What do we need to add to win it all?

[DawgatAuburn]

I know next to nothing about the depth of our team, but based off watching other teams advance over the last few years, it seems like there are two pieces that we were missing this year in order to win the whole shooting match. The first is a big MLB bat in the middle of the lineup. The other is someone who could lock down the 9th and allow us to use what seemed to be a deep stable of arms to get through the 6th, 7th and 8th when needed. In a way I guess that's Renfroe and Holder, but Holder was always seemingly walking a tightrope, and Renfroe's power was almost non-existent in May and June of 2013. What's our outlook in the next year or two? I hear and read good things about our young pitchers. Do we have the bats as well? Do we have guys who can give us quality starts and guys who can slam the door?

 

[121Josey]

We had two bats in the middle of the lineup (Lowe, Collins). Instead of putting a productive bat in the 5-hole, Cohen thought a slumping left-handed bat would be more beneficial/symmetrical.

We had Pilkington (6) Rigby (7), D.Brown (8), Hump (9)

 

[MSUDC11]

One thing and one thing only: being red hot in June.

A&M, Louisville, and arguably us had all the tools to win it all, and we will all be watching the CWS from the house.

It has zero to do with if you have all the pieces or not and everything to do with peaking at the right time.

 

[TBone.sixpack]

I think we had the pieces. Worst time of the year to start slumping. They pressed. They never looked loose to me this weekend.

Arizona was having a ball. Two 1 run games. We were close.

 

[BiscuitEater]

Two things ..

1) Get 'hot' at the end of the year. (MSU HAS a better team than Arizona BUT Arizona is in a different zone right now .. think MSU in '13 @ UVA Super and CWS)

2) Luck (MSU has had way lesser teams get to CWS .. and some awesome teams that just never made it)

 

[engie]

We had everything we needed this year IMO just not the correct timing or mental makeup at the end. We blew our wad winning the SEC regular season in the manner in which we did.

Need to consistently be in position. We had here was a team full of players that had never "been there" before. Too long between 2013 and this run. Hopefully these freshmen that got a taste will be the group that leads us there eventually. We need to see a lot of development on the hill over this summer. Have an unprecedented number of guys heading to the Cape.

 

[8dog]

Exactly. Once you get to supers its a crapshoot. The key is building a program that can consistently get there so the odds shift your way. Hell vandy won a natty with a team that may not have been one of corbins 3 best

 

[CadaverDawg]

We had everything we needed this year IMO just not the correct timing or mental makeup at the end. We blew our wad winning the SEC regular season in the manner in which we did.

Need to consistently be in position. We had here was a team full of players that had never "been there" before. Too long between 2013 and this run. Hopefully these freshmen that got a taste will be the group that leads us there eventually. We need to see a lot of development on the hill over this summer. Have an unprecedented number of guys heading to the Cape.

Speaking of the Cape, they already started games but I'm not sure when our guys are supposed to arrive. Here's a link to check for stats occasionally....

http://www.capecodbaseball.org

I think each team has a Twitter page as well if you're just wanting to see our guys pop up from time to time on your Twitter feed for updates. This may be common knowledge, but it was new to me so I thought I'd share.

 

[msstate7]

I think we need to get better defensively... Particularly with our infield range. We were average or below average at LF, 3b, SS, and 1b.

I think we have the arms on campus and headed there, but we've got to develope them

 

[KurtRambis4]

We had the pieces to do it

this year. Like others have said, the SRs are just a crapshoot.

 

[ronpolk]

We had two bats in the middle of the lineup (Lowe, Collins). Instead of putting a productive bat in the 5-hole, Cohen thought a slumping left-handed bat would be more beneficial/symmetrical.

We had Pilkington (6) Rigby (7), D.Brown (8), Hump (9)

Man this can't be overstated. Putting Robson at 5th was awful. He had way too many rbi chances that should have went to Rooker.

 

[gymdawg.sixpack]

I agree with all this but id add that the schedule messed us up. We ended with 3 crappy teams and could have cared less in the sect. We honestly didnt play all that well in those last series but got by due to simple talent differences and mangum. I think that set us up for a lack luster performance and false sense of superiority.....and mangum went cold.

 

[Bulldog from Birth]

We are close. We've had the pieces to do it 3 of the last 4 years. The key is consistency. You've just got to put your team into Super Regionals like LSU, Vandy, UVA, etc. about 3 out of every 4 to 5 years. Do that over a 10-15 year stretch and odds are decent you win one.

 

[maroonmania]

I think we had the pieces. Worst time of the year to start slumping. They pressed. They never looked loose to me this weekend.

Arizona was having a ball. Two 1 run games. We were close.

Offense slumped significantly in the post-season. Of the SEC tourney, regional and super regional, we only scored more than 5 runs ONCE in 8 games. Our run production was 4,2,2,9,4,4,0,5. That's asking a lot of your pitching staff because you are playing quality teams that have good offenses. The only "hot" hitter we had at the end was Rooker and he was down in the 6 hole batting behind one of our biggest slumpers, Robson. Rooker ended up hitting a lot of solo homers.

 

[LandArchDawg]

A solid closer and a power hitter were the missing elements.

 

[UncommonDore]

I know next to nothing about the depth of our team, but based off watching other teams advance over the last few years, it seems like there are two pieces that we were missing this year in order to win the whole shooting match. The first is a big MLB bat in the middle of the lineup. The other is someone who could lock down the 9th and allow us to use what seemed to be a deep stable of arms to get through the 6th, 7th and 8th when needed. In a way I guess that's Renfroe and Holder, but Holder was always seemingly walking a tightrope, and Renfroe's power was almost non-existent in May and June of 2013. What's our outlook in the next year or two? I hear and read good things about our young pitchers. Do we have the bats as well? Do we have guys who can give us quality starts and guys who can slam the door?

All you need is 35 scholarships and there you are.