STARKVILLE — Andy Cannizaro didn’t waste anytime.
The newly hired Mississippi State baseball coach immediately dove into fall practice and got a glimpse of what the spring was going to looking like. Officially introduced on Nov. 7, Cannizaro got to spend 10 practices, including three games of the Maroon and White World Series, coaching his new team and getting a feel for what each player was able to do.
The former LSU assistant who took over for John Cohen after he was hired as the director of athletics, loved the energy he saw from his team and is excited about what his first year as the head coach holds.
“I thought our energy was outstanding on the field every day,” Cannizaro said. “Guys were excited to get to the park, ready to be coached. Guys were ready to get out there and show a brand new coach what they could do.”
Cohen spent the first half of fall ball coaching the Bulldogs, but when director of athletics Scott Stricklin was hired by Florida Sept. 27, Cohen had a feeling he had a chance to be promoted. He didn’t waste anytime hiring Cannizaro as his hiring was announced a day after Cohen was named director of athletics.
Cohen, who was named the 2016 Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year, led the Bulldogs to a regular season SEC Championship and a No. 6 national seed. MSU hosted the Starkville Regional, which it won, and were swept by Arizona in the Starkville Super Regional to fall two games short of the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
Cannizaro told his players he wasn’t concerned about what they did in the first month of fall because he didn’t get to see it. He was more worried about what they were going to do in the final 10 practices.
“I was just looking forward to seeing what you could do, in the last 10 days, of how you can contribute to our team this year,” Cannizaro said. “I thought our guys did an outstanding job. They were extremely coachable and played hard every single day.
“With the youth, I think there is a lot of new energy and excitement from these guys to go out and win a job rather than some older kids you are just looking forward to the season. These younger guys are eager to win a job and show a brand new head coach that they can impact this program in a positive way.”
Cannizaro expects MSU to announced the 2017 schedule soon but didn’t have a specific date in mind. He said they were waiting on a couple of contracts to be finalized.
He said the roster would be cut down in either January or February and he will rely on pitching coach Gary Henderson and hitting coach and recruiting coordinator Will Coggin to help with the process. He said they have met every day about the different players.
“With me only being here for 10 practices, I am really going to rely on our entire staff on what they saw this fall and go off of what these guys have done in the past to decide as to who are the very best 35 guys who can help us win another SEC championship,” Cannizaro said. “Ultimately, those guys will answer that on the field as we get going into January and early parts of February.”
Cannizaro was really impressed with what he saw from the pitchers. He said they “answered the bell” every time they stepped on the mound and had productive innings. He said he has several guys in mind for the weekend rotation but said that battle will spill over into February and probably won’t be set until the first weekend.
Cannizaro said he was really impressed with rising sophomore left-handed pitcher Konnor Pilkington. Pilkington was 3-1 in 14 appearances and 11 starts last season. He had a 2.08 ERA, 42 strikeouts and 15 walks.
“He’s certainly a strong, physical kid that we like who will run his fastball into the low-90s with really good secondary stuff,” Cannizaro said. “He has a chance to be one of the top arms in the SEC moving forward.”
Cannizaro said position players Jake Mangum and Brent Rooker stood out. Mangum, a rising sophomore outfielder, led the SEC with a .408 batting average and was named SEC Freshman of the Year and won the 2016 C Spire Ferriss Trophy, presented annually to the top collegiate baseball player in Mississippi.
Rooker, a rising junior outfielder, decided to return to MSU after being taken in the 38th round (1,143rd overall) by the Minnesota Twins in the Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft. Rooker led MSU with 11 home runs.
“(Mangum) is tremendous and is as equally as good a kid as he is between the lines ability-wise,” Cannizaro said. “That was one of the first things I was impressed with him about: his makeup, his character and willingness to learn. He is a worker. He wants to be great.
“Brent Rooker was another guy. Tremendous makeup from him. He is the type of leader that you want on your team. I think he is primed to have a gigantic season for us this year. I am looking forward to the production he’s going to have in terms of hitting somewhere in the middle of the lineup for us and being one of those home run/run producer type of guys.”
Cannizaro announced a 19-player singing class Tuesday. The class includes seven pitchers, 10 position players two utility players (position player and pitcher) and eight junior college transfers. He said the position players are some of the best in the country and the pitchers have power arms, something he wants to see often in his pitchers.
He gave most of the credit to Coggin and Henderson for finalizing the recruiting class.
“(Coggin) does such an outstanding job of selling MSU,” Cannizaro said. “He is truly a guy that bleeds maroon. He played here and is now coaching here. He loves the university and is really proud to be here.
“Gary Henderson did a fantastic job of identifying a lot of these arms that we talked about that can come in right away and help us compete for another SEC championship. I want to give those guys a lot of props for all their work and effort in continuing to make Mississippi State one of the best programs in the country.”
Cannizaro compared his MSU team to last year’s LSU team. The Tigers lost eight of nine position players to the draft and had to start over. MSU lost 10 players to the draft and will be injecting a lot of new faces into the lineup and on the mound.
“These guys are extremely talented,” Cannizaro said. “They are hungry and want to be great. They just haven’t had their opportunity yet to get on the field and show everybody how good these guys are going to be.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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