I'm no @Big_Blue_1018, but I'm back with a scouting report. Feel free to add or tell me I'm wrong.
Kentucky will host its first SEC series of 2023 against the 2021 CWS Champion Miss. State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are led by former Indiana head man, Chris Lemonis who is in his fifth season at the helm in Starkville. Lemonis took over from former UK head coach Gary Henderson who became the interim head coach for Miss State in 2018 after Andy Cannizaro had off the field issues that led to him resigning in his second season after a 0-3 start. Henderson led the Bulldogs to the CWS where they tied for third. Lemonis picked up where Henderson left off taking them to the CWS in 2019 and after the covid year he returned to win it all in 2021. However, he now finds himself on the hot seat with some Mississippi State fans as last season was an absolute disaster with State finishing with a 26-30 record.
This season has been a bit of a mixed bag for State as they come to Lexington with a 13-5 record. Losses to VMI, ULM, Arizona State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma have some Bulldogs fans still nervous about whether they might have a repeat of 2022. For those counting at home, that is 2 Q4 losses already. Still, they come in riding a 7 game win streak, including taking 2 wins this week already, one against perennial contender Louisiana.
At the plate Miss State is hitting .304 as a team, which has them ranked 12th in the SEC (UK is 6th at .328). They rank 8th in the conference in runs scored and have absolutely been stone cold with patience at the plate with a league leading 127 walks. They also have just 116 strikeouts as a team, which is one of the better marks in the league, while UK is tied for worst in that category. They will also look to run for days when they get on base, they've stolen a lead leading 33 bases on 36 attempts.
The Bulldogs offense is led by Bryce Chance a sophomore left fielder hitting .379 with 2 home runs and a couple of doubles. A step down from him is Amani Larry who leads off and plays second. Larry is a junior transfer from New Orleans who is hitting .367 with 5 doubles and 3 home runs. He also has 11 stolen bases in 11 attempts and has drawn 25 free base (walk/hbp) to just 3 strikeouts. Colton Ledbetter will hit second in the lineup and play center. The junior transfer from Samford is hitting .349 with 4 home runs, 4 doubles, and a triple and he too has drawn a ton of free passes (24, 23 of which are straight walks), but he has a bit of a higher tendency to strike out with 12. He is also 10-11 on stolen bases. So, those three at the top make a formidable problem for opposing pitchers. Their power comes from Hunter Hines, a sophomore DH who will hit in the middle of the lineup. He is hitting a respectable .271 and has 8 home runs and 5 doubles. However, strikeouts are a problem for him with 15 to just 6 walks. Kellum Clark, a junior right fielder will also bring some wood with 5 home runs, but his average is a bit more stale at .246. Luke Hancock and Lane Forsythe are both hitting for solid averages with Hancock being a double threat with 8 on the year. He will hit middle of the lineup and man first base, and some catcher. He has been in college since 2019 and can be a 10 HR a season type guy, and has solid plate disciple. Forsythe will play short and hit at the bottom of the lineup, so UK pitchers cannot fall asleep on him. Ross Highfill has been at catcher as well with 10 starts he is hitting .325 with 4 doubles and 4 home runs. Strikeouts are a major issue with 14 to just 2 walks. Defense is also suspect. Third base seems to be where they are struggling most. Slate Alford has started most games there, but he's hitting just .222 with a couple doubles and a home run and he's struck out 11 times to 4 walks.
It appears that Miss State has done some shuffling to try to fix their catcher issues. I believe Hancock started the year at catcher and teams were not respecting the arm with 15 stolen base attempts against him. So, Lemonis brought in Highfill to catch and moved Hancock to first, which moved Hines to DH. Previously Bryce Chance was DH and Dakota Jordan (.233) was playing OF. This shuffle seems to have probably made Jordan a bit of an odd man out, but he has played a lot so far. However, the Highfill move didn't really fix the catching problem as opponents have stolen 12 bags against him and only been caught 1 time and he has 10 passed balls. I am not sure most catchers get that in a season.
One of the glaring problems for Miss. State has been errors. They have 27 of them, which is 9 more than the 13th best team, and teams love testing their ability to hold runners as opponents have attempted 40 steals and swiped 34 bags against them. Their catcher also has 11 passed balls. So, UK should be able to test them in this all weekend long.
On the mound State has a 4.56 team ERA, which is 9th best in the league, but things are worse than they appear as State has given up a league worst 103 runs, 8 more than the next highest team, and 22 of those are unearned. They also lead the league in most walks allowed with 109. No one else is even close to that number, with next closest being Ole Miss with 86. That being said, they are 4th in the league in most strikeouts, so they do clean away some problems.
State has struggled so far to find the right guys on the weekend as their first two Friday starts went to Cade Smith. I am not sure if he picked up an injury, but after just 3 innings and giving up 7 runs on 2.24.23, he has yet to return to the mound. Taking his place has been the phenom everyone is talking about freshman BHP (this is not a typo) Jurrangelo Cijntje. Cijntje is a switch pitcher that throws 97 with his right arm and 93 with his left. I believe the way that works is that the pitcher must declare what arm they'll use prior to an AB and they cannot switch. The freshman whose name I don't want to type again has a 0.60 ERA with 3 starts across 15 innings. In his three starts he's given up just 3 hits and opponents are hitting just .114 against him. He has 20 strikeouts to 8 walks and has yet to give up an extra base hit. The interesting storyline with him, outside of the two arm thing, will be how long he will be able to go in a game as he's not gone past 4 to this point. Graham Yntema seems like the next likely starter, but it is unclear whether he might pitch Saturday or Sunday as he's done both. Yntema is a sophomore lefty with a 5.87 ERA who has thrown 15.1 innings with 3 starts and 5 total appearances. He too has a pretty high number of strikeouts with 18 but has walked 9. Opponents hitting .279 against him. Things aren't quite as bad as they seem for Yntema as he really struggled in just one game, against Oklahoma where he gave up 7 earned in 2.2 innings. His other two starts he went 5.0 and 5.1 while giving up just 1 earned in each of those. I believe Landon Gartman will get the nod, probably on Saturday. I believe they've switched it to this where previously Yntema was getting the go there. Gartman is a senior righty with a 4.95 ERA across 4 starts. He too has been on a fairly short leash going over 5 innings just one time so far. He's apt to give up runs in every game, as he's given up 3, 2, 4, and 2 in each appearance. The Memphis transfer has 25 strikeouts but also has 10 walks. Opponents hitting just .211 against him, but with the walks and with the fact that he's given up 3 doubles and 3 home runs, the runs have somewhat piled up with all 11 being earned.
After that the Bulldogs are most likely to turn to Nate Dohm out of the pen. Dohm is a sophomore righty with a 0.54 ERA across 16.2 innings of work. He's been in 7 relief appearances and has given up just 4 hits (.143) while striking out 18 and walking just 4. Doubles are a problem for him as he's given up 4 of them, but clearly he can erase those mistakes. He pitched 1.1 last night, so it'll be interesting to see how much rest they give him. Brock Tapper will also see some time as he has a 0.00 ERA across 8 innings. The freshman lefty has appeared in 5 games and opponents are hitting .281 against him. Most his time has been spot work, but he has gone 2.0 and 3.2 innings already with 7Ks to 2 walks. Lefty junior from VCU, Tyler Davis has also seen a lot of work on the mound with 7 appearance he carries a 7.07 ERA. He too struggled against Oklahoma as he went 5.0 innings and gave up 4 of his 14 runs in that one. He has been clean in his last two appearances, so maybe things are turning around for him. Colby Holcombe, a sophomore righty, has been used pretty extensively with 7 appearances, but he pitched 4 innings against Louisiana, so they might limit him a bit this weekend. However, most his mound time has been for around an inning. He carries a 4.50 ERA and opponents hitting just .167 against him. Lastly, I think Evan Siary is an arm we will see. Siary, a righty freshman, has 5 appearances and a 5.25 ERA. Opponents hitting .239 against him, but he has 15 strikeouts in 12 innings of work while walking just 5. Seems to be a bit more of a middle relief type guy with a lot of his appearances going 3 innings or so.
All in all I think this is a winnable series. I think that is especially the case on Sat/Sun as we face pitchers that haven't been as consistent. UK hitters being patient and drawing walks and putting pressure on the league's worst defense can help to get us runs. I think an interesting part is that UK pitchers have largely kept walks to a minimum, only 1 pitcher for UK has double digit walks and that is Smith who pitches midweek. Meanwhile, Miss State has thrived at getting on base with free passes. So, will their patience pay off and will we see more balls/walks from UK pitching, or will UK pitching force them to put the ball in play more? Should be a pretty fun and winnable weekend for the Cats.
Kentucky will host its first SEC series of 2023 against the 2021 CWS Champion Miss. State Bulldogs. The Bulldogs are led by former Indiana head man, Chris Lemonis who is in his fifth season at the helm in Starkville. Lemonis took over from former UK head coach Gary Henderson who became the interim head coach for Miss State in 2018 after Andy Cannizaro had off the field issues that led to him resigning in his second season after a 0-3 start. Henderson led the Bulldogs to the CWS where they tied for third. Lemonis picked up where Henderson left off taking them to the CWS in 2019 and after the covid year he returned to win it all in 2021. However, he now finds himself on the hot seat with some Mississippi State fans as last season was an absolute disaster with State finishing with a 26-30 record.
This season has been a bit of a mixed bag for State as they come to Lexington with a 13-5 record. Losses to VMI, ULM, Arizona State, Ohio State, and Oklahoma have some Bulldogs fans still nervous about whether they might have a repeat of 2022. For those counting at home, that is 2 Q4 losses already. Still, they come in riding a 7 game win streak, including taking 2 wins this week already, one against perennial contender Louisiana.
At the plate Miss State is hitting .304 as a team, which has them ranked 12th in the SEC (UK is 6th at .328). They rank 8th in the conference in runs scored and have absolutely been stone cold with patience at the plate with a league leading 127 walks. They also have just 116 strikeouts as a team, which is one of the better marks in the league, while UK is tied for worst in that category. They will also look to run for days when they get on base, they've stolen a lead leading 33 bases on 36 attempts.
The Bulldogs offense is led by Bryce Chance a sophomore left fielder hitting .379 with 2 home runs and a couple of doubles. A step down from him is Amani Larry who leads off and plays second. Larry is a junior transfer from New Orleans who is hitting .367 with 5 doubles and 3 home runs. He also has 11 stolen bases in 11 attempts and has drawn 25 free base (walk/hbp) to just 3 strikeouts. Colton Ledbetter will hit second in the lineup and play center. The junior transfer from Samford is hitting .349 with 4 home runs, 4 doubles, and a triple and he too has drawn a ton of free passes (24, 23 of which are straight walks), but he has a bit of a higher tendency to strike out with 12. He is also 10-11 on stolen bases. So, those three at the top make a formidable problem for opposing pitchers. Their power comes from Hunter Hines, a sophomore DH who will hit in the middle of the lineup. He is hitting a respectable .271 and has 8 home runs and 5 doubles. However, strikeouts are a problem for him with 15 to just 6 walks. Kellum Clark, a junior right fielder will also bring some wood with 5 home runs, but his average is a bit more stale at .246. Luke Hancock and Lane Forsythe are both hitting for solid averages with Hancock being a double threat with 8 on the year. He will hit middle of the lineup and man first base, and some catcher. He has been in college since 2019 and can be a 10 HR a season type guy, and has solid plate disciple. Forsythe will play short and hit at the bottom of the lineup, so UK pitchers cannot fall asleep on him. Ross Highfill has been at catcher as well with 10 starts he is hitting .325 with 4 doubles and 4 home runs. Strikeouts are a major issue with 14 to just 2 walks. Defense is also suspect. Third base seems to be where they are struggling most. Slate Alford has started most games there, but he's hitting just .222 with a couple doubles and a home run and he's struck out 11 times to 4 walks.
It appears that Miss State has done some shuffling to try to fix their catcher issues. I believe Hancock started the year at catcher and teams were not respecting the arm with 15 stolen base attempts against him. So, Lemonis brought in Highfill to catch and moved Hancock to first, which moved Hines to DH. Previously Bryce Chance was DH and Dakota Jordan (.233) was playing OF. This shuffle seems to have probably made Jordan a bit of an odd man out, but he has played a lot so far. However, the Highfill move didn't really fix the catching problem as opponents have stolen 12 bags against him and only been caught 1 time and he has 10 passed balls. I am not sure most catchers get that in a season.
One of the glaring problems for Miss. State has been errors. They have 27 of them, which is 9 more than the 13th best team, and teams love testing their ability to hold runners as opponents have attempted 40 steals and swiped 34 bags against them. Their catcher also has 11 passed balls. So, UK should be able to test them in this all weekend long.
On the mound State has a 4.56 team ERA, which is 9th best in the league, but things are worse than they appear as State has given up a league worst 103 runs, 8 more than the next highest team, and 22 of those are unearned. They also lead the league in most walks allowed with 109. No one else is even close to that number, with next closest being Ole Miss with 86. That being said, they are 4th in the league in most strikeouts, so they do clean away some problems.
State has struggled so far to find the right guys on the weekend as their first two Friday starts went to Cade Smith. I am not sure if he picked up an injury, but after just 3 innings and giving up 7 runs on 2.24.23, he has yet to return to the mound. Taking his place has been the phenom everyone is talking about freshman BHP (this is not a typo) Jurrangelo Cijntje. Cijntje is a switch pitcher that throws 97 with his right arm and 93 with his left. I believe the way that works is that the pitcher must declare what arm they'll use prior to an AB and they cannot switch. The freshman whose name I don't want to type again has a 0.60 ERA with 3 starts across 15 innings. In his three starts he's given up just 3 hits and opponents are hitting just .114 against him. He has 20 strikeouts to 8 walks and has yet to give up an extra base hit. The interesting storyline with him, outside of the two arm thing, will be how long he will be able to go in a game as he's not gone past 4 to this point. Graham Yntema seems like the next likely starter, but it is unclear whether he might pitch Saturday or Sunday as he's done both. Yntema is a sophomore lefty with a 5.87 ERA who has thrown 15.1 innings with 3 starts and 5 total appearances. He too has a pretty high number of strikeouts with 18 but has walked 9. Opponents hitting .279 against him. Things aren't quite as bad as they seem for Yntema as he really struggled in just one game, against Oklahoma where he gave up 7 earned in 2.2 innings. His other two starts he went 5.0 and 5.1 while giving up just 1 earned in each of those. I believe Landon Gartman will get the nod, probably on Saturday. I believe they've switched it to this where previously Yntema was getting the go there. Gartman is a senior righty with a 4.95 ERA across 4 starts. He too has been on a fairly short leash going over 5 innings just one time so far. He's apt to give up runs in every game, as he's given up 3, 2, 4, and 2 in each appearance. The Memphis transfer has 25 strikeouts but also has 10 walks. Opponents hitting just .211 against him, but with the walks and with the fact that he's given up 3 doubles and 3 home runs, the runs have somewhat piled up with all 11 being earned.
After that the Bulldogs are most likely to turn to Nate Dohm out of the pen. Dohm is a sophomore righty with a 0.54 ERA across 16.2 innings of work. He's been in 7 relief appearances and has given up just 4 hits (.143) while striking out 18 and walking just 4. Doubles are a problem for him as he's given up 4 of them, but clearly he can erase those mistakes. He pitched 1.1 last night, so it'll be interesting to see how much rest they give him. Brock Tapper will also see some time as he has a 0.00 ERA across 8 innings. The freshman lefty has appeared in 5 games and opponents are hitting .281 against him. Most his time has been spot work, but he has gone 2.0 and 3.2 innings already with 7Ks to 2 walks. Lefty junior from VCU, Tyler Davis has also seen a lot of work on the mound with 7 appearance he carries a 7.07 ERA. He too struggled against Oklahoma as he went 5.0 innings and gave up 4 of his 14 runs in that one. He has been clean in his last two appearances, so maybe things are turning around for him. Colby Holcombe, a sophomore righty, has been used pretty extensively with 7 appearances, but he pitched 4 innings against Louisiana, so they might limit him a bit this weekend. However, most his mound time has been for around an inning. He carries a 4.50 ERA and opponents hitting just .167 against him. Lastly, I think Evan Siary is an arm we will see. Siary, a righty freshman, has 5 appearances and a 5.25 ERA. Opponents hitting .239 against him, but he has 15 strikeouts in 12 innings of work while walking just 5. Seems to be a bit more of a middle relief type guy with a lot of his appearances going 3 innings or so.
All in all I think this is a winnable series. I think that is especially the case on Sat/Sun as we face pitchers that haven't been as consistent. UK hitters being patient and drawing walks and putting pressure on the league's worst defense can help to get us runs. I think an interesting part is that UK pitchers have largely kept walks to a minimum, only 1 pitcher for UK has double digit walks and that is Smith who pitches midweek. Meanwhile, Miss State has thrived at getting on base with free passes. So, will their patience pay off and will we see more balls/walks from UK pitching, or will UK pitching force them to put the ball in play more? Should be a pretty fun and winnable weekend for the Cats.
