
Its a preseason ranking not a crystal ball. Just enjoy the accolades and don't worry about it. Vandy was ranked #2 in the preseason and backed it up with their record but didn't make it out of the regional. Doesn't mean they didn't deserve the ranking.
Just wanted to let everyone know our first team scrimmage of the year is Saturday afternoon at Dudy Noble. Thinking it's gonna start around 2 p.m. Also back at DNF Sunday around 1-1:30ish.