The Mississippi State baseball team is a little more than four months away from the start of the 2017 season.
A lot can happen between now and then, but D1Baseball.com’s Kendall Rogers believes MSU is capable of making a NCAA tournament regional and continuing its run of success.
Rogers believes that even though the Bulldogs lost 10 players to the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft in June, two seniors to graduation, and a junior to free-agent signing from a team that won the Southeastern Conference regular-season title for the first time since 1989.
MSU coach John Cohen also had to fill both spots on his coaching staff, as pitching coach Wes Johnson took the same job at Arkansas and recruiting coordinator Nick Mingione was hired as the new Kentucky coach. Cohen hired Gary Henderson, his former assistant coach at Kentucky and the firmer head coach at the school, as his pitching coach. He promoted volunteer assistant Will Coggin to a full-time assistant and recruiting coordinator.
Despite all of the shuffling, Rogers is confident MSU will be a factor in the spring. MSU begins fall ball Thursday with an intrasquad scrimmage at Dudy Noble Field that is open to the public.
“It’s hard without getting a full scoop on these guys going into the fall to know how all these roles are going to shake out,” Rogers said. “You look at the foundation of the pitching staff. This is a regional-type of club. What they can do beyond that really depends on the offense. If they can get at least the top half of that lineup ready to roll in the spring, I think this team has a lot of upside.”
MSU had a school-record 11 players taken in the draft. Pitchers Dakota Hudson (St. Louis Cardinals), Reid Humphreys (Colorado Rockies), Daniel Brown (Milwaukee Brewers), Zac Houston (Detroit Tigers), Vance Tatum (Kansas City Royals), and Austin Sexton (Cardinals) signed. Position players Jacob Robson (Tigers), Nathaniel Lowe (Tampa Bay Rays), Gavin Collins (Cleveland Indians), and Jack Kruger (Los Angeles Angels) also signed. Pitcher Paul Young signed a free-agent contract with the Royals. MSU also lost position players Mike Smith and John Holland to graduation.
The only player drafted who elected to return was outfielder Brent Rooker. He was taken in the 38th round (1,143rd overall) by the Minnesota Twins as a redshirt sophomore.
“If he has a big year, I think he can be one of those .345, .350 type of hitters,” Rogers said. “I think he’s got the athleticism to be a versatile player. I think he’s clearly got the gap power and the home-run power. He’s got all the tools.”
Rooker hit .324 with a team-high 11 home runs and 54 RBIs. He had 15 doubles and struck out 48 times in 204 at-bats.
MSU also returns Jake Mangum, the SEC Freshman of the Year and Ferriss Trophy winner, which is given to the top collegiate player in Mississippi. The Pearl native led the Bulldogs with a .408 batting average. He had 12 doubles, three triples, a home run, 40 runs, and 28 RBIs.
“That could be your No. 1 and No. 3 hitters, and that’s huge to get those two guys back,” Perfect Game’s Patrick Ebert said.
The Bulldogs hope to receive a big boost from junior college transfer Harrison Bragg, who played last season at Tacoma (Wash.) Community College. Rogers feels Bragg has the potential to do what Lowe and Kruger did last season.
Lowe and Kruger. Lowe hit .348 with a team-high 20 doubles. The St. Johns River (Fla.) State College transfer, who began his career at Mercer, had five home runs, 49 RBIs and 44 runs. Kruger, who played at Oregon as a freshman and transferred to MSU from Orange Coast (Calif.) College, hit .344 with 19 doubles, eight home runs and 40 RBIs.
“(Bragg’s) a really talented hitter and really looks the part,” Rogers said. “He’s probably a little raw coming from a Washington junior college, but he’s a guy I think can be that JUCO infusion.”
Bragg hit .409 with nine doubles, three triples, four home runs, 32 RBIs and 19 runs last season. He played for the San Luis Obispo Blues in the California Collegiate League this summer. The third baseman hit .180 with four doubles, two triples, two home runs, 18 RBIs, and 15 runs.
Along with Mangum, MSU returns sophomore position players Elih Marrero, Hunter Stovall, and Luke Alexander. Rogers and Ebert expect Marrero to become the starter at catcher.
“Marrero’s one of those guys I look at and say, ‘You know what? He’s got a chance to really take a step forward,'” Rogers said. “I would be floored if he hits around .233. Luke Alexander’s a guy that was a little up and down at times, but is one of those guys that has the tools. I would expect both of those guys to take a step forward, especially from an offensive standpoint.”
Ebert said losing weekend starting pitchers Hudson and Sexton will be tough to overcome. He feels like Cohen, the 2016 SEC Coach of the Year who received a four-year contract extension through 2020 and added the title of associate athletic director in the offseason, will use the fall to figure out the pitching rotation.
Sophomore left-hander Konnor Pilkington, who became the team’s third starter on the weekends, was 3-1 with a 2.08 ERA in 14 appearances (11 starts) last season. He had 42 strikeouts, 15 walks and 38 hits in 43 1/3 innings.
“He can jump all the way up to their Friday guy if all goes well,” Ebert said. “Keegan James could also find a spot on the weekend.”
Freshman right-hander Graham Ashcraft was taken in the 12th round (371st overall) by the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he decided to come to MSU. Ebert said the Huntsville, Alabama, native stands out in MSU’s class.
“We had him ranked 90th in the nation, so that’s saying quite a bit,” Ebert said. “He’s got good size. He has one of the better sliders of any high school player eligible for the draft last June. He’s a low 90s pitcher with a slider. A lot of it will have to do with his command and how well he assimilates himself to college baseball.”
MSU earned the No. 6 national seed in last season’s NCAA tournament. MSU won the Starkville Regional, but lost to Arizona in the Starkville Super Regional.
“I think Mississippi State’s a lot like Ole Miss, where they have some question marks, but I feel like there are enough guys at key positions to where this could be a pretty fun fall. If things go right, (it could be) a pretty good spring, too,” Rogers said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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