Getting College Baseball to the front page

College baseball is a niche sport. Really, the only fanbases that truly care about it are Mississippi State, Arkansas, Ole Miss and LSU. Then a few other SEC and ACC schools have a decent following. Outside of that, you’re not really going to find devoted college baseball fans around the country – just some bandwagon ones who’ll jump on if their favorite school happens to be really good that year.

That’s sad because college baseball is a great product. Thanks to ESPN and the internet, it’s become a lot more accessible.

There are a lot of MLB fans out there. But most of those MLB fans don’t know anything about college baseball nor care to know. They are fans of baseball the sport, but just follow MLB. That’s not the case, for the most part, with the NBA and certainly not with the NFL. Fans of those leagues also follow the corresponding college sport.

I’ve always felt like there was a way to fix this. But to do so, the NCAA and MLB need to work together.

One of the driving factors in college baseball’s lack of popularity is only having 11.7 scholarships. Then the elite players who get drafted out of high school end up signing MLB contracts instead of going to college. When players get drafted after their junior year, they are almost shoved into professional baseball, otherwise they have no leverage with a signing bonus if they come back for their senior year.

There is a simple way to fix this: let the MLB draft whoever they want, and sign them, but let that player go to college….with a scholarship as their signing bonus.

That’s it. Maybe they could sweeten it up for the elite players with some cash once they hit professional baseball, but otherwise it’s just a college scholarship.

The 11.7 scholarships college baseball programs are using now would still be in play because not everyone gets drafted. So, if you haven’t been drafted yet, you get some scholarship money from that pool, while all the drafted players are getting their scholarship money from the MLB team that drafted them.

The benefit for Major League Baseball is they can now have college baseball be a bigger part of their minor league system than it is now….like basketball and football have. Do we really need Rookie Ball, Low A, High A, AA, and AAA? Maybe condense that down to A, AA, AAA or even less. When fans know a player (especially in baseball), they tune in more – so the less time it takes to get a college player to the highest level the better.

The prospect of less minor league teams would save money for MLB franchises, as well as not spending big money on top prospects. Right now each team is allotted $5-6 million to spend on draft picks. If a team drafts 40 players each year, paying a college scholarship for all of them at $50,000 (very conservative estimate) only amounts to around $2 million, which is a savings of $3-4 million.

The benefit to college baseball would be limitless. Not only is just about every player on scholarship now (like most every other sport), but also the pressure is off to decide if they should pursue pro baseball or finish their degree. All players would be able to stay in college for four years (maybe there’s an opt out after their junior year if the MLB club says they are ready), and I think most would stay with this option.

Can you imagine the interest that MLB fans would have in watching college baseball if they knew they were watching a player who is in their team’s pipeline? There’s a huge interest among MLB fans in their minor league prospects right now, and they can’t even watch those games for the most part. Imagine if you’re a fan of the Cardinals and you know the second baseman for Kansas State has signed with your team – now there’s a reason to watch Kansas State baseball, even if you’re a Tennessee fan.

There is precedent for this. College hockey and the NHL have a similar arrangement now. Hockey players are often drafted, and drafted high, and then play two or three years of college hockey before departing for the NHL. Hockey and baseball have always had similarities, and this is one area where baseball needs to join the party.

Players could be drafted at any point: after high school, after their freshman year, sophomore year, junior year, or for a late bloomer: after their senior year. MLB teams get an affordable option to draft players, then let them develop and mature in college. The players get a college education and experience. College baseball gets more attention…..and maybe that could stretch it to the front page where it belongs.

Seems too good. Everybody wins, so why would the NCAA participate? Sadly, that’s about the truth. There’s so much improvement baseball could do to its product, in college and the MLB. Rather than worrying about the speed of the game and tinkering with an age old product, we need to figure out improving these logistics and it’ll help everyone be more excited about the sport.

 

2020 Mississippi State Baseball Preview

2 straight trips to the College World Series and 4 straight trips to Super Regionals……so can the 2020 version of the Diamond Dawgs get over the hump and win a national championship?

There will be a lot of familiar faces on the team from the last couple of highly successful teams, but there are also A LOT of newcomers.

Does MSU have the talent to get back to Omaha? Absolutely.

Will MSU have the team chemistry to get back to Omaha? Who knows.

To me, that’s the biggest question. Jake Mangum, Ethan Small, Cole Gordon and Elijah MacNamee are gone – four guys who anchored the team last year….multiple years really. That leadership void will have to be filled.

The obvious candidates for filling the leadership role are the ‘core 5’ juniors:

• Tanner Allen
• Rowdey Jordan
• Jordan Westburg
• Justin Foscue
• Josh Hatcher

All five of those guys will be in the lineup every day. They have the experience and skill to lead Mississippi State to another successful year in the SEC.

Starters

Leadership on the mound? Can it come from second year players? Right now the starting pitching rotation looks like:

• J.T. Ginn (RHP)
• Christian MacLeod (LHP)
• Eric Cerantola (RHP)

All three of those guys have major talent….which is why they’ll be starting the first three games of the season. They are all sophomores (MacLeod is technically a redshirt freshman since he missed the 2019 season with an illness), so there’s no veteran guy in there at one of the weekend spots like most years. (Another sophomore, Brandon Smith, was expected to be in this mix as well but he is out for the year with an injury).

That’s not to say there aren’t veteran pitchers on this team. The Bulldogs actually brought in two grad transfers in RHP Carlisle Koestler (SE Louisiana) and RHP David Dunlavey (Furman). Koestler is expected to be the better of the two and may contend for a weekend spot if one of the young guys falter.

Bullpen

There are veterans in the bullpen as well. All three of these guys are seniors who you’ve seen before:

• Spencer Price (RHP)
• Riley Self (RHP)
• Jack Eagan (LHP)

Everybody else is new:

• Jucos: Chase Patrick, Jared Shemper, Jaxon Forrester, Houston Harding
• Freshman: Landon Sims, Davis Rokose, Will Bednar, Josh Hill, Xavier Lovett, KC Hunt

There’s definitely some talent here, and a number of guys who’ll try to earn their roles for the stretch run. But you really just don’t know who will stand out until the season gets going. Landon Sims, Chase Patrick, Jared Shemper and the returning seniors are the favorites going into Opening Day.

Position Players

C – Luke Hancock returns from a good freshman year to be the main guy behind the plate. Hayden Jones transferred out, so that puts freshman Logan Tanner (who can also pitch) as the primary backup. Austin Kelly is another freshman who should get some playing time.

1B – Josh Hatcher returns to his more natural first base after Tanner Allen had a stranglehold on it for two years. If all goes as planned, Hatcher should start every game at first. But Brandon Pimentel (who is also a lefty) can play there if needed.

2B – Justin Foscue is coming off a breakout year in 2019, and will continue to slug a la Dan Uggla from the second base position. Backups: juco transfer Noah Fondren and sophomore Landon Jordan.

3B – This could end up being a platoon, although freshman Kamren James (Keegan James’ younger brother) probably has the inside track going into the season. He’s a right-handed bat which would lend you to believe he’ll play less, but he’s got a decent glove. Landon Jordan has some experience from last year and is a lefty.

SS – Jordan Westburg as we all know has a ton of talent – the proverbial five tool player.  If he takes another leap like he did last year, and he’s capable of, watch out. Juco transfer Tanner Leggett will be the backup.

LF – Lemonis could go a number of ways here. This position may be intertwined with DH depending on who does well defensively. Juco transfer Brandon Pimentel is a big lefty who has a lot of power. Brad Cumbest and Bryce Brock return after little used backup roles as freshmen. If I had to put my money on it, Pimentel will be the DH most days, and then Cumbest (righty) and Brock (lefty) will platoon in LF.

CF – Rowdey Jordan will be the man to replace The Mayor. If there was ever a player to try to take over the position on the field and in the lineup of Jake Mangum, it’s good that it’s a two-year starter and switch hitter like Rowdey. Hopefully he can finally shake the cobwebs and get off to a decent start this year. Backup: freshman Drew McGowen.

RF – Tanner Allen will move out to right field, which he’s better suited for being 5′-11″, and according to Coach Lemonis he’s as fast as Rowdey. Tanner is here to hit: Chipper Jones, Jr. finished 2019 at .349 and 66 RBI. Backup: Drew McGowen.

I’ve mentioned a lot of newcomers already, but there’s even more on the roster. In all, there are 13 true freshman, 7 juco transfers and 2 graduate transfers on the team. That means that well over half the team were not in Omaha last year. That’s why I say chemistry is so important. Sure, there are a lot of familiar faces in key roles, but there will be a bunch of fresh faces that fill out the roster.

This team definitely has the talent to compete for the SEC championship, host a Regional and make another run to Omaha. We’ll see how it goes – should be fun!