A premature look ahead...

[8dog]

Sneed, Adkins, Duffy and Powers are 4 of the 6 guys we have hitting over .300 in conference play right now the line up is going to take a hit.

Shepard seems to be coming on and Vickerson is good. Problem is, they are seniors next year so that's good for next year but not for the long term growth of the program.

The biggest problem is that outside of Stratton and Bracewell, Im just not sure how much confidence I have that these pitchers are the future of a really good baseball program.

We also have to find a middle infield that is worthy of being trotted out there against SEC teams. That should be a wide open race.

Lots of holes to fill going into next year. My best guess is Parks at 3rd, Rawdaw at SS, Frazier/Lewallen at 2B, Freeman at 1B, Thigpen at C, Vickerson DH, Shepard, Brownlee and hopefully someone other than Collins (like CT Bradford) in the outfied. Not a menacing lineup. Then we have to hope Routt recovers fully, Stratton gets stamina and a 3rd pitch and someone can be consistent out of the pen.

And even if this freshmen class is as great as Gene wants everyone to believe, lets remember that the greatest freshmen class we've ever had (class of 94) didn't make a regional their first year.

In positive news, our lone commit for the class of 2011, Trevor Fitts, is having a monster year for nationally ranked Pelham in AL. He may end up being the best committ/signee to date for Cohen.

Just some thoughts.

 

[brantleyjones]

How about Class of '82 or Class of '86, both of which did make regionals as freshmen?

For us to make a regional next year, this recruiting class will have to be the best in MSU history. '82, '86 and '94 were all down years for Polk, but they weren't anywhere close to as down as this year, and there wasn't nearly as much ground to make up.

Next year could be worse then this year. (God, I hope not!) Hope springs eternal, and there's always Manieri's first recruiting class to look at, but right now I'm not expecting a regional for at least another 2 years.

I have absolutely no ability to predict how high school baseball players will perform in college. I can only hope that Cohen, Burroughs, and Thompson do.