Hunter Renfroe commits to MSU Baseball!!!

[Shmuley]

that our wild-eyed MFer of a coach can do anything but recruit. Holding out hope, but it's fading fast.

 

[Statefan]

I've seen Renfroe hit shots over the fence at Trustmark and Smith-Wills. After the Prep game in Gallman, he and Barlow took BP for the scouts. Renfroe hit three great shots into the pine trees with a wooden bat.

 

[Todd4State]

There is no denying that. The class coming in looks unreal. I just can't believe we had two kids from the past class transferring already and one was a weekend starter this year. That is what scares me about Cohen, not to mention all the losing, but this class should be able to make up for a lot of the deficiencies.

has been tripped up by injuries to some of the key recruits- namely Ben Bracewell and CC Watson. Luke Bole was a key recruit, but he also had some trouble fitting in with the team in addition to his struggles. I like him as a player, but it's actually probably better in the long run for both of us that he's gone. Maybe he goes to Chipola and progresses as a player and pitcher and gets a reprieve for someone else. I think Ben and CC will be good when/if they get healthy.

Chris Stratton did well. I think he will be a solid SEC starter as long as he is healthy.

Ethan Bright was a key recruit as well, and could have helped us off of the bench some, but he had his alcohol issues, and is gone, and I highly doubt that he will be back. He is actually going to play for his third team next year at Hinds CC after leaving Northwest Mississippi CC. I don't know why he left NWCC.

Chad Girodo and Kendall Graveman both pitched like freshmen, but I think they will get better and contribute out of the bullpen if not start midweek or on Sunday. They also had some promising outings as well.

My biggest complaint about the recruiting was I thought we recruited way too many JUCO's. I know why he did, but I would rather take my lumps with guys like Graveman than a guy like Corey Collins.

 

[Todd4State]

Hunter Renfroe - gassing 95, drafted high
Demarcus Henderson - unreal hitter and fast as hell
C.T. Bradford - Florida POY
Darryl Norris - Alabama POY
Taylor Stark - drafted
Wes Rea - 6'5", 275 need I say more
Pitts, Lewallen (if he makes it), Frazier - some of the best defenders around

All of those guys have a chance to start NEXT year. You absolutely cannot recruit any better at MSU in 2010 than John Cohen is doing right now.

will not be at MSU next year unless he wants to walk-on, assuming that he qualifies. He took the ACT on June 12th.

 

[Todd4State]

At least he will have brought in some talent. The key is finding someone after him that can coach and recruit- assuming he can't coach.

I'm not real worried about Cohen's coaching to be honest with you. He has won before, and his track record at other schools is my basis for my opinion. We have been hitting the ball pretty well under Cohen as well.

That said, I am a little leery of Butch Thompson. I have defended him, and I do believe he should get next year to see what he can do with the guys that he has recruited. However, if our sophomores and juniors don't progress, and we keep having key pitchers go down under his watch- which in my opinion is the main reason we have had losing seasons the past two years, then he needs to go.

 

[JacksonDevilDog]

He wasn't a junior or anything. Some guys develop late and there are a lot of coaches around central Mississippi scratching their heads and kicking themselves right now about Renfroe.

 

[ddog12344]

Have you seen Hunters Mom she is over 6 ft and her granddad was 6 ft 7. So no growth harmone just God's time to let him grow. He also hit 14 HR his junior year, 10 in 10th grade year. Just because someone is doing good, there is always a negative person to bring them down. Go Hunter hope you do good!!!! Copiahs field is not only field he hit home runs on. By the way he hit 3 this weekend in Millington, Tn in a select tournament where one cleared scoreboard at well over 400ft. Ask the the coach he was there. He threw into the upper 90's one at 98

 

[Dollabillz]

nm

 

[Dollabillz]

Anyone who actually watches the baseball games (which obviously, by the posts here last spring, isn't man), can see that we aren't far off and the strides we've made. Uninformed people like you really should not run your mouth or your fingers on a message board. That's just my honest opinion.

 

[DirtyLopez]

You say that the only way lewallen would be at State is if he WALKS ON, assuming he qualifies. Do you say that because Lewallen's schollie went to someone else? Maybe I have missed something.

 

[independencebowlmainstay]

Hunter was the 2nd best HS player in the state this year, and it really wasn't close. I was really disappointed we didn't offer at some point. The only reason he didn't get some major offers was that he was a huge grade risk, but he ended up making it is my understanding. He is going to be a very good college player, and of the players I have seen from your incoming class(all of the MS kids, and the Mobile and Panhandle kids included), he is the best. He will play for you next year somewhere, and pitch some, too.

It is a great pickup for you. Congrats. Wish he was going to be in Oxford.

 

[KurtRambis4]

That's what makes me so mad. I am willing to bet that 90% + of the people that have bitched non-stop did not watch more than 4 or 5 whole games last season. Hell, I doubt they even watched that. Some of you clowns proove me wrong.

 

[Todd4State]

He seems really, really raw. He throws hard, but I have to wonder about his secondary pitch. He seems to me like a Jeff Francouer pitcher- a guy that throws hard but doesn't really pitch. But, like I said, I haven't seen him play, much less pitch.

Heck, if he can be a one inning relief pitcher, I have no problem with that at all if he is effective even if all he throws are fastballs. I'm just not sure that he can get away with throwing just fastballs in the SEC.

 

[Todd4State]

who cut John Grisham's kid, which lead to the rise of the Virginia program. Maybe this is some kind of bizarre circle of karma.

 

[jcdawgman18]

Most people just want quick, if not instant, gratification. So they don't want to accept that it's nigh unto impossible to go from almost zero talent to being competitive in the SEC in 3 years. 2012 (and to some degree next year) you will see tangible results from all the recruiting.

I just watched Florida make the CWS having two freshmen as weekend starters and their top 6 hitters in their order including 4 freshman and 2 sophomores. So I don't think expecting to make Hoover within 3 years is asking too much at all. If Cohen takes the boys to Hoover this year (or finishes 9th and still makes a regional), then he's fine. If he doesn't, well, bye.

 

[KurtRambis4]

I'm not trying to be an ***, but I'm just curious. How many games (whole games) did you go to this year or even watch period?

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

We have life-long Bulldogs openly wondering if the man has any coaching ability at all. Statements like "hopefully he can recruit superior talent, because it's obvious he's not going to coach anyone up" are getting to be more and more common. And despite your Croom-esque implication of "if you can't see the improvement you are blind" there is plently of non-improvement to notice. Horrible base-running, pitching changes that make no sense, leaving pitchers in too long just to name a few.

Perhaps you should find another board to post on where contrary opinions are discouraged. Because here you are allowed to state what you think.

 

[KurtRambis4]

how many baseball games did you go to or watch last year? I'm not trying to imply anything, I am just curious.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

.

 

[KurtRambis4]

serious answer, I'm going to guess that you either didn't go to any or went to one game during SBW. I'm just trying to figure out how someone with little knowledge of what happened or can have such a strong opinion on this.

 

[Dollabillz]

not to mention the "life-long" fans of MSU you speak of are probably Polk nut-suckers like KB21.</p>

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

because my opinion isn't yours.

Maybe you are right. Maybe the only people who question Cohen are those that have no clue. And maybe the only people who questioned Croom were racists.

 

[BriantheDawg]

and there has not been any improvement on the field so far, Kurt. The new pitchers Cohen brought in started off strong and faded down the stretch. Hardly any of the juco players he brought in panned out. I think our offensive production has definitely picked up, but base running and defense have regressed. Yes, he's bringing in some high ranked classes, and yes - this is only his 2nd class so far, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt to get at least one more class in here, but you can't sit here and tell me we got better as the year went along because we didn't. We lost 14 games or whatever it was in a row. Lost to Jackson State, swept by OM, etc.. Oregon hadn't fielded a team in like 50 years or something and were in a Regional this year, their 2nd year of fielding a team. This is not MSU football we're talking about here, it should not take 4 or 5 years for us to have another winning season, which is very well where we're headed.

 

[Dollabillz]

so stands to reason ALOT more people would have seen Croom's coaching than Cohen's.

Just stop. You have nothing to validate your points except little sarcastic remarks like that.

 

[KurtRambis4]

It just appears to me that the only people that seem to raise hell about Cohen not knowing how to coach are the ones that have not even watched the team. Hell if you had been to maybe 4 or more I could see how you would have a decent idea of what's going on. I just cannot comprehend how someone that has no evidence has such a strong belief. Since this is your second response without answering the question of how many games you saw, I am guessing I am right in thinking that you have only been to 1 or 2 games (maybe). Do you see my point? It's like someone saying they hate bologna and they've never even had it. I'm not getting on you because our opinions differ, I'm getting on you because you really are just throwing things out there with no clue.

**edited to add: i hate bologna AND i've tried it

 

[RobbieRandolph]

Polk left us with absolutely no pitching whatsoever. And the field players he left us with were good at 1 maybe 2 tools, each. Combine that with only having 11.2 schollys total, and not being able to sign 25 a year like football, and it's going to take 3 or 4 years. Polk literally gutted the program.

it should not take 4 or 5 years for us to have another winning season, which is very well where we're headed.

 

[OMlawdog]

It does ring a bell.

 

[BriantheDawg]

so it shouldn't take much longer than that I don't think. I just want to see some kind of improvement next year. Something to give me some hope that we did indeed make the right hire. I just don't think you can point to how good he's supposedly recruiting and then bash other posters for getting on Cohen's *** for the 2 seasons he's had. He needs to prove it on the field. That is what matters. The recruiting makes me a little more optimistic, but I want to see us play good, sound baseball and get back to a Regional, not win a recruiting title.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

.

 

[38843dawg]

and I went to most of the home games this year. I probably missed 6 or 7, but I was there the majority of the time, and it was just pathetic watching our team. I've seen better defensive infields in high school. I'm nowhere near the point where I'm calling for Cohen's head, but I wouldn't have cared too much if Thompson would have been let go. I highly doubt that next season will be much better, but by the year after next if we're not winning he has to go.

 

[Dollabillz]

1) Oregon's coach got to start with a clean slate.

2) Have you ever seen any team have 2 top ten recruiting classes in any sport, and it not pay off big time for them down the road? If it has happened, it's the EXTREME anomaly.

 

[KurtRambis4]

games did you attend last year, or watch?

 

[Dollabillz]

nm

 

[KurtRambis4]

was going to give him the benefit of the doubt and say he went to at least one, but apparently he didn't even do that?

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

I'd say around 20. I don't live in Starkville so I don't make many Friday night or mid-week games.

For simplicity sake, is there somewhere on here we can post our credentials that would allow us the ability to post on a particular subject? I've never been a baseball coach on the college level, so if that disqualifies me to discuss Cohen's coaching decisions just let me know.</p>

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

but apparently I don't qualify to have an opinion.

 

[MadDawg.sixpack]

This whole thread is talking on a serious Genespage-esque feel.

 

[KurtRambis4]

all the wrong way. Where did I ever say you had to be a baseball coach to discuss our team? All I said is that there seems to be a great deal of people complaining about stuff that they don't even know about. Would you not agree with me that if someone never went (or only went to 2 or 3) games that they would have a hard time forming a facts-based opinion? I'll try to make another simple comparison since the first one flew right over you. If someone said they hated Toyota cars but had never driven or owned one, would you take their opinion seriously? Since it took me asking you this question about 3 or 4 times before you answered, I had assumed that you were in this category. My bad.

 

[KurtRambis4]

post does it even remotely say something similar to the "if you aren't a coach you don't know what you're talking about" line? My point in this whole thread is that if one never experiences or does going to a game and watching our team, then how can they comment on it?