Mississippi State opened up SEC play this weekend in Lexington having come off a seven-game winning streak, but it was evident that the Diamond Dogs weren't ready to compete in the mighty Southeastern Conference as they were swept by Kentucky and lost the final two games by a combined score of 29-6.
Free passes are a repeated issue for Bulldog pitchers
The 2022 season was a disappointing one in Starkville. But when one of the most dominant starters in college baseball, Landon Sims, and the Bulldogs' most reliable reliever, Stone Simmons, each went down with season-ending injuries just three weeks in, the season was bound to be a failure.
Even without those two, the Bulldogs expected better than a 6.07 team ERA, which ranked dead last in the SEC. The high earned run average was largely due to the 4.83 walks per nine innings, which was 13th in the 14-team conference. It was a major regression from the 4.04 staff ERA the Bulldog pitchers posted in 2021, and the issue has carried into 2023. The Bulldogs rank 12th with a 5.54 ERA and are at the bottom of the conference with 131 walks, 31 more than 13th place Ole Miss.
The 2023 Bulldogs have dealt with their fair share of injuries to Cade Smith, Aaron Nixon, and Pico Kohn, but even with the injuries why are they having a hard time throwing strikes? The answer certainly isn't a lack of talent. After all, the Bulldog pitchers have struck out the third most batters in the conference, and are allowing just a .237 batting average. To put how low that average is into perspective, only one player in the Bulldogs' starting lineup Sunday is batting below that threshold.
In all three of Kentucky's wins over Mississippi State this weekend, the Wildcats manufactured more runs than they had hits. Freshman Jurrangelo Cijntje has been one of the bright spots on the mound for the Diamond Dogs, but he hit two batters and walked another in the first, leading to four Kentucky runs. Cijntje ultimately got into a rhythm and followed up with four shutout innings, but it's safe to say the first inning was the difference in the 6-5 loss.
For Cijntje, it's fair to assume the freshman jitters got to him in his first SEC start. It also didn't help that Cijntje, a kid from Curaçao who played high school ball in Miami, was pitching in 38-degree weather for the first time, but the Bulldogs expected more from their veterans the rest of the weekend.
Memphis transfer Landon Gartman couldn't have looked more dominant in the first three innings Saturday, striking out seven hitters without allowing a hit. Gartman then lost his command in the 4th as a walk and a hit batter led to a 3-run homer to tie the game. He gave up two more runs in the 5th and left with the bases loaded after two more walks and another hit batsman, and all three runners he left on scored to give him eight earned runs on the day.
Gartman walked only 29 hitters in 86 innings last year, less than one every three innings, but has walked 14 in 24 innings this year, more than one every two innings, and it's hard to pinpoint why. He has very good stuff, having struck out 32 batters in 24 innings (12 K/9), an increase from the 9.8 K/9 he posted last season.
I hate to make Gartman the scapegoat here, because he isn't the only one who has struggled with walks. Mississippi State has had ten different pitchers log nine or more innings this season, and only three of them in Ball State transfer Nate Dohm and freshmen Evan Siary and Brock Tapper, have a BB/9 of under 4.5. Six of the seven pitchers above that 4.5 BB/9 threshold are also posting a K/9 above 10.
But at what cost? It seems like the Bulldog are overemphasizing the importance of strikeouts to the detriment of their command.
Hines and Clark are heating up
Hunter Hines was given the Barry Bonds treatment on Sunday with two intentional walks, and one of them was with 1st base already occupied. That's because the sophomore 1B/DH is an an absolute tear right now with seven home runs in his last nine games, and he had blasted two bombs against Kentucky the day before.
It's not just the long ball that has contributed to Hines' hot streak. The Madison Central product has hit for average going 16/36 and hit four doubles with 17 RBI. Hines entered that stretch batting .200, and he's raised it to .309 while his 10 home runs on the season are tied for fourth in the SEC. One of the key things of that stretch for Hines was that he had some protection in the lineup behind him in Kellum Clark, giving the Bulldog slugger some good pitches to hit.
That protection wasn't there on Sunday after he was moved up from 6th to 4th in the order, in front of the talented yet inexperienced Connor Hujsak instead of Clark. It seems they shouldn't mess with the mojo those two have hitting next to each other as that same nine game span has been a big one for Clark, having raised his batting average from .209 to .260 after going 11/34. He hit a walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth against Lipscomb and cranked two more in the series at Kentucky while also adding a triple.
Clark currently sits second on the team with seven home runs on the season, and the two left-handed power bats are going to be needed the rest of the season.
Defense just as costly as pitching
Mississippi State is fielding an SEC-worst .961 on the season after finishing at the top of the conference in 2022 with a .983 fielding percentage. Third base has been a struggle with a pair of young in guys in Slate Alford (7 errors in 33 opportunities) and David Mershon (2 errors in 9 opportunities). The Bulldogs are still working out the kinks at that position, and they put in John A. Logan C.C. transfer for Alford on Sunday, which will be something to monitor going forward.
The 29 unearned runs allowed by the Bulldog defense is ten more than any other team in the Southeastern Conference, and combined with the free passes surrendered by Bulldog pitching it's been a recipe for disaster. Even more glaring than the errors, however, is the stolen bases allowed.
Opponents are running free against the Bulldogs with Luke Hancock, who spent the past two seasons primarily at 1st base, and freshman Ross Highfill behind the plate. Mississippi State has allowed 45 stolen bases on 48 attempts this season. Highfill has only caught two of 22 runners while Hancock has thrown down just one in 26 attempts.
The Bulldogs have seen a significant drop off from what they had in Reds' 2nd rounder Logan Tanner the past two seasons who caught over 25% of base stealers in 2021 and 2022, and had earned so much respect that teams only attempted 29 steals last season.
Highfill should get better behind the dish, after all, he is a freshman who's still developing. But for the time being its something that teams are going to take advantage of, especially Vanderbilt this upcoming weekend who's star centerfielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. is 108/118 on stolen base attempts in his career.
